Defending Against Private Label

This report, which covers examples from the food, alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic beverages, personal care, and household products sectors, looks at the ways in which brands can and do hold off the threat from private label. There are lessons to be learned from global brands including the creation of value and premium tiers, as well as analysis of new product claims and smart marketing techniques.

• Analysis of new product launches – spot trends in NPD and learn from great examples of products that have tackled the problems you might be facing.
• Best practices – understand how companies such as P&G have responded to the private label threat so you can apply those approaches.
• Checklist of strategies – rate your brand performance on issues such as dual branding, use of proprietary technology, and launching limited editions.
• Assess how far private label has penetrated CPG sectors in North America and Western Europe and judge whether your market is ahead or behind.
• Consumer data results – see how consumer sentiment about brands differs in your sector compared to others.

Value tiers have enabled brands to appeal to new consumers that they were not reaching before. They preserve brand equity better than price promotion. In some cases, they have also provided the opportunity to boost sales of premium tiers without brands losing their combined market share.

Brands are adding benefits to their products: over the last two years, the biggest difference between new branded products and private labels has been that the former are much more likely to be "natural" and/or organic. In personal care and household products brands are much more likely to make claims about their "long-lasting" nature.

Dual branding – adding one brand as a component to another – allows manufacturers to create a unique product that simply cannot be replicated by private label. Although this strategy can be tracked back to 1999, there has been a marked upswing since P&G began doing it from the mid-2000s.

• How have "conflicted consumers" changed the shape of the consumer packaged goods industry, and what opportunity does this open up for you?
• What opportunities exist beyond the regular supermarket and drugstore channels?
• How has P&G developed the value tier and dual branding strategies for combating private label?
• Since the start of the recession, what strategies have some brands adopted to lower the price points of their products to more affordable levels?
• Which CPG manufacturers have been the most successful at building global billion dollar brands? How many does each one have?

Table of contents

About the author
Disclaimer

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Value and premium tiers
Groundbreaking innovation
Smart marketing
Conclusions
Introduction
Summary
Private label overview
Future trends
Value and premium tiers
Summary
Value tier extensions
Premium tier extensions
Small indulgences
Groundbreaking innovation
Summary
Innovation trends
Proprietary technology
Added benefits
Smart marketing
Summary
Building brand equity
Learning from global brands
Developing platforms
Micro-targeting consumer segments
Dual branding
Cross-category marketing
Limited editions
Shelf standout
Selling direct
Conclusions
Summary
How brands can defend themselves
Appendix
References
Bibliography
Sources for Table 1

TABLES
Table: Number of $1bn brands by company

FIGURES
Figure: Penetration of private label by CPG sector
Figure: Strength of brands by CPG sector measured by consumer attitudes
Figure: Examples of P&G's value tier launches
Figure: Diageo's value tier products
Figure: Unilever's Making Life Better website
Figure: Nestlé's Nesfluid range
Figure: Kraft's Philadelphia chocolate spread range
Figure: Share of new product launches that are limited editions
Figure: Examples of new products with shelf standout

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