Dove vs L'Oréal

Unilever's Al Hajji: Attention is Hard to Earn, Easy to Lose

At The Drum Live, Unilever's Chief Growth and Transformation Officer for Personal Care, Rani Al Hajji, discussed the company's 2026 World Cup sponsorship. He emphasized that attention is now extremely difficult to earn and easy to lose, making relevance crucial. Unilever activated 35 brands across 120 markets, using a 'poetry and plumbing' approach: creative brand ideas supported by a system of creators, content, data, and commerce. Brands like Dove, Sure, and Lynx developed distinct roles, with physical hubs (House of Fresh) in major cities to engage creators and consumers. Al Hajji stressed the importance of selecting creators for community fit over reach, and the need to integrate commerce to turn attention into demand. He acknowledged that results are not yet official but sees potential for a repeatable demand generation system.

• Unilever activated 35 brands across 120 markets for the 2026 World Cup.
• The company created physical hubs called 'House of Fresh' in New York, Miami, and Mexico City.
• Dove, Sure, and Lynx each had distinct brand activations during the tournament.

Dove: 20+ Years of the 'Real Beauty' Campaign

This feature retrospective (published 2026-08-13) reviews over 20 years of Dove's 'Real Beauty' campaign, originally launched in 2004. The article notes that Dove (a Unilever brand) and agency Ogilvy created the 'Real Beauty' platform and presents what the authors consider the ten most moving advertisements and appearances from the campaign's history. The piece positions 'Real Beauty' as a benchmark for values-driven brand campaigns and traces its origin to a Dove brand relaunch roughly 22 years ago.

• Dove and Ogilvy created the 'Real Beauty' campaign platform in 2004.
• Dove is identified as a Unilever brand in the article.
• The article is a retrospective showcasing the ten most notable 'Real Beauty' ad appearances from over 20 years.

Dove 'Beauty Machine' OOH Reveals Algorithmic Beauty Bias

Dove, with lead agency Ogilvy UK, launched an experiential Out-of-Home installation called "The Beauty Machine" to demonstrate how social-media recommendation algorithms favor a narrow, homogeneous beauty ideal. The travelling installation appeared in London (Waterloo Station), Hamburg and at Cannes Lions, showing composite masks derived from thousands of social media images to illustrate algorithmic repetition. The campaign includes a #DoveOpenCall asking women to submit unfiltered photos that will be amplified via OOH and social channels. Dove positions the activation within its long-running "Real Beauty" platform; Unilever reports Dove remains a growth driver in H1 2026. The initiative also references academic research and a 2025 Leibniz-Institute report calling for algorithmic interventions to increase visible diversity online.

• Dove and lead agency Ogilvy UK created the travelling OOH installation "The Beauty Machine" shown in London (Waterloo Station), Hamburg and Cannes.
• The installation used custom masks generated after analyzing thousands of social media images to create an algorithmic composite labeled the "One Face of Beauty."
• The campaign includes a public #DoveOpenCall for women to submit unfiltered photos to be used in subsequent OOH and social creative.

Omnicom Media Group Wins L'Oréal's €350M Media Account

The Omnicom Media Group has won the media pitch for L'Oréal's €350 million account. The dedicated agency for the cosmetics giant will be named Beauty Co-Lab. The new agency is set to launch in January 2027. This follows the recent announcement that Wavemaker, the incumbent, lost the account. The article provides details on the agency structure and confirms the name of the new entity, but the full details are behind a paywall.

L'Oréal Appoints Omnicom Media Group for DACH Media Account

L'Oréal has awarded its media account for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH) to Omnicom Media Group (OMG) following a competitive pitch. The collaboration is set to begin in January 2027. The incumbent, Wavemaker, which held the account for roughly five years, lost the mandate. While the exact future media budget is undisclosed, Comvergence estimated L'Oréal's 2025 media spend in DACH at $411 million net (over €350 million). For Omnicom Media Group, L'Oréal represents another significant new client, continuing its recent business momentum, which included wins like Adidas and IBM. The company lost clients such as Hewlett-Packard and Henkel. L'Oréal's brand portfolio includes Lancôme, Garnier, Maybelline, La Roche-Posay, Mixa, and Vichy.

• L'Oréal has selected Omnicom Media Group as its new media agency for the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland).
• The engagement is scheduled to begin in January 2027.
• Wavemaker, the previous incumbent, lost the account after holding it for approximately five years.

L'Oréal's Baryshkov: Start with the decision, not dashboard

Kirill Baryshkov, Global Media and Measurement Manager for L'Oréal's Consumer Products Division, argues that media teams should focus on decision-making rather than dashboard metrics. He leads media effectiveness across 38 markets representing over 60% of global ad spend. Baryshkov emphasizes that many metrics fail to show incremental value, and he advocates for a combination of methods, including marketing mix modeling, rather than a single master metric. He cautions against over-reliance on platform-reported outcomes and last-click attribution. While AI helps in pattern detection and forecasting, human judgment remains crucial for defining business questions and trade-offs. He also reframes the brand vs. performance budget debate, noting both serve different purposes and time horizons. For 2026, he prioritizes building measurement capability and a connected view of spend and results to enable faster, better decisions.

• L'Oréal's global media and measurement manager Kirill Baryshkov advocates for decision-first approach over dashboard metrics.
• Baryshkov leads media effectiveness across 38 markets representing over 60% of global advertising investment.
• He criticizes platform metrics and last-click attribution for overstating incremental value.