Dive Brief:
- Dove Men+Care is partnering with fitness app Strava to help relaunch its reformulated 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner product line, according to information shared with Marketing Dive.
- A Strava challenge is part of a larger campaign featuring creator partnerships, social media content and earned media. Kyle Cooke, TV personality and entrepreneur, is the face of the campaign and will help encourage participation and awareness.
- Dove Men+Care’s parent company, Unilever, has made sports and influencers central parts of its marketing strategy. Recently, the company activated over 35 of its brands, including Dove Men+Care, around the World Cup, with influencer content collaborations and in-person experiences.
Dive Insight:
Dove Men+Care is continuing to embrace sports and fitness as a key part of its marketing strategy. The partnership with Strava is meant to associate grooming with fitness routines and emphasize the importance of steady habits.
The men’s grooming space has seen significant growth in recent years, especially among Gen Z men, largely due to social media. Over 40% of Gen Z men say they dedicate “large shares” of their income to grooming, compared to 29% of millennials, per Barclays data cited by Glossy.
The “Any Step Counts” challenge encourages Strava users to complete a 5K run, either all at once or over the course of several activities, by July 21. Participants who finish by the deadline will earn a Dove Men+Care 2-in-1 Shampoo + Conditioner reward.
Strava is no stranger to brand partnerships. In February, it partnered with energy drink brand Celsius to create running clubs in F1 race locations ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. In 2025, the app partnered with Chipotle on a New Year’s resolution-inspired fitness challenge. Around the same time, it collaborated with Clif Bar on an activation centered around athlete performance.
The agencies that contributed to the new Dove Men+Care campaign are Edelman, Collectively and Unite. The challenge, which already has over 16,000 participants as of Thursday afternoon, will incentivize Strava users to try the product reformulated with Dove Men+Care’s Protein Power Technology.
Ahead of the World Cup, Dove Men+Care launched a new global platform, “Care for Your Skin Like You Care for the Game,” to tap into global soccer fandom. The hero spot features soccer fans singing along to popular stadium chant “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes. Another Unilever men's hygiene brand, Axe, also activated around the World Cup with a TikTok sweepstakes, further emphasizing the company’s commitment to sports and creator marketing.
