the value of relationships in marketing on the web

The value of Relationships in Marketing on the Web - an intrinsic case study of how Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty adds value to online consumer-brand relationships MACC Thesis, Aarhus School of Business, April 2010

Author: Thor Ahmé Jakobsen Supervisor: Irene Pollach 06-04-2010

MA of Arts in Corporate Communication, MA thesis, April 2010 Exam Code: Exam 9 Thor Ahmé Jakobsen Student exam number: 274783

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Table of Content Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... 4

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 7

1.1 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................ 8

1.1.1 Research Question: ..................................................................................................................... 9

1.2 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 9

1.2.1 A modern perspective vs. a post-modern perspective on marketing ...........................................10

1.2.2 Methodological Position – Social Constructionism ......................................................................11

1.3 Delimitation ......................................................................................................................................12

1.4 Thesis Structure ................................................................................................................................13

1.5 The case study ..................................................................................................................................13

1.5.1 Corporate constellation ..............................................................................................................14

1.5.2 Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty .....................................................................................14

2. Literature review ....................................................................................................................................17

2.1 Marketing and the Transactional Paradigm .......................................................................................17

2.1.1 On marketing and the transactional paradigm ............................................................................17

2.1.2 Defining Marketing .....................................................................................................................18

2.2 Discussion .........................................................................................................................................23

2.3 On shifting perspectives to marketing – towards relationships ..........................................................24

2.4 The Relational Paradigm ....................................................................................................................25

2.4.1 Defining Relationship Marketing .................................................................................................26

2.4.2 Narrow versus broad views of Relationship Marketing ...............................................................31

2.5 On brands and relationships ..............................................................................................................32

2.5.1 Branding the product..................................................................................................................32

2.5.2 Brands as living organisms ..........................................................................................................33

2.5.3 A relational perspective on brands .............................................................................................34

2.5.4 Consumer-brand relationships in online environments ...............................................................37

2.5 Discussion: From Transaction to Relationship? ..................................................................................39

2.6 Theoretical lessons learned and the approach used for the case study ..............................................45

2.6.1 Recommendations – adding value to online consumer-brand relationships ................................47

3. Research Design for the case study .........................................................................................................48

3.1 Research Design – the case study approach.......................................................................................48

3.1.1 Case study forms ........................................................................................................................49


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3.2. Data Collection .................................................................................................................................50

3.2.1 Netnography ..............................................................................................................................50

3.3 Making sense of the data ..................................................................................................................54

3.4 Validity and limitations ......................................................................................................................54

4. Studying the Campaign for Real Beauty from a relational perspective .....................................................55

4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................55

4.2 The Campaign for Real beauty – an overview ....................................................................................55

4.2.1 Other initiatives that aims to boost Dove's positive image ..........................................................56

4.3 Discussion on Dove’s relational transition .........................................................................................57

4.4 Analysis of Dove’s website ................................................................................................................59

4.5 Analysis of Dove’s viral videos ...........................................................................................................63

4.5.1 Analysis of Dove Evolution ..........................................................................................................63

4.5.2 Analysis of Dove Beauty Pressure ...............................................................................................65

4.5.3 Analysis of Dove Pro Age ............................................................................................................66

4.5.4 Analysis of Dove Amy .................................................................................................................67

4.6 Discussion .........................................................................................................................................68

4.7 Analysis of Dove’s online consumer relations ....................................................................................71

4.7.1 Theme 1: Admiration and love for Dove .....................................................................................71

4.7.2 Theme 2: Who is to blame? ........................................................................................................74

4.7.3 Theme 3: Dove being part of the Unilever corporation ...............................................................75

4.7.4 Theme 4: Ethics ..........................................................................................................................78

4.7.5 Theme 5: Authenticity ................................................................................................................79

4.7.6 Theme 6: Identification...............................................................................................................80

4.7.7 Theme 7: Questions and suggestions ..........................................................................................81

4.8 Summary of Findings .........................................................................................................................83

5. Discussion ...............................................................................................................................................85

6. Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................................92

Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................................96


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Executive Summary Background

This thesis puts focus on how changes in consumer behavior and society in general have resulted

in a rethinking of how brands can approach consumers with the purpose of establishing

sustainable consumer-brand relationships. This rethinking includes questioning whether or not

traditional marketing approaches, such as the 4Ps, are still applicable or if relational approaches to

marketing and branding are seen as being a more suited approach to follow in an era where there

is an increasing need for marketers to deeply understand consumer behavior, in order for their

marketed brands to be purchased (Arnould et. al., 2005) . An alternative marketing method

includes using the internet to brand your company and company products where the emergence

of corporate- and social websites, blogs and communities offer new possibilities for brands to

communicate and interact with consumers that give an opportunity for marketers to gain a deeper

understanding of consumer values, attitudes and needs. As a result, companies are now trying to

figure out what these new possibilities mean to their business. Based on these preliminary

observations, the purpose of this thesis is to discuss the emergence of relational approaches to

marketing and branding and to study how a company is actively involved in building and

maintaining relationships with consumers by means of participation and social interaction in an

online environment. This will be done by studying the practical aspects of establishing sustainable

online consumer-brand relationships exemplified by an intrinsic case study analysis of the personal

care brand “Dove” and the “Campaign for Real Beauty”

Research questions

Based upon the above made observations, the following research questions are stated: (1) Seen

from a relational perspective, how is Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty adding value to online

consumer-brand relationships; (2) How has relational perspectives emerged as a new marketing

paradigm and how does the literature contribute to the establishment of online-consumer brand

relationships?; (3) Seen from a relational perspective, what are the opportunities and threats that

face Dove when establishing online consumer-brand relationships? ; (4) Based on the findings of


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this thesis, what general learning points of interest to other organizations can be proposed when

wanting to establish sustainable online consumer-brand relationships?

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical literature used for this thesis is primarily based on relational approaches to

marketing and branding being that this is the area of exploration. The literature review includes

relevant theory that aims to discuss the origin and purpose of the relational paradigm as well as

discussing its relevance among consumers in today’s society. Based on relevant findings in the

literature review, the thesis will turn to the fact that a limited amount of research has been

conducted on how to apply relational perspectives to the establishment of online consumer-brand

relationships. Consequently, l will discuss perspectives on relational branding and brand

communities in order for me to have a theoretical foundation for the exploration of Dove and on

how the Campaign for Real Beauty is adding value to online consumer-brand relationships.

Empirical Analysis

The empirical analysis includes a case study of Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty. More

specifically it includes a study of Dove’s online communications on , as well as how consumers

react to this communication. This is done for the purpose of illuminating how Dove and consumers

on different community websites add value to the consumer-brand relationship. The empirical

data will be analyzed in terms of language and visual content. Based on the explorative findings,

the thesis aims to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Dove’s online

consumer relationships.

Findings

On a general level, this thesis concludes that Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is adding value to

online consumer-brand relationship by having created a holistic campaign that support Dove’s


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mission to change the way the media and society in general has distorted our perception of

beauty. By engaging in consumer interactions and making the mission an united one, Dove

succeeds in adding value to its brand. From a critical point of view, however, it is also concluded

that the Dove brand is not as authentic and transparent as it perceives itself to be. Consequently,

identified threats endangers the sustainability of the relationship.


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1. Introduction Recent studies on how consumers perceive marketing communications, i.e. advertising in different

media, show that companies and brands are facing an increasing problem that threatens the way

marketing- and marketing communication strategies have been carried so far (InitiativeUniversal,

2009; Mindshare, 2009; Trendanalysen 2010). In today’s mass-communicated- and product

saturated market, these studies show that consumers increasingly “reject” traditional marketing

communication strategies via traditional media channels such as Radio, TV and print media

because they find the advertisements either disturbing, irrelevant for their consumer needs, or

uninteresting (Ibid). Based on the facts of these reports, it is concluded that it is getting harder for

companies to communicate with consumers through mass media channels with the aim of

generating return on investment (ROI)1 and building sustainable brand-consumer relationships.

Consequently, Marketing specialists and researchers are looking for alternative methods to market

their brands because they realize that executing the marketing mix , i.e. the four Ps of marketing

(Product, Price, Promotion and Place) might not be applicable in an era where there is an

increasing need for marketers to deeply understand consumer behavior in order for their

marketed brands to be purchased (Arnould et. al., 2005) . One alternative method includes using

the internet to brand your company and company products where the emergence of corporate-

and social websites, blogs and communities offer new possibilities for brands to communicate and

interact with consumers that give an opportunity for marketers to gain a deeper understanding of

consumer values, attitudes and needs. Seen from a relational perspective, the internet can be said

to have made the “gap” between company and consumer smaller and as a result, companies are

now trying to figure out what these new possibilities mean to their business. Based on these

preliminary observations, the purpose of this thesis is to discuss the emergence of relational

approaches to marketing and branding and to study how a company is actively involved in building

and maintaining relationships with consumers by means of participation and social interaction in

an online environment. This will be done by studying the practical aspects of establishing

sustainable online consumer-brand relationships exemplified by an intrinsic case study analysis of

1 ROI is the ratio of money gained or lost (whether realized or unrealized) on an investment relative to the amount of money invested.


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the personal care brand “Dove” and the “Campaign for Real Beauty”2. The unit of analysis is

targeted at the communicative interactions and processes that are occurring between Dove and

the consumers who are represented on Dove’s official community websites, as well as other

unofficial sites that are related to the Dove campaign.

1.1 Problem Statement

As argued for in the introduction, marketers are increasingly facing the problem of getting in

“contact” with consumers via traditional marketing methods because “pushed”3 communication is

increasingly being ignored. Instead of focusing on on-way communication, relational approaches

to marketing and branding suggest that marketers, to a higher degree, need to interact with

consumers as well as other stakeholders in order deal with this problem.

Turning to the literature that has previously dealt with Relationship Marketing and the

establishment of sustainable consumer-brand relationships, I have observed that a limited amount

of research has been conducted on observing and describing how Relationship Marketing is

practiced in online environments. Whereas most literature on Relationship Marketing, is centered

on the transition from traditional-/transactional marketing theory to Relationship Marketing and

understanding its theoretical relevance and function in today’s society (Fournier, 1998; Seth &

Parvatiyar, 2000; Bruhn, 2003; Egan, 2004, 2008; Grönroos 1994, 1999, 2004, 2006), a limited

amount of research has been conducted on how to build sustainable online consumer-brand

relationships and look at the benefits and challenges that lie herein.

Based on these preliminary observations, the purpose of this thesis becomes three-folded. Firstly,

the thesis aims to shed light on different perspectives on marketing and discuss whether or not we

can talk about a paradigm shift in marketing towards a relational approach. Secondly, I will

illuminate that a lack of research have been conducted on how to apply relational theory

perspectives to the establishment of online consumer-brand relationships. Finally, I will explore

how relational approaches can be used in a practical context by enlighten the specific

opportunities and challenges that companies are facing when building online consumer-brand

2 http://www.unilever.com/brands/personalcarebrands/dove.aspx

3 One-way communication approach from company to consumer


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relationships. This will be done by analyzing the online case of Dove and the Campaign for Real

Beauty as seen from a relational marketing perspective.

1.1.1 Research Question: Based on the observations made in the problem statement, it becomes relevant to ask the

following research question for this thesis:

• Seen from a relational perspective, how is Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty adding value

to online consumer-brand relationships

In order to put the research question into operation, I seek to answer the following three

questions:

1. How has relational perspectives emerged as a new marketing paradigm and how

does the literature contribute to the establishment of online-consumer brand

relationships?

2. Seen from a relational perspective, what are the opportunities and threats that face

Dove when establishing online consumer-brand relationships?

3. Based on the findings of this thesis, what general learning points of interest to other

organizations can be proposed when wanting to establish sustainable online

consumer-brand relationships?

1.2 Methodology The purpose of the methodology is to state the methodological position of the thesis by

enlightening my ontological and epistemological choices in order for my research questions to be

answered accordingly. Before stating my methodological position for this thesis, the section

discusses two contrasting approaches – Modernism versus Postmodernism.


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1.2.1 A modern perspective vs. a post-modern perspective on marketing In the process of formulating the methodological position for this thesis, I have turned to

relational marketing literature to learn from the ways other scholars have studied the theoretical

fieldwork. When studying the work of Grönroos (1994), John Egan (2008) and Jagdish N. Seth &

Atul Parvatiyar (2000), who are among the main Relationship Marketing theory contributors, it

becomes clear that consumers and understanding their needs are central elements in the theory.

Contrastingly, traditional marketing theory scholars represent a “transaction-oriented” approach

to marketing exemplified by the Marketing Mix and the 4Ps model of marketing: Price, Place,

Product, Promotion (Kotler, 1999). This approach has existed since the 1960s where society was

characterized by being industrialized and the mass marketing of products was a dominating factor

(Grönroos, 1999). For this thesis, the two contrasting marketing approaches are related to the

ontological positions of 1) Modernism, represented by Transaction Marketing and 2)

Postmodernism, represented by Relationship Marketing (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995).

A modern worldview

On one hand, Modernism favors the idea of a “single reality” and “one truth” (ibid) meaning that

the methodological position aims to explain a phenomenon by applying science to make a

universal law about how to view the world. Daymon & Holloway (2002) refers to this as the

epistemological position of “positivism” or “realism” and the approach assumes that reality is an

objective, observable entity which is independent of those involved in it. The modernist and

positivist perspectives imply that consumer behavior and the way consumers engage in

relationships with brands can be explained by a systematic and analytical approach to research

(ibid). The approach includes quantitative research methods, i.e. questionnaires and structured

interviews, where universal laws are created by being distant from what is actually being

researched. In other words, the researcher gathers his or her data from pre-fixed questions and

so, numbers and statistics are favored over words to make sense of the world we live in. The

advantage of the positivist approach is that the research data can be statistically measured

wherefrom patterns emerge. Thus, the world exists of measurable facts which constitute an

objective and independent foundation for scientific knowledge.


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A Postmodern worldview

On the other hand, the ontological approach, Postmodernism, looks at reality and truth as being

“constructed” elements that cannot be justified by any universal laws (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995).

Instead, the approach views the world as containing more than one reality and truth because

these entities depend on several societal, human, and cultural determiners that construct the

world and the reality which we live in. Based on these determiners, the postmodern approach is

considered to be a continuing changing process and it therefore draws upon the epistemological

position of Social Constructionism (ibid). In contrast to the position of positivism, the social

constructionist approach is rooted in the ontological position that the knowledge about the world

is relative and identity is a position that is generated and socially constructed in a relational

context (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995). Based on this idea, the positivist idea is being rejected by

arguing that it is narrow, inflexible and objective in its working philosophy (ibid). Modernism and

positivism, according to the postmodern critique, is unable to understand the complexity of

human behavior because it deals with measurable data to systematize, to explain and to predict

general laws. The subjective nature of social constructionism raises the issue that we cannot have

a single or unified theory of consumers and consumer-brand relationships. Instead, we need

perhaps several theories on consumption and relationships.

1.2.2 Methodological Position – Social Constructionism My methodological approach will be based on the two central elements of this thesis that

contribute to the understanding of online consumer-brand relationships.

The first central element of the thesis involves the understanding of Relationship Marketing theory

and its fragmentation from the positivistic interpretation of traditional marketing theory. Based

on the understanding of Relationship Marketing, this thesis will discuss how consumer-brand

relationships are established on the internet via social interactions and how Relationship

Marketing can be applied to the issue.

The second central element of the thesis involves a case study of Dove’s campaign for Real Beauty

and an understanding of how consumer-brand relationships are established online. The case study


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is based on an explorative study of how a brand and consumers socially interact and how meaning

and value is created in an online brand-consumer relationship.

Given the focus on these two elements , I find that the social constructionist perspective, which

implies that people construct knowledge in social settings where they share cultures, values and

meanings, is the most suitable approach for this thesis (Burr, 2001). The knowledge and

understanding about these constructions will be based on two qualitative research methods for

my collecting data; Netnography (Kozinets, 2002) and personal interviews (Daymon &

Holloway,2002). In order to further enhance the reliability and validity of my research, I will

analyze Dove’s website as well as the company’s online advertising material from the Campaign

for Real Beauty. Additionally, I will also include other consumer-controlled websites related to

Dove’s campaign. The research design of this thesis will be further emphasized in chapter three of

this thesis.

1.3 Delimitation

This thesis is delaminated to focus solely on the consumer-brand relationship of Dove and does

not include relationships that are related to various other stakeholder groups such as distributers,

employees, stockholders, governments etc. Furthermore, the purpose of the thesis is to look at

the online perspective of building relationships so therefore, this thesis is delaminated to focus on

online communications between Dove and consumers represented on social sites such as

YouTube, Facebook and other relevant community sites. It was the purpose of Doing an interview

with a Dove brand manager, but for the purpose of Dove not wanting to corporate, this interview

never took place. Consequently the validity of my research solely depends on relevant articles,

official Dove stamens and online consumer communication.

In researching a case, triangulation is often used to increase the validity and reliability of the

research. Based on the reasons stated above, this does not apply triangulation and the validity and

reliability of the research is thus solely based on online observations, where the true identities of

people are hidden. From a critical viewpoint, it could have been interesting to gain deeper insights

into who Dove’s online consumers are.


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1.4 Thesis Structure

The first part of this thesis includes a theoretical review of marketing literature and discusses the

transition from transactional marketing to Relationship Marketing as recognized by the likes of

renowned Relationship Marketing scholars; Seth & Parvatiyar (2000), Bruhn (2003), Egan (2004),

Grönroos (1994, 1999, 2004, 2006), and Fournier (1998). The review aims to discuss the origin and

purpose of the Relationship Marketing paradigm and discuss its relevance among consumers in

today’s society. Based on relevant findings in the literature review, I will turn to the fact that a

limited amount of research has been conducted on how to apply relational perspectives to the

establishment of online consumer-brand relationships. In this connection, I will also discuss

perspectives on relational branding and brand communities in order for me to have a theoretical

foundation for the exploration of Dove and on how the Campaign for Real Beauty is adding value

to online consumer-brand relationships. Based on relevant findings from the literature review, I

will give my recommendations as to what values sustainable consumer-brand relationships are

based upon. This theoretical approach will be used for the exploration of Dove and the Campaign

for Real Beauty in chapter four.

For the second part of this thesis starting from chapter three, I will introduce my methodological

approach for collecting empirical data. In chapter four, I draw on my theoretical knowledge gained

in chapter two for the purpose of analyzing how Dove is adding value to online consumer-brand

relationships. Based on the explorative findings, this thesis then aims to discuss the strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Dove’s online consumer relationships. This is done in

chapter five of the thesis. Lastly, I will conclude upon relevant findings in chapter six.

1.5 The case study

Before turning to the literature review of this thesis, a short introduction to Dove is provided, as

this information is found to be essential for the understanding of the online relationship between

Dove and their consumers which will be explored later in this thesis. The corporate websites of


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Dove and Unilever4 has provided me with the following information about the constellation of the

corporation and the Campaign for Real Beauty.

