Dove CMO and ‘Actual Magnificence’ Architect Alessandro Manfredi Departs
Dove‘s world chief advertising officer (CMO), Alessandro Manfredi, is leaving Unilever after 28 years.
The marketer is among the architects behind the model’s pioneering and commercially profitable “Marketing campaign for Actual Magnificence,” which has used promoting to problem conventional societal magnificence requirements since 2004.
Manfredi confirmed his departure in a LinkedIn submit: “Ending my journey with the twentieth anniversary of Actual Magnificence is such a lovely closure of a circle.
“All through my profession inside Unilever, I used to be allowed to domesticate these unimaginable property and inject them into the manufacturers I used to be fortunate to work on, which makes me perpetually grateful to this firm,” he stated.
He has held varied roles in his tenure together with world vp of the Dove grasp model, vp of world advertising for haircare and govt vp for Dove. He was appointed as Dove’s CMO in 2022.
“Actual Magnificence,” nonetheless stands as one of the crucial awarded campaigns of the previous couple of many years, having helped the model develop its buyer attain for 10 years. In 2023, Dove fueled the expansion of Unilever’s Private Care, which famous a gross sales enhance of 8.9% for the yr and represented 23% of its $64 million turnover.
Dove has set the usual for purpose-driven advertising that drives the underside line, pinning its proposition round shallowness, inclusivity and physique positivity for ladies and youngsters.
Newer work spearheaded by Manfredi contains Dove’s “Reverse Selfie” push which documented the extent to which individuals edit their photos on-line and the turmoil of a lady making an attempt to take the proper selfie.
He additionally launched a dedication from the model by no means to make use of AI-generated imagery to signify actual individuals in its campaigns.
ADWEEK has reached out to Unilever to verify the way it will fill the position left vacant by Manfredi, on the time of writing it has not but responded.
Change at Unilever
Manfredi’s resolution to step down marks the most recent change on the high of Unilever’s advertising workforce, following the exit of its model and inclusion chief, Aline Santos, in February.
In late 2023, the Dove and Ben & Jerry’s proprietor introduced Esi Eggleston Bracey, who beforehand led its U.S. enterprise and oversees the private care division throughout North America, was to tackle the brand new place of chief development and advertising officer (CGMO).
Bracey’s appointment dovetailed with a shift in tone from Unilever’s (then lately appointed) CEO Hein Schumacher, who hinted at plans to dial again on attaching a objective to every of the CPG’s 400-plus manufacturers; a technique initiated by predecessor, Allan Jope.
“Not each model ought to have a social or environmental objective. And we don’t need to match that on manufacturers unnecessarily,” Schumacher instructed the Monetary Occasions. He stated objective may very well be an “unwelcome distraction” in his mission to construct a “efficiency” tradition.
Now, because it navigates a cost-of-living disaster and tries to reclaim its market share in powerful financial situations, Unilever is targeted on its high 30 “energy manufacturers” that are rising quicker than the corporate common and producing greater than 70% of turnover. These embrace Dove, Knorr and Paula’s selection.
Talking at Cannes Lions 2024, Bracey stated objective was nonetheless central to this mission, however the firm couldn’t take a “one-size-fits-all” method.
As a part of Schumacher’s “motion plan,” the group has been shedding manufacturers. In 2023, it offered the DTC razor model Greenback Shave Membership to personal fairness group Nexus Capital Administration, and it plans to spin off or promote its ice cream division.
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