Only for metro-sexuals?

No, says Jesper Saugmann, Market Manager for “Nivea for Men” at Beiersdorf. Men’s cosmetics today are staple goods, directed towards ordinary men. Three or four years ago there was a lot of talking about metro sexuals and I think that scared many men away from using facial lotions.

But that is understandable, he continues, so far the largest segment on the market is men up to 30 years old in the big cities. This is obvious to see in the strategic tracking surveys that Zapera does for us in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Our immediate goal is to have men try our products. In the tracking we therefore thoroughly follow how the penetration is growing and we can measure our image. We separately closely supervise our position regarding the values “masculinity” and “innovative”.

Nivea’s strength is our good coverage of the grocery sector. Nivea is a strong brand, but not an exclusive luxury brand. Therefore we try to use a consumer-close language and inform the customers about why they should use Nivea for Men and not take their partners’ lotion. Also in this area the tracking gives good guidance.

Nivea for Men is a prioritized product-line for Beiersdorf. We have a yearly growth of 50-100%, Jesper reveals. In a long-term perspective we count on reaching a volume that counterbalances 25% of the women’s cosmetics and then it will be a very large and interesting market for us.

We are leading in building the new market for facial care for men and we count on protecting the dominance when the market begins to mature in a few years.

Zapera is a valuable business partner. Apart from the tracking surveys they do a number of pre-tests of advertisements for us, Jesper summarizes.

Source: Zapera News, Issue 26, April 2007