The Dove brand has a long track record of innovative marketing tactics -- and the idea of a brand rolling out a webisode in which you choose your own adventure continues that trend.
Starting with the design, it has a simple elegance -- again, in line with the Dove campaign's past work. The emphasis is completely on the video upon page launch. I might have added a little more of a preface up front for context. But the video loaded quickly and I was in.
The control bar nav is nicely done, tracking the different paths the user can take in a clean visual manner. The time bars track progress clearly while showing the interaction points. They've used something similar to Hulu in this regard, which is smart. Having worked on a number of complex interface designs, I'm all for doing things in ways the user is probably already familiar with. When you're trying to promote something, confusion is a killer.
Beyond the creative, there's the community site the user can jump off to. Building communities around brands can be a daunting challenge, but Dove has done this quite well in the past, and as corporate communities go, this one's far more distinct and stylish than most.
As for what I might improve, my primary question with a site like this is: With so much good, well-funded video content coming into the web from every direction, does it make sense for brands to try and enter the fray, and go through the challenges of driving traffic to a new destination, or would it be better to identify relevant activities already going on, and figure out how to leverage that momentum, joining and adding to those social "conversations"?
As mentioned, Dove has a strong track record in this area, and they'll have plenty of data available to weigh this with. This effort is part of an impressive, longstanding record. And that's more than most brands can say.
-- Doug Schumacher, president and creative director, Basement, Inc.
It's a dirty little secret that we 20-something women are ridden with insecurities and pressures, despite the apparent advantage that youth may lend us. As a (self-admittedly) self-absorbed member of that group, I personally thought that Dove's Waking Up Hannah interactive webisode campaign was great -- because Hannah's story, in many ways, was also my story.
Not only was it my story in the sense that I could select a "perspective" or path that would determine what happened to Hannah that day, it was also my story because I could easily sympathize with many of Hannah's life pressures -- including an overbearing older sister, student loans and the undesirable task of juggling work and a social life.
The video was easy to upload, although it was difficult to fast forward or rewind in between segments. Perhaps more video control options would have been a good idea. The only part I didn't particularly agree with was the option to explore Hannah's cell phone by reading her text messages and browsing her pictures. This part struck me as out of left field; after all, what does Dove have to do with text messages?
Nevertheless, the campaign makes an innovative attempt to reach out to women who can relate to -- and live vicariously through -- 20-something Hannah. And even if users don’t quite make the leap from grapefruit and lemongrass body mist to a rise in self-esteem, at its most basic level the webisode raises buzz about its product line by engaging those who, like me, feel just a little nostalgic for those “choose-your-own-adventure” books of simpler days.
-- Emily Chang, editorial intern, iMedia Connection
