Celebrating 20 years of Real Beauty #BehindTheIdea

Welcome to our exclusive interview with SOKO creatives 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