One of the questions posed to the panel last night was on the topic of social media ‘success’ stories or case studies. Just catching up on my RSS feeds and saw this amazing set of statistics on the Dove “Evolution” campaign presented by Shelley Lazarus at the Ogilvy Verge Conference <hat tip to catharine p. taylor for posting the stats>:

• 500 million views

• $150 million in media value

• $100 million in incremental sales.

• All for $50,000 in production costs

What underlies these numbers is perhaps the more important point every business needs to understand: social consciousness met social media through the brand message. It is a fundamentally different ‘advertising’ campaign. Every woman in America knew for decades that the models were airbrushed frauds. Yet the myth continued to be perpetuated by Madison Ave, the beauty industry and every magazine publisher right up until the start of this millennium.

Dove is the first major brand to promote natural and real beauty at any age as opposed to fake, impossible-to-achieve beauty. You cannot talk about Dove without “Evolution” being mentioned, which is why the approach is a brilliant strategic move. Dove’s competitors now must define themselves against Dove’s brand position (because they will be compared to Dove and this approach), rather than stake out their own claim.