Dove and Clean Cult diversify with first-time fragrance and body care launches

Dove has entered fine fragrance, and the home cleaning brand Clean Cult has expanded into personal care. The moves demonstrate how brands are expanding into beauty categories new to them, catering to growth and specific demands across segments. 

Dove has made its debut in the highly lucrative fine fragrance market with a limited edition, Original Beauty Bar scented perfume. Meanwhile, Clean Cult’s Castile Soap marks its expansion into body and skin care with a multi-purpose product touted to have over 20 uses. 

Both launches position themselves as meeting a long-time demand. Dove is meeting “years of community requests” to bottle the scent of the Dove Original Beauty Bar as a fragrance with Dove Original Fragrance. 

Clean Cult is moving to make Castile soap, an olive oil-based soap originating from the Castile region of Spain, more accessible for everyday consumers through its versatile formulation. The clean home care brand says that while Castile soap “has been valued for generations for its simple ingredients and versatility,” it can be tricky to use. In response, the brand has launched a product with clear instructions printed on the packaging to make it accessible for everyday consumers. 

Dove is tapping nostalgia as it enters the growing fine fragrance category. 

Leveraging legacy 

The Unilever subsidiary and 70-year-old legacy beauty brand, Dove, is emphasizing memory as the central positioning in its fine fragrance entry. The perfume is marketed as the scent of “your mom’s shower or a warm hug from your best friend,” leveraging its appeal to consumers through nostalgia. 

Dove Original Fragrance comes in a glass bottle shaped like the Beauty Bar and is topped with a sculptural gold Dove bird cap. It is priced at US$19.57, in reference to 1957, the year the Dove Beauty Bar was launched. 

The scent was developed alongside fragrance expert Ann Gottlieb and is touted as a soft, clean, and familiar fragrance. 

“The most memorable fragrances make us feel something, and Dove Original Fragrance does exactly that. Its signature scent is instantly recognizable, with a sense of freshness, familiarity, and comfort that has resonated for generations,” says Gottlieb. 

“Translating it into a fine fragrance is a celebration of what has made the scent so enduring, while giving its biggest fans a new way to experience it.” 

The brand is utilizing a one-time, limited quantity approach in its category entry. A waitlist is currently open, and the scent will become available for purchase on October 27. 

Dove’s fine fragrance entry arrives as the category is booming. This week, Personal Care Insights reported on industry big hitters Coty and dsm-firmenich’s investments in physical hubs to advance innovation, collaboration, and creativity in fragrance creation. 

Last week, Givaudan’s organic sales outpaced market expectations by almost twofold in its Q3 report last week. The fragrance and flavor giant’s figures were propelled by a surge in sales of scents for luxury perfumes. 

Clean Cult uses clear on-pack instructions to make castile soap more accessible. 

Clean beauty, made accessible 

According to Clean Cult, Castile soap traditionally requires consumers to dilute it for different uses, and sits at premium price points, making it an inaccessible soap for mainstream use. The brand is positioning its product as removing those obstacles “by making Castile soap easier to understand and use.” 

It is priced at US$14.99, almost 10% less than category leaders, according to Clean Cult. 

“The product includes clear guidance on how to dilute and use the soap, while its formula of coconut oil, olive oil, vitamin E, and aloe vera makes it a versatile, all-in-one option for everyday cleaning routines,” the company says. 

As the first company to package cleaning products in paper-based cartons, Clean Cult is positioned as a sustainability and clean beauty-first brand. 

Through its clean beauty positioning, the soap is meant for home and body care and offers over 20 uses in one concentrated plant-based formula: “from washing dishes and laundry to cleansing your face, washing your body, and scrubbing the grime off your dog.” 

“For Clean Cult, this launch also marks a big step beyond our core products as we expand into new categories, reach more consumers and retailers, and continue our mission to make sustainable cleaning choices easy for everyone,” says Ryan Lupberger, CEO and co-founder of Clean Cult. 

The soap also comes in Clean Cult’s signature paper-based carton. This helps reduce plastic waste while also serving the functional purpose of acting as a guide for consumers. 

“Castile soap has been around for generations, but it hasn’t felt approachable. We wanted to change that by creating a multi-purpose product that’s easier to understand, more affordable, and more enjoyable to use,” adds Lupberger.