We all know the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” Well, not this may. Instead, we have seen scorching heat, wind, downpours, and snow all within the span of a week.
We cannot control the inconsistencies in weather, traffic or even our fast food order but we can control the consistency of our work.
No day is the same here at Esparza, with a varying array of clientele including: a prescription drug abuse prevention program, a statewide public utility, a home healthcare company, a credit union, a crisis hotline, an investment firm, a health insurance provider, and more, we can still ask ourselves the same key questions for success.
These questions are:
- What is the one thing by which we will measure our success?
- Who is the person that we need to reach with our message in order to meet our goals?
- How should the brand be perceived by this person?
- Which tactics will best reach this person and carry the brand message properly?
- Is the work arresting, relevant, engaging, compelling, newsworthy, and measurable?
This is a structure that we follow consistently as an agency. As we have followed this process for each of our clients, we have been able to create strategic and creative work that succeeds because it meets each of these requirements.
Unfortunately, Dove’s usual consistency recently looked like May in New Mexico this year. Campaigns such as, “Throw Like a Girl,” and “Real Beauty,” exemplify Dove’s usual steadiness in nailing their “body confidence” theme. Their latest campaign, “Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes,” seems to be an idea that fell somewhat flat. The campaign consists of seven bottles that represent seven body types. That’s right, seven and only seven body types. This simplistic approach may have done the opposite of promoting body positivity.
Not only are the bottles distasteful, you can only choose between these shapes, which comes off as insensitive. If you don’t match the shapes provided, I guess you don’t matter. They could have benefitted from question three of Esparza’s process, by thinking about how the buyer would perceive this execution.
This is a prime example of what happens when brands veer from answering the six questions above. When brand consistency fails, consumer trust fails, which can be detrimental to business. Dove had a rainy day interruption in their typically sunny streak, but we hope their cloudy skies clear up soon.
