Project Baddie • Driving Brand Relevance through a Culture-First Pivot

Dove Hair has long been a global leader in the personal care industry, celebrated for its expansive product portfolio and a brand identity deeply rooted in the promotion of authentic beauty. However, as the digital landscape evolves, the brand recognized a growing challenge: a widespread industry decline in engagement with paid partnerships that are increasingly viewed by audiences as inauthentic.

To combat this, Dove Hair sought to move beyond conventional beauty communities and the saturated "Get Ready With Me" content style to drive brand lift and social competitiveness. Our solution was a strategic pivot that prioritized brand relevance over explicit product features, embedding the Dove Hair Intensive Repair line within diverse cultural spaces through a decentralized, creator-led campaign.

Our process began with a deep dive into social listening and brand expertise to bridge the gap between Dove Hair’s ambitions and the reality of modern audience behavior.

Recognizing that traditional influencer formats were losing their edge, we identified three distinct creator personas that allowed us to tap into non-traditional cohorts: Front Row Wellness (focusing on fitness and holistic health), Sidequest Culture (centered on creative expression), and Unbothered and Unfiltered (highlighting free-spirited, authentic personalities).

By mapping these broad cohorts to specific, vetted creators with highly engaged followings, we ensured the campaign would resonate within niche communities rather than just shouting into a crowded beauty market.

Crucially, the campaign was defined by a culture-driven rather than product-focused lens. We invited 11 creators to develop concepts organic to their existing content—such as cycling coach Holland Scattergood sharing hair repair hacks between classes or ceramicist Emme Zhou crafting a routine-inspired mug.

Instead of a rigid script, we provided strategic feedback and recommendations to ensure brand alignment. This strategy enabled a range of content that felt authentic to each individual creator’s voice, successfully positioning the Dove Hair Intensive Repair line as an essential part of a lifestyle rather than just a commercial item on a shelf.

“Project Baddie” successfully demonstrated that authenticity is the most effective driver of social competitiveness in the current market. The work generated over 600,000 total views and achieved a remarkable average engagement rate of 4.8% across the 11 participating creators.

Beyond these quantitative milestones, the campaign’s true impact lay in its ability to humanize the Dove Hair brand for a new generation of consumers. By yielding creative control to trusted voices and prioritizing cultural relevance, we helped Dove Hair transcend traditional beauty boundaries, proving that the brand can thrive across culture spaces when it speaks the language of its audience.