What do Cinco de Mayo, Susan Boyle and President Obama’s first 100 days have to do with private label?

It’s Cinco de Mayo as I’m writing this, and I am musing on the importance of multiple annual events and celebrations of products in our stores. There are so many reasons to be planning private label events throughout the year that it’s time we take another good look at what we’re doing.

Many of us think in terms of one big annual event, like we do with a birthday. But that’s not the way to think about the major potential upside for ongoing, 24/7 events that focus on our store brand programs.

So what’s Susan Boyle got to do with it? Endless reality shows remind us of everyone’s chance at 15 minutes of fame. Boyle is the "Britain’s Got Talent" show’s latest YouTube sensation — and the “you’ve got to be kidding me” lady karaoke singer from the UK tells us there is hidden talent (I use the word loosely) everywhere. We only have to look for it. So my message this month is: Make the annual event a monthly event and look for the hidden talent everywhere in the store. Find the “star products” in your private label programs and get them center stage.

As I travel the world, I see new and innovative marketing pushes either raising or lowering the bar on private label in comparison to the national brands. Whether it’s the “Big W” revamping Great Value or Carrefour launching a new fourth tier of discount low price products, the message is constant and inescapable. Continued pressure by savvy private label operators makes the store brand choice an “in-your-face” offering the cash-strapped shopper will find harder to resist.

Couple that lower-end activity with the ongoing launch of destination and star products, and you will have a winner. But don’t leave the wannabe karaoke stars singing in back street bars. Celebrate them with all you’ve got. Week in and week out. Re-think and re-tool your private label promotional calendar as if there is no tomorrow.

Which brings me to the first 100 days of President Obama’s administration. Take 100 days. Establish a 100-Day Task Force. Review your private label promotional activity over a specific timeframe. Look at the plans for the next 12 months and take action that will pass muster under the strongest of audits. Think about the shelves, the fridges and the produce bins. What message will your store brands carry, and how does that message get translated into the shopping basket?

Will it be like a Cinco de Mayo event we recall as a one-day wonder? Or will it be like the best relationships that carry on day in and day out for years?