Nestle as we all know is a famous, popular and a well – Known household brand that we come across every day; it is hard not to be associated with this brand. The house of Nestle apart from being a big brand itself has produced many brands which are also quite well-known and popular and have the capacity to shine on their own without the help of the parent brand itself. Nestle has had an amazing journey of building many such brands. This post is all about the extraordinary success of Nestle and how it is the successful brand/ company that it is today.
Nestle is the creator and the proud owner of many such brands such as NESCAFE, KIT KAT, NESTEA, CERELAC, LACTOGEN, MILO and so many more. Some of these famous brands of Nestle value millions of dollars. As already stated by me; one intellectual Property (IP) leads to many IPs. There cannot be a better story then the story of Nestle to explain the statement better. In addition to the long list of many well-known brands, Nestle is also the proud owner of many intellectual properties rights such as the patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and industrial designs.
It all started in Switzerland in the year 1867 when Henri Nestle was struck by an idea to come up with a formula for babies who cannot be breast fed by their mothers. The baby food was a simple and nutritious combination of cow’s milk, wheat, and sugar. He came up with this infant formula to tackle high infant mortality rates. Around this time he started using the Nestle’s quintessential ‘Nest’ logo. The infant formula was marketed under the name/ brand/ trademark “Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé”.
As the famous saying goes “An idea can change your life”. This idea of starting an enterprise to sell infant food grew up to be one of the world’s famous company and brand with a major shareholding in processed food market; A multinational manufacturer of food products.
Likewise, in 1866, just a year before there was an another enterprise; the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company established in Cham, Switzerland by brothers Charles A. Page and George Page from United States of America. The brothers came up with the idea of condensed milk. They established Europe’s first production facility for condensed milk. The condensed milk was sold all over Europe’s industrial towns under the very popular brand “MILKMAID”. “MILKMAID” was marketed as a safe, long-life alternative to fresh milk.
In the following decades both enterprises aggressively expanded their businesses throughout Europe and the United States. However, in the year 1875 Henri Nestlé sold his company and factory to three local businessmen. Nevertheless, the company, under new ownership, retained his name as Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé. In 1877 Anglo-Swiss added milk-based baby foods to its products and in the following year the Nestlé company added condensed milk to their portfolio of products and became direct and fierce rivals.
Anybody who has travelled to the north of India or north east of India will for sure know Maggie is a staple there. What rice, bread or roti is to other parts of India it is Maggie for them. Those in the hills love Maggie.
In 1905, these rival companies merged to become the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company now the Nestlé Group. The name was retained until 1947. The company’s current name Nestlé S.A./ Nestlé Alimentana SA was adopted in 1977 post acquisition of Fabrique de Produits Maggi SA (founded 1884) and its holding company, Alimentana SA of Kempttal, Switzerland. Maggi was a major manufacturer of soup mixes, seasonings and related products. Through this strategic acquisition, now Nestle is the proud owner of Maggi; a brand of Nestle group that generates a huge chunk of revenue.
Nestle is not only a famous brand but it is a journey of more than 150 years. It is very essential for any entrepreneur or a brand owner to know the strategies behind its success.
In the next part of the story let’s look at Nestlé’s acquisitions and how it became the proud owner of its multiple trademarks, brands, products and other intellectual properties that came with those acquisitions.
SOURCES :
1)
https://www.nestle-cwa.com/en/aboutus/history/company-history 2)
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nestle-SA#ref1203738).
