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“We’re right on track.”

Despite almost three years of the pandemic and almost three years of managing an unforeseeable crisis, everything at Faber-Castell is pointing towards continual growth. In this interview, CEO Stefan Leitz takes stock of the company’s new corporate strategy, which is already showing initial success and looks set to continue on this course.

Mr Leitz, the last three years at Faber-Castell have been strongly influenced by the global pandemic. Now things are looking towards the future. What are you planning?

That’s true, Corona dramatically accelerated existing trends in every sense – such as the way consumers shop, the way they behave, and what is really important to them. The pandemic has changed us, too: we are now collaborating more globally, which best utilises the know-how within the company. This is the basis from which we move into the future. We have used the time to set our strategic course – and we are back on a path of growth.

What does this path of growth mean for now and the immediate future in concrete terms?

In the 2022/23 financial year, we generated the second-highest turnover in the company's history. Markets are generally recovering with the end of the Covid-19 restrictions, so we’ve seen a strong increase in turnover. Assuming exchange rates are stable, this marks a currency-adjusted increase of 19.9%. Our Writing & Drawing, and Cosmetics business contributed equally to this growth. The Latin American and Asia/Pacific regions, in particular, were markered drivers of that growth.

Now we can see that our new global corporate strategy is working very well, despite a taut situation in the procurement market and a decrease in consumer purchasing power. We’re expecting this path of growth to continue this year, even with the challenge of rising costs. We have set ourselves ambitious goals: In the next five years, we want to grow faster than the market and further expand our position as market leaders in many areas. At the same time, we want to see a continual steady increase in our profitability.

“Our roots are the people and our sense of responsibility, and this also supports sustainability. The tree trunk is our brand. The tree’s nutrient system is our supply chain, the branches and twigs are our sales channels and markets, and the fresh green shoots of the tree represent New Business.”


Stefan Leitz, CEO

Those are ambitious goals. How are you going to achieve them?

We have the enormous advantage that there is a worldwide awareness of our brand, and we have a global brand presence. We will make the most of the global synergies within the group and tap into new potential. These are important building blocks in our global company strategy.

This strategy is a comprehensive program for growth. What is that all about?

Our strategy, ‘ONE Faber-Castell – creating a colorful future’, is the starting signal with which we embark into the next five years. This is based on seven strategic pillars. We developed this global strategy with experts in all areas of our company from all the continents in which we operate – from Faber Castell for Faber Castell, so to speak. That’s our new style.


What does that mean – a “new style”?

The pandemic was a catalyst for international cooperation. We brought together 80 people from within the global Farber-Castell group to define and develop fields and mechanisms of implementation. Each of these people is an expert in their field and can contribute accordingly. This international collaboration really illustrates the cultural transformation process that began in the pandemic, which continues moving forward: I want all Faber-Castell personnel to see themselves as an important part of this development and to contribute personally to our success. This is what we mean by “We are One Faber-Castell”.

And what exactly are these seven strategic building blocks?

These are our pillars of success; People & Culture, Sustainability, Sales & Channels, Brand & Innovation, Internal Digitalization, Global Supply Chain and New Business. This is where our potential lies. As I mentioned at the beginning, being a globally active company gives us numerous advantages over the competition. We will combine regional forces to tap new potential in focus markets in Asia and Latin America, for example, to harmonise and better market our product ranges. We will use our combined international knowledge to bring innovations and services to market more quickly and better utilise our production capacities. A fundamental part of all strategic fields with be consumer orientation: in the future, we will be asking ourselves: “What does the customer really want?” rather than simply focusing on what we can sell them.



Which building blocks do you see as being most important?

The strategic areas are interconnected. In communicating with our employees, we illustrated the strategic areas with the symbol of a tree: Our roots are the People & Culture, Internal Digitalization and the responsibility we carry to ensure Sustainability. The trunk of the tree is our Brand. The capillary system that brings nutrients around the tree is our Supply Chain, and the branches are our Sales & Channels. The new fresh shoots represent New Business.

This is why I prefer to speak about priorities in terms of timing rather than prioritising one building block over another. Our focus on People & Culture has already started. This is where our company culture is undergoing a guided development while we simultaneously establish regional structures and key competencies such as marketing and sales. Each year, we’ll measure our attained goals and lean in where required.

An important part of increasing our productivity is addressed by the Internal Digitalization that we’re working on right now. There are also the digital lighthouse projects that will enable us to gain significant market advantages in product development, sales planning and in improving our global processes. This is where the final goals are set for the 2025/26 financial year.



Do your strategic guidelines also apply to areas like Faber-Castell Cosmetics, which is quite a different business?

Of course, our Cosmetics business is a part of ONE Faber-Castell. In the area of People & Culture, we are aiming for identical approaches such as feedback and performance culture. We’re also looking into synergies between Writing & Drawing and Cosmetics – whereby all of our company parts have a role to play in our sustainability goals. At the same time, we take certain differences in the cosmetics business and between countries into account. Faber-Castell Cosmetics has incorporated these elements into its cosmetics strategy, which is similarly based on our global corporate strategy.



