Nicolas Maurer

Vice President Marketing, Beiersdorf North America

 

Few marketing executives have held management positions for the same company in as many regions as Nicolas Maurer.  (He certainly disproves current estimates that the average tenure of a senior marketing officer is just 23 months!)  Maurer has worked for more than 13 years for Beiersdorf, the Hamburg-based global skin and beauty care giant, whose brand portfolio contains such leading names as NIVEA, Eucerin, Aquaphor, la prairie, Juvena, among others. Beiersdorf boasts a history that’s nearly 130 year old and its products are sold in roughly 150 countries.  There’s a good chance that Maurer may have visited each market.

 
A native of France, he started his career as part of the French Embassy’s Trade Agency in Stuttgart.  He then joined Beiersdorf in 1996 and has since held international marketing and general management positions in Germany, East Africa, the Nordic and Baltic regions, and now in the United States.
 
As Vice President of Marketing, Nicolas Maurer sets the strategic vision and marketing direction for the company’s brands in the U.S. market.  He has been the driving force behind award-winning communication platforms, such as NIVEA's “Touch and Be Touched” and “Kissed and Be Kissed,” which have grown marketshare and led to the expansion of Beiersdorf brands in the United States.  Much of his success can be attributed to an extraordinary understanding of the combined media / creative connection that is becoming increasingly essential in today’s complex marketing landscape.
 
Anyone who watched the televised New Year’s Eve countdown from New York’s Times Square is familiar with NIVEA’s official “Kiss and Be Kissed” sponsorship to promote its Lip Care line.  Pre-event publicity included sampling to 25,000 revelers, celebrity couples as spokespersons, online uploads of kissing couples to support the "NIVEA XOXO Chain” charity connection to Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Maurer described the program: "NIVEA is all about human connection by giving people ‘touchably’ smooth skin and ‘kissably’ beautiful lips, so that’s why we’re ringing in 2010 on the NIVEA Kiss Platform to encourage everyone in Times Square and around the world to get closer this New Year’s Eve!"
 
Making marketing headlines comes naturally to Nicolas Maurer. The NIVEA Bikini challenge in Malibu with celebrity swimsuit designer Shay Todd made news during Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start of U.S. summer.  Celebrities encouraged women to take the NIVEA “Good-bye Cellulite, Hello Bikini Challenge.” According to Maurer, “Our goal with the challenge has been to get women feeling better about their skin by helping to improve its appearance, so women can fully enjoy the summer and their bikinis.” The event now also takes place in Miami.
 

A consummate risk-taker, Maurer also took a well-calculated gamble with the music for NIVEA’s first national TV ad by choosing the work of a little known band called Parachute.  Their song, “She Is Love” was used to convey the sensuality of the cream.  Not only did NIVEA product sales increase, but the song has been downloaded and purchased enough to make Parachute a hot commodity.

Contact: nicolas.maurer@beiersdorf.com