Vicks

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Vicks

logo
legal form Company
founding 1890
Seat Cincinnati , Ohio
Branch Medical and chemical products
Website vicks.com , www.wick.de

Vicks (initially: Vick ) is a global brand of the US group Procter & Gamble . In Germany and Austria, the spelling Wick ( own spelling in capital letters ) is used. This brand for cold products became known with one of their first products, the Vick VapoRub ("vapor" = vapor + "rub" = rub in) (German: WICK VapoRub), an ointment containing menthol.

history

In 1890 the pharmacist Lunsford Richardson II took over 50% of the pharmacy of his brother-in-law Joshua W. Vick . He invented 21 different everyday medical products under the name Vick's Family Remedies . It is not known exactly why he chose the name Vick. As he became more successful, he sold his shares in the pharmacy and focused on manufacturing and wholesaling his Vick's products.

VapoRub logo from 1972

Richardson's most successful product was the Vaporub ointment, which, in addition to the traditional cough suppressants camphor and eucalyptus oil, also contained menthol, which evaporated when rubbed on the body and could thus be inhaled. In this way, the usual ingestion of bitter pills was avoided and an immediate positive effect set in.

Vick Logo.gif

He continued to successfully close his wholesale business in 1905 and instead opened the Vick Chemical Company to concentrate his business. On the advice of his son, for whom he had developed the successful ointment, from 1907 he concentrated exclusively on its production and changed its name Vick's VapoRub to the Vicks VapoRub, which is still in use today . From 1934 at the latest, the Vick Chemical Company added the genitive s to its product name and from then on called itself alongside Vick and Vicks .

After a nationwide cold epidemic, Vick Vaporub dominated the US market in 1919.

In 1985, Richardson-Vicks was taken over by Procter & Gamble .

Products in Germany

Different name in the German-speaking area

In Germany and Austria, the company operates under the Wick brand , as Vick ( spoken with f ) and Vicks ( spoken with w ) have homophones with a sexual meaning.

It has been present in Germany since 1954. One big area are cough suppressants. In addition to the classic cough syrup, there are also triangular cough lozenges ( Wick blue ) and effervescent tablets for the treatment of bronchi and lungs. In 1956 the cough drops with eucalyptus and wild cherry came on the market, in 1958 lemon followed. Wick blue neck candies have been around since 1972 .

Wick offers the MediNait and DayMed products against colds and flu .

In 1964 the production facility in Groß-Gerau was established , which produces for 50 countries in Europe, Australia, Asia, New Zealand and the Gulf States. One of the largest fully automated high-bay warehouses in Europe with 19 floors and space for 18,000 pallets is operated there. The plant employs around 500 people in 3-4 shifts.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Vick without s brand for cold products is still registered with the Procter & Gamble company: Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) Numbers: 85008304, 0386984, 0867818, 3461443 (1934), 71356137 etc.
  2. ↑ Dietmar Fink, Christoph Wamser: Outgrowing: Growing with the resources of strong partners. Hanser Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3446406972 , p. 140.
  3. ↑ a b c WICK. In: apodiscounter.de. Archived from the original ; Retrieved May 28, 2011 .
  4. ^ Jean-Pierre Jeannet, Hubert D. Hennessey: Global marketing strategies. Issue 4, Houghton Mifflin, 1998, ISBN 039587162X , p. 702.
  5. ↑ a b c d Lindsey Hinds-Brown: The Man Who Helped the World Breathe Easie. (PDF; 222 kB) In: ncmuseumofhistory.org. North Carolina Museum of History, October 14, 2008, archived from the original on April 29, 2011 ; Retrieved on April 29, 2011 (English, originally published in Tar Heel Junior Historian 46: 1 in autumn 2006).
  6. ↑ US trademark register entry by Vicks under number 71347246 from February 10, 1934.
  7. ↑ Dagmar Neuendorff; Christopher Michael Schmidt: Language, culture and target groups: condition factors for communication design in business. DUV 2007, ISBN 9783835060920 , p. 163.
  8. ↑ a b The WICK timeline - The history of WICK. In: wick.de. Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, archived from the original on May 28, 2011 ; Retrieved May 28, 2011 .
  9. ↑ WICK cough drops - Timeline. In: wick-hustenbonbons.de. Retrieved on October 25, 2017 (German).
  10. ^ Hessen reporter: The candy inventors at WICK in Groß-Gerau ; TV report by the hr on November 27, 2011

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