Remember when I talked about my friend Sterling in my nacho post? Well, he has graciously written a blog post for Pineapple Lily! I hope you enjoy this great {and highly entertaining} story about Private Label {generic} brands. I know it totally solidifies my love of the Whole Foods 365 label. Ps...if you are in advertising or enjoy that sort of thing you will love this post.
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Hi. I’m Sterling. I’m a friend of Melissa’s brother (and
subsequently Melissa, of course). I’m an advertising guy in Dallas. You might
best know me as the inspiration for Pineapple Lily’s most recent piece of
literature regarding nachos. You’re welcome, bloggers.
Why am I here? Good question. After consuming a bit too much
adult beverage at Melissa’s brother’s wedding a couple of weekends ago, a
couple of the guys in the wedding party started vying for Melissa’s attention
and favor (suck it, John Seikel). I spouted off that I would write a guest blog
for her site if she would, in return, write about something that would interest
me more than makeup tips, concealer or messy hair buns. Hence the nacho post
from this week.
So then I had to figure out what the heck I could write
about that would interest Pineapple Lily’s loyal fan base. I wasn’t able to
come up with any good subject, so I thought I’d write about a topic that I’m
involved with professionally – Private Label Brands, or Generic Brands.
I threw out a couple of other topics, but Melissa reminded
me that it wasn’t THAT kind of blog.
Anyway, when I was a kid, I had convince myself we were
rich. Despite clear declarations from my parents that we were NOT rich, I was
sure we were. We weren’t poor, by any means. But my dad was a teacher, and my
mother was a stay at home mom with two kids. I can now see how that math worked
out.
Being the rich kid that I thought I was, I was always
horrified when shopping in the grocery store with my mother. She, in an effort
to save money where we could, always seemed to make a beeline for the Generic
Aisle. In those days, the “generic foods” were very simple black and white
labeled cans, with type that indicated what the product was.
Whenever my mother would shop this aisle, I’d run away and
just go stand in the candy aisle. If any of my friends passed by, I would just
stand there and look like I was being selective as to the cartload of candy my
rich parents were sure to buy me. (This never happened). When my mother would
check out at the register, I could just see the judgement in the cashiers’
eyes. Look at what those poor people are buying!
When friends came over to our house to hang out or spend the
night, I gasped when my mother would entertain us with things like:
My cereal generally came in clear 2-pound bags, or was the
knock-off of the brand that I wanted.
Where’s Toucan Sam, I would ask. And who the hell is this
weird lady with fruit on her head? What does she know about cereal? How is she
supposed to follow her nose? I can barely see her nose.
As you can see, these Private Label or Generic brands
wrecked havoc on my life. I swore to myself that when I left home (either that
month, or years later), I would never buy those types of products ever again.
Cut to my first job in advertising. I was in Dallas, and
working on Mrs Baird’s Bread, Imperial Sugar and McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce. Ahhh …
pure brand bliss.
One day, my boss assigned me a project called “Private Label
Business.” I was confused … why would I work on that crap when I was hired to
work on national brands? Something was awry.
She explained to me that Mrs Baird’s and Imperial made most
of the store brands. Randall’s bread was really Mrs Baird’s bread … just
cheaper. The generic sugar was, in fact, Imperial Sugar in a different bag.
WTF? After much research, I found out that this was commonplace in almost every
category in the store where a generic version of a product was offered. My jaw
dropped. I had probably been eating Fruit Loops as a kid, all along. GULP!
(Apologies to my mother for pretending she was someone else’s mother at
Brookshire Brothers in 1982).
Today, the Private Label Business is even more robust than
it was even 10 years ago. Private Label is a multi-billion dollar business. And
almost every retailer on the planet is rushing to develop their own branded
products. (Some are still made my the national brands and simply repackaged).
Target has Archer Farms. Walgreens has its new line of NICE! Products. And at
7-Eleven, my primary account, we have hundreds of products in our 7-Select
portfolio.
And you know what? In blind taste tests, many of the Private
Label products out perform their leading national branded competitors. Thanks
to millions of dollars in research and development, Private Label is leading
the way in many categories in innovation, taste research and packaging.
No longer does lower cost necessarily equal lower quality.
In today’s economy where everyone is watching their money just a little more
cautiously, we suddenly have lots more choices that aren’t necessarily
embarrassing to check out with.
So next time you’re in the store, look around and see what
other options are on the shelf. And if you haven’t done so before, reach out to
try one of the more generic products and see what you think. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Oh, and as a shameless plug for my client. Stop into a
7-Eleven and grab a bag of 7-Select Big Bite Hot Dog chips. They might be the
most delicious Private Label product in existence. Even doubters walk away with the same conclusion.
Next topic: Did you know your ice cream probably isn’t
really ice cream?
