Beiersdorf

What they do

Beiersdorf makes skin and body care products under brands including NIVEA, Eucerin, Hansaplast, La Prairie and Labello, and owns a majority of tesa, the adhesive tape and technical adhesives company. The business dates from 28 March 1882, when the Hamburg pharmacist Paul Beiersdorf received a patent for medicated plasters. It remains headquartered in Hamburg.

Why it matters

The company's defining product came after Oscar Troplowitz bought Beiersdorf's laboratory in 1890. Working with the dermatologist Paul Gerson Unna, he developed NIVEA Creme in 1911, using an emulsifier called Eucerit that made it possible to bind oil and water into a stable cream. In 1925 the cream appeared in the blue tin with white lettering that has hardly changed since. NIVEA grew into one of the best-known consumer brands in the world, while Eucerin built a separate position in dermatological skin care sold through pharmacies.

Products to know

• NIVEA Creme: the all-purpose cream in the blue tin, launched in 1911.
• Eucerin: dermatological skin care.
• La Prairie: Swiss luxury skin care.
• tesa: adhesive tapes and industrial bonding solutions.

The German angle

Beiersdorf is a Hamburg institution, and its ownership has a distinctly local character: maxingvest, the holding company that also owns the coffee retailer Tchibo, controls just over half the shares. The arrangement was put in place in the early 2000s partly to keep the company independent of foreign bidders. Beiersdorf shows how German consumer goods companies have often grown from pharmaceutical and scientific roots rather than from marketing alone.