NIVEA: MANAGING A MULTI-CATEGORY BRAND 1 NIVEA, one of the oldest and biggest cosmetic brands in the world has successfully transformed itself from a single skin care brand to a trustworthy and contemporary personal care brand for all family types. The brand stretched itself by sub-branding to many new segments, always nursing the core mother brand NIVEA and its “Gestalt”. [Company Background] Background As 2005 drew to a close, executives at Beiersdorf’s (BDF) Cosmed division NIVEA, the largest cosmetics brand in the world, had successfully defended its position during intense competition in its major European markets. Additionally, the company had expanded into many new markets in South and Central Ameri- ca, Eastern Europe, and Asia. NIVEA had created a number of new sub-brands that primarily driven by NIVEA, grew from €1.4 billion in 1995 to €3.8 billion in 2005. During the 1970s and 1980s, BDF’s Cosmed Division had successfully extended the NIVEA brand from a limited range of products—NIVEA Crème, Milk, Soap, and Sun— product lines had established their own identities as ‘sub-brands’, independent of and yet still connected to the NIVEA Crème core brand. Executives at NIVEA believed that growth would continue to come from product innovation. In 2004, Beiersdorf spent €38 million on its new and improved research and development center in Germany, making it the largest and most modern skin research center in the country employing over 650 scientists. [Brand Roots] Start of the NIVEA brand industrialisation led to the emergence of mass markets and branded articles. Society—women in particular—began to appreciate to a greater degree physical appearance and look for products to both care for and beautify the skin. NIVEA protection at a reasonable price. The NIVEA name came from the Latin word, nives, 1 This case was made possible through the cooperation of Dr. Rolf Kunisch and Cosmed Division management, including Norbert Krapp, Franziska Schmiedebach, and Inken Hollmann-Peters for Beiersdorf AG in Hamburg, Germany. Leslie Kimerling and Keith Richey prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Kevin Lane Keller as the basis for class discussion. by the entire family. NIVEA Crème was introduced throughout Europe in 1912; in the United States in 1922; and in South America and other parts of the world in 1926 2 . Throughout this period, NIVEA Crème remained the company’s primary product and the carrier of the NIVEA brand name. The famous NIVEA Crème blue tin with white lettering, standardised in 1925, was a familiar sight in millions of households world- wide. In addition to NIVEA Crème, the brand’s other primary products included body soap and powder and two sun care products—tanning lotion and oil. [Brand DNA] Understanding the NIVEA Brand By the early 1990s, it was clear that BDF had succeeded in extending the NIVEA brand from skin crème to a skin care and personal care brand. BDF’s success in establishing NIVEA as a broad skin care and personal care brand now presented the company with a new set of issues and challenges. In the process of establishing sub-brands, there was concern that the NIVEA brand image—in particular, the NIVEA Crème image—had been weakened through all the product introductions. A E V I N w e n a p o l e v e d o t g n i r a p e r p n i t a h t d e v e i l e b , d e m s o C f o O E C r e m r o f , h c s i n u K communications strategy, a formalised brand philosophy was necessary. Kunisch ex- plained: “NIVEA is the most fascinating brand in the world, second only to Coca-Cola. The company had done a tremendous job over the last 50 years to keep the NIVEA was a lack of conscientiousness of what it meant to be a brand. In the good old days, BDF had a brand relationship that was highly personalised. Only three people knew how it had all been done—one retired, one left the company and one died. In ad- dition, there were three advertising agencies that did not talk with one another. I began with the basics and asked: What is NIVEA? The data was all there, the feeling was there, but no one had put it on a piece of paper.” [Brand Values] NIVEA Crème Brand Identity and Values Over the years, NIVEA—primarily through NIVEA Crème—had acquired a unique, widely-understood brand identity as a ‘caretaker’ of skin. Throughout Europe, most was a product that could be used by the entire family to satisfy all kinds of needs. 2 While NIVEA Skin and Personal Care products are sold in over 140 countries worldwide, this case study focuses primarily on NIVEA’s European market position and brand strategy.
