ABOUT

I wrote the insight at the core of Dove's Real Beauty Sketches.

This campaign is the most viewed online video ad ever, with over 165 million views and won 19 awards at Cannes Lion including the Titanium Grand Prix.

The Real Beauty Sketches Campaign was born out of Dove's need to reposition its Real Beauty Campaign to make it more relevant for the emerging markets, particularly for the BRIC consumers where it wasn't resonating so well. Dove needed to find a more universal expression for its Real Beauty message now that it was becoming a truly global brand. The original work & research that underpinned the Real Beauty Sketches was undertaken by one of my clients, B7 Innovation.

While working on the project I developed a concept based on the insight that 'Most women don't appreciate how lovely they are.' I wrote this recalling a conversation I had with some young women in a nightclub as we crowded around a mirror fixing our makeup. A couple of the women were very critical of themselves & believed none of the guys in the club would look at them. I thought they were gorgeous, so I asked them why they felt that way. What they said about themselves was so horribly critical (clearly not false modesty) that it shocked and saddened me. In the end I said to one of them, 'You don't know how really lovely you are.'  

I'm really glad that Ogilvy & Mather, Brazil came up with such a brilliant execution so that this important message went global. I'm glad also that so many women have said that this message has made an important contribution to their self-esteem & self-image. Because that was the point of my comment in the first place!