1.5.1 Corporate constellation

Dove is owned by a multinational company called Unilever which is one of the world’s largest

FMCG5 corporations. Unilever was formed in the 1920s as a result of a merger between a Dutch

margarine company and a British producer of soap. Today Unilever has grown into a multibillion

corporation with a worldwide turnover of €40.5 billion in 2008. Unilever delivers brands that are

sold to more than 170 countries around the world which contribute to our everyday lives i.e. food

brands, home care brands, and personal care brands. The most prominent brands in terms of

turnover include thirteen €1bn brands: Axe/Lynx, Knorr, Becel/ Flora, Hellmann's, Lipton, Omo,

Surf, Lux, Dove, Blue Band/Rama, Sunsilk, Rexona and Heartbrand ice creams. The brands are all

marketed under the corporate vision of bringing vitality to peoples’ lives. Unilever aims to improve

the lives of people in a sustainable way by investing in worldwide community programs, reduce

water supplies and C02gasses, and encourage sustainability practices throughout Unilever’s supply

chain. In this connection, Unilever invested €91 million on community projects worldwide in 2008

and the corporation has 270 manufacturing sites across six continents, all of which strive for

improved performance on safety, efficiency, quality and environmental impacts, working to

global Unilever standards and management systems.

1.5.2 Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty

The unit of analysis for this thesis is Unilever’s Dove brand and the campaign for Real Beauty

which was first launched in 2004 and still exists today. Despite the fact that the Dove brand has

been on the market since the 1950s, it was not before the Campaign for Real Beauty was launched

that the brand gained a strong position in the minds of consumers. Based on a global study about

women and their perception about self-image and beauty standards set by the media, Dove

concluded that most women are not satisfied with their physical attractiveness and most women 4 www.unliver.com and www.dove.us

5 Fast moving consumer goods


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agree that the media sets unrealistic beauty standards. Dove found a gap between what was

portrayed beautiful in the media and what women thought of their own personal beauty. The goal

of the campaign became to challenge the stereotypical beauty- and body images by providing an

alternative for women who recognize that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. This was done by

featuring “real” women in their advertisements. A photo from the campaign is portrayed below:

Source: www.dove.com/da

In stark contrast to other brands in the industry for beauty products that focus on making women

more beautiful than they really are, Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty does not focus on promoting

the company’s product line. Instead, Dove focuses on a social phenomenon, i.e. our perception of

beauty, with the intention of causing a debate on the issue and changing society’s definition of

beauty.

For this thesis, I have selected Dove’s online activities regarding the campaign by exploring how

Dove builds consumer-brand relationships on the internet by discussing social phenomenon such

as beauty, body image and self-esteem. This thesis will explore how Dove builds brand value by

interacting with consumers on their corporate website and posting advertisements on social

media websites where Dove’s messages and brand is being discussed.

http://www.dove.com/da


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Now that the goal and the research questions of this thesis have been outlined as well as the case

study to be explored has been introduced, the focus will turn to the academic foundation of this

thesis. In other words, the next chapter will review the relevant literature to ensure a solid

understanding of the theory relevant to this thesis.


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2. Literature review For this thesis, the purpose of the literature review is to establish an understanding of the two

contrasting marketing paradigms; 1) the transactional marketing approach and 2) the relational

marketing approach and discuss whether or not we can talk about a paradigm shift in marketing.

Key theories and underlying arguments in the literature should provide answers and

recommendations for how product and brands can be marketed on the internet with the aim of

establishing sustainable consumer-brand relationships.

2.1 Marketing and the Transactional Paradigm The purpose of the following chapter is to give the reader of this thesis a conceptualization of

marketing theory and discuss how and why some scholars believe that Transactional Marketing

has been replaced by Relationship Marketing. As stated by Egan: “Relationship Marketing has

been a topic of serious discussion among academics and marketing practitioners for the past 20

years” (Egan, 2008: 16). Based on Egan’s statement, it becomes interesting to answer some of the

reasons for Egan’s argumentation. This will be done by giving a review of the development of

marketing through the eyes of various marketing scholars who are considered being major

contributors of different marketing theories. By conceptualizing the conflicting approaches of

transactional- and relational marketing, this thesis discusses whether or not a shift in marketing

paradigms have occurred. Conclusively, the literature review will illuminate how the Relationship

Marketing concept is connected to online brand relationships, as this is an issue that has not been

shed much light upon by researchers until now. Based on relevant observations and findings, the

chapter is concluded by conceptualizing how Relationship Marketing theory can be applied to the

process of building sustainable online consumer-brand relationships.

2.1.1 On marketing and the transactional paradigm

In order to discuss the change within marketing paradigms from a transactional to a relational

approach, it is found relevant to review how the concept of marketing has evolved by discussing


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how marketing has been defined since 1935 to present day. The purpose of understanding of the

marketing concept is to clarify how changes in our society and the way we perceive the world have

had an impact on how companies approach the concept. In other words, this thesis will discuss the

transactional marketing approach and its applicability in today’s marketplace.

2.1.2 Defining Marketing

Although marketing is largely seen as a 20th century phenomenon, marketing practices have been

a part of our society for centuries. Seth & Parvatiyar (2000) state that: “Although marketing

practices can be traced back as far as 7000 B.C (…), marketing thought as a distinct discipline was

born out of economics around the beginning of the 20th century” (Seth & Parvatiyar, 2000 p. 119).

The statement proves that although marketing has existed for many years, it is not until the

industrialization of the Western world that the concept of modern marketing is recognized as an

academic practice (Egan, 2008). One of the earliest definitions of modern marketing can be traced

back to 1935 where the National Association of Marketing Teachers defines marketing as:

“(Marketing is) the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services

from producers to consumers” (Keefe, 2008).

The 1935 definition reflects how marketing was defined in era where the production and selling of

goods and services were considered a fairly simple task getting them from A to B and herein

making a transactional process . Although the definition is rather straightforward and simple, it is

not until 50 years later in 1985 that the definition of marketing was changed (Keefe, 2008). The

necessity of redefining the concept can be an offspring of having defined marketing in broad terms

without telling about the strategic activities and processes in marketing as we know today.

Additionally, the definition does not include any other stakeholders than “consumers”. Today, the

marketing process includes the identification of several stakeholders where distributers,

governments, investors, employees, NGO’s etc. play a key role in the marketing of products and

services.


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Based on these observations, it becomes relevant to look at how marketing was defined in 1985

by the American Marketing Association (AMA6):.

“Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and

distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and

organizational objectives” (AMA, 1985 in Grönroos, 1994: 347).

When studying this definition, it becomes clear that the purpose of marketing is more than getting

a product or service from A to B. However still a transaction, two major differences are identified

compared to the 1935 definition of marketing. Firstly, AMA’s definition does not identify the

“consumer” as the single most important stakeholder of the company. Instead, the definition

refers to “individuals and organizations” as being company stakeholders. It is thus proved that the

1985 definition looks at stakeholders in broader perspective where the objective of the marketer

becomes to satisfy the needs of the end-user as well as satisfying the organizational objectives of

the company. Secondly, the 1985 definition identifies a process involving the planning as well as

execution of specific activities. These activities include the “pricing”, “promotion” and

“distribution” of “ideas”, “goods” and “services”. The conception of these marketing activities

clearly relates to McCarthy (1978) and his “Marketing Mix” theory which involves the strategic

implementation of the 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) when marketing products and

services (McCarthy, 1978 in Egan, 2008: p. 23). It is clear that the “Marketing Mix” has had a

significant influence on the formulation of AMA’s 1985 marketing definition. This is considered to

be a cause of the simple strategic nature of the Marketing Mix. When putting the theory into

operation, the marketer plans and strategically implements the four Ps when realizing the overall

marketing strategy of a company (Kotler, 1999) and according to Grönoos, “the marketer plans

various means of competitions and blends them into a marketing mix, so that a profit function is

optimized, or rather satisfied” (Grönroos, 1994: 348). Grönroos sees the marketing mix as a

strategic planning tool where the use and specification of the four Ps describes the strategic

position of a product in the marketplace in order for an organization to create a profit. Based upon

6 The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the largest marketing association in North America. It is a professional association for individuals and organizations involved in the practice, teaching and study of marketing worldwide. It is also the source that marketers turn to every day for information/resources, education/training and professional networking (http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Pages/default.aspx)


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this idea, the key to successful marketing becomes one where focus is put on the product and the

profit it can generate in a marketplace by means of implemented planned strategies.

Because of its simple framework, the Marketing Mix has been adopted by numerous students,

teachers and practitioners who have made it an unavoidable theory to consider when dealing with

any marketing practice. According to Grönroos (1994), who is one of the most critical scholars

towards the transactional marketing paradigm, the Marketing Mix has an almost religious status

among a majority of marketing scholars because they believe that it is the sole “marketing truth”

(Grönroos, 1994A: p. 322-324). He adds that for an academic researcher to question the

Marketing Mix and the 4Ps “is to stick out his or her neck too far” (ibid). The arguments of

Grönroos opens up for a critical discussion on how the Marketing Mix and the 4 Ps have

dominated marketing agendas for decades. During the 1990s, Grönroos has written several critical

articles about the Marketing Mix because of its lack of customer/consumer focus. He argues that

the foundation of the marketing mix paradigm represent an oversimplification of the context of

marketing. Grönroos argue that the four Ps represent a list of categories of marketing variables

and that this way of defining and describing the marketing phenomenon can never be considered

a very valid one (ibid: p. 348). A list never includes all the required aspects, it does not fit in every

given situation, and it becomes obsolete (ibid). Based on these arguments, it can be concluded

that the marketing mix represent the methodological position of positivism by believing that

successful marketing depends on the way organization follow the four Ps as a strategic marketing

planning tool and thus being able to state one truth. Following this idea, the marketing mix

represents a simplistic and narrow scoped view of the processes of marketing because the theory

does not consider the value of relationship building processes and the thoughts, attitudes, ideas

and needs of an organization’s stakeholders. Seen from a critical postmodern point of view, the

marketing mix paradigm is unable to understand the complexity of human behavior and deals with

measurable data to systematize, to explain, and to predict general laws (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995).

Relationships, however, are often immeasurable entities because they include emotional and

attitudinal determiners. Hence, it becomes relationship issues that expose the problems of the

marketing mix, because consumption behavior cannot always be explained by means of

quantitative statistical measurements.


21

Antorini & Andersen ( Shultz et al. , 2005) describe the transactional marketing notion in figure 1

and expose its lack if of consumer involvement. The figure shows that relationship processes are

non-existent in the transactional marketing paradigm because the “company” executes one-way

communication to the “consumer”. The communicative message is delivered to consumers via

traditional mass media without further consumer involvement.

Figure 1:

(Source: Antorini & Andersen in Shultz et al., 2005: 98)

This critical view on marketing and the transactional marketing paradigm is considered to have

had an impact on how the AMA re-defined marketing in 2004:

”Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and

delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the

organization and its stakeholders” (Keefe, 2008).

This definition is characterized by enlightening the fact marketing is a two-way relational process

where focus is put on delivering value to customers in a way that satisfies the organization as well

its stakeholders. “Product” has been replaced by “value” which indicate that customers can

receive something of value from the company without is being a physical object or product. Thus

“value” can be interpreted as products, services, experiences, guarantees or other offerings

Company

Consumer

”From us to you!”


22

provided by the company. Furthermore, it is interesting to observe that it has become important

to manage customer relationships instead of focusing on solely company-customer transactions.

AMA’s new definition is clearly a result of the emergence of the Relationship Marketing concept in

the 1990s where, among other, Grönroos argues that managing customer relationships hold

significant value over managing company-customer transactions (Grönroos, 1994A). In connection

with AMA’s new marketing definition, Grönroos came with his own definition of the concept two

years later:

“Marketing is a customer focus that permeates organizational functions and processes and is

geared towards making promises through value proposition, enabling the fulfillment of individual

expectations created by such promises and fulfilling such expectations through support

to customers’ value-generating processes, thereby supporting value creation in the firm’s as well

as its customers’ and other stakeholders’ processes” (Grönroos, 2006: p. 407).

Grönroos’s definition emphasizes the fact that marketing, in his yes, should be customer-driven

where promises are made to satisfy individual needs. Marketing is a diciplin that should be

reflected throughout the whole organization and not just be a staff-function. Focus should not

only be on making promises, but fulfilling these promises by understanding customer- and

stakeholder-value and understanding how to create value for them. Grönroos labels his definition

a “promise management definition” (ibid) because he believes that marketing, through the eyes of

a company, is fundamentally about keeping promises and being honest.

Finally, the AMA presented a modified marketing definition in 2007 which states that:

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,

delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at

large” (Keefe, 2008).

When looking at this definition, it becomes clear that the marketing concept is still a very broad

term. Despite the identification of stakeholders such as “customers”, “clients”, “partners” and

“society at large”, the definition fails to specify how value is created for them. In this definition


23

marketing is about everything a company is involved in. Based on this observation, the 2007 AMA

definition may be inspired by Grönroos’s definition from 2006 where he emphasizes the

importance of marketing being reflected throughout the organization task rather than being a

functional task.

Despite the rise of relational marketing theories, and the recognition of the value of

“relationships” in AMA’s 2004 definition, the 2007 definition does not include the meaning and

value of relationships in marketing. Although “exchange of offerings” can be interpreted as having

a relational connotation, it is concluded that the AMA is not convinced that relational issues

should not change the way we should look upon marketing in general. Thus, despite Grönroos’s

criticism, the 2007 definition of marketing still favor making company-consumer “transactions”

where value is created by the company and not the consumer.

2.2 Discussion When reviewing how the definition of marketing have changed over the years, it interesting to see

that it is not until the turn of the century that the definition of marketing has changed on a more

regular basis. The first definition of marketing stood for 50 years before it was redefined in 1985.

Since then, the AMA has stated two new definitions in 2004 and 2007, and Grönroos defined

marketing in 2006. The definitions prove that marketing as a concept has gone through different

development stages where the identification of different stakeholders has become an important

issue. Marketing is no longer based on simple company-consumer transactions but based on

several stakeholders that influence the marketing process. In addition, they show that marketing

has gone from being more product- to customer orientated where value is not only provided by

the company, but by other stakeholders as well.

To conclude, the need to redefine marketing on a regular basis has become an important issue for

21st century marketing scholars. The definitions prove that marketing is a developing concept that

should embrace and consider current societal issues that have an impact on marketing practices.

The change of marketing is seen as a natural consequence of an ever-changing world and

environment where changes in technology, competition, legislation, consumer-behavior etc. have

an impact on how offerings should be marketed.


24

2.3 On shifting perspectives to marketing – towards relationships To highlight some of the reasons for the change in marketing definitions, different eras in

marketing will be discussed in the following section to see how new ideas on marketing has

evolved into what we know as Relationship Marketing.

Christopher et al. (1991) speak of six eras within marketing during the 20th century where the

1950s and 1960s were characterized as being the age of consumer- and industrial marketing

where the customer was the single most important stakeholder (Christopher et. Al., 1991 in Egan,

2008: 18). In the 1970s and 1980s, the stakeholder perspective was broadened to include the non-

profit sector as well as the service sector making previous homogeneous markets more

heterogeneous (ibid). Even though the world was changing and becoming ever more diverse,

traditional product marketing approaches still dominated the marketing agendas during the 1990s

(ibid). New ideas and concepts on marketing was needed to deal with the increasing complexity of

dealing with i.e. competition, legislation, customers and technological developments.

Similar to the marketing eras of Christopher et al. (1991), Manfred Bruhn describes the marketing

development process as a five-step development phase where marketing in the 1960s, 1970s and

1980s focused on being product, market, and competitor oriented, whereas the 1990s and beyond

2000 meant the beginning of customer- and network orientation (Bruhn, 2004: 2-3). In this period

of time, organizations started to align their activities in accordance to customer wants and needs

by engaging in interaction, collaboration and dialogue, and the value these factors can bring to an

organization (ibid). Similar to the customer and network orientation, “Service Marketing” is

another concept that was introduced in this period of time and it shares many of the same ideas

of being engaged in buyer-seller interactions and creating value from relationships (Sheth &

Parvatiyar, 2000: 95). This “new” approach is termed the “Nordic School Perspective” because of

its Scandinavian origin and it is characterized by having a significant shift in focus from those ideas

associated with the marketing mix and the transactional marketing paradigm (ibid). Some of these

ideas are described by Egan (2008: 20) and are interpreted in the following way:

Ø A move away from consumer good marketing towards service marketing.

Ø Emphasis on customer value instead of physical goods.


25

Ø Organizational integration of the marketing departmental function with other

organizational functions.

Ø Less emphasis on statistical numbers and quantitative research methods.

Ø More emphasis on empirical findings founded on experience and observational research

methods.

When reflecting upon the above observations about Service Marketing as well as the Consumer-

and Network approaches, they can be related to the era of post-modernity where consumers are

seen as self-knowing, independent individuals who are fragmented from the notion that people

are the same and have predictive consumer behavior (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995). Instead, it is

recognized that consumers are active players in the market place who via i.e. online blogs,

communities and social networks are able express their opinions and viewpoint about anything

from politics, private issues to specific products or brands. Consequently these societal,

technological, and psychological factors have led to more interaction, dialogue and involvement

between companies, consumers and other important stakeholders. As a result, companies now

discovered that relational approaches to marketing could generate value that could benefit the

company, i.e. terms of increased loyalty and profits, as well as their stakeholder, i.e. a higher level

of interaction and involvement leads to a higher level of stakeholder satisfaction.

2.4 The Relational Paradigm Having determined, to some degree, what the concept of marketing and the transactional

marketing paradigm covers, this chapter outlines some of the critique points of the transactional

marketing paradigm by introducing a different strategic approach to marking, i.e. Relationship

Marketing and building sustainable consumer-brand relationships. For the purpose of giving the

reader an understanding of the relational paradigm, this chapter aims to discuss different

approaches to Relationship Marketing and the concept’s relation to branding. The relational

approaches are outlined for the purpose of discussing whether or not they have emerged as the

new paradigm in marketing.


26

2.4.1 Defining Relationship Marketing Based on the previous review of customer-, network- and service marketing approaches, it

becomes clear that they see marketing as an interactive process where relationship building is a

key issue. This observation is furthermore emphasized by Grönroos who states that it is especially

the Nordic school perspective which…“views marketing as an interactive process in a social

context where relationship building and management is a vital cornerstone” (Grönroos, 1994:

353). Due to factors that involve changes in society (i.e. globalization, technological developments,

the Internet etc.), in the market (i.e. increasing competition) and in consumer behavior (i.e.

increasing consumer awareness, changes in lifestyle and trends etc.), it can be argued that the

value of relationships exceed the value of traditional marketing practices that until recently solely

focused on transactional exchanges. This assumption is supported by Hougaard and Bjerre (2003)

who believe that it is this increased value of relationships in business that have stimulated

researchers to establish a new paradigm of marketing strategy which is termed “Relationship

Marketing” (Hougaard & Bjerre, 2003: p. 28).

The value perspective between the company and the consumer is a key element in what is

described as Relationship Marketing and according to Grönroos; “…the existence of a relationship

between two parties creates additional value for the customer and also for the supplier or service

provider” (Grönroos, 2004: 99). Value is created because companies strive to understand their

customers as well as other stakeholders by means of communication. Hence, the Relation

Marketing paradigm is an understanding approach where companies engage in dialogue and

interactions with stakeholders in order to understand their needs and wants. These actions result

in a creation of mutual sustainable value between a company and its stakeholders and not short

termed transactional value as represented by the transactional marketing paradigm.

Besides the fact that the Relationship Marketing paradigm is about understanding consumers, it is

found to be a concept that has many definitions attached to it. When reviewing Relationship

Marketing literature, it becomes clear that it is a theory that is unclear and difficult to define.

