FMCG | Market Measures
Copycat marketing
Thatchers had accused Aldi of taking “unfair advantage” of its brand reputation by intentionally mimicking elements of the design of its Cloudy Lemon Cider can, creating a link in the minds of consumers that boosted the discounter’s sales.
When it comes to own-label category extension and NPD, it feels suspiciously like there’s a slick process at work:
The grocer targets a category
- Mines the data to identify the market leading brand
- Hires a designer to tweak name and visuals
- Puts it straight back on to the shelves with a 15-20% discount.
Then, thinking of all that Thatchers had to do to get there:
- The category strategy and planning
- Market and category research to assess opportunity
- Product research to explore consumer
- Concept and product testing
- Packaging research and development
- Comms mix development and testing
- Launch, evaluation, tracking
- The investment…
A profitable, but potentially unfair, strategy
Thatchers’ barrister was reported as saying Aldi had achieved ‘extraordinarily high’ sales of its Taurus product, more than £1.4m, after a “lack both of development investment or marketing spend”, which “can only have been achieved by reason of Thatchers’ investment in the Thatchers’ product.” So is it fair that Aldi is allowed to wait for a new product leader to appear and piggyback on all Thatchers’ hard work by launching a near-identical version?
No change for now as unanswered questions loom
It appears that this situation represents a rare instance where a discounter have been properly challenged on this behaviour. A win could have opened the floodgates for other brands to reap the rewards for their own hard work on product and brand – and for grocers’ knuckles to take a firm rapping on behalf of the industry’s somewhat shady methods.
Aldi have got a long history in copycat behaviour – it feels like an open secret. From Monster Claws (Monster Munch) to Jaffa Cakes, and Notoka (Nutella) to Cuthbert the Caterpillar – if it’s a consumer favourite, it’s probably got a doppelganger at a discounter.
All in all, the Thatchers recent loss presents an opportunity for reflection and there seem to be many unanswered questions.
- Would things be different if Kopparberg or Westons launched that copycat cider?
- Is the consumer being duped here? They’re the ones being given the cues on quality – see Thatchers, get Taurus.
- How close does something need to be to be deemed an unlawful copy?
Good to see the brands and manufacturers fighting back.