Co-op rebranding

Ever since own label was invented, it’s created a tension between supermarkets and their branded suppliers. Brands provide a useful foil for value-based own-label positioning, as well as being the unspoken tier around which many own-label ranges are developed.

With the 2008 recession this tension was unquestionably heightened. Supermarkets have been at great pains to point out that own-label products are cheaper or better (or both) - through ads, vouchers, receipts and displays.

However, no-one has exploited this creative tension more than Aldi, with its seminal Like Brands campaign from 2013. So it’s been interesting to see Procter & Gamble turning the tables on Aldi, fighting like with like, as it were. In what is surely an unprecedented move for a brand owner, its new TV commercial for Pampers compares the nappy’s performance specifically against the discounter’s Mamia own-brand range, claiming that it’s two times drier. Courage, mon brave.

Now own label is at the heart of a fascinating new direction set by the Co-op in its membership relaunch. It’s promising that for every £1 a member spends on own-label food and drink, the Co-op will return 5p to members (via their loyalty card) and donate a further penny to a selection of charities.

This move is about the Co-op reconnecting with its core values as a mutual, sharing in the spoils of its own success, while giving back to the community it serves.

But using its (inherently more profitable) own-label range is clever on a number of levels. It enables the loyalty scheme to look much more generous than the likes of Clubcard and Nectar, and can create a virtuous circle in which own-label sales grow (at the expense of brands) to simultaneously boost its profits.

The final piece of the jigsaw for the Co-op will be the quality of the own-label range itself. Over recent years it’s put a huge effort into improving its range, with its new food-to-go range currently shortlisted for a Grocer Gold, for example. While its new membership offer will encourage trial, own brand needs to exceed expectations if members are to keep coming back.

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