Welcome to our exclusive interview with members of the SOKO team Mariana Cordeiro, Head of Strategy & Data, and Nayara Lima, Creative Leader. We’ll be delving into the creation of a landmark campaign for Dove, commemorating the 20th anniversary of their Campaign for Real Beauty. This interview provides an inside look at the intricate process behind celebrating two decades of a movement that has redefined beauty standards globally.
What was the brief?
To create a campaign that celebrates a great global milestone for Dove, the 20 years of Campaign for Real Beauty. A brand committed to changing beauty cannot just look back and celebrate all it has done, so the challenge was to find a way to honour the past while looking to the future of beauty.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
The strategy & data team at Soko started presenting a strategy based on the idea that for Dove to keep its commitment to real beauty, it should keep fighting the social structures that prevent women from having a positive experience with their appearance. The main question was "What are the next social structures affecting beauty?”
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
The process began with a strong and challenging strategic directive: to celebrate 20 years of Real Beauty. With this challenge in mind, the creative team started brainstorming various ideas.
Midway through the process, we decided to test image prompts for women by adding 'according to the Dove Real Beauty campaign.' We noticed that the results became undeniably more diverse, inclusive, and realistic. At that moment, we knew we had found the right idea.
What was the production process like?
The production process was predominantly led by an incredible team of women, who brought a powerful and sensitive perspective to everything we did. For instance, the film was directed by Juliana Curi from the production company Saigon. Moreover, a project of this magnitude requires the collaboration of many talented individuals.
We partnered with enthusiastic and dedicated teams from The Mill, Diprod, Big Sync Music, and HEFTY, who all brought their best to the project. The soundtrack for the film, an exclusive rendition of 'Pure Imagination,' was created specifically for the campaign and performed by the singer Victoria Canal.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
Our aim was to create a film that genuinely touched people. Since the film heavily relied on prompts and AI, it predominantly featured captions and lettering, which don't always convey emotion easily.
We had to be very thoughtful and sensitive in choosing every aspect of the film, from the real and AI casting to the soundtrack. Every decision was made to ensure the final product was as impactful and heartfelt as possible.
What kit/tools/software were used to create the project?
The film was created using real prompts found on AI-generated image websites.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
On the day of the shooting, when we filmed the final scene of the movie where the protagonist and her daughter—who are also mother and daughter in real life—look at a Dove billboard and see models resembling them, everyone was moved.
On set, some people started crying and saying "We've got the scene!" This was a very spontaneous indicator that the film would evoke emotions.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
"Keep beauty real" is our main message. At the end of the day, during the entire creative process, we found out that AI is not the villain, it only has been learning from what is around us for decades.
But fortunately, it has been learning from Dove too. And that's precisely why our message is a call to action for us to keep beauty real. By pledging not to use AI and only portraying real women, the brand is committed to keep generating content that helps the technology to evolve in a more inclusive and diverse way.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
The entire case was developed over more than 6 months. As it was a global campaign to celebrate 20 years of real beauty, each stage of the process required careful attention and consideration.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
The Dove Code is the result of 20 years of consistent work. This by itself is a result that makes us very proud, being consistent in social impact is a very challenging subject in the corporate world. Moreover, other incredible outcomes are already a reality: after Dove declared that it would not use AI to distort the image of women, other beauty brands were inspired and did the same.
Helping to inspire real change in this era where much is fake is what makes us happy and inspired to continue this work. Perhaps one of the most important contributions this campaign has made is to show it's possible for brands to be part of the change, taking action to shift the reality.
Credit list for the work?
