Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

Dove Repositioning – ‗The Dark Side‘
Joanne McCloskey, University of Bath, U.K.
Zoe Lee, University of Bath, U.K.
Michael Beverland, University of Bath, U.K.
Introduction
Brand repositioning through a clear and meaningful promise has been the cornerstone of brand marketing practice.
Weakly or badly managed brands can take many years to revive successfully (Ewing, et al, 1995). For example, oil
company BP rebranded to Beyond Petroleum with the intention to pursue the idea of sustainability. However, the
company‘s response to the recent explosion in Texas and oil spills off the US coast failed to show that it has moved
beyond its original values (VanAuken, 2010). Other examples include the rebranding of Congsinia and Gap. Review of
the literature shows growing interest in the concept of repositioning (Keller, 1999; Wansink and Huffman, 2001;
Andrew and Kim, 2007). It can be used strategically in reviving aging brands (Lehu, 2004), to ‗take the brand to where
the action is‘ (Aaker, 1997) or as a mere ‗updating the image‘ of the brands (Keller,1999). As customers become more
proactive and engaged in a business environment, brand managers face the challenge of managing the repositioning
process successfully. Despite the importance ascribed to repositioning, there appears to be a paucity of strategic
repositioning models that provide a comprehensive insight into the process.
Dove was originally positioned as the ‗The Beauty Bar‘ with claims such as, ‗Won‘t Dry Skin‘ ‗1/4 cleansing cream‘
and ‗Not just soap.‘ Their message focused around the brand moisturising benefits for over 40 years (see Figure 1 in
Appendices). However, in 2005, Dove was noticeably repositioned with an emotional slant, ‗Campaign for Real
Beauty‘ where 6 women ‗debunked‘ the beauty myth (Figure 2) as well as Ogilvy's viral campaign, ‗Evolution,‘ by
showing the realities of airbrushing and billboard images. Further campaign ‗Onslaught‘ in 2007 featuring a child
facing mass images of the beauty industry and 2009 saw the backlash by Greenpeace in the parody, ‗On slaughter,‘
which exposes the use of unsustainably sourced palm oil. This sparked a myriad of negative publicity where Dove is
accused of delving into the ugly side of beauty. As a result, the brand reposition and retreat to the functional root (see
Figure 3). Indeed, most literature support the benefit of emotional functioning as it can engage with consumers and
build brand loyalty (Amine, 1998). However, little is known how consumers respond to this repositioning strategy.
Building on Roberts (2008) notion of the lack of consumer research on positioning issues leads to the proposition of the
question: ―How do consumers perceive Dove‘s repositioning? From functional to emotional and then back to functional
positioning‖. This research will aim to explore the consumer perceptions of the changes to the Dove brand over time.
Strategic repositioning – conventional view
The concept of repositioning begins as a construct within classification of new product development (Simms and Trott,
2007) which examine how the product will be perceived in relation to other competitive offerings, in the mind of
consumer. Previous definition is mainly driven from product and firm repositioning (Tauber, 1981; Simms and Trott,
2007, Saunders and Jobber, 1994) and there was no consideration for consumers. Stuart and Muzellec (2004) define it
as the practice of building a new name representative of a differentiated position in the mind frame of stakeholders and
a distinctive identity from competitors, while Daly and Moloney (2004) suggest a continuum in repositioning that
begins with revitalizing a current brand to a full name change altering brand values and promises. The question of
consumer perceptions of repositioning is sparse amongst the literature (Roberts, 2008).
Risk of repositioning -doppelganger image and brand parody
Emotional branding has emerged as a highly influential brand management paradigm (Gobe 2001; Zaltman 2003). This
sees a move away from functional focus to the occurrence of consumer linkages where brand narratives demonstrate an
empathetic understanding of consumer‘s inspirations, aspirations, and life circumstances (Thompson et al, 2006 , p. 56)
and thus generating warm feelings of community among brand users (Atkin 2004; Cova and Cova 2002; Muniz and
Schau, 2005). Thompson et al. (2006) highlight the seldom discussed ‗risks of emotional branding‘ (p.5) – the creation
of a ‗doppelganger image‘ as a particular type of cultural backlash. Rhetoric incorporating the idea of doppelganger
effect is defined as, ‗ a family of disparaging images and stories about a brand that are circulated in popular culture by a
loosely organized network of consumers, anti-brand activists, bloggers and opinion leaders in the news and
entertainment media,‘ (p.53). In addition, Danesi (2006) refers to brand parody with the aim to, ‗unmask the significant
systems of brands so that more and more people can gain a critical understanding of the images that float through them
on a daily basis (p.44). Parodies are often aimed at successful brands (Holt, 2002), and are a sign of an emotional
branding story losing its authenticity, changing consumer outlooks and poor fit with consumer identity projects
(Thompson et al., 2006). A negative effect of repositioning can be the occurrence of brand parodies or culture jamming
activities, and one further outcome to address is the effects on brand loyalty.
It is important to note that when branding programs fail to address negative issues in a responsive manner, the problems
will only escalate (Lamons, 2004) dramatically through mass media, the internet and word of mouth (Andrews and
Kim, 2007) and this negative effect can persist over time (Weinberger, 1986). Repositioning can cause confusion to
consumers especially when moving from functional to symbolic / emotional positions or straddling both (Bhat and
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