Consequently, Relationship Marketing can be said to be a concept that is in flux and constantly

changing in coherence with the methodological position of social constructionism perspective

chosen for this thesis . Similar to the definition of Relationship Marketing, Burr (2001) argues that

social constructionism has no single definition, but several ones that are linked together by a kind


27

of “family resemblance” (Burr, 2001: 2). The same can be said about defining Relationship

Marketing where no consensus on the meaning and applicability of the concept has yet been

reached (Egan, 2008: 33). Despite the disagreement, some of the most recognized definitions of

Relationship Marketing are listed in chronological order in table 1. The definitions are quoted from

Bruhn (2004: 10):

Table 1: Definitions of Relationship Marketing

Berry 1983 Relationship marketing is attracting, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships

Grönroos 1990The goal of relationship marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other parties at a profit so that the objectives of the parties are met

Shani and Chalasani 1992

Relationship marketing is an integrated effort to identify, maintain and build up a network with individual consumers and to continuously strenghten the network for the mutual benefit of both sides through interactive, individualised and value-added contacs over a long period of time

Möller 1992Marketing is about understanding, creating and managing exchange relationships between economic parties; manufacturers, service providers, various channel members and final consumers

Grönroos 1992Marketing is to establish, maintain, enhance and commercialise customer relationships so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is done by a mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises.

Morgan and Hunt 1994Relationship marketing refers to all marketing activities directed towards establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges

Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995

Relationship marketing is a marketing orientation that seeks to develop close interactions with selected customers, suppliers and competitors for value creation through coorporative and colaborative efforts

Gummesson 1996 Relationship marketing is marketing seen as relationships, networks, and interaction

Sheth and Parvatiyar 2000

Relationship marketing is the ongoing process of engaging in cooperative and collaborative activities and programs with immediate and end-user customers to create or enhance mutual economic value, at reduced cost

The various definitions of Relationship Marketing prove that the concept has no single definition

attached to it and as a result, it breaks away from the positivist nature of traditional marketing

theory and the marketing mix. The definitions of Berry (1983), Morgan & Hunt (1994) and

Gummeson (1996) can be interpreted in many ways and thus, they are not seen as being very

specific. Seen through the eyes of these scholars, Relationship Marketing is firstly about,

attracting, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships and secondly, it involves “giving”


28

and “getting” via relational exchanges, and thereby creating relational interaction. Similarly,

Grönroos’s 1990 and 1992 definitions focus on the same relational processes, but he also implies

the thought of including other stakeholders (“other parties”) than the traditional

producer/distributer/customer stakeholders. He also focuses on the economical aspect of

engaging in relationships as well as reaching mutual objectives in order to achieve successful

relationships. The objectives can be reached when the involved parties “exchange and fulfill

promises”. Based on his definition of Relationship Marketing, the fulfillment and exchange of

“promises” are essential when forming successful relationships and thus, loyalty and trust can be

interpreted as being important drivers for realizing these “promises”. Whereas Grönroos’s

definition does not identify other stakeholders, Möller (1992) draws in the perspectives of

“understanding”, “creating” and “managing” relationships to those specific stakeholders involved

in a business transaction, such as manufacturers, distributors and consumers. This definition

includes the point of “understanding” and “managing” relationships in order to create value

between the parties. It is not enough to know your stakeholders, you also have to understand

them and manage them accordingly. However, in order to manage relationships, you need to get

your consumers’ permission to do so. A consumer has the power to choose relationships, not the

organization. This argument is supported by Fournier who believes that the relational partners

must collectively affect and define the relationship in which they are part of (Fournier, 1998: 344).

“Value creation” is also a theme in the Relationship Marketing definition of Sheth & Parvatiyar

(1995) who believe that value is created in relationships through cooperation and collaboration

with stakeholders. They believe that the activity is an ongoing process that ultimately leads to

economical gains at reduced costs. Prahalad & Ramaswamy take the concept further by arguing

that value can be “co-created” which means that consumers actively become engaged in the

process of creating product or service offerings (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 1994). According to

Shani & Chalasani’s definition of Relationship Marketing (table 1), they support the idea that

cooperation and collaboration are important drivers for successful relationship building. They

argue that Relationship Marketing is about nurturing an organization’s network by engaging in

dialogue, interaction and collaboration and see it as being an on-going and long-termed process.


29

The various definitions of Relationship Marketing show that consumers play an important role in

establishing and retaining value-adding relationships. Seen from a Relationship Marketing

perspective, organizations that engage in relationships by focusing on interaction, dialogue and

cooperation with key stakeholders are better equipped in an increasingly demanding and

competitive marketplace where there is a need for long-term Marketing relationships rather than

short-termed Marketing transactions. If these factors are met, value can be created between an

organization and consumers. “Increased value” is interpreted as being a mutual entity where (1);

consumer needs are met and (2); the company is experiencing an increase in consumption due to

consumers’ increased brand awareness and loyalty. Relationship Marketing and its enhanced

focus on consumers is exemplified by Antorini & Andersen’s (2005) perspective on company-

consumer relationships where they argue that organizations engage in relations to gather

information about consumers’ needs and wants. Interaction, cooperation, and dialogue thus

become important determiners for a successful relationship. Whereas the transactional approach

focuses on a one-way communicative action where the meaning of a product or brand is

determined by the company, the relational approach, i.e. figure 2, suggests that meaning is

created by the company as well as its stakeholders.

Figure 2:


Based on the various Relationship Marketing definitions, it can be concluded that Relationship

Marketing is difficult to define due to the fact that the relationship metaphor is complex by nature

and can be interpreted in many ways. Despite the many definitions, Relationship Marketing is

Company

Consumer

“Tell us what you want!”


30

generally seen as a process of establishing and maintaining relationships between an organization

and its stakeholders by means of two-way communication, mutual understanding and fulfillment

of needs. This argument is exemplified in Grönroos’ most recent definition of Relationship

Marketing which states: “Relationship Marketing is the process of identifying and establishing,

maintaining, enhancing, and when necessary terminating relationships with customers and other

stakeholders, at a profit, so that the objectives of all parties involved are met, where this is done by

a mutual giving and fulfillment of promises” (Grönroos, 2004: 101). The definition shows that

relationships appear in different “life-cycle” phases where relationships are; (1) identified, (2)

established, (3) maintained, (4) enhanced, and (5) terminated if necessary. Grönroos’s relationship

phases are exemplified in the below model.

Figure 3:

Source: Own processing inspired by Grönroos, 2004)

The model shows that relationship marketing is a dynamic and never-ending concept where the

success or failure of the relationship depends on how the company its stakeholders realize their

mutual objectives.

Despite the general agreement that Relationship Marketing is a process, scholars disagree

whether or not the concept should be used on a tactical or strategic level by organizations. The

following section discusses the narrow versus the broad view of Relationship Marketing.

Identified

established

maintained

enhanced

terminated


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2.4.2 Narrow versus broad views of Relationship Marketing

Overall, it is recognized that the concept of Relationship Marketing and its meaning can be

interpreted in two ways. The “narrow” view is characterized as being functional, whereas the

broad view is strategic and somewhat paradigmatic in approach and orientention (Seth &

Parvatiyar, 2000: 4-5).

The “narrow” view can be related to Shani & Chalasanis’s (1992) definition of Relationship

Marketing which solely focuses on relationships with individual customers (Table 1) and not other

stakeholders of the company. Examples of how to approach individual customers include

database marketing, direct marketing, CRM and one-to-one relationships with customers. Egan

(2008) points to the fact that many of these marketing tactics are used as a synonym for

Relationship Marketing and are more “transactional than relational in nature” (Egan, 2008: 32-33).

So to regard Relationship Marketing and i.e. database- and direct marketing as synonymous, is not

an accepted perspective by all scholars. Other scholars believe that Relationship Marketing should

be defined in broader terms and be a dominant paradigm in marketing. Christian Grönroos and

Evert Gummerson are considered to be two of the main supporters of this argument: “Although

each of them espouses the value of interactions in marketing and its consequent impact on

customer relationships, Grönroos (1990) and Gummesson (1987) take a broader perspective and

advocate that customer relationships ought to be the focus and dominant paradigm of marketing”

(Seth & Parvatiyar, 2000). By stating that customer relationships ought to be the focus and

dominant paradigm of marketing, Grönroos and Gummesson question the relevance of the

marketing mix as being the “only truth” of marketing. Instead, companies should focus on keeping

promises and realize stakeholder expectations by being stakeholder oriented and consider their

needs and wants instead of focusing on the product and the 4Ps (Grönroos, 2006: 407).

Contrastingly to the narrow view, Grönroos supports the idea that marketing is process that

should be carried out by the whole company and not be a simple functional task (Grönroos, 2004:

100).

The identified problems in coming to a consensus on the meaning and application of Relationship

Marketing suggests that no agreement as to a single definition of the concept can be made.

Despite the contrasting views of broad and narrow Relationship Marketing, it is, however,

concluded for this thesis that Relationship Marketing is a concept that has broken away from the


32

traditional transactional marketing school of thought due to changes in society and human

behavior where there is a need for a cooperative stance focused on mutual gains rather an

adversarial mind-set implied by transactional exchanges.

As this thesis is about how value is created between the Dove brand and its consumers, it

becomes relevant to illuminate how relational perspectives have influenced branding

perspectives. The following chapter discusses branding theory and its relation to the relational

marketing paradigm.

2.5 On brands and relationships

Similar to the transition from transactional- to relational marketing, the conceptualization of

brands and branding has also changed during the years from being product- to consumer oriented.

In his book on building strong brands, Aaker (1996) argues that a common pitfall for many

companies is to focus too much on product-related brand characteristics. Instead, he encourages

brand strategist to take a broader view of the brand when wanting to create value for their brand.

He believes that in taking the broader view of the brand, the likelihood of creating differentiating

value is enhanced (Aaker, 1996: vii).

The following section aims to discuss how the change in marketing paradigms is related to

branding and consumer-brand relationships.

2.5.1 Branding the product

Although the history of branding can be traced back for many centuries, the term was derived

from the marketing of livestock (Carratu, 1987 in Seth & Parvatiyar, 2000: 128). Owners of

livestock started branding their cattle in order to distinguish theirs form other cattle when they

brought them to the market for sale (ibid). At this point of time, branding was primarily about

visualizing your ownership of different goods that hold economical value to you.


33

Entering the commercial marketplace at the turn of the century, branding was affected by the

change of production methods, distribution, and retail of goods (Pavitt, 2000). Also, demographic

and economic shifts were considered to shift the idea of branding products and services (ibid).

Compared to the rather straightforward practice of branding cattle, branding developed into a far

more multifaceted value creating process. Examining Procter & Gamble (P&G) advertisements for

Ivory soap from the early 1900s, Aaker (1991) shows how three ideas in particular characterized

the understanding of a brand: 1) The brand established ownership and visibility by means of the

trademark and the symbols that identified the brand; 2) The brand was seen as adding value to

the product by emphasizing certain product-related characteristics that were considered to be of

benefit and value to the consumer. Finally, the brand was thought of as; 3) creating a certain

image that differentiated the brand from other products, services, and or brands.

The P&G story shows us that early 1900s branding is more than visualizing ownership. Instead

branding focuses more on adding value to customers via product functionalities and establishing a

positive image of the brand in the mindsets of the consumers.

2.5.2 Brands as living organisms

Similar to emergence of new marketing approaches, as identified previously in this chapter, new

conceptualization of branding emerged where “softer” approaches to marketing occurred during

the 1970s and 1980s. Brands were increasingly perceived as living organisms and focus was put on

the brand’s identity and personality i.e. brands were perceived as “holistic entities with many of

the same characteristics of human beings” (Hanby, 1999: 10). Aaker (1996), who is considered to

be one of the most cited branding scholars, shares the idea of seeing brands as living organism

with human-like characteristics. He focuses on the identity- and personality concepts within brand

management and brand building and in his book on building strong brands, Aaker moves away

from the notion of seeing brand value as being solely determined by the product by arguing that

“a brand is more than a product” (Aaker, 1996: 74). Aaker represents an “identity perspective” on

brands where he sees them as being “deeper” entities where meaning comes from emotional and

self-expressive benefits, organizational attributes, brand personality and brand symbols (ibid). One

of the central elements of Aaker’s brand building process, which contains the core of the brand, is


34

the brand’s identity (Aaker, 1991: 78). In his “brand identity system” model, Aaker conceptualizes

a brand’s identity based on four perspectives: 1) brand as product; 2) brand as organization; 3)

brand as person; and 4) brand as symbol (ibid). The brand identity system functions as a kind of

“brand manual” which the brand manager uses to define the brand and its meaning. Thus, the

purpose of branding is the communication and construction of a coherent, consistent and

meaningful identity that the consumer can embrace. Based on this observation, Aakers model

implies that brand identity is created within a company which is then “decoded” by the

consumers. Hence, Aakers approach to branding can be said to represent a simple sender-receiver

process where the company creates the brand identity without any significant consumer

involvement. Based on the identity of the brand, consumers are left with creating an image of the

brand that should cohere with the company’s brand identity. According to Aaker, it is important

that the “identity” and “image” concepts are kept separate and that consumers’ image of the

brand should not define the brand’s identity, i.e. “the brand image trap” (Aaker, 1996: 69)

Today, Aakers identity approach has remained central to the universal understanding of brands,

and more specifically to the quest of marketers to understand the mechanisms that lead to

consumer brand loyalty. As argued by Fournier (2002), it can be five-seven times cheaper to retain

an existing consumer than to attract new ones. Fournier emphasizes that the cost of serving loyal

consumers is lower than establishing new ones. Thus, seen from a company’s perspective, the

purpose of brand loyalty is to have strong relational bonds with consumers and make them choose

their brand over competing brands’, as it is economically sound to retain consumers rather than

continuously recruit new ones (ibid).

2.5.3 A relational perspective on brands

Based on her research on consumers and their relationships with brands, Susan Fournier (1998)

support the “identity perspective” (Aaker, 1996) by arguing that brands contain many of the same

characteristics as human beings. However, in contrast Aaker’s branding models and approaches to

branding and brand equity which were introduced under the brand identity perspective (Aaker,

1991, 1996), and which strongly emphasized the importance of managing the brand identity under

the implicit control of the company, Susan Fournier suggests that brand identity is defined via the


35

relationship that exists between the consumer and the brand (Fournier, 1998, 2002). Basically, the

relationship perspective, according to Fournier, is rooted in an implicit interchange between

consumers’ demand for intimacy, passion, interdependence and commitment on the one hand,

and brands’ active and contributing role as a relationship partner on the other (Fournier, 1998).

The assumption is that brands add value by being represented in the psychological mindsets of

consumers which forms the foundation of personal identities (Holt, 2004). The logic behind this

theory is grounded in the perception that if brands can have personalities and be personified, then

consumers can have relationships with them (de Chernatony, 2001:40). Fournier’s (1998) typology

of brand relationships allows us to distinguish between and categorize the relationships that

consumers have with brands. In addition, Founier argues that the relation is a “multiplex”

phenomenon because people form different kinds of relationships that differ in level of

attachment and affection (Fournier, 1998: 346). In other words, relationships can either be formal

or informal, emotionally or functionally based, as well as being friendly, loving, addictive,

obsessive etc.

Last but not least, Fournier argues that relationships are dynamic, meaning that relationships are

not conceptualized by one communicative exchange as represented by the transactional paradigm

covered in previously. Instead, relationships are based on continuous communicative exchanges

between two parties known to each other (ibid).

Based on the above conceptualizations and by analyzing a number of interviews, Fournier

proposes 15 relationship forms that characterize consumer-brand relationships:

Table: 2

Relationship form Definition

Arranged marriages Nonvoluntary union imposed by preferences of third party. Intended for long-term, exclusive commitment, although at low levels of affective attachment.

Casual friends/buddies Friendship low in affect and intimacy, characterized by infrequent or sporadic engagement, and few expectations for reciprocity or reward.

Marriages of convenience Long-term, committed relationship precipitated by environmental influence versus deliberate choice, and governed by satisfying rules

Committed partnerships Long-term, voluntarily imposed, socially supported union high in love, intimacy, trust, and a commitment to stay together despite adverse circumstances. Adherence to exclusivity rules expected.

Best friendships Voluntary union based on reciprocity principle, the endurance of which is ensured through continued provision of positive rewards. Characterized by revelation of true self, honesty, and intimacy. Congruity in partner images and personal interests common.


36

Compartmentalized friendships

Highly specialized, situationally confined, enduring friendships characterized by lower intimacy than other friendship forms but higher socioemotional rewards and interdependence. Easy entry and exit attained.

Kinships Nonvoluntary union with lineage ties.

Rebounds/avoidance-driven Relationships

Union precipitated by desire to move away from prior or available partner, as opposed to attraction to chose partner per se.

Childhood friendships Infrequently engaged, affectively laden relation reminiscent of earlier times. Yields comfort and security of past self.

Courtships Interim relationship state on the road to committed partnership contact.

Dependencies Obsessive, highly emotional, selfish attractions cemented by feeling that the other is irreplaceable. Separation from other yields anxiety. High tolerance of other’s transgressions results.

Flings Short-term, time-bounded engagements of high emotional reward, but devoid of commitment and reciprocity demands.

Emmities Intensely involving relationship characterized by negative affect and desire to avoid or inflict pain on the other

Secret affairs Highly emotive, privately held relationship considered risky if exposed to others.

Enslavements Nonvoluntary union governed entirely by desires of the relationship partner. Involves negative feelings but persists because of circumstances.

(Source: Fournier, 1998: 362)

The central element of Fournier’s research is that brands posses relationship partner qualities and

that they play important roles in people’s lives. Whereas the previously identified brand

perspectives focused on the product, the ownership, the logos and the identity of the brand,

Fournier expands the perspectives by emphasizing that brands’ carry symbolic meaning which is

negotiated between brands and consumers.

This negotiation is illustrated in the below model which is part of Fournier’s model of brand

relationship quality and its effect on relationship stability (Fournier, 1998: 366). The model shows

how brand meaning is negotiated.

Figure 4:


37

(Source: Fournier 1998: 366)

Fournier’s model points to the fact that the consumer is a dynamic participant in creating meaning

for brands. The approach is shared by Muniz & O’Guinn’s perspective on brand communities

where the meaning of brands are negotiated in social settings (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). Prahalad

& Ramaswamy (2004) suggest that brand meaning is “co-created” in the sense that consumers

draw on their own cultural experiences, perceptions, and emotions to make sense of the brand.

What is consequently accentuated under the relationship perspective is that brand meaning is by

both the consumer and the marketer, and that brand meaning is subjected to individual

interpretation.

2.5.4 Consumer-brand relationships in online environments

Having identified that consumers establish personal-like relationships with brands and that these

relationships can serve as a valuable resource for companies to learn about- and understand their

consumers, it becomes interesting to enlighten how relationships are built and retained in online

environments. This section looks at what we know about online consumer-brand relationships so

far and discusses how important the issue is for companies in today’s consumer-fragmented

society, i.e. the difficulty in getting consumer’s attention in the media and getting them to

purchase your brand.

