Nivea Men : It starts with you

Brand : Nivea Men
Company : Beiersdorf

Brand Analysis : 535

Nivea is on a high these days. One of the world's largest skincare brand has decided to up the ante in the highly cluttered Indian market. In the process, the company has rebranded and repositioned its offering for men. 

Nivea had its presence in the men's grooming market with the brand 'Nivea for men' in 2007. The men's range was promoted with the tagline " What men want ". The brand started its serious foray into men's category with an Advanced Whitening range.

This year, the brand has gone for a makeover. Nivea had rebranded its men's range with the new brand name " Nivea Men". Along with the new name is the new positioning. The Nivea Men is positioned on the user .The typical brand user is  profiled as the one who tackles things on their own. The brand has the new tagline " It starts with you ".

Besides the new name and the positioning, Nivea Men has roped in the Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal as the brand ambassador. The brand is on a high decibel campaign featuring the brand ambassador. 

Watch the ad here : Nivea Men deo , Nivea Men Skin care

I like this campaign for two reasons. First is that the brand has resisted itself from taking the " Attraction " route taken my most men's grooming brand. Second is the fit that the brand established between the brand and its celebrity endorser. I feel that Arjun Rampal was used very smartly by the brand . There is a personal touch and authenticity to the message delivered by the celebrity. 

Nivea has been able to convey its message very smartly in the new campaigns. This has been backed by research done by the brand before venturing into the men's category. According to various newsreports, research revealed that 

a. Men are not satisfied with the efficacy of the existing skincare products which are targeting women.

b. Men are also not interested in visiting products displayed in the women's isles in the stores.

c. While grooming is the end result for women, men view grooming as a tool to get what they want in life.

d.84% of men use products borrowed from the women of their life. 

e. Most of the men's grooming issues arise out of excessive oily skin and hyper-pigmentation.

Based on these insights, the brand carefully crafted  the brand's strategy. It adopted a narrative where the brand talked to the men like men do. This is evident from the way the celebrity endorser has conveyed the message through the ads . 

Another good thing the brand did was it clearly and rationally identified the brand's USPs. For example, in the skincare range, the brand talked about darkspots, for deodorant the brand talked about freshness etc.

Nivea has clearly got its communication right this time. It has a convincing message and a right brand ambassador. Nivea is also the only brand in the men's category to have a range of products ranging from skincare to deos which also adds more punch to the brand's visibility in the retail outlets aswellas the scope. 

Good going.

Umbrella Branding

As with all effective brand strategy, umbrella brands require a single message, an expression of a commonsense benefit grounded in human emotion that opens the way to own the conversation within a business category.

Umbrella brands abound in business; examples include Virgin, Kellogg’s, Sony, and location brands such as Japan, Manitoba, and St. Louis.

With an umbrella brand, the number of interactions the consumer has with the brand increase significantly, thereby reinforcing the brand values, and it helps transfer the goodwill to new products and categories. But the umbrella brand needs to be focused: It must stand for the same values across the category or range of products, and have the same emotional link.

Generally, consumer durables and services brands have used umbrella branding, while FMCGs have not, but even they have resorted to brand extensions rather than new launches.

Independent brands only make sense when the product clearly has a different proposition from the company brand; like Lexus from Toyota and Swatch from Omega.

In the case of Asian Paints, there were so many sub-brands, there was a reduction of media weights for advertising each entity. Then, the company shifted to a brand-centric portfolio, which involved a change of logo, product names, packaging and advertising. But the response from the trade and consumers has been positive, overall brand synergy and shop presence have increased, and the advertising is more effective, he added.

So unless the product is clearly different in the mind of the consumer, umbrella branding is the way to go. NIVEA is a great international example of an Umbrella Brand

NIVEA: Brand Study

"In many countries, consumers are convinced that Nivea is a local brand, a mistake which Beiersdorf, the German makers, take as a compliment."
www.wolff-olins.com.

"The concept is one that spans a great many categories. Coca-Cola as a brand does not have a lot of extendability. Whereas Coke means Coca-Cola, Nivea is not Beiersdorf."

History
The legacy skincare brand Nivea can be easily found in 150 countries around the world. Approaching its 100th birthday, "Nivea" derives from the Latin word "nivius," meaning "snow-white." The first brand to bring skincare products from the privileged elite to the mass market, its initial product offering, Nivea Crème, was created by a team of dermatologists in 1911 who claimed it was "the world's first long-lasting skin cream."

By 1924, Nivea initiated the use of its blue and white tins, still in use today. A brand born of dermatological expertise, consumers continue to associate Nivea with trust, reliability and accessibility. Owned by Beiersdorf AG, an international branded goods company in Germany,

Nivea has grown from one signature product to over 300, encompassing fourteen product categories, which include a vast expanse of sub-brands such as Body, Visage, Beauté, Sun, For Men, Hair Care, and Baby. Through the years, Nivea has found success with new product rollouts by maintaining a rock solid consistency in its brand messaging, both visually and verbally.

Promotions
With its special quality and skincare expertise, NIVEA was bound to become a successful worldwide brand name. Beiersdorf supported the progress of this great brand through the power of innovation and by successfully building up and expanding the brand’s personality.

An important element of NIVEA’s visual identity is the NIVEA colour scheme. In every visual communication the NIVEA brand appears in its world-famous blue and white colour combination. The NIVEA blue surrounding the brand logo is not just any old blue, but a special colour mixed exclusively for NIVEA in a complex development process. More accurately called “Ivocart NIVEA Blue B 65711”, NIVEA blue has depth on the one hand, but on the other looks fresh and gleaming, not drab thus perfectly suiting the NIVEA image.

Brand Values
Over the years, NIVEA - primarily through NIVEA Creme - has acquired a unique, universal brand identity as a caretaker of skin. NIVEA is synonymous with protection and caring for the skin. “Mildness,” “reliability,” “gentleness,” “protection,” “high quality,” and “value for money” are all strongly associated with the NIVEA name.

http://www.beiersdorf.com/controller.aspx?n=55&l=2
http://www.superbrands-brands.com/volII/brand_nivea.htm
http://www.brandchannel.com/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=219
http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Marketing/MKTG087.htm