Survey reveals copycat branding is increasing problem for food manufacturers

Plagiarism and copycat branding by retailers and rival brand owners is an increasing problem for brands according to research released by Jones Knowles Ritchie, the UK’s largest packaging design agency.

The research reveals that 60 per cent of those interviewed agreed that plagiarism by competitors is much worse today than it was five years ago. The research also highlights that commoditization of brands is the biggest threat to businesses, with 56 per cent of respondents being in agreement.

The survey also showed that in the climate of intense competition between brands and retailers, a quarter of marketing managers feel their board believes that cost cutting is more important than building brand equity. This suggests that although there is realization of the value which intangible assets, such as brands, have on overall company performance, and despite recent public comments from grocery retailers that quality is firmly back on the consumer’s agenda, cost cutting is still seen as a prime focus in many organizations.

Andy Knowles, CEO of JKR, said: ‘Copycat branding never went away - but now it is more insidious. We have always seen brands aping other brand’s ideas, that is in the very nature of competition, but the first time we saw copying deployed as a competitive tactic was when we saw some retailers emulating brand leader’s identities in order to drive own label sales. What we are seeing now that is new and a sign of the growing strength of retail brands, is some retailers actually copying own label. It seems that it is dog eat dog, with the supermarkets starting to plagiarize each other.

‘While it is clearly important for brands to differentiate themselves in such a competitive marketplace, the critical thing now is to create the attention and interest in the branding itself. Only then will design provide an enduring defense against competition.

‘It is clear that the problem of copycatting is symptomatic of a wider problem of “commoditization” of brands. Commodities are bought on price, but only one product can be the cheapest. The risk for manufacturers is that in order to achieve that status they end up blindly pursuing economy of scale and cutting corners until they undermine the very foundations upon which their brands are built.’