Referring to the problem statement of this thesis, most Relationship Marketing literature is

centered on the transition from traditional marketing theory to Relationship Marketing and

understanding its theoretical relevance and function in today’s society. Though Fournier (1998)

has studied brands and their relationship with consumers, and the way that the meaning of brands

are co-created, no explorative relational research, however, has been conducted on how online

consumer-brand relationships are established understanding their meaning and value


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contribution. Despite the lack of research, it is a fact that technological developments, such as the

internet, have resulted in a closer integration between organizations and consumers where values,

interests and ideas are shared in online social settings. Muniz & O’Guinn (2001) refer to the

concept of “brand communities” as being a driver for these social settings and define the concept

as; “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social

relations among admirers of a brand “(ibid: 412). Brand communities are grounded in a passion for

a brand and thus, variables such as age, sex, and nationality become less relevant for marketers

when defining their target audiences. Instead, members of brand communities are often

characterized by sharing a collective identity, moral responsibility, and a number of traditions and

rituals that bind the community together and give it meaning (ibid). They often identify

themselves with the brand and thereby share the same kind of values which are communicated by

the brand. Figure 4 illustrates the relational processes that are occurring in brand communities. It

shows that the company does not see itself as an isolated “sender” unit, but is both a “sender” as

well as a “receiver” that is open to hear about consumer thoughts and ideas concerning the

company’s offerings.

Figure 5:


Company Consumer

Consumer

”We are in it together!”


39

Brand communities are relevant to Relationship Marketing because they are phenomenon in

which relations between a company and consumers can develop and evolve benefitting the

company as well as the consumers. Seen from an Relationship Marketing perspective, members of

an online brand community are active consumers that engage in dialogue and cooperation with

other consumers as well as the hosting brand/company. Consumers’ voices can be heard in the

community and they can exercise influence in the company resulting in potential co-creating

processes (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). The advantage for the company is that it can establish

close bonds with its consumers, learn from them and experience what is going on in the

marketplace in terms of consumption and demand patterns (Antorini & Andersen in Schultz et al.,

2005: 82). As a result, value between company and consumer, and between consumer and

consumer, is being created because of the mutual gains the relationship offers.

Beckmann’s research on various types of brand relationships (Beckmann, 2002) can explain why

consumers engage in brand communities. Beckmann focuses on brands that are trusted,

respected and loved by consumers and define them as “lovemarks” (ibid). A lovemark is a brand

that ads emotional value to it and thus has a passionate, intimate and committed bond with the

consumer (ibid). Seen from an relational perspective, lovemarks become an important issue in

building sustainable consumer-brand relationships because of the emotional attachment that bind

the company and consumers together.

2.5 Discussion: From Transaction to Relationship? Based on the understanding of the transactional- and the relational approach to marketing in

presented previously in this chapter, the following section aims to discuss whether or not we can

talk about a transition in how we approach the concepts today, i.e. whether or not a shift in

marketing paradigms have occurred. The aim of this chapter is thus to discuss the differences

between the two paradigms and put them into a practical context to better understand their

practicalities.

Based on the fact that the relational paradigm criticizes the traditional marketing and branding

approaches for being mainly product- and transaction oriented, and the fact that Hougaard &

Bjerre (2003) suggest that the value of relationships exceeds the value of exchanges, it becomes


40

interesting discuss whether or not a shift in paradigms exist and what this means to marketers in

general. Tables 2 and 3 summarize some of the differences between the two concepts:

Table 3: Differences between Transactional Marketing and Relationship Marketing

Transactional marketing Relationship markteting

Orientation to single sales Orientation to customer retention

Discontinuous customer contact Continuous customer contact

Focus on product features Focus on customer value

Short time scale Long time scale

Little emphasis on customer service High emphasis on customer service

Limited commitment to meeting customer expectations High commitment to meeting customer expectations

Quality as the concern of production staff Quality as the concern of the staff

(Source: Adapted from Payne et al., 1995 in Egan, 2008: 39)

Table 4: Differences between Transaction Marketing and Relationship Marketing

Criteria for differentiation Transaction Marketing Relationship Marketing

World view

Managing a company's product portifolio, setting and modifying

marketing mix parameters to achieve optimal 4P configuration

Managing a company's customer portifolio, building long-term business

relationships

Assessment horizon Short-duration Long-duration

Key concepts 4Ps, segmentation, branding etc. Interaction, relationships and networks

Marketing focus Product/service Product/service and customer

Marketing goal Customer acquisition Customer acquisition, customer retention, customer recovery

Marketing strategy Presentation of outcome Dialogue

Marketing interaction One-way communication, formal market studies

Interactive communication, mutual learning and adaptations

Promotion strategy Non-personal advertising, brand and image management

Through personal interaction, developing identity as a reliable supplier

in a network

Economic profit and control parameters

Profit, profit margin contribution, sales, costs

Additionally: customer profit contribution, customer value

(Source: Bruhn, 2004: 13)


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On a general level, table 2 verifies that Relationship Marketing contains many of the same

elements as described in the various definitions of Relationship Marketing (table 1). It shows that

the customer and consumer are higher valued than the product or service an organization intends

to sell. Instead of being product and sales oriented through analysis, planning and control,

Relationship Marketing is focused on delivering value by being engaged in long termed- and

committed relationships where stakeholder expectations and objectives are met. These

observations are exemplified by the use of words such as; “customer retention”, “customer

contact”, “customer value”, “customer service” and “meeting customer expectations”.

Furthermore, every member in the organization has an important role to play in delivering value

to external stakeholders. This is exemplified in the sentence; “Quality as the concern of the staff”.

In other words, integration of different organizational units is favored over specialized single unit

structures where no cross-unit collaboration occurs. This argument is supported by Grönroos who

believes that Relationship Marketing cannot be organized as a separate organizational unit.

Instead, different organizational members with different skills and competencies become a host of

“part-time marketers” (Grönroos, 1999: 331) because they are involved in the marketing

processes.

Table 3 focuses on the same overall differentiation points as observed in table 2. Relationship

Marketing is about focusing on the customer and engaging in dialogue in order to reach mutual

understanding and consensus. Despite the similarities, table 3 does give the reader a more

detailed description of Relationship Marketing which is exemplified in keywords such as;

“interaction”, “networks”, “dialogue”, “mutual learning”, and “personal interaction”. It becomes

evident that interactive communication and mutual learning are essential Relationship Marketing

parameters, in order for an organization to create value to the organization itself as well as its

stakeholders. In this connection, it is important to note that value should not be “delivered”,

rather it should be “supported” (Grönroos, 2006). Seen from a Relationship Marketing perspective,

“Deliver” has a negative connotation because of its one-way notion (see figure 1, p. 9). Instead it

should be a two-way mutual process where value is created when stakeholder collaboration,

interaction and involvement is present between an organization and its stakeholders.


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When reflecting on the above tables, as well as the knowledge gained on the perspectives on

branding , the differences between transactional marketing and Relationship Marketing suggest a

paradigm shift in marketing where critics argue that the 4Ps represent a product oriented

definition of marketing and not a market- or customer-oriented one as suggested by the

Relationship Marketing paradigm (Grönroos, 1994). Hence, many marketing related phenomenon

are not included in the 4Ps and can therefore not be considered a very valid approach for

marketers to follow. Instead, it is suggested that marketers should view marketing from a

consumer/customer perspective and thus the 4 Cs of marketing are suggested as a replacement

for the marketing mix paradigm (Figure 3: Adapted from Kotler et al., 1999 in Egan, 2008: 28).

Figure 6: From the 4Ps to the 4 Cs of marketing

Price Cost to customer

Place Convenience

Product/Service Customer needs and

wants

Promotion Communication

(Source: Egan, 2008: 29)

In this model, the 4 Ps are transformed into 4 Cs where organizations meet customer needs and

wants instead of being product and transaction oriented. Although the model recognizes that the

4 Ps approach needs to be changed, it is important to note that the model does not represent a

paradigm shift in itself or a new relationship based marketing definition (Hougaard & Bjerre,

2002). Seen from a critical perspective, the model is considered being as simplistic in its nature as

the 4 Ps model, because it does not say anything about the processes of relationships and it can be

interpreted in many ways. It does, however, show that traditional marketing scholars recognize a

need to change the traditional marketing school of thought and redefine the marketing concept as

previously recognized in this thesis.


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Despite this assumed recognition by the AMA, Grönroos (2006) argue that AMA’s definitions from

2004 and 2007 do not represent the perspectives of Relationship Marketing coherently. He

believes that the definition has an internal organizational focus and that it neglects the fact that

value is created by the consumer or is co-created, rather than delivered by the organization (ibid).

This argument is exemplified in Prahalad & Ramaswamy’s research on “co-creation”; “Co-creation

converts the market into a forum where dialogue among the consumer, the firm consumer

communities and networks of firms can take place. …Managers must co-shape expectations with

consumers. Finally, consumers have a role in co-shaping experiences with the firm” (Prahalad &

Ramaswamy, 2004: 122). Based on Prahalad and Ramaswamy’s research, it can be concluded that

the defining words of co-creation contain many of the same elements that define the essentials of

Relationship Marketing, i.e.; “dialogue”, “co-shape”, “value-creating process”, and “interaction”.

The brands “Nike” and “Build-A-Bear” are two practical examples of companies that practice the

Relationship Marketing school of thought by engaging in dialogue and co-creating processes with

consumers. At www.nikeid.nike.com, consumers can design their own personal pair of Nike shoes

by following a step-by-step design process on the website. Nike empowers consumers to choose

for themselves within a given framework provided by the company. When the personal designs

are finished, consumers can share their designs with other consumers by uploading their designs

to Facebook7 and other social networks. The Build-A-Bear Workshop concept is about involving

the consumers making their own personal teddy bears. At the Build-A-Bear stores, children engage

in an eight-step process designing their personal teddy bear8. Employees at the stores are named

“Bear Builders” and guide the children in the process of making their personal teddy bear “come

to life” (ibid). Nike as well as Build-A-Bear are examples of two brands that break away from the

transactional marketing paradigm by involving their consumers in the manufacturing process of

the products. Value is “supported” (Grönroos, 2006) by giving consumers the experience of being a

“co-creator” (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004) and the relationship between company and

consumer is thus strengthened because of increased consumer involvement where the meaning of

the brand, i.e. Fournier’s brand meaning model (figure 4) is negotiated (Fournier, 1998).

7 http://nikeid.nike.com/

8 http://www.buildabear.com/aboutus/ourcompany/process.aspx


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To sum up, the above observations and practical examples, prove that various organizations,

companies, as well as marketing scholars are rethinking the marketing paradigm by carrying out

new strategies that support the changes in society and consumer behavior in general. The

practical examples show that a paradigm shift in marketing has occurred where consumer

involvement and brand-consumer relationship building are important drivers for securing success

in terms of company turnover as well as brand recognition and brand image/reputation (Fournier,

1998). Seen from a critical perspective, it is however questionable that the Relationship Marketing

paradigm work on all types of organizations and companies. Although Grönroos is one of the

major critics of the transactional marketing paradigm and the 4 Ps, he does acknowledge that the

approach can function independently in environments where products are mass produced to mass

markets (Grönroos 1994). In connection to this observation, Grönroos furthermore argues that

marketing should be seen as a concept in which several paradigms should co-exist and that

Relationship Marketing is but one of these paradigms (ibid: 15). Egan (2008) support this idea by

doubting whether companies would always find it suitable to develop Relationship Marketing

strategies and he argues that a company like Ryanair, which implements a transactional strategy,

would not experience the same level of economical success by applying a relational approach

(Egan, 2008: 102). Although the airline is rated highly unpopular among consumers, it still

generates record-breaking profits and continues to grow (ibid). It proves that not every

company/organization is suited to put relational strategies into operation and that the two

paradigms can co-exist.

Based on the review of the different approaches to marketing and branding, it is concluded that

changes, such as the loss of effect in mass marketing, changes in technological developments,

and the increasing complexity of consumer behavior, have lead to companies to re-think

marketing and brand strategies towards relational approaches.


45

2.6 Theoretical lessons learned and the approach used for the case study

So far, this thesis has outlined and discussed the change within marketing theory from traditional

marketing/branding to Relationship Marketing and a relational approach to branding that to a

higher degree contribute with sensory, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and relational values that

replace functional attributes of products and brands. Based on this theoretical review of littere,

this chapter aims to sum up the most important findings in order to discuss how the relevant

findings from previous chapters can be applied to the study of online consumer-brand

relationships. For this thesis, these findings will be used for the intrinsic case study of the online

relationship between the Dove brand and its worldwide consumers regarding the Campaign for

Real Beauty.

Having discussed the limitations of the transactional marketing paradigm, one important finding is

that the Relationship Marketing approach is a relevant and operational strategy for companies to

follow in a marketplace where consumers have become increasingly aware of what they want out

of different products and services and how brands increasingly reflect their identities and lifestyles

(Fournier, 1998). Relating this observation to social science perspectives, it is found that a change

in society has occurred where “postmordernity” and a culture of consumption has replaced

transactional marketing and “modernism”, which represent a culture of production (Firat &

Venkatesh, 1995). Despite societal changes and new ways to approach marketing and consumers,

it is found that not every company/organization is suited to put relational strategies into

operation. As identified with the practical example of Ryan Air and Nike, they represent two

widely different marketing approaches and thus prove that the transactional- as well as the

relational marketing paradigm can co-exist.

When discussing the context of Relationship Marketing, it is found that its various definitions, as

well as the different approaches to the concept, prove that no single definition will ever be a

conclusive one because of the complex and changing nature of relationships. Similar to Founier’s

and Aaker’s perspectives on brands as living organisms (Fournier, 1998, Aaker, 1996), it is

concluded that relationships within marketing are living organisms that go through life-cycle

phases and seldom last forever (Grönroos, 2004). Additionally, the relational perspective is


46

complex because relationships involve i.e. attitudes, emotions, trust, commitment, loyalty,

cooperation, involvement, and mutual understanding between the company, its consumers, and

other stakeholders (Grönroos, 2004; Seth & Parvatiyar, 2000; Egan, 2008). It is also important to

have in mind that a relationship can only exist if both parties are interested in a relation; “…

companies are forgetting that relationships takes (at least) two” (Fouiner et al. in Egan 2004: 215).

Based on this observation, companies can no longer just do as they please and push products and

services down consumers’ throats without giving it an extra thought. Contrastingly, companies

must increasingly realize that changes in society and technological developments, such as the

internet, have changed the consumer landscape. Today, companies must increasingly see

consumers as empowered people who have the ability to engage in- and end relations at their will.

Hence, it becomes central for companies to listen to- and involve their consumers if the

relationship is going to be a successful one. Based on Prahalad and Ramaswamy’s research, it can

thus be concluded that the concept of “co-creation” is related to the relational marketing

paradigm because it is about listening to- and understanding your consumers to a degree where

interaction processes occur. LEGO, the Danish toy manufacturer of bricks, is a company that

increasingly interact with consumers with the purpose of co-creating products and brand meaning.

A good example is LEGO’s corporate relationship with the “Adult Fans of LEGO” (AFOL) community

where products and brands are being co-created because of a mutual desire and love for the LEGO

brand (Antorini & Andersen in Shultz et al., 2005). It is of personal belief that LEGO’s recent

economical success is highly credited to their understanding of their consumers and involvement

in co-creating processes.

As exemplified by the case of LEGO, the phenomenon of “brand communities” (Muniz & O’Guinn,

2001) is found relevant for the relational marketing paradigm because it shows us how

relationships can be built and sustained resulting in a deeper understanding of- and desire for the

brand. Whereas no explorative Relationship Marketing research has been conducted on how to

build online brand relationships, studies on brand communities offer insights into how

relationships can evolve in online environments. It is found that brand communities are relevant

to Relationship Marketing because they are a phenomenon in which relations between a company

and consumers are build upon key relational determiners such as; shared value, intimacy, trust,

loyalty, passion, dialogue and involvement. As a result of increased consumer involvement, co-


47

crating processes can emerge where products or services are created by companies and

consumers alike. Finally, when a brand relationship becomes trusted, respected and loved by

consumers, it can be defined as a “lovemark” which is something companies should strive for

when building strong consumer relationships.

2.6.1 Recommendations – adding value to online consumer-brand relationships In line with the scientific approach of postmodernity and social constructionism and inspired by

the above observations and findings in the literature review, I will conclude the literature review

by outlining the online relational approach that will be applied to the intrinsic case study of Dove.

This will be done by stating five themes for a company to consider when wanting to establish

sustainable consumer-brand relationships in an online environment.:

1. Know who your consumers are.

2. Listen to your consumers.

3. Understand your consumers’ attitudes, values and needs .

4. Communicate by engaging in interaction, dialogue, and cooperation with consumers.

5. Build the relationship on transparency, i.e. trust, honesty, commitment and loyalty.

The objective of the relationship is to create long term and mutual beneficial value for the

company/the brand and consumers so that the brand becomes a lovemark.


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3. Research Design for the case study On the basis of studying how Dove the research questions for this thesis, and building on the

previous chapter, this chapter outlines the research design, the specific research methods

employed in the study, and how empirical material is analyzed throughout the thesis. Finally,

limitations of this study will be discussed.

3.1 Research Design – the case study approach

Shedding light upon the “how” and “what” research questions asked for this thesis, they clearly

represent empirical questions that call for empirical exploration (Yin, 1995:5). Studying a

relationship marketing phenomenon such as Dove’s online consumer-brand relationships

represents a complex challenge insofar as the relationship, like any other social relationships,

changes and evolves over time, i.e. as identified by Grönroos’s relational process (figure 3). Thus,

over time, some relationships are formed while other relationships are terminated. Studying the

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty from a relational perspective fundamentally entails taking a

context-dependent as well as real-time approach to the case study. Compared to, for example, the

scientific experiment, the case study is considered useful particularly in situations where

contextual conditions and the desire to understand complex real-life phenomenon are in focus

(Yin, 1995). The case study does not regard methodological choice, but rather the choice of an

entity to be studied bounded by time and place (Daymon & Holloway, 2002: 105), and as Stake

points out: “A case study is both the process of learning about the case and the product of our

learning” (1995:237). Taking this perspective into consideration, it can be suggested that the case

study contributes to our understanding of the single case, as well as our understanding of how to

approach future opportunities and threats for the case in question. At any rate, the case study

defines a particular way of learning about a given social phenomenon through the thorough

investigation of the phenomenon which consists of a relatively narrow exploration and a relatively

high number of sources of information (Daymon & Holloway, 2002: 106-7). For this thesis, Dove

and the Campaign for Real Beauty is the case to be studied. In order for me to study how the

campaign adds value to Dove’s online consumer-brand relationship, my sources of information will

come from Dove’s campaign material as well as different online social forums, such as Dove’s


49

community website, YouTube, Facebook, and other relevant sites where the campaign is being

discussed by consumers.

3.1.1 Case study forms Depending on the purpose, case studies can take three different forms: 1) the intrinsic case

study, 2) the instrumental case study, and 3) the collective case study (Stake, 1994:237-8). The

intrinsic case study is typically chosen in situations where the particular case is of intrinsic

interest. Here, the purpose of the intrinsic case study is not to generalize and draw parallels to

other cases but rather, the case is chosen with the sole purpose of deeply understanding the

particular case in itself; hence, the emphasis is on the intrinsic.

Similar to the intrinsic approach, the instrumental case study also examines a single case. Contrary

to the intrinsic case study, however, the purpose of the instrumental case study is not to focus on

the intrinsic, but rather on the how the understanding of the single case contribute to our

understanding of other cases. Thus, the instrumental case study is chosen because it seeks to

generalize beyond the single case to other cases.

