AdMiration feature: Dove’s “Moist Humor”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Dove’s “Moist Humor” ad. Traditionally known for its ads aimed at empowering and inspiring women with its “Real Beauty” message, this is Dove’s first-ever humorous approach to advertising, which aired during SNL50: The Anniversary Special.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad begins with a group of four women being welcomed into a conference room as “We asked women to try our new Dove Body Wash formula” appears on screen and soft music plays in the background. The women discuss how they’re impressed with the body wash and how it provides “lotion-soft skin for 24 hours.” 

Next “Then they saw our new ad campaign…” appears onscreen, and the woman leading the focus group shows a large banner with the words “SO MOIST!” and asks for their thoughts.

The women are immediately turned off by the messaging. The woman continues to push the “moist” message, including singing a terrible jingle, to convince the group of women. The women tell her “no” repeatedly, indicating that “moist” is the problem. One says “Love the body wash, hate the word.” 

At the end, the woman says Dove was just kidding, and “Dove Deep Moist…ure Body Wash” concludes the ad.

3 facts

• The ad scored above average in potential to drive short term sales and build the brand into the longer term, landing in the top 30% of all US ads.

• Despite the departure from Dove’s traditional advertising approach, audiences were easily able to recognize it was a Dove ad — resulting in an unaided brand recall of 77% (significantly above a norm of 68%).

• The ad was entertaining and humorous with an overall laughter score of 22% (norm 8%) — with the highest peaks of laughter occurring when the woman sang a terrible “moist” ad jingle. 

2 learnings 

• This ad is a great example of being both funny and informative. It is grounded in a clear strategy to reinforce the moisturizing qualities of Dove, and humor is used to make that message more entertaining, clear and memorable. Almost half of respondents (47%) spontaneously talk about Dove’s moisturizing benefits — which shows how clear and brilliantly single-minded the ad is — and they believe the brand meets their needs (4.2 versus norm of 4.0) 

• Understanding even small details about your target audience can help you resonate and be relatable. In this case, Dove clearly tapped into the negative reaction many people have to the word “moist” and played on this in a highly amusing way. We talk a lot about the importance of grounding ads in relevant insights — and often these insights are deep and meaningful. But this is a great example of how a small and frivolous insight can unlock humor and a clear communications vehicle. 

1 reflection

Are your brand ideas and distinctive assets well enough established for you to have freedom to play? Just two weeks ago we saw Dove’s “These Legs” at the Super Bowl. People loved this ad and it was exactly what people expected from Dove on the big stage. This ad, however, allows Dove to show another part of its character and people noticed and welcomed that.

It was clearly Dove with its use of real women of different sizes and ethnicities, its storytelling style with headlines explaining what was about to happen in the ad and its iconic Dove logo, fonts and specific packaging — while also being very different with its use of humor. New ideas need time to be established, but once established and once you know what you have to keep, a brand can show more character and surprise people (in a good way).

For decades Dove has been known for its serious approach to unpacking beauty standards and the ways in which society views women — including its recent Super Bowl ad “These Legs.” This ad marks Dove’s first foray into humorous advertising, announcing the new formula to the brand’s Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash. 

Developed by Ryan Reynold’s agency, Maximum Effort, the spot plays with the well-known fact that many people have an aversion to the word “moist.” 

Fitting the comedic tone, the ad debuted at the recent SNL anniversary special, SNL50. 

Kathryn Fernandez, Head of Dove Purpose & Engagement, Unilever North America, said about the ad: "We're so excited to debut our first comedic ad with this new spot that celebrates moisture during such an iconic moment in television. While the word 'moist' might be polarizing, we can all agree that we love moisture, and with Dove Body Wash, moisturization and hydration doesn't stop in the shower— it keeps working all day long." 

The ad scored above average at driving both Sales Impact (71) and Brand Impact (74). Though the ad exclusively features women, the ad doesn’t appeal significantly more to women than men.

Despite the departure from the brand’s typical advertising approach, audiences still recognized it as an ad for Dove, with 77% being able to spontaneously recall the brand among a reel of ads (versus a norm of 68%). This is slightly higher than the brand’s recent Super Bowl ad, which had a brand recall of 71%. 

The clear focus on the product — with numerous images of the bottle — and descriptions of the product’s benefits certainly helped the branding come through.

Audiences appreciated the directness and informative nature of the ad as well as the humor. 47% of respondents spontaneously talked about how moisturizing the product is, and when prompted, significantly more people than the norm agreed that the ad made them think Dove keeps skin soft, smooth and deeply moisturized. As you'd expect, this was seen as very credible for Dove and received as very relevant and made them think Dove meets their needs (4.2 versus 4.0).

Looking at emotional response, the audience’s “like” for the ad immediately builds once the ad opens and they watch the diverse group of women enter the room and talk about how smooth their skin was for 24 hours. There's a beautiful shift in drama as the ad reveals the campaign banner with the large word “MOIST!” People are both surprised and amused. This continues as the woman sings the horrible slogan —  reaching an even higher peak of humor. 

A final peak of laughter is seen when one woman says to “bury it” and the lady running the group asks “Which part? Is it the moist?” and everyone emphatically responds “yes!” 

The ad ends going back to the “like” and “love” from the opening scene as the women say they love the product, not the word. 

It’s a great journey in just 30 seconds and keeps people's attention throughout. 

The ad appeals to both women and men and most age groups, but for those over 55, the humor doesn’t resonate as strongly. Some over 55 found it funny (17% vs. a 6% norm), but 11% disliked it (compared to a 5% norm) and some are confused by it (7% vs. a norm of 3%).

Here is what people had to say about the ad: 

• "I liked the way it didn't focus on one particular person, but a variety of ladies, from different backgrounds."

• "I like the approach to people who tested the product and the switch to the ad and how it was rejected."

• "It was cute. Quick. To the point that the body wash would add moisture."

• "Thought the entire ad itself was funny and caught my attention but also informative about the deep moisture body wash."

• "I felt the ad was upbeat, energetic, inclusive and very engaging."

This was a fun new approach from Dove! 

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