You can still build local brands in a global market, says Hans Van Bylen. He explains how Henkel manages its global brand Schwarzkopf and the ‘glocal’ brands that it supports

Henkel isn’t a company name that instantly jumps out at you – at least not outside its native Germany – and yet the company produces and markets some of the world’s bestknown and most-loved heritage brands, with a range that has extended throughout Europe and into the US in its impressive 132 years of business. Persil washing powder, Pritt Stick (glue) and the Schwarzkopf range of hair care, hair styling and hair dye products; these perennial household favourites have such distinctive names, logos and designs that you could perhaps be forgiven for undervaluing the hard work that is as necessary to drive and support their evolution, as it is to protect and monitor the company’s trademarks as the company extends into new products and services.

It is what Hans Van Bylen, executive vice-president Cosmetics/Toiletries, refers to as Henkel’s ‘glocal’ approach: the corporate IP strategy that is necessary to support and control the fragmentation of its products in local territories, but on a global scale.

Celebrating difference
UK consumers yelped in consternation when Procter and Gamble’s Oil of Ulay became Oil of Olay (since renamed simply Olay), Mars repackaged its Opal Fruits as Starbursts and, worst of all, Unilever’s Jif became Cif. Yet, these name changes were strategically necessary in order to bring the brand names in line with their European equivalents, minimise brand protection work by focusing on one name, rather than several, and to accommodate regional differences in language and pronunciation. But Van Bylen doesn’t believe that selecting one universal product name is the only way to build a strong, distinctive global brand. ‘Huge amounts of money and risk are involved in launching new brands, so why start again from scratch when you already have brand heritage to support you?’ he said at this year’s INTA conference, where he was the keynote speaker. ‘We prefer to combine existing brands to maximise what is already there.’

So, instead of rebranding for new markets, Henkel’s Personal Care Division organises its localized brands under rock-solid ‘master brands’ that at once remind customers of the expertise and trustworthiness behind the product (what Van Bylen terms ‘cross-fertilisation’), while retaining all the goodwill that has been built up over the years under the original brand name. It’s a harmonious approach to brand protection that allows for regional differences without regional confusion.

‘Purchasers lean towards bright colours and exciting shapes, as with the go t2b range, and we are planning on leading that field.’
-Hans Van Bylen

No brand showcases this better than Schwarzkopf, the hair care, hair styling and hair dye brand that Henkel purchased in 1995. It’s hard to believe it now, but at the time the range was considered old fashioned and its sales were diminishing. Yet, today, it is one of the stars of Henkel’s Personal Care Division, bringing in sales of €1.6bn in 2007. It is also one of Henkel’s most distinctive master brands. The distinctive black portrait logo, the swirl on the typeface, the design of the product – all these are recognisable even though individual products are still known by a variety of names depending on the jurisdiction, including hair dye products called both ‘Brilliance’ and ‘Gliss’ in EU territories. This has, of course, resulted in a vast number of trademarks that have to be registered, renewed and monitored on a global basis, both strategically and defensively.

Henkel has a total of 110,000 registrations in 198 countries, and that number looks set to rise even further, as the company continues to acquire new brands. And Van Bylen is aware of the need to examine the regional and cultural effects of any of the new brands it wishes to take global. That’s why when Henkel acquired the US göt2b brand in 2004, one of the first questions, before adding the Schwarzkopf endorser mark, was how to adapt the sub-brand in the EU; and, in particular, what to do about the umlaut above the ‘o’.

‘It was a distinctive symbol that we didn’t want to lose,’ says Van Bylen, ‘but we had to respect regional differences, especially in Germany where the use of an umlaut in this way would be particularly confusing.’ It was launched instead as go t2b in 2005.

A cultural shift
The move from national to international, and from the EU market to the world market, is challenging, but Van Bylen believes that Henkel has a head start with its Schwarzkopf brand. This is, in turn, supported by the sub-brands, which are clearly targeted and priced for distinct sections of consumers. It helps, he says, that the Schwarzkopf brand only covers hair, so there is no risk of dilution.

But that isn’t to say that the Schwarzkopf brand is now going to remain static. ‘We evolve it as society evolves,’ he says. So, for example, Henkel is already planning to target new consumer groups, including men and the ‘aging society’, who Van Bylen says are increasingly turning to the home-care hair products and dyes, rather than their more expensive salon equivalents. ‘Product design will also become a clear product delineator in the coming years,’ he says. ‘Purchasers lean towards bright colours and exciting shapes, as with the go t2b range, and we are planning on leading that field.’


HENKEL BY NUMBERS

€1.6bn: sales in 2007 of the Schwarzkopf brand; Persil brought in €0.7bn, while Lochtite commanded €0.9bn.
43: although best known for brands such as Persil and Schwarzkopf, in 2007 the largest share of Henkel’s business was in adhesives (43%). The remainder of its business was split between the laundry/home-care market (32%) and the cosmetics industry (23%).
132: the number of years since Henkel was founded.
1903: the year of the birth of the Schwarzkopf trademark; the now iconic head logo was designed for the brand’s original packaging.
1907: the year that Henkel invented Persil washing powder – the world’s first self-acting detergent.
110,000: the number of trademarks registered by Henkel in the 198 countries in which it trades or plans oneday to trade.


This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 23

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