CASE STUDY: How Dove leverages happy-ever-after with zero media dollars

Objectives

Dove wanted to drive chocolate gifting sales in the three-week period before Chinese Valentine’s Day and to raise brand awareness and affinity by relying only on earned and social media. It did not have a budget for paid media but sought to raise top-of-mind brand recall of Dove during the purchase process. Chinese Valentine's Day, known as ‘Qixi‘ – the Seventh Night Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

Execution 

Based on the insight that young lovers searched online for inspiration to express their affection before Chinese Valentine’s Day, SapientNitro tugged at heartstrings by telling the real-life love story of Ma Jin, an industrial artist in China, using social media.  

Ma's tribute to his girlfriend was an "love carriage" decorated with from heart-shaped chocolate containers similar to Dove's gift boxes, which the digital agency offered to help fund and promote via relevant and fun content uploaded and spread organically on Sina Weibo.

Constant updates on the progress of building the carriage were posted daily, that struck a chord with netizens who contributed to his labour of love. Dove was later roped in as an official sponsor for Ma's art installation project. 

Results

With 3,272,391 unique impressions on major social networks (765 per cent of KPIs), 47,683 retweets, 34,328 comments on Ma’s love project, Dove's gifting sales grew by 226 per cent during the campaign period - representing 50 per cent of sales for all Dove chocolates. 

The campaign was reported in local mainstream newspapers for added publicity, with the highlight being Ma's successful marriage proposal to his girlfriend of four years.

Credits

Creative Director: Kestrel Lee, Hueylu Ho
Associate Creative Directors: Chanthani Satjatham, Lydia Wang
Copywriters: Eric Shang.
Art directors: Robin Zhang
Account servicing: Ashley Wu, Gary Zhao
Project managers: Pride Fang, Liz Chng
Traffic: Susie Ho