Nivea Taps Further into U.S. Market

Wilton, Conn. — Beiersdorf knew that U.S. consumers are fragrance and flavor oriented, so in early 2013 the company launched its Nivea line of flavored lip butter in the U.S. The product, already sold in the U.K., comes in four flavors: raspberry rose kiss; caramel cream kiss; vanilla & macadamia kiss, and smooth kiss. It is packaged in Nivea’s recognizable creme tins.Nivea began promoting the product with sampling through Facebook, delivering 10 million units in five days, and on New Year’s Eve at New York’s Times Square, where 30 million units were distributed, says Carole Rissmann, senior director of marketing, Nivea North America.That was followed by a national FSI, and then participation in a Beiersdorf corporate event tied to Big Brothers Big Sisters in February and March. That initiative – “Skincare that Really Cares” – included public relations, social media, digital media, mobile promotion, another FSI, retailer circular ads, and in-store displays.While the lip butter SKUs were made available to all of Nivea’s retail customers, “our drug accounts – CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid – were first to market as a result of their planogram reset timing for the category,” Rissmann says. “Immediately following were mass and food accounts.”Among the retail activity, Rite Aid featured the product in custom counter units that were part of larger Nivea endcap displays. Carmody & Long and Menasha Packaging handled the endcap.“We engaged with CVS’s Beauty Club to deliver a 360 activation to reach shoppers along the path to purchase,” Rissmann says. “Out of store, we delivered brand communication through a complete Nivea master brand page on CVS.com, circular ad features, email blasts to Beauty Club members, Beauty Blogger communication and a Valentine’s Day Nivea Twitter giveaway, where members entered for a chance to win a Nivea lip butter four-pack. In-store, product is merchandised in four locations, including a permanent fixture showcasing all of our lip care,” Rissmann says. All POP, Hoboken, N.J., handled the permanent fixture. Nivea also leveraged Target.com and Walmart’s Beauty Scoop program to drive awareness among beauty brand shoppers.Because of the impulse nature of the lip-care category, Rissmann says, “we aspire to secure placement in four key areas of the store: within the hand and body lotion section; the inline cough and cold section; cough and cold side wings; and front end/checkout. Placement in multiple locations has enhanced trial and purchase.”While Nivea does measure all of its key activities, sales velocity is the most important metric for a launch, Rissmann says. “While still relatively new in the marketplace, we are pleased with Nivea lip butter sales in the U.S. We are beating our original projections, particularly in the drug channel.” She says Nivea has tripled its projections at Walgreens.

Nivea Taps Further into U.S. Market

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