Submitted by CollectivelyAgency IPI Score 72/100

Dove's Journey to Top 3: A Winning Partnership

Influencer Marketing

Collectively grew Dove's always-on creator community across five years, reaching a #3 VIT ranking in US beauty and generating 1.9B impressions across 44 campaigns in 2023.

44.6MEngagements
1.9BImpressions
4.3MLink clicks
1.5xImpressions overdelivery
+17%IG story CTR vs benchmark

About the campaign

Dove needed to hold competitive momentum in the crowded US beauty category while driving what it called actionist behaviour, not just awareness, keeping its purpose platforms credible alongside product lines. Collectively's answer, built over a five-year partnership that grew from pilot program to structured annual operation, was an always-on creator community rather than a series of one-off activations, on the premise that standing relationships compound brand equity and creator loyalty in ways campaign resets cannot.

In 2023 the agency ran 44 campaigns across Skin Cleansing, Deodorant, Hair, Hand Hygiene and purpose messaging, activating 1,047 creators across nano, macro and elite tiers through paid organic content, gifting mailers, custom shipments and events on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Market goals were deliberately split, with the US prioritising action-driving content and Canada prioritising resonance, while social listening, A/B testing and commerce traffic tracking to major retailers refined the work through the year.

Collectively reports the 2023 program produced 2,600 posts, 1.9 billion impressions, 44.6 million engagements and 4.3 million link clicks, with US paid organic impressions over-delivering 1.5 times and Instagram Story CTR 17 percent above benchmark, and Dove reaching a number three VIT ranking in US beauty. The 2022 creator community also won a Shorty Award for Micro-Influencer Strategy.

Case in 60 seconds

Dove needed to maintain competitive momentum in a crowded US beauty category and drive actionist consumer behaviour, not just awareness, by amplifying its social-impact mission alongside product lines, as described by Collectively's case study.

One-off influencer activations do not compound brand equity or creator loyalty; a standing, always-on creator community allows the brand to layer different talent tiers against different briefs throughout the year, an approach Collectively developed across a five-year partnership with Dove.

Build and nurture a large earned creator community, spanning nano, macro and elite talent, that can be activated against both product-category campaigns and Dove's purpose pillars simultaneously, rather than resetting with each campaign, per Collectively's case study.

In 2023, Collectively ran 44 campaigns across Skin Cleansing, Deodorant, Hair, Hand Hygiene and purpose messaging, activating 1,047 creators through paid organic content, gifting mailers, custom mailer shipments and events on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, with social listening and A/B testing used to refine content and track retail traffic.

Collectively reports that the 2023 program generated 1.9B impressions, 44.6M engagements and 4.3M link clicks, and Dove reached a #3 VIT ranking in US beauty; the 2022 Dove influencer community strategy was named a Shorty Awards winner in the Micro-Influencer Strategy category.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Beauty and personal care consumers in the US and Canada, reached through creators whose audiences align with Dove's retail customer targets on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, as described in Collectively's case study and the Shorty Awards entry. Market objectives were split: action-driving content in the US, resonance-focused content in Canada.
Personal care brands compete in a category where product parity is high and consumers increasingly expect brands to stand for something beyond the product. Dove's long-running real beauty positioning creates an ongoing need to keep purpose messaging credible and culturally present rather than episodic, a challenge the Collectively partnership addressed through year-round purpose-plus-product creator work.
Beauty is a high-velocity social category where share of earned voice shifts quickly. Collectively's case study frames the objective as reaching a top-three VIT position in US beauty, implying Dove entered the period ranked lower and needed consistent creator volume and quality to move up.
Dove acted as a facilitating brand, providing the purpose platforms, product briefs and community infrastructure, while creators translated both into native content. Based on the available evidence from the Shorty Awards entry, Dove invested in earned and nano communities rather than relying on paid reach alone, positioning the brand as a long-term creative partner to creators.
Tracking commerce-driving traffic to major retailers and using A/B testing across formats and messaging, as described to the Shorty Awards, reflects a view that influencer content can shift behaviour toward purchase, not just build awareness, and that this effect is measurable and optimisable within an always-on model.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • Paid organic creator content on Instagram (including Stories and feed)
  • Creator content on TikTok
  • Creator content on YouTube
  • Custom and curated gifting mailers
  • Brand events
  • Earned/gifting programs for nano community

Partners

  • Collectively (lead influencer agency, credited by Shorty Awards and agency self-report)

Participation mechanic

  • Nano creators activated through earned gifting and mailer programs
  • Macro and elite creators engaged for key brand moments
  • Creator-led edu-tainment cohorts tied to product launches
  • Purpose-driven briefs linked to Dove platforms including #NoDigitalDistortion, per Collectively's awards reporting
  • Social listening and A/B testing across formats and messaging to refine content, per Shorty Awards entry
  • Commerce traffic tracking to major retailers

Creator role

  • Nano creators: earned community volume and always-on content
  • Macro creators: amplification at key brand moments
  • Elite creators: high-profile brand moments and purpose campaigns

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult typeConfidence
Impressions (2023)1.9BReachAgency reported
Engagements (2023)44.6MEngagementAgency reported
Link clicks (2023)4.3MCommerce / trafficAgency reported
Paid impressions overdelivery (US)1.5xMedia efficiencyAgency reported
IG story CTR vs benchmark+17%Engagement efficiencyAgency reported

Awards & Recognition

Award showYearCategoryResultSource
Shorty Awards2023Micro-Influencer StrategyWinner—
Shorty Awards2023Multi-Platform PartnershipFinalist—
Global Influencer Marketing AwardsNot specified in packageNot specified in packageRecognized (specific award level not disclosed)—

Why Collectively's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Treating influence as a standing community rather than a series of one-off campaigns allowed Collectively to compound learning across five years and scale from a pilot to a structured annual program, per the agency's case study. Multi-year relationships give agencies time to build a creator base that already understands the brand's voice.

  2. 2

    Tiering the creator community across nano, macro and elite talent let the program match different creator types to different brief types, with earned and nano creators providing volume and always-on presence while macro and elite creators served key brand moments, as described in the Shorty Awards entry.

  3. 3

    Pairing product-category campaigns with Dove's purpose pillars (body confidence, inclusivity, #NoDigitalDistortion) throughout the year kept purpose messaging integrated rather than episodic, per Collectively's case study and awards reporting.

  4. 4

    Measuring against concrete benchmarks, paid organic impressions over-delivery at 1.5x and Instagram Story CTR at 17% above the 2023 benchmark, gave the partnership effectiveness signals beyond raw reach, per Collectively's case study. Tracking commerce traffic to retailers also connected creator content to a downstream action.

  5. 5

    Splitting market objectives, action in the US and resonance in Canada, rather than applying a single global KPI, allowed each market to be optimised on its own terms, per Collectively's case study.

  6. 6

    A/B testing across formats and messaging, combined with social listening, provided a structured feedback loop for refining content within the always-on model, as described to the Shorty Awards.

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