CLIENT:
CMO Beauty & Wellbeing NY: Leandro Barreto
CMO Dove: Alessandro Manfredi
Vice-President: Dove Masterbrand Global & North America : Firdaous El Honsali
Dove Global Brand Director Masterbrand & Strategy: Pau Bartoli:
Global Brand Manager Dove Masterbrand: Victoria Floyd:
Global Marketing Dove Masterbrand: Stella Megalou:
AGENCY:
Agency: SOKO
Founder and CEO/CCO: Felipe Simi
Co-CEO: Brisa Vicente
CCO: Rafael Ziggy
CDO: Diego Limberti
Executive Creative Director (ECD): Vinicius Chagas, Rafael Alves, Marina Cota
Head of Design: Diego Limberti
Creative Leader: Nayara Lima, Juliana Jabra
Art Direction: Heloisa Lima, Pedro Miranda, and Eduardo Diniz
Copywriting: Lucas Abreu and Vitoria Ferrari
Content Leader: Kelly Neres
COO: Felipe Belinky
VP of Account Management: Renata Cintra
Head of Account Management: Verena Neves
Account Group Director: Juliana Pereira
Account Director: Renata Franceschi
Account Managers: Mariana Mazzoli and Julia Andreucci
VP of Operations and Production: Larissa Kubo
Head of Operations and Production: Lucas Cardoso
Project Leader: Tatiane Donatangelo
Project Managers: Rafael Messias; Pamela Santos
VP of Impact: Gabriela Rodrigues
VP of Brand & Connections Strategy: Ana Cortat
Head of Strategy & Data: Mariana Esteves Cordeiro
Strategy Group Director: Keid Sammour
Brand Strategy: Gabriella Brum
Data Group Director: Matheus Facci
Data Strategy: Rany Higa
Head of Broadcasting: Fabiane Abel
Broadcast Leader: Fabíola Ribeiro
Broadcast Seniors: Bárbara Raffaeli and Renata Müller
IMAGE PRODUCTION:
Image Production Company: Saigon
Director: Juliana Curi
Executive Producers: Marcelo Altschuler, Carol Pessini
Head of Sales and Strategy: Victoria Scaff
Account Management: Patricia Aguiar, Bruna Chamlian, Giovanna Saad, Karin Diniz Production
Coordination: Katiucia Soares, Thalita Machado
Director of Photography: Barbara Alvarez
Set Designer: Poliana Feulo
Assistant Directors: Raquel Reis, Giulia Levy
Research and Creative Assistant: Camila Maluhy, Camy
Line Producer: Cris Moura Costume
Wardrobe: Naiara Albuquerque
Casting Producer: Flavia Cocozza
Location Producer: Gabriela Salgado
Object Producer: Patricia Di Giorgio
Makeup Artist: Yanke Vasconcelos
Editors: Amy Rosenberg, Malu Leopassi
Assistant Editors: Thomas De La Rosa, Leo Garcia, Paulo Miranda
Post-production Coordination: Virgini Fares
WildCats Post Post Producers: Claudia Rocha, Regina Mimi
Motion Designers: Chico Jofilsan, Lívia Aprá, Gustavo Fernandes, Diego Bischoff
Colorist: Adonias Dantas
MOTION PRODUCTION:
Motion Production: Diprod Studio
VFX:
VFX: The Mill
Senior Executive Producer: Matthew Loranger
Creative Directors: Sina Taherkhani, Christian Nielsen, Jeffery Dates
Producers: Dara O’Cairbre, Nicole Melius, Chloe Gauthier
Designer: Gamma Savage, Holly
Compositors: Ryan Wehner, Daniel Miller, Piotr Bednarczyk, Katerina Arroyo
ADDITIONAL VFX:
Additional VFX: Nash
AI-Motions: Miguel Karbage
Direction Intern: Instituto Criar: Najô Ribeiro
Direction Intern: Euetu Lab Mentorship Programm: Bárbara Fernandes
Photography Intern: Instituto Criar: Juliana Santos
MUSIC:
Music Production and Licensing: Big Sync Music
Creative Director: Justin “Commie” McMullen
Licensing: Dominic Caisley
Music Supervisor: Alexandra Carlsson Norlin
Artist Partnerships Director: Lauren Thackray
Music Production: Resister
Composer: Adina Nelu
AUDIO:
Audio Production: Hefty
Producers: Edu Luke, Cris Botarelli, Otávio Cavalheiro, Celso Moretti, Tuco Barini, Rud Lisboa, and Renan Marques
Account Management: Debora Carvalho, Thais Gazoli, Karin Reis, and Ana Peluzo.
Coordination: Larissa Durante and Fabi Lugli
Ken Gerhardt Photography July 22nd, in the morning
Gr8 read, thank you... Ken.