Erdal - a name is born

The company's success story

In the beginning there was shoe polish

Today, the Mainz company can look back on 132 years of success and has developed from a small wax chandler to a state-of-the-art company: In 1867 , Werner & Mertz started business quite modestly.

Christoph and Georg Werner - descendants of a Mainz bell ringer and wax chandler - laid the foundation for success on 23 October 1867.On that date, the two young entrepreneurs registered a company at the Mainz Local Court for the production of wax tapers and candles under the name "Brüder Werner". After the merchant Georg Mertz joined the company in 1878 they changed the company name to Werner & Mertz - a name that is still used today.

20 years later, in 1887, Adam Schneider took over the management of Werner & Mertz. Due to his extensive experience in the production of waxes and oils he managed to develop a ground-breaking new product for the company: a completely new kind of shoe polish in a metal can.

Contrary to the then common "Perleberger Wichse" - also called "spitting polish" - this new shoe polish by Werner & Mertz did not dissolve in rain and thus actually provided rain protection and contained nourishing ingredients, such as turpentine oil.

The development of this weather-proof, nurturing and shining shoe polish provided the company and its some 50 employees with new sales and growth opportunities. This was the beginning of the production of brand products in large quantities.

The location of the new production facility at Erthalstraße - named after the prince-elector of Erthal - was pronounced "Ärdaal" in the dialect spoken in Mainz and served as inspiration for the name of the new product.

In 1901, the product name ”Erdal“ was registered for the new shoe polish. Shortly after that, the word mark was complemented by the figurative mark:

The frog king

Development of the trademark

At that time it was common to combine word marks with an impressive figurative mark. The well-known and popular fairy-tale figure of the frog king was chosen - which later proved to be a good choice. The following considerations were taken into account in the selection of this figure:

• Shoes "look" at the world, so to speak, from the frog’s perspective and the novel shoe polish provided water protection, just like the frog’s skin does.

• People liked to adorn themselves with aristocratic attributes in any form. Thus, one of the first Erdal cans contained both the 'royal frog' as well as the remark: also in private use at royal courts.

In 1903, a realistic green frog decorated the can. And it might have remained green, if the company had not been forced to deliver alternative products for lack of the appropriate raw material during the First World War. When the company was again able to deliver its products in the traditional quality, the product with the green frog was deemed discredited. For this reason, in 1918 the company decided to replace the green frog with a red one and added a note on the can of the new good oil product: "Quality like before August 1914." Thus, the actual development of the Erdal shoe polish brand really started with the red frog.

No other brand product became so well-known for its figurative mark and name as Erdal did. Between the two wars the product - which was called both red frog and Erdal - sold like hot cakes.

Until 1961, the frog on Germany’s top-selling shoe polish looked quite grumpy. This was only changed after a management change. The frog was intended to reflect the optimistic attitude of the company towards the future. The result was that the realistic frog now laughed!

In the new era of consumerism, the economic miracle of the sixties, many changes took place that also influenced figurative marks: Thus, the frog and its word mark were modernized. The specifications to the company designer for the new logo in terms of appearance and significance included the following points:

• striking

• stylized

• demonstrating optimism

• striving forward

• scalable (the fine lines of the old frog were indistinct)

• monochrome

Thus, the new symbol was created with precision and attention to detail. Especially the frog’s 'beveled bottom' should be mentioned in this context. Without this bevel the frog sits motionless, but this tiny detail lends movement to the figure.

Since 1971, this newly designed logo has been a major design feature for all Erdal products and acts as a guarantor for 'brand quality by the frog'.

A major marketing campaign, a consistent brand presence and nationwide distribution made Erdal the top-selling shoe polish in Germany in 1921.