Traditional brands set to grow during Covid-19

Have you got the OXO habit?

It looks like traditional brands such as Bisto, OXO and Colemans are set to see a resurgence as locked up shoppers search for something familiar in these unsettled times.

This is a huge change in shopping habits as the trend over the last few years has been away from old fashioned household names in favour of new, independent brands. Craft beer anyone? Not anymore it would seem.

But why is this?

Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever says “Crises always bring people back to the big brands. Brands are a mark of trust, so whenever people are feeling anxious, or there’s a need for security, we always see big brands doing well”.

The move to online shopping is likely to encourage consumers to stick with products they trust.

John Noble, a director at British Brands Group and industry trade body says “This applies more so when they are shopping online, where you don’t have the same opportunity to scrutinise as you do in-store.”

This is bad news for those more specialist small food producers. According to The Grocer Magazine, 37% of small food businesses in the UK have reported lower retail sales, while 15% said delistings were imminent.

In contrast, big brands are expected to increase market share from 52% last year to 53.3% this year, according to data from Euromoniter.

So consumers are expected to return to brands such as Colemans’s Mustard, OXO and Guinness, which have survived events as diverse as wars, the Spanish Flu of 1918 and the Cuban Missile Crisis intact.

Another major factor in the endurance of these brands is the fact that they continue to advertise during recessions. According to a Kantar/BrandZ analysis of brands following the 2008 economic crisis, strong brands recover NINE TIMES faster than the S&P 500 standard.

“It’s like musical chairs,” says Mark Ritson, a former professor of marketing at London Business School. “The ones who keep their marketing budget as normal get a huge boost in their market share, which they maintain after a recession”

However, he goes on to say,

“In most modern recessions, it’s private label that is the proven champion. Big brands are going to do well out of this, but they are also worried as their biggest competitor now is not each other – its private label.”

I wonder if we will see the patterns of the past repeated, or whether we will shop local this time, and also retain our loyalty to the smaller brands we have moved towards in recent times?

Time will tell.

Inspiration taken from Sunday Times and Kantar/BrandZ analysis.