Marketing Strategy of Dove in India

Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever. Dove is the HUL soap brand for the ‘Affluent’ or the premium segment. Dove was globally launched in 1957. This brand came to India in 1995. Internationally this brand has a cult status and is a major player in the global premium soap market.

In India, the brand did not have the success of its global counterpart. One reason was the small "Premium" market and another was the price barrier. The brand has undergone some repositioning in recent times. Earlier the brand was positioned on the platform of "Trial for Results" idea. Later it was changed to the moisturizing platform.

The brand is positioned as the Mildest Soap. Dove is pH neutral and this makes the soap soft on all kind of skin types. Internationally this brand is positioned as a brand that celebrates the "Real Beauty". Dove defines real beauty as "beauty is not about how you look but about how you feel". The Dove's official site "campaignforrealbeauty.com" highlights this brand value.

From the beginning of its journey Dove was positioned as ‘not just a common soap but one with high content of moisturizing cream’. Consequently, the theme of Dove soap ads still remains ‘Dove is not a soap’ and ‘it has one quarter moisturizing cream’ and to prove the point to the consumers and get their confidence Dove used the pH strip and latest Dove ad shows the comparison of using normal soap and Dove on two sides of the skin. To become a complete beauty care brand Dove has also launched Shampoo, Conditioners, Deodorant and other Skincare products. In the hair care segment rather than Shampoo or Conditioner they are calling it ‘Therapy’: ‘Hair Fall Therapy’, ‘Daily Therapy’, ‘Dry Therapy’ and ‘Breakage Therapy’. Currently Dove is focusing on complete solution to the customers Skin and Hair Care needs and not just the products.