American glass, the Havaiana sandal that centenary Nadir has in its portfolio
Valor Econômico
Nadir Figueiredo is one of Brazil's most traditional companies in the area of packaging and glass in the Country. Discreet, disinclined to comment on strategic actions or results, it comes up with a rare achievement: It has a product larger than the company itself. The American glass, the glass used to drink coffee in cafes or beer in pubs, 63 years old, has become a reference of style and behavior. The simple glass has just become part of an exhibition at MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and it is already object of work of designers and stylists around the world. Now, Nadir Figueiredo realized that it can gain from that.
For the first time in almost 100 years of history in Brazil, the company designs a marketing plan to expose more the product and make consumers associate the image of the company to the American glass, which sells over 100 million units per year in the world. "This year we're spending in the actions with the American glass the double of the investment in marketing we made last year. This is the biggest project of the company this year", said Paulo Barros, marketing manager at Nadir. He says that the company was noticing that the relationship between the glass and consumers had gone to another level in recent years, "more emotional and nostalgic".
One moment in particular helped in this identification. Last year, a group of directors of the company was sought in an international fair by the direction of MoMA. "They were going to have an exhibition of Brazilian products and designers and wanted lots of the American glass. It surprised us. We had never expected it", says Barros. "We sell everything at US$ 3 a unit. Here it costs R$ 0.90".
From the R$ 400 million (US$ 222 million) sold by Nadir per year, it is estimated that 25% are from the sale of American glasses - a figure that the company prefers not to comment. 420 units are produced per minute. In recent years, the glass began to be seen as a "cult" object, but the new generations do not relate the product with Nadir. For that reason, the new lots of the glass produced this year by Nadir are printed at the bottom with the letter N, maximum symbol of the company. This occurs for the first time since its launching in 1947 by Nadir Figueiredo, the founder of the company. And it is not only that.