What is Value, Really?

Having spent much of my strategic communications career in advertising, especially in the auto and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) categories, the discussion of “Value” was a no-brainer, especially for clients with a very literal and functional perspective. To them and most people in the field, Value= $. And, the definition of the “Value Shopper“ was a daytime-TV-watching housewife looking for discounts on similar-quality basic household goods, like body wash, mayonnaise and compact cars. My job, therefore, as a communications planner, was to do deep-dives into the “value-shopper mindset”, examining their shopping carts and at-shelf” behaviors. It really was mind-numbingly boring. But for me, personally, I thought it was the wrong approach. It assumed, humans, and moms in particular, had cash-registers for brains. Where was the heart? Where was the humanity? Where was the communal and personal value of this shopper? Who was she? What did she REALLY VALUE?

Maybe it was my BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard and my volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and the Environmental Action Committee that put this lens on my thinking, Or, maybe it was my upbringing in a primarily immigrant neighborhood. But I wanted to see the whole person who was choosing to value these products. And WHY she valued them. 

But it wasn’t until I had the surprisingly good fortune to land smackdab in the middle of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, working with the visionary (and angry) client, Sylvia Lagnado, that I had my feelings on the matter confirmed. In her mind, the CPG industry, and beauty industry in particular, actually IGNORED WHAT WOMEN VALUED. They valued loyalty, and support. A champion! A whole Brand of products that delivered on a real promise, not the series of cheap lies, like 20 years or pounds removed with the stroke of a lotion they had wasted their hard earned and saved money believing in.

One thing I need to say is that Dove in and of itself isn’t a “cheap”/”value” brand, in the traditional definition. But the Dove Bar had become synonymous with bulk purchases for a household of 5-6, rather than the Beauty Bar it was originally positioned as by David Ogilvy himself. So, Sylvia’s idea was to bring “Beauty” back into the Brand as a whole to challenge not just the beauty industry ideas of beauty but that of “value” itself.

And with the results of her brave and pioneering Global White Paper, Sylvia and the Brand had their answer. Women valued their Real everyday Beauty being honored and recognized, no matter it’s size or age. And, she won. That year and with several subsequent “Real Beauty” campaigns, Dove cowed the Beauty industry and CPG category as a whole in sales and in terms of Brand and product value as well as reputation. Upselling the Value-Shopper and even seeing Oprah adopt the Dove Bar in support. 

But what did it mean for me? My eyes were opened to a place and role I could play in advertising, in life, in corporate America and in the world itself. To find the true value I, and every human was seeking, not in money but in feeling valued, seen and heard, and providing it in return in an intangible, but fundamentally meaningful way.

So, this week, as you turn to Amazon to make your next purchase, I’d encourage you to ask yourself, what am I really valuing right now?

Holly Lynch is a 20+ year communications veteran and life-long social impact advocate and strategist who has helped individuals, educational leaders, and companies tackle the toughest challenges in their worlds.
Having survived countless life setbacks and two rounds with terminal cancer, while seeing the country-wide collapse of the systems and safety nets for the most vulnerable in and outside our communities, she is now shifting her life and career trajectories to focus on coaching those facing down fundamental shifts and transitions as they try to navigate and rebuild their lives, institutions and businesses during these unprecedented times.