• Memac Ogilvy and Dove jointly devised a campaign to activate the beauty brand’s Self Esteem Project in the Kingdom

Creative communications network Memac Ogilvy and beauty brand Dove have partnered to launch an empowering campaign that carries the beauty brand’s Self Esteem Project to more people in Saudi Arabia. The project seeks to reduce beauty pressures and societal expectations faced by girls and help provide a more positive transition to womanhood.

The campaign follows a survey commissioned by Dove and conducted by behavioral experts of more than 1,000 women and girls (pre-teen and teen girls) in Saudi Arabia. The survey found that societal pressures and expectations to look a certain way materialize almost overnight after hitting puberty, and often come from their closest social circles. This pressure can sometimes lead girls to alter their image and behavior at a young age.

The local survey also found that:

  • 73% girls reported feeling pressure to conform to narrow beauty standards at the onset of puberty.
  • 74% feel that the pressure to be beautiful overnight negatively impacts their transition to womanhood.
  • 78%, or 3 in 4 girls, wish society would stop pressuring them to look a certain way overnight.
  • 76% want adults to be better equipped to educate them about body image.
  • 82% believe everyone has a role in breaking down unrealistic beauty standards.

Dove’s new Confidence Kit, based in Saudi Arabia, directly addresses these concerns and others to help more young girls to transition to womanhood with confidence and positivity. The academically validated kit will also help adults become the pillars of support that Saudi girls are looking for, to celebrate their individuality.

At the heart of the campaign to bring the project to Saudi Arabia is a bold and beautiful film devised and produced by Memac Ogilvy that seeks to challenge the beauty pressures young girls in Saudi Arabia face. The film features young girls from different backgrounds in the Kingdom sharing their interactions while transitioning to womanhood — grow your nails, remove your facial hair, wear feminine things. Bringing these messages to life, the film features striking artwork of the featured girls and the pressures they receive from renowned Saudi artist, Noura Bint Saida. The message is simple: let’s erase these harsh words and help build girls’ self-esteem and confidence. To achieve this, viewers are directed online where they can download a Confidence Kit, produced by experts in psychology, that provides parents with guidance on how to help their child to build body confidence.

Boosting the campaign’s visibility across social is a paid campaign underpinned by the bilingual tagline #WelcomeToWomanhood / #مبروك_كبرتي. Several regional influencers carried Dove’s campaign message forward, namely Ascia, Basma el Khereiji, Raha Moharrak and Adwa Al Dakheel.

The campaign film is available to watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfIB-Il9gmc.

On the campaign, Till Hohmann, Chief Creative Director MENA at Memac Ogilvy, commented: “Ogilvy has been there since the start of Dove’s real beauty campaign, and this next instalment in the campaign amplifies the exceptional work completed by the brand so far as a champion of real beauty. Dove wants people to observe the world around them and think critically, and our creative as part of the Self Esteem Project achieves this through emotive and genuine storytelling.”

Namrata Khubchandani, Brand Manager at Unilever also commented on the campaign: “At Dove, our mission is to encourage all women and young girls to develop a positive relationship with beauty, which is why we've been campaigning globally to break down narrow beauty ideals for the last 20 years. We believe beauty should be a source of confidence, and not anxiety. Analyzing the statistics from our research led by experts in Saudi Arabia, we felt we could portray this global mission with a strong local campaign to raise awareness about the beauty related pressures these young girls' experience. Our aim is to get to the root of the issue by providing parents, mentors, teachers and adults in a young girl’s life with the tools needed to raise self-esteem and allow girls to realize their full potential as they transition to womanhood.”

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MEDIA CONTACT
Mina Kiwan — Associate Director Media Relations
E. mina.kiwan@ogilvy.com

About Ogilvy 

Ogilvy inspires brands and people to impact the world. We have been creating iconic, culture-changing, value-driving ideas for clients since David Ogilvy founded the company in 1948. We continue building on that rich legacy through our borderless creativity—operating, innovating, and creating at the intersection of talent and capabilities. Our experts in Advertising, Experience, Public Relations, Health, and Consulting work fluidly across 131 offices in 93 countries to bring forth world-class creative solutions for our clients. Ogilvy is a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY). For more information, visit Ogilvy.com, and follow us on  LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.  

About Dove

Dove started its life in 1957 in the US, with launch of the Beauty Bar, with its patented blend of mild cleansers and ¼ moisturising cream. Dove’s heritage is based on moisturisation – proof, not promises, grew Dove from a Beauty Bar into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands.

Women have always been our inspiration and since the beginning, we have been wholly committed to providing superior care to all women and to championing real beauty in our advertising. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone. That beauty should be a source of confidence and not anxiety. Dove’s mission is to inspire women everywhere to develop a positive relationship with the way they look and realize their personal potential for beauty.

For 60 years, Dove has been committed to broadening the narrow definition of beauty in the work they do. With the ‘Dove Real Beauty Pledge,’ Dove vows to:

1. Portray women with honesty, diversity and respect. We feature women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair colour, type and style.

2. Portray women as they are in real life, with zero digital distortion and all images approved by the women they feature.

3. Help young people build body confidence and self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, the biggest provider of self-esteem education in the world.

Survey methodology

‘Project Tifla Quant Study 2022’. Research conducted on behalf of Dove by 4SIGHT Research & Analytics between August – October 2022 with 1,025 respondents, a nationally representative sample of KSA population covering mainly Western, Central, and Eastern regions. The sample was split almost equally between girls (13-17 years old) and women (18 years old or above). The interviews were conducted online using an online panel in KSA, with an average survey length of 27.3 minutes.