Dove and Venus Williams support sporty teens with a tennis-style soap opera

Diving certificate:

• Dove has teamed up with tennis legend Venus Williams for a Dove x Venus #KeepHerConfident Beauty Bar, the brand’s first limited-edition Dove Beauty Bar collaboration, according to a press release. The campaign supports the brand’s Body Confident Sport program.
• The commemorative beauty bar comes in tennis ball green, has a passion fruit and lemon balm scent and is emblazoned with the word “Confident.” Although the product is not available in stores, consumers can enter a competition via a microsite from now until September 20.
• Dove will also support a number of activities focused on promoting body confidence, including a collaboration with the Black Girls Tennis Club and Bras for Girls, and a partnership with Lyft will distribute beauty bar containers to consumers in New York City.

Diving insight:

Dove remains true to its brand identity and supports female empowerment through its partnership with tennis star Williams. The initiative was inspired by a 2023 Dove study that found that 45% of girls worldwide stop playing sport by the age of 14 – twice as many as boys – with body self-consciousness being the main reason. The launch of the brand’s limited edition range is also designed to help raise awareness of its Body Confident Sport program, a scientifically proven set of coaching tools developed with Nike to help boost confidence in young girls.

The Dove x Venus #KeepHerConfident Beauty Bar, which is released to coincide with the US Open tennis tournament, comes in a limited edition tin made from recycled material and is fully recyclable. Each tin contains three beauty bars. The campaign expands on Williams’ existing role as a Dove brand ambassador.

The beauty bars are part of a larger initiative aimed at giving young girls confidence. Dove will partner with the Black Girls Tennis Club to host an in-person tennis experience for middle school girls in New York City, hosted by Williams. Additionally, the brand has partnered with Bras for Girls to donate over 1,000 sports bras to support girls in late elementary and middle school, an age when some girls decide to stop playing sports due to body discomfort, according to the press releases.

For residents of the greater New York City area, Dove has partnered with Lyft to distribute a limited number of the Beauty Bar containers. Consumers can look for five Dove x Venus-wrapped cars to receive one of the packages.

Dove launched Body Confident Sport with Nike last fall, the first collaboration between the two companies, with plans to reach one million young people worldwide. The program is part of a much larger mission by the brand to promote self-esteem and body confidence, including efforts such as the Children’s Online Safety campaign, which addresses the rise of mental health issues among young people related to social media, and an initiative that encouraged people to be more confident about their armpits ahead of New York Fashion Week.

CMO Alessandro Manfredi, who spent two decades at parent company Unilever, left the brand in July. The executive played a key role in shaping the personal care brand’s signature “Real Beauty” platform, which challenges conventional beauty ideals for women and boosts confidence.