Beiersdorf Group, which owns the Nivea brand, has reported an in-market sales growth of 22.3 per cent over 2007.

Robert Taylor-Hughes, managing director and CEO for the Middle East and West Asia, said that the 2008 results were nearly three times ahead of the regional market growth of around eight per cent.

“This is fully in line with our ambitious annual business plan,” he commented.

Beiersdorf Middle East also improved its market positions across the 16 countries responsible for, and added three #2 and five #1 positions, taking the total to 48 leading category positions across nine countries the company is officially audited for by Nielsen.

A TNS 2008 consumer insight survey furthermore puts Nivea as the brand most top of mind, most liked and most purchased in the past twelve months in the categories in which they operate.

The Beiersdorf Group also outgrew the global cosmetics and toiletries trends in 2008 with net sales of €5.9bn ($7.5 billion), plus 10.6 per cent growth adjusted for currency effects versus 2007, compared to global growth of around three per cent.

This puts the group ‘best in class’ versus their key competitors. The group also reached 136 worldwide #1 categories by the year end.

Beiersdorf was recently elevated from the MDAX to the DAX in Germany as a safe haven for shareholders in deepening difficult economic times. The Nivea turnover at recommended selling prices already topped €6.3 billion in 2007 according to Euromonitor data.

When asked about the highlights of the year, Taylor-Hughes said it was “definitely the regional rollout of the global brand campaign ‘Beauty is…’”

“It was a striking campaign adapted skilfully to this region and we were recognized within the group as having the best global execution. Another highlight was the opening of the second global Nivea Haus spa in Dubai Mall,” he added.

“It was a 12-month project which ate into virtually all my spare time as project manager and co-designer, but the end result was well worth the effort; we have created a true consumer brand experience and engagement destination to be proud of, and offer a real blue ocean opportunity compared to our competitors.”

“We are very fortunate to have a brand that can ride out economic downturns, our experience shows consumers buy, above all, value for money, high quality, brands they know and trust, they tend to experiment less, yet wish to treat themselves to small luxuries during such periods,” Taylor-Hughes concluded.

“Nivea ticks all of these boxes so we expect another successful year in 2009, with very little adjustment to our forecasted plans,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service