At the first ever Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch at this year’s in-cosmetics, the global skin care company announced the three winners at the show’s awards ceremony on 2 April. Ashland, Croda and KPT convinced the judges with their original ideas giving them chance to market them under the umbrella of Beiersdorf‘s strong brands like NIVEA and Eucerin.
The Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch was an extension of the company’s open innovation initiative “Pearlfinder” that aims to further increase the company‘s innovation power by integrating external knowledge into its research and development. For this pitch Beiersdorf teamed up with in-cosmetics when it returned to Germany after five years, this time in Hamburg – Beiersdorf’s birthplace. Of 66 online entries from exhibitors at the event, 23 were selected to go through to the finals at in-cosmetics. The ideas were evaluated by a Beiersdorf jury consisting of experienced R&D, Marketing and Scouting heads. Key criteria of the Pitch were uniqueness, feasibility, consumer benefit, fit with Beiersdorf brands and market potential – with the winners excelling in these areas.
The US provider of speciality chemicals and technologies Ashland has long been one of Beiersdorf’s strategic partners and is well known by the skincare giant for having its roots based firmly in creating innovative ingredients. At in-cosmetics the company was praised by the jury for a promising idea relating to the Sun Care category. The British innovator and world leader in natural based speciality chemicals Croda impressed the judges with its unique concept which has potential for application in several categories, especially Body and Sun Care. Furthermore, the Beiersdorf judges detected high potential in the idea of the exhibitor Korea Particle Technology (KPT). This relatively young company – established in 2004 – was honoured for its innovative ingredient technology which Beiersdorf considers valuable for its selective cosmetics business.
At the ceremony, Dr. Ulrich Schmidt, member of the executive board at Beiersdorf announced the winners and thanked each participant for the dedication demonstrated during the pitch process. He said: “Innovation is a key factor for our company’s success. With our strong brands we want to become the number one skin care company in our relevant markets but we can only achieve this with the innovative input from external partners. We are happy to call this Innovation Pitch a great success. The overall quality and potential of the submitted ideas exceeded our expectations.”
Cathy Laporte, exhibition manager, in-cosmetics added: “The high calibre of entries to the Beiersdorf Innovation Pitch is testament to the innovation on display at in-cosmetics and I would like to congratulate the winners of this prestigious award. It is through this type of collaboration that the industry can create groundbreaking products that will appeal to a wide range of consumers. It has been a pleasure working with Beiersdorf on this unique project.”
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For further information on Beiersdorf please contact Catarina Mayer Wichmann, Senior Corporate Communications Manager at Beiersdorf’s Hamburg Headquarters on +49 (0) 40 4909 2001, or email cc@beiersdorf.com For further details on Beiersdorf’s Open Innovation Initiative Pearlfinder please visit http://pearlfinder.beiersdorf.com or the company website at www.beiersdorf.com/innovation/open-innovation
About Beiersdorf AG Beiersdorf AG is one of the world’s leading providers of innovative, high-quality skin care products and has over 130 years of experience in this market segment. The Hamburg-based skin care company has over 16,500 employees worldwide. Beiersdorf recorded sales of €6.1 billion in fiscal year 2013 and has been listed on the DAX – the German benchmark equities index – since December 2008. NIVEA, the world’s No. 1 skin care brand,* is the cornerstone of Beiersdorf AG’s internationally successful brand portfolio. Other leading brand names include Eucerin, La Prairie, Labello, 8×4, and Hansaplast/Elastoplast. Beiersdorf’s subsidiary tesa SE is also one of the world’s leading manufacturers in its field and supplies self-adhesive products and system solutions to industry, craft businesses, and consumers. * Source: Euromonitor International Ltd.; NIVEA by umbrella brand name in the categories Body Care, Face Care, and Hand Care; in retail value terms, 2012.