On the occasion of the cult brand's birthday, Professor Krafft, marketing expert and head of the Chair of Marketing Management (IfM), gave an interview to "taff" (ProSieben). The interview was broadcasted on German television on May 10, 2021. In this TV special, Manfred Krafft explains what the NIVEA brand means and discusses its success factors.

In 1890, the Hamburg pharmacist Dr. Troplowitz created the first skin cream by using a new emulsifier, Eucerit, to mix water and oil into a solid and stable mixture. Because the resulting skin cream had no preservatives and was snow-white in color, NIVEA borrowed its name from the Latin word for snow (nix; nivis). Since the "blue tin" is crucial for brand recognition, NIVEA launched a major rebranding campaign in 2013 and now uses the "blue tin" as its logo on packaging across all product categories. Professor Krafft clarifies the underlying goals: to increase recognition of all NIVEA products, strengthen consumer identification, and stimulate test purchases within the brand portfolio.

NIVEA stands for values such as naturalness, authenticity, understanding, confidentiality, closeness, and a sense of well-being. Manfred Krafft therefore points out that NIVEA is a prime example of the caregiver in the sense of brand archetypes. Caregiving brands give people a sense of security, they focus on generosity and compassion, and make others feel good. NIVEA's current campaign perfectly captures the brand's core values and brings the brand purpose to life in an impressive way. The campaign around the purpose "Care for Human Touch to Inspire Togetherness" postulates human touch as the key to a healthy, happy life and aims to inspire people to be more together.

Furthermore, Professor Krafft discusses the success factors as well as the history of the brand. Despite its consistent branding, which creates an almost unrivaled recognition value, NIVEA keeps up with the times, as the current campaign shows, and closely links science and product development. In addition, NIVEA implemented an internationalization strategy early on. Just three years after its launch in 1911, NIVEA had been sold on every continent in the world. NIVEA relies on a "mixed brand strategy" according to Heribert Meffert. Following the principle of "as much standardization as possible, as much differentiation as needed," NIVEA aims to give the brand a uniform face worldwide, but at the same time makes country-specific adjustments in terms of packaging sizes or product components.