Summary
Lisa LaFlamme’s abrupt dismissal from CTV News anchor sparked a high volume of conversation online and in the media about ageism women face in the workplace. To show solidarity, Dove launched #KeepTheGrey–a campaign aimed at helping eliminate barriers women face as they choose to age on their own terms. To evaluate the impact achieved by #KeepTheGrey, Edelman DXI executed a campaign impact survey and consumer impact report. The research measured impact by understanding campaign recall, actions taken after campaign exposure and comparing campaign recallers’ and non-recallers’ attitudes on key campaign topics.

Objective/Brief
When Lisa LaFlamme was removed from CTV News anchor, Edelman recognized an opportunity for Dove to act. As a brand committed to redefining how beauty is portrayed and celebrated, Dove was in a unique position to make a bold statement and raise awareness about the discrimination and double standard women face, often in the prime of their careers, simply because they’ve chosen to keep their hair color grey. Edelman approached Dove with a quick-turn campaign idea and acted swiftly to bring it to life.

Edelman DXI sought out to understand attitudes regarding age-based and grey hair discrimination, analyze these attitudes among campaign viewers and non-viewers, and uncover deep campaign insights to effectively measure the campaign impact and refine future campaign materials to align them with preferences and expectations of the target audience.

Strategy
To understand the impact achieved by this campaign, Edelman DXI designed and executed a campaign impact survey and consumer impact report. Given the campaign’s quick-turn nature, it was imperative that measurement design was efficient and collaborative.

Edelman DXI worked in close partnership with Dove to develop key performance indicators and an analysis approach, which effectively measured the success achieved by the #KeepTheGrey campaign. Edelman DXI conducted a survey to measure and quantify attitudes around age-based and grey hair discrimination.

To compare the attitudes of campaign viewers and non-viewers, the team used statistical analysis to identify significant differences and similarities in opinions, and in turn, the connection between specific attitudes and campaign exposure. The strategy also included a deep dive among campaign recallers to assess brand association to the campaign, brand fit with respect to messaging, impact on brand image, top-of-mind campaign reactions, communication effectiveness, campaign perceptions from the emotional and creative perspectives, as well as Canadian viewers’ attitudinal and behavioral changes with respect to age-based and grey hair discrimination after campaign exposure.

To ensure accuracy of the results, it was imperative that the survey sample is representative of the Canadian population. Edelman DXI partnered with a trusted and well-established panel provider, the Angus Reid Forum, to source participants for the survey and ensured representative demographic distribution that replicated that of Canada at large.

Execution/Implementation
Data integrity, timeliness, and survey design were imperative in the successful execution of this campaign impact research. For accurate representation of the Canadian public, the survey was conducted among a sample of 1,514 general population Canadians, which provides minimal margin of error (+/-3% at a 95% confidence interval). Strict demographic quotas were in place throughout fieldwork to ensure the sample was representative of the Canadian population based on the latest census data.

Quality assurance measures included thorough survey link testing, continuous data monitoring throughout the field, and detailed data accuracy checks post-field. The survey fielded approximately one month after campaign launch, while campaign assets were still live online.

This provided time for the campaign to saturate across media, and in turn, for the Canadian population (and survey participants) to be potentially exposed to the campaign in their day-to-day lives.

In the survey design, we began by capturing essential demographic information to ensure a representative sample during the screening process. With this foundation in place, the survey seamlessly transitioned into the comprehensive campaign evaluation phase.

To begin campaign evaluation, the survey captured Canadians’ opinions on the topic of age-related and grey-hair-based discrimination both within society overall and specifically in the workplace. Attitudinal results were assessed among the total sample, demographic subgroups, and to understand campaign connection to attitudes, among campaign viewers and non-viewers.

Following this, survey participants were exposed to de-branded campaign assets to determine they recalled the campaign. Those who recalled the campaign were asked a series of follow-up questions to evaluate channel-specific campaign recall, accurate brand association, campaign-brand fit and brand image impact, top-of-mind and prompted campaign perceptions, key message effectiveness, as well as attitudinal and behavioral changes after campaign exposure.

Effectiveness of Assignment
The campaign was launched on all Dove social media channels, with a call to action for others to join in by altering their profile picture to greyscale. Through this social-first approach, in addition to influencer engagement and paid media plans, the team sparked a social movement against ageism and sexism in the workplace. The consumer impact report findings included:

• 90% of campaign viewers felt #KeepTheGrey brought attention to an important topic that needs to be discussed
• 70% of campaign viewers agree that women face more discrimination at work for having grey hair than men
• 61% of campaign viewers are more likely to purchase Dove
• 89% of campaign viewers found the campaign gave them a good impression of Dove
• 83% of campaign viewers would like to see more work like this from Dove
• Nine in ten campaign viewers felt #KeepTheGrey brought attention to an important topic
• Two in three said they have or will speak up about ageism after seeing the campaign
• Three in five said the campaign made them more likely to purchase the brand.
• Over four in five expressed desire to see more work like this from Dove

Total dollar sales across Dove categories increased while the campaign was in market. Compared to the previous four weeks, the brand saw increased sales across product lines such as Dove Hair +5.9%, Dove Bar & Body Wash +14.2%, and Dove Deo +29.7%.

The campaign drove unmatched talkability as the most covered campaign in the history of Dove Canada.

• 1B+ earned media impressions
• 675+ pieces of coverage
• Locally, it was covered by every major news outlet – every single broadcast news channel in Canada, from national top-tier to local news channels covered the story. It was included in a printed story in Canada’s most read newspaper, the Toronto Star.
• 100% of campaign coverage included 1-2 key messages
• 100% of coverage included Dove brand within content 85 pieces of coverage included Dove in headline

In response to the overwhelming success, Dove became the first-ever beauty and CPG brand offered a seat on the Ontario
Human Rights Commission board in order to continue fighting for women’s rights and ending ageism in Canada.