„The Influencer Movement” @NIVEA

How can an established brand in the field of influencer marketing stand out? How can promising relationships with influencers be initiated and shaped? And is NIVEA on the right track with their current strategy? Jasper Krog, International Digital Content Strategist for NIVEA, and Thorsten Schapmann, Head of Digital Marketing at NIVEA Germany, addressed these and other questions as part of their presentation at Social Media Week in Hamburg. From February 28th to March 2nd, social media and content marketing experts gathered together and shared their knowledge with more than 3,000 attendees of the digital conference.  

“Today, we no longer reach people by means of TV advertising. Especially younger generations have different needs.” That’s how Jasper Krog described the changed media behavior of the new generation and the resulting challenges at the beginning of the presentation. It is the first generation that wants to decide for itself: when, where and by whom it notices something. It is the first generation to fully grow up in public. “They do not attach great importance to advertising – neither on TV, nor on social media platforms”, Krog continued. NIVEA implemented this insight in its communication strategy at an early stage. “It’s no longer about B2C communication, but rather about H2H communication: Human to Human.” That’s why NIVEA increased its focus on influencer marketing.   At NIVEA, the influencers are considered in a very differentiated way. The company works with a sophisticated structure that defines different groups and determines appropriate priorities and target levels. This helps the NIVEA team to manage long-term and successful relationships with various opinion leaders on social media. Open-mindedness and authenticity are always in the focus, emphasized Thorsten Schapmann: “We listen carefully, because the influencers know best what works for their community.” It is of enormous importance to indicate sponsored content. “Transparency is our greatest asset”, added Jasper Krog. Only in this way, a successful and fair cooperation could work for all participants.

At the same time, bringing together high-quality influencer groups and communities poses challenges. "Especially today, everyone can easily buy a few thousand followers. It's important to keep an eye on that," said Krog. For this purpose, programs that NIVEA uses to prevent such a trap were presented. Particular attention is paid to the growth curves of the particular accounts. "Anyone who gains new followers explosively within a week, or jumps to several thousand likes, will provide evidence of artificial growth." But why do social media opinion leaders have such an essential meaning for the brand strategy of NIVEA? "Influencers are local filters – they adapt our content in a granular way to their community – in a multilingual way, too," Krog explained. This also relieves the burden on one's own marketing teams. "What used to be translated by us for the individual countries and had to be adapted in terms of both – content and imagery – is now being handled by our influencers," said Krog. This is beneficial to both parties.

Best practice examples include the "Hair-Always-On" campaign and the co-creation of the Flamingo Wipes, which was co-authored with Junique and YouTube creator Barbara Sofie (here, you can learn more). "Influencer marketing is a complex field. We believe that only those who give themselves room for tests will be successful," said Thorsten Schapmann.