A Call for Own Brand Marketing
My husband and I were braving the local mall in December, in search of Christmas presents for our kids, when a super-enthusiastic older woman stepped in front of us and literally begged me to participate in a survey. She promised me cold, hard cash in return ($5.00!).
Although I usually do anything I can to avoid mall survey-takers (change direction, hide behind a post, etc.), this one still managed to corner me. And I actually ended up feeling sorry for her, after she described a day jam-packed with rejection. So I agreed to take the silly survey — without actually knowing, of course, the nature of the study.
As it turned out, believe it or not, this particular survey required me to choose between specific national brand products and a store brand alternative. Although the private label items presented were all from one retailer (bearing a name matching the stores’), the researcher referred to them broadly as “store brands.” In other words, my option was either a big brand product or any old store brand.
This little scenario reminded me of the ubiquitous taste tests that put a national brand product up against “store brands,” but rely on only one store brand to draw a general conclusion. Market researchers, the mainstream media and many consumers still are not seeing the true picture — that store brand products can differ from one another just as dramatically as national brand A can differ from national brand B.
With U.S. private label penetration an all-time high, retailers need to make this the year of own brand marketing. It makes no difference whether a product bears the store’s actual name or boasts a more creative moniker. By positioning private label products as uniquely yours, not just smart-priced alternatives to the big brands or “generic” offerings similar to what’s offered by the store down the street, you can help change the store brand mentality all around.
Then maybe we’ll see a true taste test that pits, say, DiGiorno pepperoni pizza against Supervalu’s Culinary Circle, Henry’s Farmers Market’s Sun Harvest and The Fresh Market’s self-named pepperoni offerings in this space.After all, they all are brands. The distinction between national brands and store brands is simply a matter of brand ownership.