The last approach, the collective case study, is a study of not one, but several cases that enables

the researcher to further generalize to a wider universe. This approach allows the researcher to

identify distinctive features by exploring similarities and contrasts between different cases. Thus,

the purpose of the collective case study becomes one where “lessons learned” from the chosen

cases form a general understanding of how to approach similar case phenomenon. However, as

stated by Creswell (1998), the researcher should be consider that “the more cases studied, the

greater the lack of depth in any single case, and the more the overall analysis will be diluted”

(Creswell, 1998 in Daymon & Holloway, 2002: 109)

For reasons described in the following, the study which has been undertaken for this thesis can

best be described as an intrinsic case study. My motivation for solely focusing on Dove and the

Campaign for Real Beauty is grounded in a number of reasons. Firstly, I have previously been

exposed for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and as it awoke my attention because it did not

focus on any Dove product. Rather, the campaign focused on a social issue, i.e. beauty and our

perceptions of beauty. As a result, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the brand and its


50

campaign. Secondly, given the explorative scope of the research questions, I found it relevant to

work with as many sources of information as possible, which further pointed to the intrinsic case

study approach. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, as this study represents the first identified

study of how a relational approach to marketing adds value to online consumer-brand

relationships, my goal was not to attempt to build on existing theory, or create a new theory.

Instead, my goal is to understand the particular case of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, how and

why it was executed, and find out how building online consumer-brand relationships can add

value to the Dove brand.

3.2. Data Collection

Having chosen the online dimension of Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty as my unit of

analysis, I will apply two methods for collecting my online data. My primary method for data

collection is based on netnography (Kozinets, 2002) and the study of online consumer-brand

relationships. Secondly, I have collected various website materials relating to the campaign that

will be analyzed in terms of visual content and language. This multifaceted approach has

facilitated the creation of a rich pool of relevant and in-depth research data that in turn will lay the

foundation for an academic analysis and discussion on Dove’s consumer-brand relations.

3.2.1 Netnography

As stated in the introduction of this thesis and in line with the methodological position of social

constructionism, the relationship between Dove and the online consumers on Dove’s website will

be studied using Kozinets’s theory on “Netnography” (Kozinets, 1998, 2002). The approach is a

qualitative research method that aims to study social relationships and behavior on the internet

by observing threads in a chosen online community. In contrast to quantitative research methods,

this method has a “narrow” focus and requires the researcher to interpret language between

people who are being researched (ibid). The method does not seek to generalize and state a

universal law as exemplified by positivism. Instead, netnography is focused within a chosen online

community and provides information on the symbolism, meanings, and consumption patterns of


51

the online consumer groups in this community. The qualitative data provides in depth information

about how meanings, emotions etc. are constructed in social relations (ibid).

Kozinets’s method is found appropriate for this assignment because it uses the qualitative

framework of ethnography to observe consumer behavior and culture in online communities.

Concerning the methodological position of this assignment, Netnography is interpreted to

represent the position of social constructionism, because it implies that people construct identities

in social settings where they share culture, value, and meaning. Hence, the method supports the

methodological position of this assignment.

Although ethnography is inherently an open-ended research method characterized by flexibility,

the following procedure from the framework of Kozintez (2002: 63) will be followed:

Phase 1: “Entrée” :

In the process of reading literature about Relationship Marketing and relational approaches to

branding, I discovered that there was a lack of research conducted within the field of online

consumer-brand relations. Based on this observation, and the fact that Dove’s campaign for Real

Beauty had awoken my interest because of controversial ads, my research questions were

developed on the basis of finding out how Dove’s campaign is used on the internet for the purpose

of creating consumer-brand relationships of value to both parties. This is done by studying the

campaign on Dove’s global websites as well as social community websites such as YouTube,

Twitter and Facebook where the campaign is being discussed. The process of searching for- and

locating different community sites on the internet relevant for the campaign has been a time

consuming process because of the mere size of the internet.

Phase 2: Data collection process

Concretely, I have observed a total of thirteen threads relating to Dove’s campaign for Real

Beauty. Five of the threads are posted on YouTube with each thread representing one of the five

online video commercials that have been released by Dove in relation to the campaign. The five

videos are “Evolution”, “Beauty Pressure”, “Pro-Age”, “Mothers and Daughters”, and “Amy”.

These viral ads serve as the main sources of information for this thesis. Other threads include

three threads regarding Dove on Facebook, and four threads on different women community


52

websites. Table 5 gives an overview of how the threads contribute to the understanding of the

relational processes occurring between Dove and its consumers. Kozinets compares this way of

selecting threads with “purposive sampling” where the researcher is interested in a specific

sample and the particular information it yields (ibid: 67).

Table 5:

Name of topic Forum Posted by Comments Views Context

Evolution Youtube tpiper 5,136 10,500,000 Our perception of beauty is distorted

Beauty Pressure Youtube tpiper 720 679 The beauty industry puts

pressure on young girls

Pro age Youtube wllmsjennifer 1,173 1,681,451 Older women are beautiful aswell

Mothers and Daughters Youtube laughsnmore 3 4,211 What mothers can do for their

daughters

Amy Youtube eirina 25 14,77 Girls' perception of their own beauty and self-esteem

Onslaught soompi forum vantan 11 - About Dove's campaign

Campaign for Real Beauty

Divine Caroline

various postings 8 - About Dove's campaign

My two cents MISS GDK - - About Dove's campaign

The irony of Dove's campaign for real beauty

What's the

skinny?

various postings - - Unilever is the owner of Dove

and Axe

What do you think of Dove advertising?

Dove on Facebook Allison Grabler 22 - For or against the campaign

The Dove self-esteem fund Facebook Jess Weiner - - Boosting self-esteem

Campaign for Real Beauty Facebook various

postings - - About Dove's campaign

In each of the threads, I have copied and pasted relevant individual postings into Microsoft Word

documents and included them as appendices in this assignment. For some of the threads, it was

not possible to account for the amount of postings and views. For this analysis, “relevant postings”

include discussions, ideas and comments that say something about the relationship between Dove


53

and online consumers of the brand. Many of the postings include comments that are considered

to be of such a low standard and of no relevance for anyone, nor this thesis. As a result, many

postings are considered irrelevant for the analytical process and are therefore excluded from this

assignment.

Phase 3:Providing trustworthy information

For this assignment the netnographic approach will be based primarily on the observation of

textual discourse published on the website. It is important to note that the characteristics of social

interactions on the internet include biases that can influence the validity of the analyzed data. The

discussions on Dove’s community are publicly available, which can impact the content of postings.

In addition, ideas and discussions are generated in written text form which make them impersonal

compared to face-to-face communication.

Phase 4:Research ethics

Kozinets (2002) state that netnographers are “professional lurkers” (Kozinets, 2002: 65), because

data information is not given in confidence with the marketing researcher. Rather it is taken

without permission from the consumers. Due to ethical dilemmas, Kozinets (2002) recommends

four guidelines9. For this thesis, the ethical guidelines will not be followed. Despite the good

intentions of the guidelines, they can impact the validity of the data if being carried out. This is

based on the thought that the most valid data is gathered when consumers are not aware of the

presence of the researcher and thus, the researcher cannot influence their behavior. This

approach is what Kozinets refer to as taking a “professional lurker” approach when observing the

brand-consumer relationship (Kozinets, 2002).

9 “(1) The researcher should fully disclose his or her presence, affiliation, and intentions to online community members during any research; (2) the researchers should ensure confidentiality and anonymity to informants; and (3) the researcher should seek and incorporate feedback from members of the online community being researched. (4) The researcher should contact community members and obtain their permission to use any specific postings that are to be directly quoted in the research” (Kozinets, 2002: 65)


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Phase 5: Member checks:

the last step of netnography involves presenting your findings to the people who are involved in

the research in order to solicit their comments or ad additional information that is relevant for the

research (Kozinets, 2002: 66). Member checks seek to establish ongoing information exchange

between the researcher and the consumers. As a result, the research becomes an ongoing process

which continuously provides the researcher with valuable consumer insights that can benefit the

organization and its relationships. However, due to the delimited scope, member checks will not

be included for this thesis.

3.3 Making sense of the data With the purpose of understanding how Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty adds value to online

consumer-brand relationships, I have chosen “coding”, as described by Strauss and Corbin (1998),

as the method of data analysis for this thesis. I have chosen to make use of coding as it provides a

method through which the unstructured mass of raw data can be organized into structured and

manageable chunks, categories, and themes. Concretely, I will analyze the data in terms of visual

and textual discourse and structure these into various themes in order to make sense of the data.

3.4 Validity and limitations Netnography include some limitations for the researcher. One limitation is that the researcher is

not able to identify who the online members of the community are. The identities of people in

social forums are often “disguised” by a username where it is not possible for the researcher to

gather demographic or geographic information about the people being studied. Nor is it possible

to generalize upon the findings in one social forum and thereby stating a universal law. In order to

generalize, several research methods must be applied. This could be realized through i.e.

quantitative questionnaires or qualitative interviews that would increase the validity of the

research. For this thesis, however, I have chosen to analyze Dove’s website and their online

communication regarding the Campaign for real beauty.


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4. Studying the Campaign for Real Beaut y from a relat ional perspect ive

4.1 Introduction

The following chapter aims to apply my findings from the literature review to a case study in

order to describe and understand the relationship between Dove and its online consumers. In

order to do so, I will apply my knowledge from online consumer-brand relationships by studying

visual and textual discourses in my analysis. The purpose of the analysis is to discover how

consumers are interacting on various social websites Dove’s online communities and explain what

this means to Dove and the consumer-brand relationship.

In terms of structure, this chapter includes a presentation of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and

an analysis of all online material related to the campaign. Secondly, it includes an analysis of

selected discussions on Dove’s online forums and lastly, the most important findings in the

analysis will be summed up in the concluding comments to the chapter

4.2 The Campaign for Real beauty – an overview As stated in the introduction, Dove started a global report in 2004, which set out to explore the

relationship women had with beauty (appendices 1-5). The findings of the study were used as a

basis for Dove's subsequent ad campaign and highlight how comprehensive pre -launch research

can be used to drive a marketing campaign that aim to serve as “a catalysist for widening the

discussion an definition of beauty” (appendix 3). The study was based on quantitative data

collected from a global survey of 3,200 women from ten countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada,

France, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, the UK and the US and validated Dove’s hypothesis

that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable, as if only thin, young and

blond were beautiful (appendix 1).

The study findings included the fact that 40% of those surveyed strongly agreed that they do not

feel comfortable describing themselves as beautiful (appendix 2). More than two-thirds of those


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surveyed also strongly agreed that "the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of

beauty that most women can't ever achieve” (ibid). Lastly, Dove found that 75% of respondents

said they wished the media did a better job of portraying women of diverse physical

attractiveness, including age, shape and size (ibid) . The most important findings from the study is

listed below (appendix 2)

• Just 12 % of women are very satisfied with their physical attractiveness

• Only 2 % of women describe themselves as beautiful

• 68 % strongly agree that the media sets an unrealistic standard of beauty

• 75 % wish the media did a better job in portraying the diversity of women's physical

attractiveness, including size and shape, across all ages

With these statistics in mind, Dove set out a confident and an alternative beauty campaign

including the online viral videos “Evolution”, “Amy”, “Mothers and Daughters”, and “Under

Pressure” which will be analyzed later in this chapter. According to Dove, the controversial

campaign has hit the mark with female consumers across its markets and Dove is now the number

one cleansing brand in the world with sales of over € 2.5 billion in 80 worldwide countries

(appendices 1-5).

4.2.1 Other initiatives that aims to boost Dove's positive image Along with the adverts and website, Dove has set up a number of initiatives as part of its Real

Beauty Campaign, such as a self-esteem fund, an academic study on beauty, and a touring

photography exhibit. These could help the brand gain a more positive image in the minds of

consumers, as they can be seen to position Dove as charitable and caring. This could in turn lead

to an increase in the sale of Dove products.

Dove Self-Esteem Fund

Dove established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to raise awareness of the link between beauty and

body-related self-esteem. As part of our Campaign for Real Beauty, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund

(DSEF) was launched in 2004 to demonstrate Dove’s commitment to the brand's mission “to make

more women feel beautiful every day” (appendix 2-3), by widening today's view of beauty and by


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inspiring women to take great care of themselves. According to Dove, the DSEF aims to educate

and inspire young girls through a series of tools and workshops which ultimately protects and

nurtures their body-related self-esteem and enables them to become fully realized adults (ibid).

Through the Fund Dove aims to reach the lives of 5 million young people by the end of 2010, with

at least one hour of participation in one of Dove’s self-esteem programmes (ibid). Dove is on track

to meet its goal and by the end of 2008 the DSEF had reached more than 3.5 million young people

(ibid). Seen from a relational perspective, the DSEF functions as way to strengthen the Dove brand

by “giving back” to consumers by showing them that Dove is a company that takes their campaign

serious by supporting self-esteem programs around the world (appendix 9). On Dove’s website,

people can make donations to the fund and thereby engage themselves in Dove’s mission (ibid). In

terms of stakeholder orientation, Dove also support other organizations that help raise self-

esteem. In the U.S. these organizations include the “Girl Scouts”, “Boys and Girls Clubs of

America”, and “Girl Inc.” which are all organization that deal with- and are in contact with millions

of children in America.

4.3 Discussion on Dove’s relational transition

As presented in the literature review of this thesis, we are seeing that relational approaches to

marketing are emerging because it is getting harder for companies to market their products via

traditional “product” marketing approaches (Grönroos, 2004, Bruhn, 2003, Egan, 2008). Similar to

this transition, Dove introduced the Campaign for Real beauty in 2004 where the company,

instead of branding beauty products, created a marketing strategy that is focusing on a

controversial topic about beauty stereotypes and how the media and the beauty industry is driving

women and girls to feel bad about themselves. Images from the campaign are listed below:


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Source: www.dove.com/da

These images reflect the essence of Dove’s campaign message which is that real beauty can only

be found on the inside and every woman deserves to feel beautiful. The image that Dove wants to

communicate is that real beauty is portrayed by women who do not look like super models -- they

are normal women who live normal everyday lives going shopping in grocery stores or turning up

at the local school to pick up their kids. The result is that Dove intends to start a dialogue between

Dove and its consumers about the definition of beauty.

Before entering dialogue with consumers and starting the controversial campaign, Dove secured

evidence that the majority of their consumers would relate to the campaign by setting out the

global study about women and their perception of their own beauty (appendix 2) and thereby

securing that a majority of their consumers would relate to it.

By launching the Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove has done what no other in the beauty industry

has done before. Whereas brands like L’Oreal, Lancôme and Elizabeth Arden etc. focuses on

offering consumers products that creates an illusion of reality, Dove sets apart from other brands

by touching a cultural nerve and challenging the current super-thin, silky-hair, perfect skin

standards set out by the beauty industry and the media. By choosing this non-product and non-

transactional marketing strategy, It is perceived that Dove’s goal is to create value for their brand

by creating sustainable consumer-brand relationships based on having a dialogue with consumers

about how to change the unrealistic beauty standards previously set out by the industry.

Consequently, Dove must be hoping that the campaign will result in a positive perception of their

brand people will be associating concepts of true beauty with Dove and its products.

The following section sets out to explore how Dove is communicating and interacting with

consumers for the purpose of creating valuable consumer-brand relations. This will be done by

exploring Dove’s website as well as Dove’s online Campaign for Real Beauty videos; “Evolution”,

“Beauty Pressure”, “Pro age” and “Amy”.


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4.4 Analysis of Dove’s website

For the analysis of Dove’s website, I will be drawing my attention to the American based webpage

at www.dove.us. The American webpage is chosen because this site is seen as the most developed

and up-to-date of the 38 available Dove websites in the world.

In terms of general content the landing page or front page at Dove’s website includes mostly visual

content with pictures of young girls dominating the site (appendix 6). The colors of the site are in

coherence with the blue and white colors of the Dove brand and thus make the site seem

coherent and in harmony (ibid). The Dove logo is placed in the top left-hand-corner of the site and

besides it there is placed a bar that features different subsites the visitor can enter by clicking on

them. These subsites include “Products”, “Community”, “Expertise”, “Features”, “Offers” and “The

Campaign for Real Beauty” (ibid). On the landing page, the visitor can also click on different icons

to learn more about the Campaign for Real Beauty or see the inside of a “Dove Workshop” (ibid).

On the right side of the page, Dove’s classical soap bar is placed along with the words: “how your

purchase helps” (ibid), i.e. referring to how the purchase of Dove products strengthens the Dove

Self-esteem Fund. It is interesting to notice that the Dove soap bar is the only Dove product on the

site that indicates what Dove is a producer and seller of. Below the Dove soap bar, the visitor can

learn more about Dove’s relational partners, i.e. “the Girl Scouts”, “Boys and Girls Clubs of

America” and “Girls Inc.” which are all organizations that are involved in improving the self-esteem

of young boys and girls. Seen from a relational perspective, Dove shows that the brand is

dedicated to their campaign by being stakeholder oriented and collaborating with other

organizations for a common cause. Lastly, the bottom of the landing page includes icons where

visitors can interact or make a difference (ibid). The visitor of the website has the opportunity to

join the “online workshop” for girls and test their self-esteem by answering different questions

(appendix 7), or learn about “five ways to make a difference” where girls learn to raise their self-

esteem (appendix 8). Conclusively, Dove has made their site interact with facebook and twitter

where visitors can become fans of Dove and Dove Self-esteem Fund or follow Dove on twitter

(appendix 15). Seen from a relational perspective, it shows that Dove is strategically using social

media as a tool to connect and learn more about their consumers.


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The first thing that comes to mind when entering the Dove website is that it is not a “transaction

oriented” site that tries to sell its products to its visitors as identified with the transactional

marketing paradigm in chapter two of this thesis. Instead, the site focuses on being true to the

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty by having pictures of young girls on their frontpage who, in their

own words, have posted statements about how they define beauty (appendix 6). As “Brooke L.”

states: “no matter what ads say the image should be, your image of yourself is the only thing that

matters” (ibid). This statement, as well as other uploaded statements like Brooke’s, tells me that

these girls represent the essence of Dove’s campaign by expressing that beauty is more than

having great looks by wearing makeup and trying to look like a model. By allowing these girls to

upload their pictures and post comments, Dove is making their website an interactive experience,

i.e. the site is not only a place for Dove to communicate, but also a place where people can

express their feelings and thoughts about social issues such as beauty stereotypes and self-

esteem. For Dove, the girls function as a kind of brand ambassadors, as they represent Dove’s

mission to make more women and girls feel good about themselves (appendix 3). More than

anything, they represent Dove’s current focus on young girls aged 8-17 where Dove is sponsoring

money to programs that help to build girls’ self-confidence via Dove’s Self-Esteem Fund (appendix

5). Seen from relational marketing perspective, Dove makes a big effort to build a relationship

with girls at a young age that can best described as having “friendship-like” status where common

values and beliefs are shared. Fournier (1998) describes these consumer-brand relationships as

being “best friendships” which are relationships characterized by sustainability, intimacy and

loyalty. By focusing on the cause of improving self-esteem among girls, Dove is showing girls that

they care about young girls’ problems and that they are dedicated to help to improve the lives of

these girls rather than selling them Dove products.

Besides having young being ambassadors and serving as an inspiration for other girls with low self-

esteem, Dove has hired other ambassadors to appear on the site and talk about beauty and self-

esteem. One of these official brand ambassadors is Gretchen Monahan, who is a hairstylist, and

give women tips for how to treat their hair and make it look beautiful (appendix 7). Gretchen

uploads demonstration videos to the site where viewers can comment on them or share the video

with others (ibid). It is also possible to ask Gretchen for online advice by posting questions onto

the site.


