Private Label Brands On The Rise

According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association private label brands control nearly 21% of the market (units). Additionally, the goal of many retailers is to raise that to 25-30% and possible more.

Retailers are attempting to differentiate themselves from their competitors, just as brands compete, by limiting the overlap of SKUS on shelf. By gaining exclusive rights to products and brands, in addition to the growing number of private labels on shelf, retailers are able to give the consumer a unique choice of product offering. Granted, exclusive deals draw customers to the stores based on the brand recognition, but additionally, the unique products and offering helps position the retailer in the mind of the consumer. If Kohl's and Macy's carry the same product, the consumer would begin to have problems separating the two, but when Macy's starts carrying brands or products exclusively, these products help the customer see Macy's as different from Kohl's.

This trend towards private label may eventually lead to a growing separation between high price point and low price point products. Possible leading to two price points on shelf; a private label brand and a nationally recognized brand.

*Read more stats on private label brands.

It's Good To Be King

Licensing has become more prevalent and accepted as a means for corporate brands to extend their brands into new categories. As these same companies continue to dish out marketing campaigns with figure heads and characters that become icons of their time, additional licensing opportunities become available. These opportunities help strengthen the marketing campaign and actual help recoup, at least some of, the cost of the marketing campaign.

Marketing campaigns have generated uniformly recognizable icons that consumers, brand champions and average consumers, recognize and relate to. These icons, such as the Burger King’s "King" character, have gone on to create licensing opportunities that drive products in front of consumers. Spawning everything from Halloween masks to boxers and underwear, the licensed products carrying the “King” character will garner consumer participation and interaction with the brand and the marketing efforts. (Making a splash recently, was Geico Insurance's Caveman campaign that has spawned a 30-minute TV pilot being produced and aired by ABC.) Additionally, the Burger King “King” character had its own MySpace page with over 100,000 “friends.” Not bad primary user interaction that strengthens consumer’s relationship with the brand and furthermore adds those primary “friends” as brand champions and advocates - a very desirable form of marketing.

Though not a method for creating a marketing campaign, both brand owners and advertising agencies should look for additional opportunities that consumers can interact with the brand and the marketing campaign.