Which markets are you targeting?

Just like all successful international companies, we have to have a consolidated home market. In our German home market, this is working really well, and in Europe generally, we are doing well and should see further growth. Latin America is the largest region for our group and is extremely important. We see the most potential for growth in Asia, in particular the highly populated countries like China and India. This is where we are putting considerable focus. We have to find new ways to open up different markets and channels. This is supported by the optimisation of our global product range and the acceleration of our innovation processes. We have to grow more strongly in modern trade, as well as in e-commerce. Tailwinds here will be coming from our global leadership in sustainability.


Sustainability is another one of these terms …

… that is a decisive one for Faber-Castell: as a reason for our products, as proof of our strength in innovation, as a magnet for future employees. We have a long tradition of innovation, not only in sustainability in terms of the natural environment but also in social sustainability. That tradition goes back hundreds of years in our company. A good example is the primary school founded by Faber-Castell in 1874 in the German town of Geroldsgruen, which also housed a school for further education. Lothar von Faber completely financed the school and provided the 200 attending students with learning materials free of charge. Or, even earlier in 1844, when Lothar von Faber created a health insurance fund for his employees, which was the first in the Nurnberg district, the first in the state of Bavaria and one of the oldest in Germany. This was around forty years before health insurance for workers was made compulsory by the German government under the first Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. Faber-Castell’s health insurance fund, the BKK, which is still strong today, became a best practice example for other companies and institutions. So, Lothar von Faber was a real trailblazer in this sense too. A tradition like this comes with a great sense of responsibility . I’m very proud to work for such a forward-thinking and sustainable company.

Back to environmental sustainability – has the company already reached all targets?

Definitely not yet, but we’re on an excellent path. We’re also gathering force on this front. The way we source wood and conduct sustainable forestry, for example. The thousands of hectares of regenerative forestry plantations in Brazil really provide us with a competitive edge in this regard. There is more to do in terms of creating a completely circular economy. This must be the goal of all production industries, and that, of course, includes Faber-Castell.

We are putting ongoing focus on the analysis and development of recycled plastic. The challenge here is the (in)consistent quality of recycling raw materials, which is limited and subject to enormous price fluctuations . Even so, we’ve still been able to make considerable progress in that a number of our text markers, such as the Textliner Pastell, as well as particular hobby artists’ products, such as the Goldfaber Aqua Dual Marker, are now primarily made from recycled plastics.

“Sustainability is absolutely decisive for Faber-Castell for all of our products. Our well-established and constantly improving focus on sustainability proves our innovation power and functions as a magnet for future generations of employees. We have a very long tradition of innovation, and I don’t only mean environmental sustainability. It’s also about social sustainability.”


Stefan Leitz, CEO

And what about other areas, such as energy, emissions and packaging?

We’re doing really well in these areas, but we’re not about to rest on our laurels. The portion of renewable energy we use globally at our production locations is already at 87 per cent and rising. We’ve managed this through the amount of energy we produce ourselves, using solar energy with photovoltaic installations, energy from wood waste products and hydroelectric energy, but also through purchasing renewable energy that’s externally produced.

Our FSC-certified forestry operations in Brazil make an important contribution to the local environment and biodiversity. We will increasingly focus on unique selling points, such as regenerative forestry and biodiversity. We communicate our successes and goals to our stakeholders, for example, in our global awareness campaign “Change needs creativity”.

And yes, we are completely rethinking our packaging. A lot is changing in this sense, such as completely changing our packaging systems in Peru from plastic to cardboard and paper. The new, more sustainable packaging has been met with very positive resonance from our customers. This example will inform our approach to all of our markets.


It sounds like the company is coming out of the pandemic with greater strength and resilience and is heading towards even greater success in the future…

Yes, well, we have certainly taken the first very decisive steps. We’ve also made great progress with new approaches to brand awareness. We’re investing much more in social media than we did before Corona, not only on Facebook but also on Instagram, LinkedIn or YouTube. We were the first brand in the industry to use TikTok with fairly sensational results: in a very short time, we were able to gain 150,000 followers and garner up to six million views for some of our videos. We were rated in the top ten most innovative and sustainable family businesses worldwide by the German finance magazine WirschaftsWoche and the public opinion research institute Innofact, who placed us eighth out of 100 companies, showing just how much trust the Faber-Castell brand evokes in consumers. It seems we are like a trusted anchor in times of great insecurity and volatility. This is where we are stoking the fire with our program of growth, with ideas, with innovation. I’m confident that we’ll achieve the high goals we have set for ourselves. That is, and remains, our declared goal worldwide: Unleash your creativity! We’re inspiring more and more people to be creative!