Dove Various products 1999 - 2007

Seymourpowell founding partner Richard Seymour is also the Consultant Global Creative Director of Design for the Dove brand – a position never before held by an 'outsider'. Richard's involvement with Dove started at the same time as Seymourpowell's involvement with Unilever six years ago, when he was headhunted to act as a consultant to help improve the design standards within what they called their 'Deo Icat': their innovation centre for deodorants in Kingston. In the ensuing few years he has managed to raise the design agenda within the Unilever organisation higher and higher, to a point where it is now clearly understood as a potent business tool throughout the business. Richard subsequently began working directly with the Dove brand to find new ways to push the actual product forward through innovation and design.

"When I say 'Product' I mean what you buy on the shelf.. The first job to do was to show that Product was both the 'goo' and the packaging. Only when that is understood can one develop 'whole product concepts' rather than look at packaging as merely a cost to be reduced"
Richard Seymour

Dove is the world's number 1 cleansing brand with sales of over € 2.5 billion a year in over 80 countries. Below is a selection of the work Seymourpowell have done for them over the last six years:

Project Blanco - The redesign of the packaging for the Dove bar was the result not just of traditional design processes but also of intense work by Seymourpowell's Foresight team (SPF)

The Petal Actuator - The first example of a fully-enclosed aerosol actuator on the market

Dove Spa - Extending the brand

Project Blanco
The redesign of the packaging for the Dove bar was the result not just of traditional design processes, but also of intense work by Seymourpowell’s Foresight team (SPF), who visited users at home to record video ethnographic research, showing products in their everyday context and analysing how the product is kept, referred to and used, fully considering what happens beyond purchase.

SPF research noted that the bar found its way into storage cupboards, was not put proudly 'on display', but rather thrown in and lost. It was not considered a 'front of house' product – and this low status was only exacerbated by multi-packs, which were often kept with cleaning products rather than beauty products. SPF stressed that it was a low-value solution to open multi-packs with a knife or your fingernails, where a premium product would always have a premium solution.

The treasure chest packs solved these problems by 'presenting' the content to the consumer, thereby elevating its status and value; giving the product a stronger shelf presence and creating a pleasurable opening experience so that consumers no longer had to ‘tear’ at the carton. More attractive multi-pack packaging influenced storage both at home and at POS. The real triumph, however, was a design which could be very different from a consumer perspective, whilst being easy to make on existing machinery without substantial modification. To do this required a very delicate development of both bar and pack structure at the same time.

Dove deodorant - The Petal Actuator
The Dove Petal deodorant actuator took Unilever's current manufacturing processes, and applied them in a creative, but simple way to create a fully enclosed actuator. The Petal design differs from others on the market in the use of a soft rubber co-moulding to provide a soft touch-point for the fingers whilst completely concealing the usual functional split lines. The inspiration for the design, which is the first example of its type on the market, came from the desire to improve the sensorial experience from both a visual and tactile perspective.

The actuator needed to:
1. Deliver a reward to the senses by improving the look and feel of the core product
2. Assert its superior, active skincare benefit
3. Improve the look in-store by moving away from a purely functional appearance to one which cues beauty
4. Provide a clear, unique Brand Signature which could be differentiated from competitors

The new technically innovative actuator comprises a bi-injection actuator body with soft touch finger pad and over-cap. There are six core variant colours and two further regional colours.

"The Petal Actuator is the first example of a fully-enclosed aerosol actuator on the market. A clever use of materials and moulding techniques to produce an aerosol valve with a unique action that emphasises the feminine and premium position the product occupies."
Jim Dale, design manager, RPC Group - JUDGE: Starpack Awards 2007, where the Petal Actuator won a GOLD AWARD

Dove Spa
This line of professional-quality beauty treatment products was launched as part of a unique venture to create the first-ever, complete Dove spa experience, first test-marketed in Surrey, UK. The essence of the new sub-brand combines the underlying principles for the Dove brand with the rich indulgences and premium cues associated with a top-end day spa environment. The product range consists of 12 individual primary packaging formats, with a further four secondary packaging formats. The primary packaging is frosted and sensuous to the touch, moving away from the opaque white of the classic Dove brand. The secondary packaging is predominantly paperboard with a feature layer of polycarbonate that subtly reflects the flare of colour at the base, a design detail which defines the collection and makes sub-range products easy to identify. The on-pack graphic treatment is kept to a minimum, simply featuring a foil-blocked logo. It is the first time in Dove's 50 year history that the word 'Dove' has not appeared on pack at all, the iconic 'bird' motif doing all the work of identifying the core Brand.

The full range consists of 39 individual products cross seven collections, each differentiated through the subtle use of colour: Tranquillity (delicate skin), Treasure (fresh faces), Quench (dry skin), Blessed (normal skin), Rediscover (experienced skin), Wrapsody (all-over body care) and Collectables (face care). Individual products retail between £12 and £28.

The Dove Spa product range experienced an impressive 50% performance ahead of budget in the first week of sales.