December 2002 - Nr. 13
Pustefix - A Bubble Economy That’s Here to Stay
TWIG - Anyone who’s tried can tell you: it’s nearly impossible to make money selling bubbles. Turn a profit on soapy water that kids could easily make at home? But a German family-owned company has been doing just that - and delighting generations in the process, as the Handelsblatt reports.
Dr. Rolf Hein Nachfolger KG is the long name of a small company in Tübingen (Baden-Württemberg) that is best known by the brand name of its sole product: Pustefix soap bubbles. Pustefix got its start after World War II, when the company’s namesake, Rolf Hein, a chemist and entrepreneur, experimented with soap-bubble mixtures until he hit upon the perfect solution. That blend, still used today, is non-toxic, bio-degradable and cheap to manufacture - and results in gorgeous streams of shimmering, long-lasting bubbles.
But in postwar Germany, where cities lay in ruin, food was scarce and everyone was hard at work to rebuild the country, there wasn’t much call or spare cash for the fleeting and frivolous pleasure of bubbles. "It took quite a bit of courage to bring a product to market that no one really needed in the postwar period," admits the founder’s grandson, Frank Hein, who runs to company today.
Rolf Hein was undaunted. At first, he bartered his product for food from local farmers. With the introduction of the deutsche mark and the start of the German "economic miracle," Hein felt the time was right to start making his bubbles for profit. In the early 1950s, he started selling the bubble solution in small aluminum tubes with a cork top and a wire-filament loop. But leaky corks and corroding metal limited the shelf-life and shipping possibilities of the popular product. In 1960, Hein switched to small plastic containers and bubble loops. The blue tubes, printed with the Pustefix logo and signature yellow teddy bear, have been a fixture of German childhood ever since.
Today, the company exports its bubbles all over Europe and the world. Its leading markets include the U.S., Russia, Japan and Korea. With sales of more than 3 million euros a year, it may come as a surprise that the modest company employs a staff of just 25 people. They produce the soluble base, print the plastic tubes and containers, fill them and ready them for shipping. All the plastic parts are made by suppliers based in Germany as well as eastern Europe and Asia.
Frank Hein, 40, admits, "We have to be imaginative to get by." Recent product diversification was his idea, and it seems to be paying off. Twenty years ago, Pustefix tubes made up 90% of the company’s sales; today they represent less than 40%. Picking up the slack are higher-priced, higher-margin innovations like bubble pipes, wands and animal-shaped solution containers. Hein has also set his sights on expanding the market for his products. Currently, 40%-50% of sales are made abroad. Although the bubble market is small, there are several competitors, especially in Spain, Italy and Asia. But Frank Hein doesn’t seem worried: "We are the soap bubble specialists. We have the expertise for the right solution; our competitors just want to sell toys."
Pustefix operates profitably, according to company figures. Hein can only guess at the exact value of its most precious asset - brand recognition - since a marketing survey would exceed his budget. But Hein is convinced that nearly every child recognizes his product. "Pustefix means soap bubbles. Why else do consumers always send us complaints about other products?"
