There are certain guitar lines that no longer belong to the bands that wrote them. "Seven Nation Army" ceased being a White Stripes song sometime around 2006 and became, instead, the property of soccer stadiums everywhere — a seven-note bass figure that means someone has either scored or is about to.
Now Dove Men+Care, in its first appearance as a FIFA World Cup sponsor, is attempting to borrow that borrowed anthem for the cause of moisturizing.
The minute-long spot, created by BBDO, follows the familiar trajectory of the riff itself: a single voice becomes a chant, which becomes a stadium, which becomes a global chorus. Along the way, we see men subjecting their skin to the usual match-day indignities — unwashed lucky jerseys, full-body paint in national colors, celebratory champagne showers — all of which, the brand gently suggests, might warrant some post-match skincare attention.
(What, you were expecting the ads to say, "Against moisturizer"?)
The campaign is being positioned as social-first, a phrase that has come to mean the brand would like younger men to encounter it on their phones rather than during commercial breaks they have already learned to skip. The strategy acknowledges a truth that Unilever, Dove's parent company, has understood for some time: that the men's grooming category requires meeting its audience in the spaces where they already live, rather than asking them to come to the drugstore aisle with an open mind.
Whether "Seven Nation Army" still carries the charge it once did — the riff has by now soundtracked everything from political rallies to automobile commercials — is a question the ad does not pause to consider. But then, stadium anthems have never been about novelty. They are about recognition, the comfort of knowing what comes next.
Dove Men+Care is betting that a little borrowed familiarity goes a long way.
Original story published in adweek.com: "Dove Men’s World Cup Debut Turns Soccer's Unofficial Anthem Into a Skincare Pitch"