Chocolate brand Dove ‘melts’ workplace stress with ‘oddly pleasurable’ videos

Shanghai, China – Chocolate brand Dove in China has launched a new campaign aimed at driving top-of-mind awareness and a new consumption occasion by targeting an area where pleasure is too often forgotten – in the workplace.

Led by advertising agency BBDO Shanghai, the campaign was produced with neuroscientist, Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University, in order to incorporate expert consultation at the storyboard and planning stage, specifically the use of immersion neurological response testing to make iterative choices for the final two films.

Titled ‘Put Pleasure First’, the campaign is composed of two stories that were set against two low emotions– ‘disappointment’ and ‘stress’ in the workplace. It features Dove’s brand ambassador, Zhou Dongyu, who finds herself on these occasions, but rather than being let down, playfully decides to create an ‘oddly pleasurable’ video out of the things that made her disappointed or stressed.

The brand experience is completed by a series of special packs, featuring five different taglines that express pleasure attitudes towards low emotions at work, giving shoppers instant encouraging messages to have a piece of Dove and put their ‘pleasure’ first. 

Harry Chen, BBDO Shanghai’s group planning director, shared that workplace low emotions are becoming such a ubiquitous phenomenon in China as the competition and pressure have intensified in recent years.

“Dove has always been a brand that stands for pleasure, so we felt we had the opportunity and responsibility to help Chinese people cope with these low emotions a little bit better and experience more pleasure,” said Chen. 

Meanwhile, Arthur Tsang, the chief creative officer at BBDO Shanghai and the global creative lead at Mars, noted about the campaign’s strategy of banking on videos for the campaign, that while Chinese office workers don’t look to chocolate as a stress-reliever, they do on videos.

“We asked ourselves, can we interrupt their break sessions with videos that can make them feel the pleasure of chocolate directly? That’s what we call ‘Oddly Pleasurable’ videos, short audio-visual experiences that can scientifically bring a pleasurable feeling of satisfaction and relaxation, much like the sensation of eating Dove chocolate,” said Tsang. 

On social media, Dove has also released a behind-the-scenes documentary, chronicling the making of the whole ideation, production, and neuro testing process, while on Douyin, a re-edited Zhou Dongyu film was released to encourage consumers to experience the content. 

Moreover, Dove has launched more videos that leverage the actual chocolate product with influencers on Weibo and Douyin, which also encouraged consumers to create their own oddly pleasurable videos.