CRM - December 2008 - (Page 25)

Web 2.0, social media, customer feedback, conversations. Transparency is the new currency in CRM—but are you really ready to let your customer behind the curtain? BY LAUREN McKAY Imagineyour self looking in a mirror. What you find yourself looking at may not be what you were looking for. But isn’t seeing what’s real better than seeing an illusion? Aren’t we better off knowing what’s true? When skin-, body-, and hair-care company Dove, a branch of global brand Unilever, released its “Campaign for Real Beauty” in September 2004—featuring women whose body types fell outside the stereotypical marketing norms—the message was that real women aren’t the ones you usually see gracing billboards and centerfolds. The ad directed viewers to www.CampaignForRealBeauty.com to foster conversation about what beauty is. The second phase of Dove’s campaign introduced an ad with another six real women— shapely, non-model-like bodies—and again funneled people back to its site for discussion. A year later, a Dove-sponsored viral video began circulating. “Evolution,” a short clip showing the effort (and trickery) that goes into prepping a model for a photo shoot. “Evolution” won awards and received accolades from viewers—male and female alike. Dove took a step away from the norms with its campaign—hoping to convey to young girls that what you see isn’t reality. Real beauty isn’t just what you see on a magazine cover. Coincidentally, as Dove was praised for its efforts, the company faced backlash for being hypocritical. Unilever, the parent company of Dove, also owns Axe/Lynx, the malegrooming-product company known for its scandalous, sexual commercials that show women in a less-than-wholesome light. To the criticisms, the company responds: “The chosen vehicle for Axe/Lynx is a series of light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek adverts. They are…not meant to be taken seriously.” How can a company promote inner beauty on one hand and degrade women on the next? Accusations of hypocrisy did not end there, however. Halfway around the globe, in India, Unilever owns a cosmetics company that markets a product called “Fair & Lovely”—essentially a skin-lightening cream, hardly the kind of product that champions the natural beauty you might see in the mirror. (Unilever did not respond to questions regarding Fair & Lovely.) “Seeing is believing” may be an age-old mantra, but it’s as visceral today as it’s ever been, and perhaps in CRM more than most industries. Unilever and its various brands capture the struggle in CRM today—a battle for what’s real and what’s not, for the line between marketing and message, for the heart and soul and mind of the relationship between company and consumer. It’s all about transparency. As used in the humanities, transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability, the pillars of which are the stuff of consumer dreams—and often corporate nightmares. But all that is about to change. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | DECEMBER 2008 www.destinationCRM.com 25 http://www.CampaignForRealBeauty.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - December 2008

CRM - December 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point The Rave Is Over CRM on Twitter Financial Frenzy Will Customer Experience Survive in a ‘Soft’ Economy? Holiday Humbug Empowered Consumers Are Ready to Flip the Switch Required Reading Transparency Spiff Up Your Site! They Aim to Please Mixing In a Little Sugar Sweetens the Deal A Newsletter Employs New Tactics A Site Stops Feeling Overtaxed Make ’Em Laugh—Personally Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.