Its called a what?
Reading this months Atlantic magazine I was intrigued by an article about Phosphates, or to be exact Acid Phosphate drinks. Sounds great doesn’t it, almost as good as the Ad copy for a past brand leader Horsfords Acid Phosphate, “Its not nauseous but agreeable to the taste”. Move over Don Draper.
The article goes on to describe the history of these marvelous drinks - find a copy of Darcy O’Neil’s book Fix the Pumps to learn more – my thoughts however strayed to all those really strange sounding food and drink names I’ve encounter since I moved to the US.
If you were launching a new drink would anyone name the category Phosphate, or Seltzer or even Carbonate ?
Mmm, try a glass of our new all natural Phosphate.
Its not just drinks though, I’ve just about got used to eating a “Sub” and I can even understand that it looks a little submarine like in shape but why in heavens name did anyone try calling them a “Hoagie” or a “Grinder” or, (and I will happily give a prize to anyone who can tell me the derivation) a “Dagwood”.
And if we stay on this theme, why are they called Oreos, and why was their competitor called a Hydrox (thinking about that one it would be perfect for laundry detergents).
I’d love to hear of any other strange names……….
Is Private Label Growth here to stay?
AC Neilsen* (hat tip to George Ward @ShopMktgGeorge ) released new figures last week showing the growth of Private Label purchases around the world.
Consumers claim that they will continue to purchase private label even when their economy turns up again and national comparison figures show Switzerland leading the pack at 46% of all sales closely followed by my old home country the UK on 43%, with even the US now up to 17%.
Whilst its commonly thought that price is the only driver of Private Label my belief is that innovation is at least as important. Its only when store brands behave like manufacturer brands that they are seen as at least equal in consumer’s eyes.
In the UK food market the rapid growth of the chill fresh ready to cook and ready meals markets has been entirely private label and the successful launch of premium positioned foods by retailers like Tesco with their “Finest” range, or J Sainsbury with “Taste the Difference” has shown many a branded manufacturer the real power of Good, Better, Best.
Is there a natural limit to private label’s share? Looking again at the UK Sainsbury had to rapidly roll back on own label when they hit around 60% of all sales - shoppers deserted them – but that was a full store average, my guess is that some markets can go to 100% but that others have sufficiently entrenched brands to keep own label almost fully at bay.
*http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-private-label-report-the-rise-of-the-value-conscious-shopper/
Made in ???
Like many I watched an ABC news segment this morning examining a Dallas family home and removing all the goods NOT made in the USA. The house was bare at the end, just a small vase left.
You can watch it at http://abcnews.go.com/US/MadeInAmerica/made-america-meet-usry-family/story?id=12950594
In the 1960’s nearly 90% of the good typical American families purchased were made in the USA – now it less than 50%.
Its claimed that an increaseof 1%, on average just 18cents a day would create 200,000 new American jobs.
As a transplanted Brit I rememeber a UK campaign to buy British for similar reasons. It soon faded away. Can the US do better? There certainly seems to be a mood swing going on with every car ad claiming some sort of US link from Chevy ( I thought FIAT of Italy had bought them) defining the high ground with imported from Detroit through to BMW claiming the worlds supply of X3’s is made in the US.
Does anyone know what proportion of our food is made in China?