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Jess Weiner is another Dove brand ambassador who is an editor at the website. Alongside three

other editors, Jess plays an active role on Dove’s website by writing columns and blogs about our

wellbeing, thoughts, and feelings (appendix 9-10). One example includes a posting about obesity

and how to avoid passing on unhealthy habits to our children. Jess believes that a healthy attitude

towards food and body image will set a great example for children to follow. Jess is interested in

hearing what other people have to say regarding this issue and some of the comments made on

the site can leave to interesting discussions. A mother writes about her concern for passing on her

weight problem to her daughter and gets advice from other visitors from the site. One advice

states:” it seems to me the only way you can make sure you don’t pass on the weight problem to

your daughter is by setting the example yourself” (appendix 11). Seen from a relational

perspective, Dove is creating a “we are in it together” community feeling by letting consumers

interact- and communicate with each other on the site (Antorini & Andersen in Shultz et al., 2005:

98). However, seen from a critical viewpoint the comments are not visible in the sense that it easy

to see what people are posting on the website. Instead, you need to click on the comments to see

what people are saying and the usability of the site therefore has its flaws. Furthermore, in order

to post any comments to the site, you have to give away your e-mail address to Dove and create a

nickname. You can also become a member of Dove by providing the company with more personal

information such as country origin an date of birth (appendix 17). Seen from a relational

perspective, by getting people to post their e-mail addresses, Dove gets access to many potential

consumer whom they easily can communicate to and learn more about and can potentially use

this knowledge for “Database-“ and “Direct marketing” strategies which are two well-know

concepts in managing relational technology (Egan, 2008: 235).

Interactivity and the sense of community feeling are general themes that Dove is trying to

cultivate holistically on the website in order for getting consumers to join their mission of making

women and children feel better about themselves. Besides having the previously mentioned brand

ambassadors, blogs and articles, Dove offers other interaction possibilities on the site by offering

“online workshops” (appendix 7) and “downloads for building self-esteem” (appendix 12). The

online workshops appears under a section called “girls only” on the site which indicates that the

workshop content is aimed at young girls who feel insecure and want to raise their self-esteem

(ibid). Here girls can take quizzes and play games, so girls can find out more about themselves and


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their self-image. Mothers of daughters are encouraged to download “true you” workbooks where

they can lean being a good role model for their children (appendix 15). Girls can take interactive

quizes that tells them how good they feel about themselves and, as well as how they make other

girls feel. They can also play a game called the “self-esteem” bubble where you can drag words

and pictures that represent something that makes you feel good about yourself into a bubble.

Girls are encouraged to post the bubble on their wall or print it, so that they can remind

themselves of the things that are positive in their lives (appendix 13-14). Another interactive game

on the site includes being an editor of their own magazine and include the things that interests

them and make them feel happy. Under every quiz or game that you take, you earn yourself a

certificate which you can print out. Seen from a relational perspective, I see that Dove puts allot of

effort into being committed to the cause of helping mothers and daughters with their image of

themselves by interacting with them and providing them with information that can help these

consumers learn more about beauty stereotypes, themselves and their own feel of confidence.

The site is rich on information that support Dove’s mission to turn against the beauty industry and

discuss what beauty is really about. To exemplify how the industry is distorting our perception of

reality and beauty images, you can watch a video called “body talk” which is about how the

industry can digitally manipulate images of people making them seem more beautiful or ugly than

they really are (appendix 16). Consequently, we see that Dove is trying to build the relationship on

transparency as identified as being one of the drivers for adding value to an online consumer-

brand relationship as identified in chapter 2.6.1.


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4.5 Analysis of Dove’s viral videos The exploration of Dove’s viral videos “Evolution”, “Beauty Pressure”, “Pro age”, and “Amy” will

be analyzed in terms of visual, linguistic and acoustic content and furthermore put into the context

of how these communicative messages add value to Dove’s online consumer-brand relationships.

4.5.1 Analysis of Dove Evolution The 1 minute and fifteen seconds Dove

Evolution viral video was posted on

YouTube.com October 6th 2006 by “tpiper” who

is the director at Ogilvy, the ad agency that

created the video (appendix 18). So far,

Evolution has been viewed more than

10,400,000 times, gotten 11,351 ratings and

received 5,136 comments (ibid). The statistics

that Dove Evolution has generated shows that

the viral has been a huge success in terms of generating attention and interest. Today, the video is

one of the most successful virals on the internet in terms of number of views.

Dove Evolution starts with showing a normal looking woman who does not appear to be wearing

any makeup. She looks tired as if it was early in the morning and does not in general look like a

person that cares much about her looks. The women is seated in a chair and viewed from a

position as if we are looking at her through a camera lens. About 10 seconds in the ad, everything

turns black and a text appears that say: “a dove film”. No logo or products are featured that could

indicate that this is a message from the Dove brand. In terms of sound, gentle classical music is

playing in the background and you can hear people talking in the background, as if something is

happening.

After approximately 20 seconds, the words “evolution” appear and the woman is then, by the

speed of light, given a makeover, as if she was a model preparing for a photo shoot. In fast moving

motion the woman is being surrounded by people who do her hair and makeup and transforming

her into a woman with model looks. The sound of photography appears and photos of the woman


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is being taken which are used in a “photo-shop like” software program where the photo of the

woman is being digitally manipulated, portraying the woman as being more real than real, i.e. her

neck is made longer and her eyes and lips are made bigger. In the end, the finished photo is being

portrayed on an outdoor billboard, as it was a commercial for a make-up.

The last thing that the viewer is exposed to before the viral video ends is: “no wonder our

perception of beauty is distorted”… “take part in the Dove Real Beauty Workshop for Girls”, “Visit

campaignforealbeauty.ca”.

The 1 minute and fifteen second Dove Evolution film truly shows viewers an evolution, i.e. the

change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations

(Douglas, 2005). The Evolution video is about changing reality and make others believe that what

they are seeing is real. The video from Dove raises a highly critical discussion about how the

beauty industry, which Dove is a part of, set unrealistic beauty standards for “normal” people to

follow. The video shows that anyone can be beautiful as long as we have software programs that

can make us artificial beautiful.

Seen from relational perspective, the launch of Dove Evolution is clearly a result of Dove’s global

study among women concerning their perception of beauty and self-esteem conducted in 2004

(appendix 2). Having found out that a majority of women around the world did perceive

themselves as being beautiful, Dove evolution is a seen as Dove’s first step to change our

perception of beauty by critically showing the world that our perception of beauty is distorted.

According to Dove, our perception is distorted because the beauty industry is setting unrealistic

standards for how women should look. Dove Evolution and the Campaign for Real Beauty is not a

campaign for selling products as identified by the transactional marketing perspective in chapter

two of this thesis. Instead, the campaign focusing on a social phenomenon, beauty standards and

self-esteem, and want people to join the cause by advising people to go on and learn more about

the campaign at Dove’s website.


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4.5.2 Analysis of Dove Beauty Pressure Dove Beauty Pressure, also callad

“Onslaught”, is a one minute nineteen

second viral video that was posted on

YouTube by “tipper”(Ogilvy director)

October 2nd 2007 (appendix 52). So far,

the video has been viewed more than

720,000 times, gotten around 1,600

ratings and received over 720 comments

(ibid). Compared to Dove “Evolution”, this

viral has not generated as much attention,

but seen from relational perspective, the stats of gaining attention and getting feedback are still

quite impressive. As seen with Evolution, this video also starts with introductory words saying “a

Dove film”. If you ever saw Dove Evolution, you will instantly know who the sender of this video is.

After a few seconds, a red haired young girl appears on the screen. The camera is very close to

her, but you can tell from the background that she is standing on a street. She just stands there

and looks straight into the camera, as if she is looking right at you. She looks innocent as she

smiles and as the seconds pass along, the music in the video intensifies singing “here it comes”

over and over again until the viewer is being exposed to hundreds of fast moving commercials

about how to improve your looks by losing weight, eating dieting products and medication, using

plastic surgery to transform your body etc. The ad ends where it first began seeing the young girl

passing the street with her friends from school. Before she passes the street, the words “talk to

your daughter before the beauty industry does”. The message is clearly targeted at mothers of

young daughters and gives them something to think about before letting their daughters “cross

the street”, meaning being on their own without having parents to look after their kids. The video

shows that young girls are being exposed to an enormous amount of commercials about unnatural

looks and beauty on a daily basis that it must have an psychological effect on how these girls

perceive themselves as well as others. Seen from a relational perspective, Dove again distances

itself from the beauty industry by showing that Dove and the Self-esteem Fund is on your side

making the industry seem like the enemy.


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4.5.3 Analysis of Dove Pro Age The Dove Pro Age video was posted on

YouTube on February 20th 2007 because the

commercial was banned from U.S television

for showing too much skin (appendix 77).

Like the previous two ads, Dove Pro Age is a

provocative video that aims to change the

way media and society set beauty standards.

This is done by having older women posing

nude in the video. Until now the video has

been viewed over 1,600,000 times, received

over 900 rating and over 1,100 comment postings. Initially intended for TV, Pro Age now has a life

of its own on YouTube reaching potential consumers all over the world.

In terms of content, the video features several older women of different race being exposed in

the nude followed by the word “too old to be in an anti-aging ad” (ibid). This message is then

followed by the words “but this isn’t anti-age… this is pro age”. Dove is referring to other beauty

brands which products “prevent” you from aging, or at least that is what they are trying to

convince us. Instead of doing like any other beauty brand is doing on the market, Dove is saying

that it is ok to be natural. Seen from a relational perspective, Dove is again taking it stance away

from the beauty industry by understanding consumer needs and stating that natural beauty is

beautiful. The ad also tells us that Dove targets women of all ages. Whereas “Evolution” and

“Beauty Pressure” were targeted at women and their young daughters, “Pro age” is target at

women who are seeing their bodies and skin beginning to change as a cause of aging.


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4.5.4 Analysis of Dove Amy

Dove “Amy” is one of Doves most recent viral

videos and it was posted on YouTube on

February 14th 2008 (appendix 100). So far, the

ad has been viewed more than 150,000 times

getting 65 ratings and 25 comments (ibid).

Compared to the other online ads from Dove,

the stats of “Amy” indicate that this video has

not been as popular as the previous ones.

In terms of context, the video includes a young male on his bicycle heading to an unknown

destination. The boy seems happy and the sun is shining. Compared to the other analyzed videos,

“Amy” is the only one that includes a male which makes this ad unique. It is unique in the sense

that Dove enters new territory by having a male featured in their ad, as Dove is largely targeted at

women. The young male comes to represent how it is to be a boyfriend to a girl that has

insecurities about her looks and her self-confidence. When the boy comes to Amy’s house, he calls

her name several times without getting an answer. He continuously calls for her but she will not

let him in the house. The words “Amy can name 12 things wrong with her appearance” appear and

you see the boy sitting on the street outside her house in despair. You can tell from the light of the

sky that hours have past and that it is now evening. The viewer now knows that Amy is a girl that

has problems with her self-appearance and that her problems affect her relationship with the boy

waiting for her at the door. The words “he can’t name one” appear which refer to how the boy

feels about Amy. At the end of the video it says “sent to you by someone who thinks you’re

beautiful” which shows that Dove consciously uses social media like YouTube to get consumers to

share this video with others and make them feel happy. Seen from a relational perspective, Dove

encourages consumer-consumer interactions and as a result they thus become active participants

in co-creating the experience of watching this video (Prahalad & Ramaswamy 2004). In others

words, Dove aims to make this video personal by getting consumers to send it to one whom they

think is beautiful. The video reflects that Dove is consciously using the relational paradigm by

leaving “power” to consumers for them to decide what they want to do with it. By sharing the


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video with other consumers, they become what Grönroos refers to as “part-time marketers”

because they are involved in passing on Dove’s message (Grönroos, 1999: 331).

4.6 Discussion

Based on the above exploration of the Dove website and the four videos “Evolution”, “Beauty pressure”,

“Pro age”, and “Amy”, the following section will discuss how Dove uses online communication to add value

to their consumer-brand relationship. This will be done according to the theoretical observations made in

chapter 2.6.1 on how to add value to online consumer-brand relationships:






It terms of knowing who your consumers are, we see that Dove has based the Campaign for Real Beauty on

a global study of women regarding their self-images and found that only 2% of women can describe

themselves as being beautiful (appendix 2). So instead of focusing on a traditional way of marketing the

Dove brand by being focused on Dove’s products and product features, Dove has taken a different

approach, in line with the relational perspective in marketing, by focusing on societal problem that effect

the way their consumers think about themselves. By learning how consumers feel, Dove has found an

excellent opportunity to challenge the way the media and the beauty industry have dictated beauty

standards, by entering into dialogue with consumers and join forces with them in the fight to change these

standards by connoting that the Dove brand is about real beauty.

Looking at how Dove listens to- and understands their consumers, I have found that Dove’s website is

based on a community feeling of being in it together (Antorini & Andersen in Shultz et al., 2005: 98)

based on the finding that the site is highly interactive having editors and consumers contributing with the

content of the site. Consequently, we see that Dove is giving up control by making consumers co-

creators of the site’s content and thereby adding value to the online consumer-brand relationship

(Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004).


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In terms of communication and based on the findings in the exploration of Dove’s viral videos, it is

found that Dove uses the knowledge of the global study on women to create ads that cohere with

the findings of the study. Instead of using tradition TV ads, Dove has entered social media sites

such as YouTube to promote the Campaign for Real Beauty. By creating unique and provocative

videos, Dove has managed to make consumers “co-marketers” of the brand by letting them

control Dove’s messages, i.e. letting consumers comment on the videos and give them the

opportunity to pass the video on to other consumers. As identified in the analysis of the viral

videos, this strategy means that Dove’s messages reaches millions of people around the globe.

Seen from a relational perspective, the videos are perceived to add value to Dove’s brand by

staying committed to the campaign’s mission of making more women and girls feel beautiful every

day (appendix 3). From a consumer’s viewpoint, it really seems that Dove is serious about the

campaign by making an effort to society’s perception of beauty and help women and girls raise

their self-esteem, rather than “being out there” to make money and selling products as identified

with the transactional marketing paradigm in chapter 2.1 of this thesis. Instead, Dove promotes

their products on the promise that the selling of Dove products supports the cause of changing

beauty stereotypes and the Self-esteem Fund that primarily supports young girls and their

problematic issues concerning low self-esteem. To further enhance Dove’s reliability and, the

company is cooperating with other stakeholder organizations that offer workshops for the

purpose of improving the lives of children resulting in the feeling of content and satisfaction when

consumers buy Dove product. In other words, consumers are intended to feel good about

themselves when buying Dove because they get the feeling of supporting a good cause.

To sum up, the exploration of Dove’s website as well as the four viral videos promoting the

Campaign for Real Beauty, I conclude that Dove has created an integrated and holistic marketing

campaign that intentionally sets out to establish online consumer-brand relationships

characterized by the “best friendship” metaphor (Fournier, 1994). The relationship is built upon an

intimate issue concerning the social and cultural phenomenon of women and girls feeling bad

about themselves due to the fact that the beauty industry and the media have set unrealistic

beauty standards for normal people to pursue. Instead, Dove praise females for being beautiful as

they are. The question remains, however, as to how Dove’s efforts are “paying off” in terms of

generating a positive image of the brand and ultimately selling more Dove products? In order to


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answer this question, I turn to an online article posted on the American business site “The

Manufacturer” in 2007 concerning the story of Dove’s campaign (Appendices 121-125). On a

general level, the article confirms that the Dove brand has experienced success as a result of

engaging in dialogue with consumers, asking them for help in co-creating the Campaign for Real

Beauty (appendix 123). As identified in chapter two of this thesis on the discussion of the

transition from transactional- to relationship marketing, Dove has undergone a similar transition

where the company has succeeded in switching the brand from being functional to “a brand with

a point of view” (ibid). The fact that Dove focuses on a social issue instead of focusing on product

features is being confirmed to have a positive result on Dove’s brand image “because people are

associating concepts of true beauty with Dove and its products” (appendix 122). The campaign has

ultimately helped Dove gain market shares in all of its major beauty categories from bar soap,

body wash, hair care to deodorant (appendix 125)

Despite Dove’s communicative, as well as economical success of having changed the brand

strategy into building corporative relationships with consumers by means of dialogue and

interaction, following such a strategy is not thought to be safe of any negative consequences that

ultimately can lead to a “termination” of the relationship and tarnish the brand image. By having

an open community on the Dove website and by adding videos to YouTube, Dove must be aware

that they cannot control their messages once posted on the internet. Consumers are free to do

and say what they like.

Having outlined what Dove is communicating to consumers and to some degree determined the

success of the Campaign for Real Beauty, it becomes unfold some of the challenges of leaving

cooperating with- and leaving control to consumers. In other words, it becomes interesting to

explore what consumers are saying online about Dove’s effort to build sustainable consumer-

brand relationships. The following section is an exploration of what consumers are saying about

the campaign on various social forums where the campaign is a topic for consumer discussions.


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4.7 Analysis of Dove’s online consumer relations

As stated in chapter three of this thesis, the analysis of Dove’s online consumer-brand relations

will be based consumer comments and discussions posted on YouTube, Facebook and other

relevant social sites. I have read thousands of comments and have copied only the relevant

observations into word documents and attached them as appendices for the thesis (appendices

18-120). In order to make sense of the vast amounts of data, I have structured the findings under

different themes (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). These themes are divided into seven themes named;

1) “Admiration and love for Dove”, 2) “Who is to blame?”, 3) “Dove being part of the Unilever

corporation”, 4) “Ethics”, 5) “Authenticity”, 6) “Identification”, and 7) “Questions and

suggestions”.

4.7.1 Theme 1: Admiration and love for Dove

When reading through the thousands of comments posted on the threads chosen for this thesis, it

becomes evident that a majority of the comment, especially the ones of older date, praise the

Dove brand for taking action and doing something to change society’s definition of beauty. For

“Evolution” the comments include “Gosh… I love this advertisement so much”, “this is the best I

have ever seen”, “this is fantastic”, “this is absolutely sensational… great message”, “good for

Dove and good for our daughters”, …”thank you for that short piece of inspiration”,” I’m glad that

Dove is exposing this sort of thing”, “ this should be put on TV every day at prime time”

(appendices 18, 20, 21, 26, 33). The comments from various people show that Dove is touching a

nerve within the mindsets of consumers by communicating a brand message which they can relate

to. For some people Dove Evolution has opened up their eyes regarding the use of manipulative

digital software tools like “Photoshop”. For others, the ad has inspired them to rethink their choice

of beauty product purchase, as well as inspired them to tell their daughters that what they see in

TV ads and magazines is not necessarily reality and that they shouldn’t pursue beauty images that

are unobtainable and consequently make them feel bad about their own self-images. In terms of

awaking consumer awareness and generating positive feedback, Dove’s Evolution campaign has

certainly achieved these goals. Seen from a relational perspective, the ad has generated a lot of

positive feedback that support Dove’s mission to redefine beauty and make females feel better


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about themselves. As one consumer puts it; “too long have we been bombarded with what the

world tells us what we should think is beautiful. Girls especially suffer the consequences of cruel

comparison” (appendix 27). The statement shows that this consumer is ready for change and that

she is ready to support Dove. To further encourage consumers to support Dove’s mission,

“Tpiper”, the creator of the ad, participates in the discussions and promises consumers that their

support and postings will lead to more initiatives from Dove. He states that “your comments and

votes will encourage more of the same from Dove. And other brands will have to change”

(appendix 21). By having a representative from the creators of the ad participating in the online

discussion shows that Dove and their ad agency is interested in hearing what people have to say

about the video.

