And so what, if anything, does this have to do with Unilever's Dove's similarly named online viral campaign that was called "Evolution"?
For anyone that has not seen or knew about the campaign until you watched it here (is there anyone?), it was made by Unilever's Toronto Canada agency and shows a fairly ordinary woman - with not very great skin - being made up, photographed and then digitally manipulated to look like a stunning model who finally appears on a billboard in the closing shots. The sting in the story is the line that says: “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted".
Therefore it was somewhat ironic to me that when Dove’s "Evolution" won the Grand Prix at the 2007 Cannes Advertising Festival, most of the comment at the press conference and in the press afterwards split into two main stories:
Story One: The jury rigged it
This story suggested that the jury rigged the event, and the prize, as they themselves had moved the "Evolution" digital clip from the "fundraising and appeals" category, which the agency who made it had submitted it, into the "corporate image" category. The rules of the event excludes ads from a number of categories like "fundraising and appeals" from being eligible to win the big prize.
Story Two: It marks the official end of traditional media
This story saw the win as a triumph for the new digital world, as the Grand Prix was snatched from the arms of traditional media for the first time ever. The win was acclaimed as heralding in the new era of the digital age.
The real story and point seems to have been missed though!
The big factor that made the execution worthy of winning, in my view, is because - unlike so much advertising out there today - the Dove brand has a simple but very clear "big idea".Whether you like the “Real Women” idea or not, the simple fact is that the brand communication has a big idea. An idea by the way that is selling product as a review of the sales growth of Dove in EuroMonitor and other sales and share tracking services show.
The idea is born out of a belief that the brand has taken that "for too long media has created and projected the view about what beauty is. A view that is unrealistic and unattainable". They therefore celebrate the beauty of "real women".
I think the importance that Unilever are placing on having an insight or belief behind their brands and then having a creative idea cascading out of that is worthy of winning an award in itself . Today most ads are screaming benefits and features like traders in a market stall. Brands and their communication are talking too much about how mine is bigger, thicker or longer than yours. This is not what brand building is about.
For me what is significant about the "Evolution" execution was that it showed how if you have a big creative idea that is so small you could write it on the tinniest scrap of paper it can go anywhere in any form, media and communication vehicle. It means that any of your brand teams and agencies (promotional, PR, online, advertising) anywhere can reinvent and find new and interesting ways of expressing it. This is what this clip has shown.
With a big creative idea you should not need control freaks and brand police checking that brand communication execution guidelines are being adhered to. You probably just need to enjoy the flow of new and surprising ways people running your brands find ways of reinventing the same story in new, fresh and (importantly if you have global brands) culturally and socially relevant ways. Plus you may need a set of good clothes to wear to award ceremonies.
There is another story about something else we can learn from creative ideas, which about how they can engage and create excitement and debate by your target (even if they aren't as socially challenging as the Dove Real Women campaign). But that is a story for the next posting and podcast.
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