THE CHALLENGE

For decades, Dove has been committed to widening today’s stereotypical view of beauty by taking concrete actions to ensure no women is held back from appearance-based discrimination. Dove had a responsibility to respond and ensure women aren’t aged out of their careers for choosing to wear their hair grey. 

THE STRATEGY

When the news broke that Lisa Laflamme’s abrupt departure may have been due in part to her grey hair, there was a storm of online conversation about workplace ageism and sexism. As a brand that has stood for real beauty for decades, we knew Dove had the permission—and responsibility—to stand up on this issue. We launched our campaign within 48-hours in a brand-relevant, timely, and meaningful way.   

THE EXECUTION

An outraged, hostile social conversation was happening online, but Dove quickly recognized the need to intervene and engage consumers, changing the sentiment around the topic, rooted in Dove’s purpose of “Let’s Change Beauty”.  Dove launched a new campaign showcasing grey hair as beautiful while changing its iconic logo from gold to grey. Using hashtag: ‘#KeepTheGrey’, the campaign was launched across all owned social channels and the brand encouraged others to do the same: use #KeepTheGrey and change their profile picture greyscale alongside to build a social movement of solidarity for all women with grey hair.   

Paid media plans were developed to amplify brand assets and influencers were engaged across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.   

Finally, to be an actionist brand with Brand-Do support, Dove donated $100,000 to Catalyst, a global Unilever partner helping advance all women in the workplace. 

THE OUTCOME

This campaign drove unmatched talkability as the most covered campaign in the history of Dove Canada. Results at a glance: 

• 1B+ impressions 

• 675+ earned stories - Locally, it was covered by every major news outlet – every single broadcast news channel in Canada, from national top-tier to local news channels covered the story. It was even included in a printed story in Canada’s most read newspaper, the Toronto Star.  

• 95% positive/neutral sentiment  

• 18k+ pieces of UGC were shared generating a true social movement 

• On Twitter, #KeepTheGrey trended and positively pivoted the conversation with profile pictures changed and grey hair selfies shared, with the hashtag reaching 15% of the Canadian population.  

• Paid media results delivered the most cost-efficient CPM on Dove YTD.  

• Even other brands joined the conversation, turning their logos grey, including Wendy’s and Sports Illustrated.  
   

Edelman Data Intelligence also developed a consumer impact report, where overall results proved very positive: 

• 90% of campaign viewers felt #KeepTheGrey brought attention to an important topic that needs to be discussed 

• 61% of campaign viewers are more likely to purchase Dove 

• 89% of campaign viewers found the campaign gave them a good impression of Dove 

• 83% of campaign viewers would like to see more work like this from Dove 
   

In response to the overwhelming social and media support, Dove became the first-ever beauty and CPG brand offered a seat on the Ontario Human Rights Commission board in order to continue fighting for women’s rights and ending ageism in Canada.