Beiersdorf softens up its logo

Beiersdorf AG is a German company that owns several high-profile personal care brands, the most famous by far being Nivea which is available worldwide. This week, the company has introduced a new corporate identity, developed with Hamburg agency Justblue Design.

The old logo was reportedly introduced 35 years ago and contained both the full name in Helvetica Bold, the abbreviation BDF and four dots representing it then four business divisions. Two of those divisions have since been spun off. The new logo does away with the abbreviation and the dots, and builds on the old wordmark by rounding off some of its corners. The smoother wordmark should evoke care and trust. The colour is changed to Nivea's blue.

Previous logo.

From a press release:

Beiersdorf AG, Hamburg, has a new company logo with a clean, clear and future-oriented design. It symbolizes the company’s focus on skin care and its concentration on the essential. It stands for the company’s comprehensive strategic development and its upward movement from the foundation of the “Blue Agenda”. At the same time, it creates a connection to the roots of the company’s rich historical tradition: founded in 1882 by pharmacist Paul C. Beiersdorf, the company became the inventor of modern skin care with the brand NIVEA and remains an international leader in its field today.

CEO Stefan F. Heidenreich remarks, “Beiersdorf stands for quality, reliability and trust, for tradition and innovation. Most of all Beiersdorf stands for outstanding products and skin care expertise. The new Beiersdorf logo clearly reflects these values, our core competence and our identity. It is a development of the former logo oriented toward the future and builds a bridge between the company’s tradition and its future.”

The former logo was part of Beiersdorf for 35 years. The word and image mark with the abbreviation BDF and the four dots originally stood for the four divisions of the company – cosmed, medical, pharma and tesa. Today, the company is divided into two business segments: Consumer and tesa. The new logo does away with any graphic elements and adopts the font of the old logo, which with its smoothly rounded letters is evocative of care and trust. The color of the new logo is in line with the NIVEA Blue, thus creating a bond between the company and its strongest brand.

As a curiosity, Beiersdorf also released these two vintage logos with the announcement:

"1935-1938"

"1968-1976"

Beiersdorf (archive)
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