Dove Evolution viral film gets 1.7 million views

In an earlier post I talked about Dove's social mission, and the amazing film they produced for You Tube called "Evolution", showing how a natural looking girl (right hand side of the picture) is artificially primped, preened and then computer enhanced for a cosmetics ad (left hand side).

Well, the update is that this 75-second viral film, created by O&M Toronto, has had more than 1.7 million views on YouTube, in addition to being featured on TV talk shows. According to a Marketing Vox report it also brought the biggest-ever traffic "spike" to the CampaignForRealBeauty.com website, three times more than the advert the brand ran during the Superbowl last year to promote their Self Esteem Fund. One other small difference: it was free to upload the video to You Tube. The Super Bowl ad cost $2.5 million to buy!

You can see the film by clicking on the arrow on the image below. If you are reading the Monday Morning email, you need to click on the title Dove Update: Evolution viral ad seen by 1.7 million people  to visit the blog.

5-minute workout: how could you harness the viral power of You Tube? But beware of gimmicks. Dove Evolution works because i) the brand has a clear mission and brand idea, ii) the execution is fantastic.

Comments

[Marie-Ange]

Great film and really nice translation of their social mission and evolution. Also visited their website, they really got they right theme for a lot of women. This is what women want to talk about. The right rumour around the brand!

[David Taylor (from Where'sTheSausage)]

David, I really like the way that you show how viral videos should be one part of a bigger campaign, and especially the idea of opening the brand up to consumer interaction. In a previous post on the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty there was a comment about exactly this... the lady in question had spent 20" on the Dove site trying to find out how she could join in the campaign, and came up empty. What a waste of 20 full minutes of consumer immersion in your brand!

[David Armano]

Nice post. I used the Dove example to make a bigger point abbout what consumers value and not getting too carried away with "viral videos" here:

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/11/12_consumer_val.html