Davis Love III - Inspiration, Confidence & New Media

Dove broke barriers in the marketing of its skin care products several years ago with the Campaign for Real Beauty.  Aimed at women and girls, it featured "real-looking" models and was seen by many as a timely critique of the unrealistic standards set by the beauty industry. 

Earlier this year Dove... a Unilever brand...  launched the first advertising campaign for its male grooming brand,  Dove Men+Care.  The campaign, called "Journey to Comfort" focuses on sports celebrities and celebrates their real lives.

PGA Golfers Davis Love III and Stewart Cink are featured in the latest phase of Journey to Comfort and appear in a series of short, behind-the-scenes videos.  Yesterday afternoon, I asked DLIII about the campaign in a quick telephone interview.

The Ryder Cup captain-to-be spoke about his Mom as an inspiration, "People know about my Dad, but what they don't know is that my Mom was the one who was consistently there, she was the first person I strove to beat in golf".  Later, when I told him that lack of confidence was one of the barriers mentioned most frequently by the beginning golfers I speak to, he again mentioned his Mom.  "She only learned when she met my Dad," he revealed, "up till then she hadn't played, and while it must have been intimidating in the beginning, she channeled her own self-confidence and persevered ... and ultimately maintained a single digit handicap for decades." ---->  More  ---->

Another revelation came when we were discussing how to keep focused and manage ones expectations after a bad shot, or round... or couple of rounds.  "When things aren't working, I always advise people to stick with what they know works for them,  but recently it was my son who had to remind me of that when he saw me trying different types of putters in response a couple of issues in my own game".

On the topic of new media, the man known as @Love_d3 on Twitter, was pragmatic about the increased focus on scandal and negativity by some in sports media but enjoyed the less filtered communication made possible by social media. We spoke a bit about fashion (expect Bright colors from RL this summer) and about some of the new young players (he's a fellow Rickie Fowler fan).  

Ultimately,  Dove seems to have found exactly what they were looking for in Davis Love III.  As his wife Robin says in one of the videos, "he's just Davis, he's perfect".



For more on DLIII and the "Journey to Comfort" campaign see: Emily Kay - Golf Examiner,  72 Strokes,