Pond's Creams
Encyclopedia
Pond's Cream is a brand of beauty and health care products that is produced by the Ponds Institute which is owned by the multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...

 company Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....

.

History

Pond's Cream was invented in the United States as a medicine by scientist Theron T. Pond
Theron T. Pond
Theron T Pond was the founder of the T.T Ponds company which he co-founded along with several associates in 1849.He developed the Ponds extract, to be used as a “healing tea”, from the bark of witch hazel. This was used as a topical salve for wounds and purported remedy for numerous other ailments...

 (1800–1852) in 1846. Mr. Pond extracted a healing tea from witch hazel
Witch-hazel
Witch-hazel is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America , and one each in Japan and China...

, with which he discovered he could heal small cuts and other ailments. The product was named "Golden Treasure", after Theron died, it would be known as "Pond's Extract".
In 1846, the "T.T. Pond Company" was formed, with Pond and other business people as investors. Theron Pond's health was failing, however, so he sold his portion of the company soon after, and he died in 1852.

The company then moved to Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 and later to New York City.

In 1886, Pond's began to advertise nationally. They would, however, advertise under the name of Pond's Healing until 1910.

By the twentieth century, the company's main strategy was geared towards selling cosmetics products, and so the "Pond's Vanishing Cream" and the "Pond's Cold Cream
Cold cream
Cold cream is an emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup. The name derives from the cooling feeling that the cream leaves on the skin...

" were created, marking the entrance of Pond's products into the facial care industry. Today Ponds is sold around the world. Its strengths are in Spain, India, Japan and Thailand.

The 1910s

By 1910, Pond's was a well established brand among Americans. Concentrating mostly on their vanishing cream, the Pond's company began an ad campaign that would become notorious because of the celebrities involved in it. "Pond's Healing" took a back seat to "Pond's Vanishing Cream", as "Pond's Healing" and "Pond's Cold Cream" would be announced in small print under the "Pond's Vanishing Cream" advertisements.

By 1914, mentions of "Pond's Healing" were taken off the ads, and the Pond's company began to advertise "Pond's Vanishing Cream" and "Pond's Cold Cream" together, making sure to explain each cream's different purposes on the new ads. One particular ad line read "Every normal skin needs these two creams".

As a result of the new campaign, "Pond's Vanishing Cream" had a 60% increase in sales during 1915, and "Pond's Cold Cream" had a 27% increase.

The 1920s

By 1922, sales of the products had gone down, as many believed that such an easily available product could not perform as well as other, "designer" products. Because of this, the Pond's Company then targeted Royalty, politicians and people of high class stature to become advertisers for the company. In addition, these ads were printed in magazines such as Vogue and others, to give customers a feeling that they really were getting a quality product for a fair price.

In 1923, Queen Marie of Romania visited the United States, and she enjoyed the product so much that in 1925 she wrote to the Pond's Company requesting more supplies. Her letter was, in turn, used for advertisement, and Her Majesty joined the list of celebrities who had previously sponsored the products.

Around the time of Queen Marie's visit to the United States, the Pond's Company began to place samples of their products at their magazine ads, and the characters of "Peter" and "Polly Ponds" were created, as part of their campaign to entice normal people into buying their cream again. The marketing strategies proved successful, as sales of the Pond's facial creams went up again.

"Peter" and "Polly Ponds" disappeared from the company's ad campaigns after 1925.

The 1930s

During the Depression Era of the 1930s, the company's business slowed down somewhat. However, the Pond's company expanded slowly, adding Face Powder and Angel Face products.

First merger

Pond's Company was merged in 1955 with the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company
Chesebrough Manufacturing Company
Chesebrough Manufacturing Company was an oil business which produced petroleum jelly or vaseline, which was marketed with the brand name Luxor. It was founded in 1859. Robert Augustus Chesebrough, a chemist who started the company, was interested in marketing oil products for medicinal needs. He...

, which had a good percentage of brands in the facial care field. With this merger, "Pond's Creams" would become sisters with the Cutex nail polish brand and the Matchabelli perfumes
Prince Matchabelli
Prince Matchabelli is a perfume line. It was first designed by Prince Georges V. Matchabelli who was an amateur chemist. Georges Matchabelli was a Georgian prince and Georgian ambassador to Italy, but fled the Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States after the Russian Revolution...

.

With the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company in command, "Pond's Creams" became available at many supermarkets across the United States. The creams' bottles consisted of small, glass bottles with a round cap. The bottles could be recognized by their distinctive colors, usually in green, blue or white. That bottle design is still in use by the Pond's brand.

Second merger

In 1987, the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company by most known as "Chesebrough-Ponds", was acquired by Anglo
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 company Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....

, giving "Pond's Creams" a more international reach. Then 14% of the company was subsequently traded privately to Bhosle Group of Industries for an undisclosed amount of money.

Awards & Recognition

The Brand Trust Report
The Brand Trust Report
The Brand Trust Report, India Study, 2011 is published by Trust Research Advisory . The book is a result of a syndicated primary research on Brand Trust that generated 10,00,000 data points and 16,000 unique brands from over 10,000 hours of fieldwork conducted in 9 cities TRA’s study partners in...

, India Study, 2011, conducted by the Trust Research Advisory included Pond's in the list of the most trusted brand in India.

External links

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