This is the first of a series of blogs about supermarket branding battles from Two IP trade mark attorney, Rachel Havard.
We, as consumers, want our weekly shop to still include quality products, but at an affordable price. We need those pennies in our wallets to stretch that little bit further.
Major players in the supermarket sector are jockeying for position, pursuing that all important competitive edge, so that we spend with them rather than elsewhere.
Whatever a business’ fame or fortune these days, continued survival is not a given – we have only to look at our local high street to see it – and those still in the game are trying everything they can, including imitation, mimicry and probing the boundaries of others’ intellectual property rights for limitations.
Historically, supermarkets have placed their own brand equivalent products next to the leading brands on the shelves. It might have been the case many years ago that customers believed the leading brand to manufacture the supermarket’s own version. So much so that Kelloggs once ran a marketing campaign stressing that they “don’t make cereals anyone else”.
Supermarkets are now finding their biggest competitors to be so-called discounters, such as Aldi and Lidl, both of whom imitate the appearance of leading brands as closely as they can.
Today’s savvy consumer knows exactly what they want and where to get it. If they feel they cannot justify paying for the leading brand, they will look for what they believe will be the next best thing, and the degree of similarity in brand elements of respective products will play a big part in the choices they make.
Join us next time for our blog about “Copycat products and brand lookalikes”.
If you have brands you need to protect, or want to bolster the protection you do have, our experienced trade mark attorneys are here to help. Get in touch here or email hello@two-ip.com
