Bye, beauty filters: Learn how this brand inspired others to turn their backs on digital distortion!
Today, I will highlight how this beauty brand generated buzz for itself through its empowering guerrilla marketing campaign. Keep reading to know more about this brand’s powerful message of empowerment and its dedication to spread inspiring messages. |
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Bye, beauty filters: Learn how this brand inspired others to turn their backs on digital distortion! In 2015, social media users were able to amp up their creativity on their posts when face filters like the “flower crown” and “dog face” were released for public use. Fast forward to nearly a decade, face filters have evolved. Nowadays, face filters are being used to amplify the facial features of social media users. With a single click of a button, users can enhance their face, nose, eyelashes, and even the glow of their skins! Let's take Bold Glamour, a facial filter that leverages artificial intelligence (AI), for example. In 2023, this beauty filter took TikTok by storm as more than 200 million users used it on the social media platform. What sets Bold Glamour apart from other run-of-the-mill filters is that it modifies every pixel of a face, leading to a filter that looks natural to the eye. Even though the face filter has received positive feedback, there are those who have expressed concern about its popularity. While face filters have added a dash of creativity in social media content, it cannot be denied that this has caused users, especially women, to feel pressured to look good online. Simply said, face filters have helped in perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards, which can impact a person’s self-esteem and mental health. According to Dove 's research, by age 13, about 80% of girls have been found to use facial filters and photo retouching apps due to the pressure to look good on social media. As one of the leading beauty brands in the U.S., Dove has always strived to combat unrealistic beauty standards for women. In 2004, the brand established the Dove Self-Esteem Project (DESP) to empower and inspire women to feel confident and comfortable in their own skin. As part of this commitment, Dove has consistently partnered with ad agency Ogilvy for its beauty-related campaigns. The beauty brand in collaboration with the ad agency has launched multiple campaigns in the past several years. These include include Real Beauty Sketches (2013), Courage Is Beautiful (2020), #StopTheBeautyTest (2021), and Reverse Selfie (2021). In 2023, Dove and Ogilvy launched another guerrilla marketing campaign that reminded everyone about the importance of not letting social media filters tell women how they are supposed to look. Its name? #TurnYourBack Campaign! On March 9, 2023, Dove launched the #TurnYourBack campaign on TikTok. This influencer-led campaign started with influencers sharing their personal sentiments regarding the harmful effects of beauty filters on their self-esteem as it presents an unrealistic idea of “beauty.” Moreover, the campaign encouraged people to turn their backs on the new Bold Glamour face filter by posting a TikTok where posters are shown turning their backs from the camera and the screen. Many notable figures participated in this campaign, including Hollywood actress Gabrielle Union and beauty and body-positivity influencers Hira Mustafa, Nadya Okamoto, Alex Light, Louise May, and Millie Mclay. The campaign showed that no filter should tell anyone how he or she is supposed to look and that it’s time to celebrate real beauty and not filtered perfection. So… was the campaign a success? YES! Through the combined effort of Ogilvy and Dove, the #TurnYourBack campaign brought success to the brand and its mission:
That’s not all! The #TurnYourBack campaign won these accolades as well:
A job well done to Ogilvy and Dove! — Dove’s #TurnYourBack campaign goes beyond ditching beauty filters; it’s also a call to action promoting self-love and unfiltered beauty. Through this, Dove showed its commitment to empowering women and redefining what it means to be beautiful through its digital guerrilla marketing campaign. The success of #TurnYourBack also showed that guerrilla marketing can be used to impart socially relevant messages to the public. So… are you ready to make a difference? Embrace Dove’s approach and create a campaign that resonates with your audience on a deeper level, too! Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful. EXCITING NEWS AHEAD The world of work has shifted, and there’s no going back. The barriers to entry have never been lower for talented professionals to work independently, and today’s massive external workforce is hardly a pandemic-produced fad. Business owners can only survive in the new work landscape by partnering with this deep talent pool. With decades of experience in both small-business entrepreneurship and executive management at PwC, I truly believe that the future of work is independent. With that, I’m happy to share with you that my book, co-authored with Walter Scott Lamb, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! Free Birds Revolution: The Future of Work & The Independent Mind This is an essential read for both independent professionals and corporate executives. Here, we provide educational and practical guides to unpack the ever-growing workforce and offer you crucial ways to become a client of choice. Click on the link above to pre-order your copy. Let this book help you future-proof your career and organization in the new world of work. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to know how one restaurant brand used a clever tactic to promote its entry to London? See it in next week’s article! |
