Sealing the New Year with a kiss

Just as Dove moved its brand from being just "one quarter moisturising cream’ to spearheading a "Campaign for Real beauty", Nivea wanted to ensure that consumers had an emotional attachment to the range of lip treatments (Nivea Lip Care), rather than just viewing it as a functional product. It wanted to create a desire and buzz around the brand that set it apart from its competitors.


No New Year's Eve is complete without a kiss, and kissing partners need to ensure that their lips aren't flaky and dry for that midnight moment. Nivea Lip Care recognised this and wanted to make sure that its range of lip balms was the one that people reached for before puckering up. So on New Year's Eve, Nivea launched a sampling effort in Times Square in New York , the place most associated with the New Year countdown. Some 25,000 samples of its new Lip Care line (containing Jojoba oil and Shea butter) were given away to couples waiting for clock to strike midnight.  Consumers were also encouraged to upload their kissing or hugging photos to a microsite, http://www.niveaxoxo.com/, where they were put into a competition, powered by Flickr, to win a starring role in an online Valentine's ad and the opportunity to meet Lionel Richie. The microsite carried a number of other features including the facility to send a digital kiss to friends and loved ones. 


Nivea also sponsored a channel on Yahoo!'s celebrity gossip site, OMG!, featuring pictures of celebrities kissing.The campaign was supported by a TV spot featuring a couple stealing a kiss in the cloakroom of a restaurant. It’s too early for results, but it is a bold move for the Nivea Lip Care brand.