Nivea Uses Facebook to Facilitate New Year's Kisses

As if the world needed another reason to descend upon Times Square on New Year’s Eve, skin care brand Nivea has launched a Facebook contest that will unite two long-distance couples there for a kiss to ring in 2011.

The initiative is meant to further solidify Nivea’s reputation as the means to “kissably soft lips” during what the company calls a “key season of romance.”

The "Kiss the One You Love" contest launched December 1. It calls for couples to share their stories by filling out a profile on Nivea’s Facebook page that explains where they are and why they are apart. Facebook users will pick two winning couples, which Nivea will reunite in New York on December 31.

Contest entries are visible on Nivea’s Facebook page, but can also be posted on individual walls with personal messages to encourage voting. Additional features include sharing via Twitter and e-mail. Voting will end December 23, and the winning couples will be announced December 28.

Magnus Jonsson, VP of marketing at Nivea parent Beiersdorf, says Nivea wants to bring together couples that may otherwise be apart this holiday season.

“It’s one of our core beliefs to give couples the confidence to get closer, with irresistible touchably smooth skin and kissably soft lips,” Jonsson says. “New Year’s Eve is all about preparing to be kissed, so through this contest and our ongoing New Year’s Eve sponsorship, we’re helping to continue encouraging everyone to do just that.”

As one of the sponsors of the Times Square Alliance New Year’s Eve Celebration, Nivea is setting up a Kiss Platform in Times Square that it says “will feature memorable moments to entertain the crowd.”

The platform will be hosted by an as-yet-undisclosed celebrity couple. Last year, it was hosted by former pop and reality star Nick Lachey and his girlfriend, True Beauty host Vanessa Minillo.

Nivea will also distribute New Year’s accessories -- like balloons and signature hats – as well as lip care products “to protect the lips of revelers in Times Square as they prepare to be kissed on New Year’s Eve.”

Jonsson declined to provide details on how many couples Nivea expects to participate, but said the brand is encouraging couples from all over the country to enter.

As of late yesterday afternoon, there were six entries. The couple in first place had 18 votes and the runner-up had six. Nivea has nearly 38,000 Facebook "likes."

Within the past year, Nivea has expanded its lip care line, adding products like A Kiss of Milk & Honey and A Kiss of Strawberry, as well as a line of lip care products for men.