Around the Globe

The NIVEA Ball: an Essential Accessory

  • Women at the beach with NIVEA Ball 1956

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    1956: women at the beach with NIVEA Ball

  • Swimmer with NIVEA Ball 1934

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    1934: swimmer with NIVEA Ball

  • Family with NIVEA Ball 1960

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    1960s: family with NIVEA Ball

  • Family with NIVEA Ball 1960

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    1960s: family with NIVEA Ball

  • NIVEA advertisement Norway 1967

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    1967: advertisement Norway

  • NIVEA advertisement Germany 1967

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    1967: advertisement Germany

  • NIVEA advertisement Germany 1971

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    1971: advertisement Germany

  • NIVEA advertisement Germany 1965

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    1965: advertisement Germany

  • NIVEA Beach Event Germany 2000

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    2000: beach event Germany

    Measuring approximately 50 centimeters in diameter, featuring the typical NIVEA blue colour and boasting a sturdy plastic cover, the NIVEA ball has been a popular summer accessory for decades. NIVEA fans take it with them to the beach and swimming pool in summer, and they roll it on the ski slopes and ice rinks in winter.

    Ingenious inventor unknown. It is known that the NIVEA ball first appeared on German beaches in the late 1930s. However, it wasn’t officially used by Beiersdorf as a promotional item until the early 1950s. Back then, the ball was initially distributed to children’s homes, and it soon became extremely popular, partly because it could fit into any summer bag, was easy to inflate, and you could play with it for hours.

    International breakthrough. Beiersdorf came up with the clever strategy of distributing the NIVEA ball as a promotional gift with NIVEA Sun product purchases. It soon became just as much a part of people’s holidays as summer, sun, and sand – and provided entire families with tremendous fun. Global advertising campaigns and events gave the NIVEA Ball global celebrity status.

    For example, in the 1960s and 1970s “NIVEA caravans” toured the international beach resorts. All beachgoers who had a NIVEA Sun product with them were given a ball. The NIVEA caravans attracted so many crowds that they often didn’t make it as far as the beach.

    NIVEA Ball facts & figures. The NIVEA Ball’s popularity never waned, so Beiersdorf kept producing it in increasing numbers year after year. A total of 50,000 were manufactured in 1971, rising to 410,000 in 1977. And, in 1999, a record number of 2.2 million NIVEA Balls were produced!

    Beiersdorf’s still on the ball. Around 1.5 million NIVEA Balls have been manufactured every year since 2006. Everyone loves them because they are so versatile. You can play soccer with them, use them as exercise aids in Pilates or aqua work-outs, or even as back rests on the beach. The NIVEA Ball always has been and always will be a genuine all-rounder.