Private Label Winning Battle of Brands†

Marketers Face Moment of Truth As Retailers' Lines Soar to Historic Sales High

Advertising Age, February 23, 2009 — BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) Package-goods brands face their greatest crisis and strongest threat from private label since at least the early 1990s. And that's the good news. The bad news is that this time could be a lot worse — more like the U.K. or Canada in the 1970s than the U.S. in the 1990s, according to some industry watchers. They predict a structural slowdown in consumer spending that could last four to 10 years, which, combined with increasingly marketing-savvy and aggressive retailers, could conspire to push private-label shares to a dizzying high — as much as six times the roughly one-point gain already seen since the recession began in December 2007.

Brand-Name Food Makers Woo Retailers With Displays†

Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2009 — Seeking to combat stiffer competition from cheaper store brands, big-name food manufacturers, including Kraft Foods Inc. and General Mills Inc., are joining forces with retailers to promote their brands alongside private-label goods

Kraft Unveils New Brand Identity†

Adweek, February 18, 2009 — Kraft Foods today unveiled a new corporate logo and brand identity, a move analysts say could better position the food company against private label goods.

Premium brands face value plight†

Financial Times, February 5, 2009 — For the biggest makers of consumer goods, the past decade has been dominated by “must-have” brands . Owners of recognisable products such as Dove shampoo (Unilever) and Gillette razors (Procter & Gamble) can charge premium prices. Shoppers in the boom years have been happy to spend more on toothpaste that helps whiten teeth or dishwashing tablets that add sparkle to wine glasses.

At the Supermarket Checkout, Frugality Trumps Brand Loyalty†

Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2008 — When Summer Mills visited her local CVS drugstore recently, to save a few dollars she bought the store-brand facial scrub rather than the Olay version she normally uses.

"I thought I'd be able to tell the difference, but I couldn't — I looked at the ingredients and they seemed almost the same," says 30-year-old Ms. Mills, a stay-at-home mother of two in Ardmore, Okla. On her next shopping trip, "I'm going to buy the store-brand moisturizer and cleanser — it's less money."

Many Americans are changing their everyday purchases and abandoning brand loyalty, prompted by the persistent financial pressure of rising food, gasoline and electricity prices. Over the past 24 months, consumer prices have risen 7.8% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor... continue reading

Resolved to Keep on Marketing, Even in Tight-Fisted Times

New York Times, October 20, 2008 — Attendees of a big annual conference for marketers, held here last week, could have been forgiven for believing they had stumbled into a symposium for scholars of American history in the 1930s.

These are some of the words and phrases heard during the conference, the 98th annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers: “financial crisis,” “scary,” “foreclosure,” “economic crisis,” “difficult times,” “the chaotic financial markets,” “devastating,” “under siege” and “unprecedented.”

Whether the members of the association — 400 companies that together spend an estimated $100 billion a year on advertising and other forms of marketing — are willing to stick to the spending plans they made “before the globe... continue reading

Why Some Brands Cheer a Sour Economy†

Brandweek, October 12, 2008 — It is a good time to be McCormick spices. While not the sexiest of brands, "The taste you trust" is positioned extremely well for an economy that looks to be in a recession.

While many companies are suffering at the hands of one of the worst economic downfalls in the history of the country, others are quietly prospering.

"If you're a brand you eat, drink, smoke or wash yourself with, you're going to be OK," said Marc Babej, partner at the strategy firm Reason, New York.

"During tough times we typically point to certain categories/sectors," said William Madway, marketing professor at the Villanova School of Business. . . . [Still], every brand has the potential to be successful if they adapt to the economic realities."

The Newest Brands? Open for Business

Retailers Have Switched Gears, Marketing Their Stores and Labels and Strengthening Bonds With Shoppers

CMO Strategy by AdAge, August 25, 2008 — Many marketers are rapidly becoming more concerned with how retailers think. They want to know their concerns, objectives, equities and images and how they go about creating bonds with shoppers. That's because today's retailers are evolving far beyond their historical role as simple points of distribution for selling national brands.

Upwardly Mobile Stationery

It's a brutal market, so why does Staples think it's a good time to go upscale with office supplies?

BusinessWeek, March 6, 2008 — On one side of the Staples in Needham, Mass is the office supply chain's past. Plain manila folders, stacked in generic blue boxes, are $6.29 for 100. Six aisles away, on the other side of the store, lies what Staples (SPLS) hopes is its future: A dozen file folders, made of thicker stock and decorated with black-and-yellow stripes, are displayed on a faux mahogany table, like sweaters at J. Crew (JCG). They don't have price tags. Instead, a discreet sign on the table reads $6.99 for a dozen.

Staples is trying to take mundane office supplies upscale. Inspired by high-end stationery chains such as Crane & Co. and Papyrus, a new private-label brand, dubbed "M by Staples," features spiffy leather journals, several lines of stationery, business card... continue reading

Private Label Is Growing But When Will It Take Off?

MediaPost Publications, November 13, 2007 — PRIVATE LABEL IS GROWING, BUT how fast? In-house brands like Safeway's "O Organics" and Target's "Archer Farms," are retailer extensions competing with traditional consumer packaged goods brands. Private-label products are a big part of the European market, and have made inroads in the U.S. in recent years.