As seen with the love and admiration for “Evolution”, the same seems to be the case with the

“Beauty Pressure” video. When reading the postings on this thread, I get the impression that

people now more about Dove’s campaign and have a deeper understanding of Dove’s

commitment. This observation is exemplified in a statement posted by “Corriganscott’s”: “this

campaign fits into the Dove brand promise: Pure Beauty. The fact that they have taken the

positioning of their product to what I think is great social commentary makes me think they know

their market. Women with whom this message resonates will feel better about Dove as a choice.

They share real values, not some imaginary benefit” (appendix 53). Seen from a relational

perspective “Corriganscott’s” statement is an exemplification of a consumer-brand relationship

that is reaching consensus by Dove showing understanding for consumers’ attitudes and values. In

correlation, “MsTINTED” states; “I don’t care what the fuck anyone says, I applaud Dove for having

the courage to make a point because all the other fucking beauty companies out there make teens,

and children want to be absolutely perfect in every way possible. (being a teenager- I know.) This

took a lot of courage to put out there, but it makes such a wonderful point. Thank you for this

video” (appendix 55). “MsTINTED” prevails that him or her is a teenager and that Dove is both

reaching and influencing the minds of this consumer group in a positive direction. Based

“MsTINTED’s” statement, Dove succeeds in creating an “us versus them” culture among some

consumers where Dove joins forces with consumers fighting the beauty industry for transparency

and rightness.


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Having a young innocent girl in their ad and showing consumers how this girl is affected by the

media and society’s advertising culture has clearly made people think about how children are

being exposed to images that deceive their perception of reality. By nature, we are protective

towards our children and Dove’s “Beauty Pressure” manages to communicate that we have

change society if we want to protect our children and keep them being just children. This is an

issue consumers can relate to and give their support to Dove by stating that they support Dove’s

mission (appendix 64, 71,74).

Having recognized that Dove has succeeded in gaining brand loyalty by showing controversial ads

of women and children, the “Pro age” ad enters another provocative issue of displaying elderly

women in the nude. The reacting comments to the video are numerous and as seen with

“Evolution” and “Beauty Pressure”, Dove manages to get people talking about being beautiful as

you are. Reading the comments, it is being illuminated that Dove is again taking a brave step

making up for beauty stereotypes. It found that a majority of people love the ad, i.e. “I never loved

this commercial this much” and “it’s wonderful what this ad does” (appendix 77). It is also found

that a majority of the comments reflect a love for the beauty of the women being exposed in the

ad, i.e. “I think these women are beautiful”, “this commercial shows us that we are able to love our

bodies and not be ashamed”, “Dove is allowing women to embrace themselves more for who they

are… at whatever are they are”, “this ad shows us that aging is normal”. The praising of Dove for

using aging women in their ads can also be found on the social site Facebook and other

community sites (appendix 103, 110, 116) where postings prove that bodies no matter its age and

size can be beautiful.

To sum up the above exploration, it is found that consumers love that Dove is trying to make a

difference and support the brand for making provocative viral videos. Seen from a relational

perspective, Dove’s campaign is improving its brand image and thereby strengthening the

consumer-brand relation. It is also found that consumers are recognizing that the campaign has an

effect; “The Campaign for Real Beauty has been able to officially help in the banning overly thin

models in countries like Spain” (appendix 98). Likewise, it is found that people are engaged in

Dove’s workshops. i.e. “I can’t wait for my kit to arrive” (appendix 109).


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4.7.2 Theme 2: Who is to blame?

As identified in the previous theme, Dove is building strong consumer-brand relationships on the

basis of seeing issues of beauty from a consumer perspective and getting them to join their cause

of changing the stereotypical image of beauty that Dove is claiming to be caused by media and the

beauty industry. Ironically, Dove is part of the beauty industry that has created these images. Is

Dove then also responsible for creating beauty images that make women and children of all ages

feel bad about themselves. The following exploration provides interesting consumer viewpoints

and discussions.

One observation is that society is to blame, i.e.: “society is brainwashed” (appendix 19). Another

consumer states that; “until the human race develops a new aesthetic for what is beautiful,

nothing will change” (appendix 62). The statements and discussions on YouTube prove that

consumers increasingly that something is wrong in society and that we need to do an effort to

change it. Society has decided what is beautiful and what is not and as one consumer states in the

pro age thread; “it is ironic that nobody complains if a young woman shows skin” (appendix 92).

The statement proves that Dove’s Pro age campaign has been a wakeup call for many consumers

to think about what they see in advertisement and media. There are also those consumers who

believe that society is governed by lies and believe that our images of beauty is a conspiracy, i.e.

“the world is distorted” (appendix 21) and “We live in a world governed by lies” (appendix 35).

Other consumer believe that “American men” (appendix 23) are to blame because they pressure

women to look like the models in magazines. However, others also believe that the media, not

men, is blame exemplified by; “the pressure media excert on girls, women and society is a crime

and does not reflect at all what men biologically wish” (28). Many postings support this argument

by stating that “beauty in the media isn’t real” (appendix 26) and that “girls are being exposed to

medias ideal beauty as young as 3 and by the time they are 5 they already fear being fat”

(appendix 76). The postings show that people are worried about the well-being of their children

and the fact that they blame media to be the cause of distorted beauty images. Then there are

those that believe that people invented the media so “Everyone is to blame” (appendix 91). In this

connection there are also those who believe that No one is to blame and that “makeup has been


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widely used throughout history” (appendix 27). In other words, beauty ideals and the effort to

make us more beautiful than we really are has been a part of society for centuries, so we have to

deal with it. One consumer states that we should blame ourselves and should stop blaming the

media for being ugly (appendix 59).

Then there are consumers who think that advertising holds a responsibility, i.e. “how can

advertising companies get away with these blatant lies!!!” (appendix 43) and “Advertising is

effective at selling its message” (appendix 68). These people represent angry consumers who feel

that they are bombarded with lies from adverts that hold the power to guide our consumer

behavior. Regarding Dove’s “Pro age” campaign, it is found that because the ad was banned from

U.S. TV, they blame the American society for being taboo and setting standards for consumers

who do not agree with general U.S conservatism (appendices 84, 85, 87, 88).

Lastly, there are those that blame the beauty industry, Dove included, for distorting beauty

images. This observation is identified by the postings; “companies” (appendix 22) “ Dove ”

(appendix 23) and “dove = beauty industry” (appendix 72) . These consumers are critical towards

Dove’s campaign and do not believe that Dove is being honest. As two consumer put it; “it is ironic

that Dove is telling parents to talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does seeing as they

are a part of the beauty industry” (appendix 58) and “Dove is just trying to sell more crap”

(appendix 89). This critical group of consumers pose a challenge to Dove’s consumer-brand

relationship because they can ultimately influence other consumers to feel the same way about

Dove’s brand.

4.7.3 Theme 3: Dove being part of the Unilever corporation

Having outlined that Dove, as perceived by some consumers, is co-responsible for creating

distorted beauty images, this theme poses a potential thread for Dove’s consumer-brand

relationship. The following exploration will give insights into another threat that includes Dove

being owned by the multinational corporation Unilever.

Besides owning Dove, Unilever is also the owner of the brands Axe, Fair & Lovely and Slimfast and

based on the following analysis, it is illuminated that these brands represent the opposite of what


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Dove’s mission to promote real beauty. Axe is a brand that is marketed for men by using sexy

models in their adverts; Fair & Lovely is a skin whitening cream marketed to women from i.e. India

making their skin seem lighter than it really is; and Slimfast is a “chemical” nutrition drink that help

you to lose weight. In other words these Unilever brands represent the exact thing which Dove is

trying to fight. Consumers heavily discuss this issue on the chosen threads for this thesis.

Regarding the Axe brand, many consumers believe that Dove is untrustworthy being owned by

Dove (appendices 24, 34, 39) and feel that Dove is letting them down, i.e. “So much for trying to

promote a positive image for young women” (appendix 41) while others are confirmed by their

assumption that dove is just out to make money and do not care about girls, i.e. “Don’t kid

yourself. Dove’s campaign is just out to make money… Dove also owns Axe” (appendix 34) and

“they care about the bottom line… their concern for girls of the world. BS.” (appendix 94). Some

consumers are so disappointed that they recommend others not to buy Dove products and refer

to some of Axe’s commercials that feature almost naked young models; “watch this before you

buy 1 more Dove product” (appendix 50). A video of Axe is also posted on Dove’s facebook page

where people are calling it “hypocritical” (appendix 107). The Axe videos are also posted on other

social sites and blogs where people are being made instantly aware of Unilever’s double role

(appendices 119-121). These observations clearly indicates that is experiencing problems

regarding their brand’s credibility and trustworthiness.

As regards to the discussions about Dove’s relation to the Fair and Lovely brand, the same pattern

emerges as seen with the critique of Dove’s brand relation to Axe. A consumer explains to other

consumers what the problem entails by stating; “Do not believe Dove… Unilever also owns Fair and

Lovely, a company based in the middle east that sells skin lightening products with bleach!!!”

(appendix 34). Another consumer shows his or her frustration by stating; “…Unilever which has a

shit loads of products which creates such biases” (appendix 44). The bias is created because of the

conflicting brand messages that the two brands are sending exemplified with the statement “So

when women in the western world can look natural and be themselves (Dove), those in India have

to use skin bleaching for being beautiful” (48) . Based on these consumer observations, it becomes

ironic to truthfully believe that Dove is promoting a positive self image and the Campaign for Real


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Beauty thus becomes ironic for some consumers. The same kinds of comment, discussions and

postings are found regarding Dove’s relation to the Slimfast brand.

Despite the vast amounts of critique that Dove is experiencing on the threads, there are also

consumers who think that Dove is innocent and cannot influence what other brands of Unilever is

doing, i.e.; “To me it doesn’t matter… it doesn’t mean anything” (appendix 35); “Who cares about

Unilever… this is a good campaign and something that needs to be said” (appendix 57) and “they

are funding what looks like some really great self esteem workshops… I hardly see any room to

criticize these ads or the intentions of the Dove company” (appendix 63). So, for some consumers

they do not believe that Dove is conspiriating with sister brands and in their eyes, Dove is still seen

as being a company that does a good thing for our society (appendix 62). “tpiper”, the maker of

some of Dove’s ads furthermore defends Dove by stating; “So shame on Unilever and Dove for

having a self-esteem fund?” (appendix 53). Seen from a relational perspective, it ads credibility to

Dove’s brand that “tpiper” responds to negative postings by entering into consumer dialogue and

justifying what Dove is trying to do. For some consumers, this justification is understood i.e.; “Do

you really think that Dove would put this much effort into their girl/confidence/esteem program if

it was really just a scam to them?” (appendix 98) and “the only thing that the two companies have

in common is they have to give some of their profits to the same people” (appendix 99).

On facebook and other social sites, there theme is also being discussed. Here there is a general

agreement that Axe is in a market where sex sells (appendix 104) and that Dove and its sister

brands a separate brands and therefore should not be judged the same (appendix 116). On these

sites there is a general agreement that no matter what, Dove is doing a great job (appendix 107).

The above analysis shows that Dove is confronted with the issue of being owned by Unilever which

for some consumers have lead to a boycott of Dove’s products as well as tainted Dove’s brand

image. Seen from a relational perspective, Dove is faced with a threat of relational termination

because the brand, in the eyes of some consumers, are unhappy and do not think that Dove is

being honest and loyal to its brand mission. The findings also show that Dove cannot control the

internet and what people are saying about the brand and that this is a consequence of using social

media as a strategy to build consumer-brand relationships on the internet.


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4.7.4 Theme 4: Ethics

As analyzed above, consumers are- or being made aware of the fact that Dove is owned by

Unilever which manages other brands such as Fair & Lovely, Slimfast and Axe. Having in mind that

these sister companies operates with contradictory communication messages, as the one

communicated by Dove, the Unilever ownership pose a threat for Dove and its relation to

consumers. The following analysis of ethics explores some of Dove’s ethical problems seen from a

consumer perspective. These ethical issues include “animal testing”, “profits” and “the rainforest

in Indonesia”.

Concerning the issue of animal testing on the threads, consumers are making other consumers

aware that Dove test their products on animals. As a consequence, consumers are telling other

consumers to boycott Dove and Unilever brands, i.e. : “to bad Dove test their products on animals!

How sick is that… I hope someone at Dove reads this (appendix 36); “I avoid all Unilever products…

animal testing is sick” (appendix 45), and ”Yuh way to go Dove. Beauty is on the inside and

definitely worth slaughter” (appendix 49). Further comments that state that Dove test on animals

and that people should not buy their products because of it are found in appendices 82, 85, 89 and

93. Consumers who suggest other consumers not to buy Dove, poses a major threat for Dove. The

concerning issue threatens the credibility of Dove and their consumer-brand relationships. Despite

the critique, some consumers think that it is necessary to test on animals and the alternative

would be to test products on humans instead (appendix 91).

Another interesting theme is the issue of profits and Dove being in it for the sole purpose of

making money (appendix 43). One consumer states that; “Dove may be against twisted beauty

standards, but they are doing nothing to change the fact that in our society, women are primarily

valued on how they look… If this video wasn’t sponsored by Dove, it would be perfect” (appendix

68). Another consumer says; “Dove is contradicting itself and so, that is where the product is false

and manipulative” (appendix 78). Based on these posting I conclude that some consumers do not

believe Dove and their mission to change beauty. Instead, they see Dove as being untrustworthy

and is just concerned about making money.


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Other consumers share a different viewpoint and accept Dove’s initiatives, best exemplified by the

following posting; “it’s for money. Yes, but it’s still an amazing message. “It’s all about the money

The last ethical issue of concern for Dove is the fact that palm oil is used in Dove’s products and so,

Dove is responsible for cutting down rainforest. This issue has also lead to a vast amount of

discussions on the threads where consumers are again advising each other to not to support Dove

(appendices 49, 70, 90, 97). Among others the postings refer to video posted by Greenpeace called

“Dove Onslaught(er)” that shows how Dove is responsible for ruining the rainforest in Indonesia

(appendices 49, 90). One consumer states that; “As far as I know, Dove is one of the largest users

of palm oil – which is currently responsible for the destruction of 98% of rainforest in Indonesia…

see Greenpeace on YouTube” (appendix 97).

The above exploration of Dove and ethical issues shows that Dove is facing major threats that can

tarnish their image and effect their consumer-brand relationships negatively.

4.7.5 Theme 5: Authenticity

In relation to some of the ethical issues that Dove is facing, it is regarded by some consumers that

Dove is posing a fake image of itself and that the brand’s “good intentions” are not that good after

all. The following theme is about Dove’s honesty and transparency.

Concerning the issue of authenticity and Dove being transparent in their communication, it is

found that many consumers think that it is good that Dove is showing the true side of the beauty

industry i.e..; “I’m glad that there’s at least one company being honest” ( appendix 21). It is also

found that “tpiper”, the maker of many Dove ads informs people about how the videos are made

and what their intentions were when making them (appendix 22). This furthermore enhances the

transparency of Dove’s campaign and make consumers feel good about the brand. In other

words, “tpiper” increases Dove’s trustworthiness, i.e.; “…Dove self-esteem workshops for

parents/mentors to help their kids grow into confident women in the face of a harsh beauty

culture” (appendix 25). From a consumer viewpoint, they are happy about Dove’s campaign and

think that it is a step in the right direction (appendices 33, 61).


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Other consumers, however, believe that Dove’s campaign is an illusion and that their message is

propaganda, i.e.; “If they really wanted to change the world they would stop making products that

are focused on beauty… the fundamental problem is that they are a corporation that sells beauty

products and using emotional attachment to your own issues to sell their product”. It’s

propaganda” (appendix 26). These consumers pose a threat to Dove because they speak

negatively about the brand and believes that Dove is playing with our emotions and making us

believe that the company is trying to accomplish something (appendix 40). These consumers

believe that Dove is not being transparent, nor honest, and as one consumer states; “Dove is a

wolf in sheep’s clothing” (page 46). These consumers believe that Dove is just like any other big

beauty corporation out there and that the Campaign for Real Beauty is just a marketing ploy

(appendices 60, 108).

Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that Dove is facing critical issues of having

consumers who do not trust Dove because the brand is just like any other beauty brand out there

pursuing to make money. It is also interesting that Dove is not responding to criticism and

accusations and that way stop the discussions from going any further.

4.7.6 Theme 6: Identification

Despite the fact that Dove is met with a lot of critique and skepticism from consumers who do not

believe that Dove is being trustworthy, there are also those consumers who can relate to the

campaign and the message Dove is trying to communicate. The following analysis explores the

“identification” theme.

Despite the identified criticism of Dove, there are also those consumers who think that the

Campaign for Real Beauty is great and that the message is something they can relate to, i.e.;

“thanks from all us normal looking women” (appendix 28) and “beauty is in the eye of the

beholder” (appendices 32, 51), and “natural is best” (ibid). Dove’s campaign has managed to make

consumers to discuss what is perceived beautiful and people post reflections from their own lives

and how the campaign is helping them, i.e.; “I grew up thinking that I was ugly because I didn’t

look like the women in magazines…I plan on showing my daughter the evolution video choosing

Dove products over other brands” (appendix 45). A seventeen year old girls speaks about how


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Dove’s “Beauty Pressure” video has affected her perception on self-esteem (appendix 47). These

various statements prove to show that Dove’s campaign is working and that especially mothers

and daughters are using it proactively to improve their self-esteem (appendices 54, 56, 60, 64). It

also found that consumers who struggle with low self-esteem are encouraged by other consumers

who tells them that they are beautiful as they are (appendix 54, 56, 60, 64, 65, 67, 73). In

connection to the “Pro Age” campaign an elderly woman talks about her reflections on feeling

good about herself; “I am 40+ right now and love who I am” (appendix 87). Another consumer

says; “Everyone is beautiful in their own special way… that is what Susan Boyle is telling us too”

(appendix 94).

It is found that consumers generally agree to the fact that beauty comes from the inside and that

size and age does not matter (appendices 94, 96) on how pro age inspires her life. Another person

believes that you become more beautiful with age (96) However there are also those who are

affected negatively by Dove stating that they do not look as good as the women in Dove’s ad and

consequently, Dove makes them feel even worse about themselves (appendices 22, 36). There are

also those people who feel that Dove is out to judge models for looking beautiful, stating that

models are real (appendices 38, 42, 71).

Based on the above findings, it is concluded that a majority of consumers relate to what Dove’s

campaign is saying about real beauty. Seen from a relational perspective, there is a consensus

between the consumer-brand understanding.

4.7.7 Theme 7: Questions and suggestions

The last theme in the exploration of how consumers are reacting to- and discussing the Campaign

for Real Beauty includes questions and suggestions posted by consumers. Under this theme it is

found that consumers are posting questions and suggestions to Dove, as well as other consumers,

as to how the campaign could evolve in the future.

When reading the threads, it is identified that there is a general need from men to include men in

the campaign, i.e.; “wish they had a similar campaign for men as well who also deals with body

related issues” (appendix 18) and “Dove seems to be forgetting that it isn’t just women and girls


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whose self-perceptions are scrambled and befuddled by the media” (appendix 69), meaning that

men, as well as “boys” have self-esteem problems too (appendix 75). The discussion is also

present on facebook where questions are posted on why men are not part of the campaign

(appendix 109). Regarding facebook, it is found that Dove is answering some of these questions by

using their editor and brand ambassador on the Dove website, Jess Weiner, to post and answer

questions that people might have (appendix 115). However, it is found that rather than answering

consumer questions, she is more interested in posting questions herself about how people feel

and their every-day life issues (ibid). This observation is confirmed by a consumer stating that;

“Dove, I contacted Dove at the email address that you gave me and I did not get a reply from

anyone” (102-103). Consequently it is concluded that Dove, in some instances, represent a lack of

communicative service and general consumer commitment.

