Innovating for the new pleasure

Dove Chocolate is a much-loved brand with a solid fan base. But in 2017, with both the brand and the chocolate category facing stagnating sales, it was time to shake things up. Dove asked us to help them heighten their appeal and relevance with a younger audience through innovation.

We set out to understand what made this younger consumer tick. Through insights, foresight, and category analysis we realized that brands had been looking at chocolate the wrong way. Millennials had a different definition of pleasure—and our innovation vision and NPD pipeline had to reflect this shift.

from pleasure as self-care
to pleasure as self-love

We created an attitudinal segmentation that allowed us to bring our target to life in a more inspiring way, and combined those with a needs analysis. Building off this framework and the paradigm shift toward self-love, we created forward-looking innovation territories—then used those to co-create new product ideas with consumers.

The outcome was an inspiring innovation vision that paved the way for a more modern and cohesive brand expression—as well as a 5-year pipeline filled with delicious, on-brand and on-target ideas for Dove.

What we did: Consumer Insights, Foresight Analysis, Category Visioning, Innovation Strategy/Visioning, Innovation Pipeline, Product/Service Co-creation