July 6th 2011 - New brands by retailers
Tesco have set out to build brands. Today, PR, celebrities and 'experts' are much more influential than they used to be. Together with the immediacy of the activities of the twittering classes, old-fashioned brand building through national, broad scale, TV campaigns may not be necessary anymore to build great brands when retailers have the distribution muscle and shelf space. Other retailers may have equally good opportunities; Boots have shown the way over tens of years, so much so that consumers don't think of No 7 and Soltan as own label brands, just good trusted brands in their own right. That's not to say it's easy or straightforward for a retailer to build the capability and expertise for itself and within its suppliers that will get successful innovation, but it's certainly possible. Look out for some more unexpected sources of new brands coming your way soon!