Oscar Troplowitz and Paul C. Beiersdorf founded Beiersdorf 100 years ago with Nivea. Last month the company created a new business unit called Oscar & Paul to manage existing brands such as 8X4, Labello, and Hidrofugal, while also serving as an innovation cell for new concepts. Mastering corporate indie brands is the objective for the new business unit.

“Over the past two years, we have maintained a clear focus on new ways of developing and digitalizing our existing brands. With this new business unit, we will go a step further in future and test new, innovative approaches on all levels—from positioning to communication and sales—thereby serving as a source of internal inspiration,” says Hauke Vob, director of the new Oscar & Paul – Corporate Indie Brands business unit. Yet it does not stop there, as he further explains: “We will create corporate indie brands and launch new business models that are unique within the Beiersdorf Group. In doing so, we have deliberately decided against establishing an outsourced innovation lab that operates in isolation from the group. We will remain part of the management unit for Germany, one of our biggest and most important markets.”

Vob continued, “We want to create brands that cater to the consumers’ needs in relation to authenticity, meaningfulness, and speed. To this end, we must constantly question our approaches and ourselves. This calls for a certain degree of initiative, courage, and creative thinking.”

The culture of the indie innovation unit will be grounded in idea generation processes and working methods of agile start-ups while testing and adapting them based on its needs within the context of the company. This approach will allow the team to work closely with colleagues within the company when developing new concepts, but also consciously relies on the input and ideas of external partners. The first initiative is the relaunch of the deodorant brand 8X4 focused on personalization.