Compelling Creative Drives Engagement - Nivea Men Case Study

Nivea Men wanted to become the No1 in the UK male skincare market. The challenge was that male non-users had no interest in talking about skin care. Nivea needed to earn a way into conversations and make their brand proposition relevant to this hard-to-reach audience.

We worked with the brand team to define its voice, choosing football as the medium. A partnership with the England team for the FiFa World Cup was negotiated to deliver authenticity and the positioning ‘Preparation Is Everything’ developed. The issue was how to engage with the target audience in a non-championship year. The creative solution we delivered was “The Great Football Experiment”.

We set out to find the worst amateur football team in the UK via a social media vote and gave them exactly the same preparation as the England team including access to England physiotherapists, nutritionists and coaches; Terry Venables, Ray Clemence, Ray Wilkins to test the brand promise that ‘Preparation is Everything’. Over the course of a three month campaign, we followed and filmed their progress - building a fanatical following as we went. Ivory FC from Essex won their league and defeated a team of England Legends 2-1 at the conclusion of the series proving ‘Preparation Really is Everything’!

During the activity, Nivea Men earned an audience of almost 3.5 million in social media, brand tracking scores grew significantly in emotional connection, as did market share in key trade partners.

The campaign won Gold at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards, top honours at the Sports Industry Awards and reached the shortlist for the Marketing Week Engage Awards.

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