Spee (detergent)

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Front of the detergent packaging as it was sold in the GDR
Back of the detergent packaging

Spee is since the German reunification a brand of detergent from Henkel . The brand stands for Spe zial- E evelopment. Spee is one of the few East German brands that were able to establish themselves in the western federal states after reunification . Spee is manufactured in Düsseldorf as both a liquid and a powder detergent.

history

The Genthin detergent plant was founded by Henkel in 1921 as a production facility for detergents and cleaning agents . Before the fall of the Wall, up to 1700 people were employed there. After reunification, the number of employees fell to just under 300. In 2009, Henkel gave up the Genthin site.

Pre-turning point

The Soviet military authorities expropriated the plant in 1945. In 1949 the site was converted into a state-owned company, initially with the name “VEB Persil-Werk Genthin”, later “VEB Waschmittelwerk Genthin”. First of all, in the 1950s, an "Ost-Persil" was produced, which even advertised with the slogan "Persil remains Persil"; after a legal dispute with the western trademark owners of Persil , the name had to be given up.

As early as 1966, the “VEB Waschmittelwerk Genthin” registered the Spee trademark for a new detergent, which has been produced and sold since 1968. It was characterized by significantly improved washing power at low temperatures (important for the synthetic fibers that are now very common ) and lower foam development (better suited for washing machines ). Shortly after its introduction, Spee became the best-selling detergent in the GDR . Until then, Milwa, developed in 1948, held this rank. Spee achieved a supply share of 80 percent in the GDR. From 1973 there was also the Spee granulated variety , from 1975 the Spee syntex variety and in the 1980s Spee Color was added.

After 1989

After reunification , Henkel KGaA bought the plant back from the Treuhandanstalt in November 1990 . In that year, Spee and Spee Color came onto the market in the old federal states, each with a revised phosphate-free formulation, initially with the addition of the Henkel brand Persil as an inexpensive alternative. Megaperls were added to the program in 1996, tabs in 1999 and a gel in 2000 .

Spee, the former Eastern product

The state of Saxony-Anhalt signed a contract with the Henkel Group for funding in the double-digit million range and for ten-year loyalty to the location. Shortly afterwards, a new liquid detergent line was built on site. Before the deadline expired, Henkel dismantled the entire system and relocated it to Düsseldorf. Powder production was moved to Düsseldorf as early as 2007. The Henkel company withdrew from Genthin entirely, and took all of its production facilities and the large East German traditional Genthin brand, the "Spee", with it to Düsseldorf. Since then, Spee is no longer geographically an “Eastern product”.

The Waschmittelwerk Genthin GmbH was founded on March 31, 2009 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hansa Group . The new company is a new member of the Hansa Group, along with the Wibarco chemical factory (Ibbenbüren). The new subsidiary took over the core of the Henkel plant in Genthin on November 1, 2009.

marketing

Spee tram of the Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe (FZ 2810)

Spee was one of the few brands in the GDR that also used advertising materials that were even used to decorate shop windows .

Since 1996 Spee has been looked after by the Düsseldorf advertising agency Stöhr Markenkommunikation, which also developed the fox concept that made Spee known in the West. A rhyming fox was created as a trademark, which today advertises detergent brands in 36 countries. From 1996 onwards, the German market as a whole was targeted with the symbol of the “clever saver”, starting with a German market share of 4.8 percent. The partially rapped rhymes of the fox come from Ralf Maier, a freelance copywriter and songwriter who wrote numerous songs for the singer and producer Edo Zanki , among other things .

The TBWA agency has been looking after the brand since April 2013 .

Slogans

  • The new Spee is ok 1990.
  • The good Spee - everything ok 1993.
  • Spee. The clever way to wash. 1997.
  • Löbtau, Friedrichstadt, Hellerau, they all wash smart. (2017 - local advertising Dresden)

Web links

Commons : VEB Waschmittelwerk Genthin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Spee - Register number: DD634539 from the online register information of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), accessed on March 29, 2013.
  2. ^ Franz-Rudolf Esch, Niels Neudecker, Olga Spomer: walls fall, brands remain! In: Frank Keuper, Dieter G. Puchta (ed.): Germany 20 years after the fall of the wall. Review and outlook . Gabler, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8349-1527-6 , pp. 255 ( PDF ).
  3. ↑ About us. Genthin Detergent Plant, accessed March 29, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Stöhr loses Spee to TBWA. Advertise & Sell , accessed March 29, 2013 .