The advertisement with the polka dot

The idea behind the anniversary campaign: people get a dab of Nivea cream on their nose and pass on a similar dab to another person. As they do so, they are filmed. The aim is to produce the world's longest commercial from the intercut short spots. Nivea manufacturer Beiersdorf and the Streuplan agency have already achieved this goal, as 2500 short films have already been shot, each of which lasts about five seconds. That makes around three and a half hours of commercials. And the campaign has only been running since mid-May.

For several weeks now, a bus has been touring through many Swiss cities and towns promoting the Tupf idea. Around the bus, Nivea samples are given away and camera teams make Tupf films of passers-by. On the bus, people can test the entire Nivea range, have their skin analyzed or receive advice from a make-up artist. Those who allow themselves to be filmed or make their own swab film with a cell phone or webcam can win great prizes, for example a dream trip worth 10'000 Swiss francs, one of two Vespas or one of 45 bicycles - naturally in the classic dark blue Nivea design that has characterized the brand since 1925. In addition, various Nivea care sets are enticing people to take part. The prizes will be raffled off at the end of the year among all the "film actors".

Familiar gesture

"The dab campaign conveys Nivea's core values: security, trust, honesty, family and friendship," explains Daniel Münster, Marketing Manager at Beiersdorf Switzerland. "Probably most Swiss people got a dab of cream on their nose from their mother as a child. So this gesture awakens - hopefully positive - childhood memories. " Many of those who have so far contributed a dab to the world's longest commercial are Beiersdorf employees. The company is using the campaign to thank its customers for 100 years of loyalty, as well as its employees. Says Münster, "That's why we wanted to give our employees the opportunity to be part of this campaign as well. This has met with a strong response." Celebrities have also already made dab films for Nivea: Miss Switzerland Kerstin Cook, for example, presenter Eva Camenzind and Annabelle editor-in-chief Lisa Feldmann.

Well spotted is half won

The Tupf idea is well received. This is also evidenced by the numerous hits on the campaign's online presence and the long average time spent at www.nivea.ch/100, which averages almost five minutes. The commercial, which is already as long as an eel and continues to grow, is being actively viewed. Beiersdorf is very satisfied with the campaign so far: "Streuplan is the ideal partner for us to implement innovative and surprising BTL campaigns. Their creativity and commitment are really fun," emphasizes Daniel Münster. "We are a BTL agency, but the cross-media campaign encompasses much more than just BTL measures ", says Thomas Back, owner of Streuplan. Indeed: In addition to various POS campaigns, where, for example, 400,000 retro Nivea cans in mini format and instant win scratch cards were distributed, Streuplan designed the Nivea tour bus, a pop-up ad with a birthday cake that appeared in Annabelle in May, created a dab photo contest, placed press releases and ads in Migros and Coop magazines and in the NZZ am Sonntag, produced a book jacket and ad streets for 20 Minuten, integrated a Facebook account and set up a website for the campaign, organized a Nivea shoot in the window of the Bernese department store Loeb and had doubles of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie appear in a guerrilla campaign at Art Basel - with a Nivea dab on their nose, of course. Streuplan also produced the song that accompanies the dab films: It is based on Paolo Conte's "Via con me." But if you pay attention, you'll hear "Nivea, Nivea" instead of "Via, via." Streuplan has also programmed its own app, which each Tupf film actor can use to enter his or her personal details for the prize draw.

On June 27, an online activation campaign will start to push the dab films even further, followed by a Facebook activation campaign in the summer. In addition, further campaigns are planned on the street as well as in social media. And Nivea was able to win singer Rihanna for its anniversary advertising: Nivea is sponsoring Rihanna's European tour and is using the pop star's song "California King Bed" in DraftFCB's current TV spot. At the two Rihanna concerts on November 7 and December 10 in Zurich's Hallenstadion, you can therefore not only win Meet&Greet tickets, but also be surprised by other promotions from Nivea and Streuplan.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich