3D product models: Digitalization beyond the epicenters

For us at Beiersdorf, digital transformation is above all a cultural change that can only succeed if it happens decentrally and at all levels. That's why we also want to give a stage to innovation projects that take place away from the digital epicenters around Big Data and artificial intelligence. In this blog story, our colleague Jasmin Quellmann, Head of Studio NX and thus Manager Digital Content Creation & Distribution, tells us how she and her team are contributing to digitalization and cultural change at Beiersdorf with a current project, while also setting a new benchmark for visual digital content in the industry...

Gladly. My team – which consists of seven people – and I are responsible for everything to do with developing digital content for our products.Content here not only means visual material such as product photos, but also user-generated content and the creation of texts that we need for product descriptions, for example.. The goal is to use this content to create a unique consumer experience. One of the key questions here is: How do we get our beautiful content to our consumers and/or to our retail partners? So, we are also responsible for the various tools and processes behind it, which accordingly, we want to improve continuously.

The pandemic has given online shopping even more momentum - and we at Beiersdorf are feeling the effects of this on a massive scale. In the first quarter of this year alone, our eCommerce business grew by over 70 %. Everyday life has simply changed, and consumers have adapted their behavior accordingly. So today, more than ever, we need a unique digital shopping experience, a perfect digital shelf, so to speak. 

Online, however, we have many more opportunities and space to describe our unique selling points, provide skin care advice, or provide more detailed information about products and ingredients. Personalization of all this information also plays an important role in creating unique consumer experiences. In the future, however, we will only be able to map this if we digitize and automate our processes. Our Packshot Creator is therefore a key success factor for localizing and personalizing our products without diluting the overall image of our global digital brand presence.

Basically, no manual step is necessary anymore. Once the first step, i.e. the artwork of the product, has been approved, the whole machinery starts: a complete 3D model of each individual product variant is created in several steps. Based on predefined local requirements, for example, customer-specific packshots are then created and made available. By storing this centrally in our global DAM (Digital Asset Management) and linking it to the respective product in Beiersdorf’s global PIM (Product Information Management), we are able to distribute this automatically to the various channels and retail partners. So, we are very fast in production, much more cost-efficient and much faster to market because we can produce lots of localized, customized content for our consumers. Today we are at a point where we can say: There is currently nothing better in our industry, technologically speaking, than the product images from our Packshot Creator.

With the exponential increase in demands due to digitalization, we need to create more content and do it as efficiently as possible. This Packshot Creator sets us up perfectly for this now and for the future.

You have to think of the entire project in terms of several stages. At the beginning of 2020, we started working closely with the NIVEA design team and our global marketers to define the styles for the products. Subsequently, we created the 3D models for the different products. We now have over 500, so we were able to generate all possible product images at the push of a button.
Then, based on the different requirements of the countries and the respective trading partners, we defined collections of product images to be automatically generated per country. We then started to connect all our tools and automate the whole process, from the finalization of the artwork, to the creation of the packshots with the Creator, to the storage of the packshots in our systems, including the product information, to the delivery to the retailer.

The technologies in the systems as we are using them now - especially in process automation - did not exist to the same degree before. That's why this project was very complex. Each individual tool ultimately had to be ready to be completely automated. Despite our expertise, developing the respective systems and coordinating the timing between these developments was a challenge in which we all learned a lot. But it was our common goal and we were determined to achieve it. This team spirit is what turned an initial idea into a success and saves us a lot of time and energy today.

Definitely exciting! In addition to NIVEA, we will next roll out Packshot Creator to other Beiersdorf brands, such as EUCERIN and Labello, and to even more countries. Of course, the technologies will continue to develop in parallel, so we already have our sights set on the next project, which will simplify the compilation of product sets in one image. Additionally, I'm looking forward to seeing what other possibilities there will be.

Thank you, Jasmin, for this insight. 

Here you can find our new packshots and 360° packshots already in action.

After studying digital communications, writing her master's thesis together with Beiersdorf, and gaining experience in journalism, marketing and corporate communications, Laura joined Beiersdorf's Corporate Digital Communications team in March 2021, where she is responsible for a wide range of communications projects related to digitalization. As befits a digital communications strategist, however, areas such as social media and digital employee communications are not neglected.