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NIVEA: MANAGING A MULTI-CATEGORY BRAND1
NIVEA, one of the oldest and biggest cosmetic brands in the world has
successfully transformed itself from a single skin care brand to a trustworthy
and contemporary personal care brand for all family types. The brand stretched
itself by sub-branding to many new segments, always nursing the core mother
brand NIVEA and its “Gestalt”.
[Company Background]
Background
As 2005 drew to a close, executives at Beiersdorf’s (BDF) Cosmed division
NIVEA, the largest cosmetics brand in the world, had successfully defended its
position during intense competition in its major European markets. Additionally,
the company had expanded into many new markets in South and Central Ameri-
ca, Eastern Europe, and Asia. NIVEA had created a number of new sub-brands that
primarily driven by NIVEA, grew from €1.4 billion in 1995 to €3.8 billion in 2005.
During the 1970s and 1980s, BDF’s Cosmed Division had successfully extended the
NIVEA brand from a limited range of products—NIVEA Crème, Milk, Soap, and Sun—
product lines had established their own identities as ‘sub-brands’, independent of
and yet still connected to the NIVEA Crème core brand.
Executives at NIVEA believed that growth would continue to come from product
innovation. In 2004, Beiersdorf spent €38 million on its new and improved research
and development center in Germany, making it the largest and most modern skin
research center in the country employing over 650 scientists.
[Brand Roots]
Start of the NIVEA brand
industrialisation led to the emergence of mass markets and branded articles.
Society—women in particular—began to appreciate to a greater degree physical
appearance and look for products to both care for and beautify the skin. NIVEA
protection at a reasonable price. The NIVEA name came from the Latin word, nives,
1 This case was made possible through the cooperation of Dr. Rolf Kunisch and Cosmed Division
management, including Norbert Krapp, Franziska Schmiedebach, and Inken Hollmann-Peters for
Beiersdorf AG in Hamburg, Germany. Leslie Kimerling and Keith Richey prepared this case under the
supervision of Professor Kevin Lane Keller as the basis for class discussion.
by the entire family. NIVEA Crème was introduced throughout Europe in 1912; in the
United States in 1922; and in South America and other parts of the world in 19262.
Throughout this period, NIVEA Crème remained the company’s primary product and
the carrier of the NIVEA brand name. The famous NIVEA Crème blue tin with white
lettering, standardised in 1925, was a familiar sight in millions of households world-
wide. In addition to NIVEA Crème, the brand’s other primary products included body
soap and powder and two sun care products—tanning lotion and oil.
[Brand DNA]
Understanding the NIVEA Brand
By the early 1990s, it was clear that BDF had succeeded in extending the NIVEA brand
from skin crème to a skin care and personal care brand.
BDF’s success in establishing NIVEA as a broad skin care and personal care brand
now presented the company with a new set of issues and challenges. In the process
of establishing sub-brands, there was concern that the NIVEA brand image—in
particular, the NIVEA Crème image—had been weakened through all the product
introductions.
AEVIN wen a poleved ot gniraperp ni taht deveileb ,demsoC fo OEC remrof ,hcsinuK
communications strategy, a formalised brand philosophy was necessary. Kunisch ex-
plained: “NIVEA is the most fascinating brand in the world, second only to Coca-Cola.
The company had done a tremendous job over the last 50 years to keep the NIVEA
was a lack of conscientiousness of what it meant to be a brand. In the good old days,
BDF had a brand relationship that was highly personalised. Only three people knew
how it had all been done—one retired, one left the company and one died. In ad-
dition, there were three advertising agencies that did not talk with one another. I
began with the basics and asked: What is NIVEA? The data was all there, the feeling
was there, but no one had put it on a piece of paper.”
[Brand Values]
NIVEA Crème Brand Identity and Values
Over the years, NIVEA—primarily through NIVEA Crème—had acquired a unique,
widely-understood brand identity as a ‘caretaker’ of skin. Throughout Europe, most
was a product that could be used by the entire family to satisfy all kinds of needs.
2 While NIVEA Skin and Personal Care products are sold in over 140 countries worldwide, this case
study focuses primarily on NIVEA’s European market position and brand strategy.
97
By 2005, the NIVEA brand portfolio had grown from six product groups in 1993 to
Í Skin Care—NIVEA Body, NIVEA Visage, NIVEA for Men, NIVEA Sun, NIVEA Baby,