Audience led marketing.

At 17, I was scrubbing my face raw with St. Ives Apricot Scrub and walking around with a solid foundation line across my jaw courtesy of Dream Matte Mousse 😅

So it's fair to say the new Dove Why2K campaign has hit me right in my millennial core.

Because if you grew up in the 90s or early 2000s, you’ll remember the messaging we were sold in the media.
💀 Thigh gaps. Hip bones. Heroin chic.
💀 Diet tips in teen magazines.
💀 "Before and after" photos that stuck to your brain.
💀 Beauty routines that started with a razor and ended with self-loathing.

We didn’t just consume that messaging - we absolutely absorbed it.

And now, decades later, Dove is trying to unpick what it did to our mindset with a nostalgic marketing campaign promoting its new podcast Why2K, which explores the beauty standards we grew up with.

From a marketing perspective though, here’s where it gets interesting.

It’s a values-led campaign, but it’s also strategically smart.
Because while much of beauty marketing is chasing Gen Z, it’s actually Gen X and Millennials who are expected to spend $430 billion on beauty by 2034.

Women in our 30s, 40s and 50s are not disengaged. We’re not naive. And we’re not buying the same stories we used to.

This is what great brand work looks like.
✨ Cultural relevance
✨ A clear understanding of audience
✨ A message that meets the moment

If you’re a brand with something real to say, I’d love to help you build a truly targeted marketing plan, to help you say it this spring.