Another interesting finding includes how interested consumers are about the content of the viral

videos posted on YouTube. Consumers are interested in knowing what music is used in the videos,

as well as knowing the software program used to transform the woman in the “Evolution” ad

(appendices 20, 25) People who want to know what music it is playing in the background of the

ads (20,25). Regarding this issue, I find that consumers are helping each other to gain knowledge,

i.e.; “the song was made by Vapor Music” (appendix 39).

Regarding the Evolution thread, a request says; “why does Dove not make these ads to different

race/color and display it around the globe?” (appendix 27) and “tpiper” replies by saying that they

are hoping to do thus that. The Pro-age campaign features women of different color and can

therefore be regarded as a result of this consumer request.

Other consumers think that the women portrayed in the ads are too beautiful and not natural

enough, i.e.; “why does Dove not use ugly people?” (appendix 37). This person thinks that using

uglier women will strengthen Dove’s mission to tell people that they are all beautiful (ibid)

Lastly, It is found that consumers are requesting Dove to make better products, i.e.; “how about a

quality product instead?” (appendix 44). This consumer thinks that Dove should focus more on

their products rather than on their campaign for promoting a social issue. The statement is

supported by another consumer who doesn’t think that their products are not that great and that


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Dove need to improve them (appendix 81). Seen from a consumer-brand relation perspective, it is

troubling to see that despite consumers are liking the campaign, they are not liking Dove products.

Based on the above observations and findings, it is concluded that Dove, in terms of answering

questions are not presenting themselves on these social sites where the campaign is being

discussed. Dove does has brand ambassadors such as Jessie Weiner and “tpiper”, but the

information provided by them is limited. Seen from a relational perspective, Dove could put more

effort into meeting consumers on these sites and thereby preventing negativity and other

emerging threats that could ultimately result in a termination of that sustainable consumer-brand

relationship Dove is trying to build. However, concerning consumer-consumer releations, it is

found that consumers very interested in discussing the Dove brand and the Campaign for Real

Beauty resulting in helping each other with questions and request.

4.8 Summary of Findings

The most important findings of the exploration of Dove’s online consumer-brand relations will be

outlined in this section.

On the positive side, it is found that Dove’s campaign has touched an inner nerve among

consumers who support the brand’s mission to change society’s perception of beauty. This is well

communicated in their posted virals on YouTube, and consumers admire how the videos are have

been made and the story that they are telling. It is found that many consumers relate to the brand

message and get support from consumers who want to pass Dove’s message on. From these

consumers’ perspective, Dove succeeds in getting consumers to join forces with them so that

other brands will have to change in time.

On the negative side, it is found that Dove stands in front of a range of dangers that can eventually

threaten the company’s effort to build sustainable consumer-brand relationships. These threats

are found to be:

1. Dove being part of the Unilever corporation having sister brands such as Axe, Slimfast, and

Fair & Lovely

2. A lack of commitment in engaging in consumer dialogues


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3. Dove is part of the beauty industry and is just out to make money

4. Dove is lacking transparency

5. Dove uses animal testing

6. Dove is cutting down rainforest

If these illuminated issues are not dealt with, it can have severe consequences for Dove’s future

success. The following chapter aims to compare to compare all relevant findings in the analysis of

Dove’s website with the theoretical findings in chapter two and discuss what Dove is doing good

or bad in terms of establishing online relationships that add value to the Dove Brand.


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5. Discussion According to Dove, the Campaign for Real Beauty is based on a global study of women and their

perception of self-image and beauty. Having found that only 2% of women find themselves

beautiful, Dove found a “gap” in society where and by positioning itself as a form of resistance to

the conformity and unrealistic nature of contemporary Western beauty standards, Dove presents

itself as the brand with the solution that has shaped the brand mission of the campaign – “to make

more women feel beautiful everyday by widening stereotypical views of beauty”. So, seen from a

relational perspective, how has Dove succeeded in establishing online consumer-brand

relationships and what are the opportunities and threats that Dove is facing? The following section

aims to discuss these questions by drawing upon the theoretical findings in chapter two and

explorative findings in chapter four of this thesis by structuring the following discussion into

Dove’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats .

Strengths:

Regarding the strengths of Dove and the Campaign for Real beauty, it is found that Dove is using

the campaign to differentiate themselves and obtain a unique position within the minds of their

consumers by focusing on the social phenomenon of beauty standards and self-esteem instead of

focusing on their products and what these products can do for their consumers. The Campaign for

Real Beauty breaks the barrier between their consumers and the Dove brand by communicating

that Dove is on the consumers’ side “fighting” the beauty industry, which Dove ironically is a part

of, to change the unrealistic perception of beauty it has created. In other words, Dove has

identified the beauty industry as being a public enemy that causes women and girls to struggle

with their self-images and their well-being in general. Seen from this perspective, Dove is building

the value of their consumer-brand relationship on emotional value by uniting the public for Dove’s

cause of changing beauty stereotypes and make women feel better about themselves. As

identified in the analysis of Dove’s communication, i.e. the website and Doves online ads

“Evolution”, “Beauty Pressure”, “Pro age”, and “Amy”, it is found that Dove has created a holistic

campaign that aims to connect with- and establish consumer-brand relationships characterized by

the “best friendship” metaphor (Fournier, 1994). As found in the exploration of the discussion


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boards, Dove succeeds in building a love and loyalty for the brand because consumers relate to

the campaign and praise Dove’s mission to change society’s perception of beauty, as well as

supporting the cause of improving young girls’ self-esteem. On Dove’s website, consumers are

invited to engage in the fund, as well as participating in other interactive games and quizzes on the

site. Overall the relational strengths of the campaign are considered being:

• Dove has based its campaign on knowledge and understanding of consumer needs, i.e. the

global study on women and their perception of beauty (appendix 2).

• Before the launch of the campaign dove listened to their consumers and thereby co-

created the campaign (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004).

• Dove has a website that fosters consumer interaction and involvement connoting a “we

are in together community feeling (Antorini & Andersen in Shultz et al., 2005: 98).

• The campaign has a strong emotional touch among consumers creating consumer-brand

meaning (Fournier 1998: 366).

• The campaign breaks away from traditional product marketing thinking and is oriented at

customer retention, contact and value meeting customer expectations (Egan, 2008: 39).

Weaknesses:

In terms of weaknesses, the exploration of Dove and the Campaign for Real Beauty has given me

reason to believe that not all consumers are satisfied with Dove and their campaign. Despite

Dove’s good relational intentions on its website, the community section where consumers can

post comments, it is found to be rather controlled by Dove and its editors in terms of what the

discussions on the site should be about. In terms of usability on the site, it is found difficult to

navigate on and the postings from consumers are “hidden” so that you need to click on them to

see the full length of them. In terms of Dove’s interactive experiences on the site, the games and

quizzes are controlled as well, meaning that consumers are not offered any forms of flexibility on

the site. It seems to me that Dove is mainly the one communicating on the site without being open

to get consumer feedback. Fournier states that; “companies are forgetting that relationships takes

(at least) two” (Fournier et al. in Egan 2004: 215). Based on Fournier’s statement, and on the


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finding that Dove should engage in consumer dialogues, interaction and corporation in order for

Dove to create value for the brand, Dove should be aware of not providing solely one-sided

communication. As observed in the analysis of Dove’s website, it is found that Dove is the creator

of different threads and do not participate in the discussions beyond this. As stated in my

recommendations for creating online consumer-brand relationships that adds value to the brand,

it is important for companies to listen to their consumers if valuable relationships are to be

created. Furthermore, no critical comments are found on Dove’s website which is in stark contrast

to the exploration of the threads on YouTube and other social community sites that are not

governed by Dove. According to Gilmore & Pine (2007, p. 17-19), they state that consumers now

construct their realities socially and especially on the Internet. They suggest that companies

should actively engage customers not just individually, but as a community of like-minded people

with similar self-images. This way the brand creates an aura of authenticity to its products and to

its social association. This is achieved by creating a platform of collaboration, self-expression, and

most importantly sharing the brand with the consumers. On Dove’s website, the notion of sharing

is considered to be lacking. It is hard to say how popular the site is and how much it is used by

consumers as this information has been unavailable. But it is found that the amount of consumer

presence around a brand is crucial in building a brand and keeping it credible.


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Concerning Dove’s use of social media, such as YouTube, as a place to post their ads, it is found

that this form of communication can have its weaknesses. Despite the ads generating a vast

amount of views and positive ratings, some of the identified comments reflect that Dove is also

getting negative feedback which ultimately can lead to a “termination” of the relationship and

tarnish the brand image (Grönroos, 2004). By having an open community on the Dove website and

by adding videos to YouTube, Dove must be aware that they cannot control their messages once

posted on the internet. Consumers are free to do and say what they like. Among others, this has

lead to comic imitations of the Dove “Evolution” where people have copied Dove’s message and

called it “Slob Evolution” instead featuring a man transforming into a “slob” by eating junk-food

(Source: www.youtube.com). Dove might be asking

themselves if this is the image that they want their campaign

of real beauty to be related to? I guess not.

The loss of control has also lead to comments stating that Dove products are bad and that Dove,

despite its claim of helping women and girls to feel better about themselves, is just out to make

money. Others claim that Dove is contradicting itself by being a very part of that beauty industry

that makes women and girls feel bad about themselves. It is also found that Dove does not always

give consumers answers to questions they might have.

To conclude, the weaknesses are considered to be:

• The campaign is somewhat contradictory – Dove is part of the beauty industry.

• Lack of interactivity on the site.

• Lack of control on social sites.

• Little emphasis on answering questions, i.e. a lack of customer service (Egan 2008, 39).

• Dove products are not valued high enough because the commitment to the product is

low, i.e. “In FMCG commitment is low” (Egan, 2008: 125)

• The women featured in the ads are comparatively slim – lack of authenticity.


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Opportunities:

Despite the illumination of weaknesses, the exploration of Dove’s online consumer-brand relations

has also lead to the discovery of opportunities for Dove to follow. Among others, these are found

on the basis of consumers posting that they would like to see males and more diversity in Dove’s

ads. Being a brand for females, Dove could enter new consumer-brand relationships by targeting

men. In order to enter new markets with existing Dove brands, Dove could also use more racial

diversity in their ads in order to build brand relationships with other ethnic groups than those

representing the Western world. Lastly, in media we are seeing that personalities like Susan Boyle

and “Ugly Betty” from the TV series by the same name is gaining a large amount of interest by

consumers because they are naturally beautiful in their own way. Dove could excel on this

increased interest to further push their mission of making women feel good about themselves. We

have also seen that a +sized woman has won Americas Next Top Model, which is a show where

girls compete to become a model (source:

http://www.hollywire.com). It comes to show that Western

culture is changing and that Dove could benefit from this by

continuing to be innovative concerning adding value to the

brand by making continuing to develop their consumer-brand

relationships and creating brand meaning (Fournier, 1994).

In terms of Dove’s website, it is found that they could develop the interactive processes on the

site, so that the notion of authenticity and co-creation becomes more evident (Prahalad &

Ramaswamy, 2004).

To summarize, the opportunities are:

• Targeting males as requested by consumers.

• Target other ethnicities.

• Maintaining better standards of quality concerning the usability of Dove’s website.

• Excel from what is “hot” in the media right now, i.e. Susan Boyle and Ugly Betty.

• Continue to innovate and develop brand meaning


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Threats:

Based on the discussions on the analyzed threads, it is found that Dove also faces an amount of

threats that are potentially hurtful for the Brand’s authenticity and relation to consumers. Having

studied numerous discussions on the threats, I have found that Dove, being a part of the Unilever

corporation holds a major thread to the credibility of the brand based on the fact that sustainable

consumer-brand relations is based on trust (Fournier, 1994). The fact that Axe, Slimfast, and Fair &

Lovely communicates a contradicting brand message is hurting consumers’ perception of Dove’s

brand meaning. Knowing that a relationship takes two, Dove should not undermine the aspiration

of consumers. If consumer needs are not met, they will eventually lose interest in the Dove brand.

Another threat to Dove is that consumers have found out that Dove is responsible for cutting

down the rainforest and use animal testing. If other stakeholder groups, such as animal welfare

organizations and nature-preserving organizations turn against Dove for the reason of these

issues, it can lead to destruction of their consumer-brand relationships and consequently lead to a

decrease in consumer loyalty and product sales.

When reading the online discussion boards, It has in fact

come to my knowledge that Greenpeace has made an

online video on YouTube that shows how Dove is the

cause of the destruction of rainforest because palm oil is

used in Dove products (Source: www.youtube.com).

Greenpeace’s campaign has ultimately lead Unilever to do

something about the issue and play their part in preserving the rainforest in Indonesia (appendix

126). However, the example shows that Dove needs to be stakeholder oriented, as prescribed by

the relational paradigm, in order to be perceived positively by consumers.

Overall, the threats are considered being:

• Risk of undermining the aspiration of consumers

• Risk of other stakeholder groups influencing consumer behavior negatively

• Risk of being a brand for “fat and ugly” people

• Risk of being controlled by Unilever decisions


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• Risk of keeping sustainable consumer-brand relationships in the long run.

.


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6. Conclusion The aim of the conclusion is to answer the research question:

“Seen from a relational perspective, how is Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty adding value to

online consumer-brand relationships?”

In answering the research question, this assignment has enveloped many multiple aspects in the

Dove case. Based on my imperial data, I have found that Dove has based its campaign on relational

values by doing proactive consumer research before launching the campaign cooperating with-

and involving consumers to influence the outcome of the campaign. The outcome is a campaign

that have received vast amounts of online attention where Dove’s online ads are receiving millions

of views and thousands of ratings and comments enhancing brand-consumer meaning and

strengthening the consumer-brand relationship. It is found that Dove is using the campaign to

differentiate themselves from other brands and does so successively. Dove and the Campaign For

Real Beauty is obtaining a unique position within the minds of their consumers by focusing on the

social phenomenon of distorted beauty standards instead of focusing on their products and what

these products can do for their consumers. Dove’s mission to break the rules and change beauty

images is something that consumers can relate to and by engaging in “friendship” relations, Dove

creates a “we are in it together” community culture that sets out to accomplish the cause of

making society and media change the way women are portrayed in the public sphere. The united

mission to change beauty standards is the core value driver in Dove’s consumer-brand

relationship. In order to nurture the relationship and keeping it sustainable, Dove adds value to its

brand by creating an online community website where consumers can read about everyday life

issues and post their own thoughts on the site. Consumers can relate to Dove because it does not

focus on its products, buts its mission to change society and its charity self-esteem fund that

supports young girls with low self-esteem. Mothers and daughters can download workshop

material and engage themselves in the campaign. By doing, what is perceived as being an ethically

good thing, Dove adds value to its brand and gains loyal consumers of all ages.

Concerning “Evolution”, “Beauty Pressure”, “Pro age”, and “Amy”, it is found that Dove has

created a holistic campaign that aims to connect with- and establish consumer-brand relationships

characterized by the “best friendship” metaphor (Fournier, 1994). In this connection, it is found


93

that Dove succeeds in building a love and loyalty for the brand because consumers relate to the

campaign and Dove’s brand meaning.

How has relational perspectives emerged as a new marketing paradigm and how does the

literature contribute to the establishment of online-consumer brand relationships?

Turning to the observations made in the literature review of this thesis, it is found that various

organizations, companies, as well as marketing scholars are “rethinking” the traditional marketing

paradigm by carrying out new strategies that support the changes in society and consumer

behavior in general. It is found that Relational Marketing and relational approaches to branding

are best suited in world where consumers no longer chose products/brands – they chose lives

(Fournier, 1994). The change in consumer behavior poses challenges to brands insofar that it no

longer enough to focus on product attributes to gain consumers’ loyalty. Rather, it is about

knowing more about your consumers and making brands a part of their lifestyles and identities

(ibid). Having including practical examples, such as Nike and Buildabear, these examples show that

a paradigm shift in marketing has occurred where consumer involvement and brand-consumer

relationship building are important drivers for securing success in terms of company turnover as

well as brand recognition and brand image/reputation (Fournier, 1998). Seen from a critical

perspective, it is however questionable that the Relationship Marketing paradigm work on all

types of organizations and companies (Grönroos, 1994). It is therefore concluded that several

paradigms can co-exist and in line with Social Constructionism, the approach taken is based on the

eye of the beholder, i.e. there is no right or wrong.

Concerning how literature has contributed to the establishment of online-consumer brand

relationships, it is found that literature has made limited contributions. However, based on

contributions from literature on relational branding, brand communities and relationship

marketing, I followed the following framework for determining how brands can add value to

online consumer-brand relationships:





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Seen from a relational perspective, what are the opportunities and threats that face Dove when

establishing online consumer-brand relationships?

Having explored online relational activities between Dove and consumers, I have found that Dove

is facing both opportunities and threats when wanting to establish consumer-brand relationships.

In terms of opportunities, I conclude that Dove can learn from its consumers as how to approach

new markets and new relationships. It is found that consumers state a need for Dove to target

men as they too are struggling with bad self-images. It is also found that consumers are suggesting

Dove to include other ethnicities in their campaign as well. In terms of Dove’s website, it is found

that they could develop the interactive processes on the site, so that the notion of authenticity

and co-creation becomes more evident (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004).To conclude, I find that

gaining more consumer insights as to who Dove’s consumers are and what needs they have is the

key for Dove to secure sustainable consumer-brand relationships.

Regarding threats, I conclude that Dove, by entering social media and having a community

website, is losing control of what is said and written about the Dove brand. On the basis of Dove

being part of the Unilever corporation, I have found that Axe, Slimfast and Fair & Lovely pose a

major threat to Dove’s credibility. Being transparent and honest is found to be a driver for

establishing valuable consumer-brand relationships, so having found that Dove has credibility

issues, this poses a major threat to Dov’s image and relationship with consumers. The fact that

Dove, is part of the beauty industry and promotes something else is found to be rather ironic.

Furthermore, Dove’s sister brands are promoting what Dove is trying to fight is also found to be

contradictory to the positive image that Dove is trying to accomplish. Lastly, there is the case of

not being aware of what Dove’s consumers are saying about the brand preventing Dove from

reacting in time, as identified with Dove’s test on animals and its destruction of the Indonesia

rainforest.


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Based on the findings of this thesis, what general learning points of interest to other organizations

can be proposed when wanting to establish sustainable online consumer-brand relationships?

Based the scientific approach of social constructionism as well as the findings of this thesis, I

conclude that this case is intrinsic for Dove and that there is no right or wrong when wanting to

establish sustainable consumer-brand relationships. It all depends on the specific case in question

taking determiners such as time, place, society, media, trends, technological developments and

consumers into consideration. However, based on my learning of Dove, I will conclude that in

order for anyone to establish sustainable relationships, the relationship must be built on trust,

authenticity and mutual understanding in order for the relationship to sustain over time. As

exemplified with Dove, the lack of stakeholder orientation and consumer involvement can have

fatal consequence for the relationship. It is of my personal belief that the value of being consumer

and stakeholder oriented where the meaning of brands are being co-created is an increasingly

important factor in securing success for brands in the future.


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the value of relationships in marketing on the web

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