Food co-branding advances in Canada
By Mike Duff
STELLARTON , Nova Scotia (Dec. 11) Co-branding in private label food has emerged as a trend, and a recent example involving Canadian supermarket chain Sobeys suggests why it is an increasingly popular option for retailers who want to address particular issues.
Sobeys has struck a deal with Disney Consumer Products for a co-branded kids’ food and healthy beauty aids line dubbed Compliments Junior Disney that includes nearly 100 new products, the majority of which are formulated to address acute nutritional issues. Of course, Sobeys isn’t the first food retailer to co-brand a private label. It isn’t even the first to do so with Disney. Disney Magic Selections launched at Kroger in 2006, featuring Disney and Disney Pixar characters—as does Sobeys Compliments Junior —on the packaging of a 100-SKU food and health and beauty aid line. Like Sobeys Compliments Junior, Kroger offers a heavy concentration of healthy alternatives. The program was set for expansion this year to baby and toddler products, personal care and floral items.
With children’s health and obesity concerns rife in both the United States and Canada, demand for products with a superior nutritional profile has grown. The approach that both Kroger and Sobeys have followed provides instant recognition, and even a degree of credibility via the Disney name. The Disney co-brands also specifically associate the chains with efforts to boost children’s health in the markets they serve, a nice point of differentiation.
Not all co-branding efforts are focused on children or even health. Costco’s co-branding of its Kirkwood private label with Paul Newman and Martha Stewart plays to the wellness trend to a degree, but also introduces a gourmet element into the own-brand story.
At Sobeys, the Disney name is married to the supermarket operator’s Compliments private label. The co-branded line includes Compliments Junior Disney Mickey Burgers, Compliments Junior Disney Alpha-Taters mashed potato letters and Compliments Junior Disney fruit Pic-Mix dried fruit snack. While not every product might be considered healthy, 75% of Compliments Junior Disney products meet the criteria of the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Health Check initiative, providing a designation that’s similar to the heart-check seal awarded by the American Heart Association’s Food Certification Program.
Compliments Junior Disney also addresses the concerns of busy parents by including among the package graphics a Canada’s Food Guide serving information icon that highlights the applicable daily serving of vegetables and fruit, grains, dairy and alternatives, or meat and alternatives. Packaging also offers key positive product attributes through the use of four icons, highlighting the nutritional benefits each product delivers as it impacts the health of teeth, bones, eyes or muscles. All products are formulated for easy preparation to help out adults who need convenience in coping with their busy routines, and are priced at a discount of about 20% to competitive branded products to aid family budgets.
As the 100-SKU size of the launch suggests, the Compliments Junior Disney program was intended to address children’s nutritional issues as comprehensively as was practical. “From the start, we designed Compliments Junior Disney around healthful products,†Scott Cooper, Sobeys vp of consumer marketing and location planning for corporate brands, told Retailing Today, but he added that the retailer, in taking the broad view, kept in mind that food items kids won’t eat can’t be healthy. “They have to taste great and have to have a dimension of fun.â€
The fun angle is important as today’s kids are increasingly vocal about products purchased for them. Character tie-ins inform children that the products have their sensibilities in mind. Disney, by virtue of its long history in children’s entertainment, may be regarded as something of an authority on both the sensibilities of children, as well as their uniqueness and sensitivities. “Disney did a great job helping us segment the product portfolio properly to target kids of different ages,†Cooper said.
Which suggests another advantage of co-branding—bringing new kinds of consumer product experience into a retailer’s private label program. In the case of Compliments Junior Disney, that meant helping Sobeys modify the program to the consumer and regulatory requirements of the Canadian market.
Julie Mills, Disney’s senior manager of food, health, beauty and pets for Canada, said food products have become a priority for the company in its role as a licensor. Disney especially wants to identify itself with solution-oriented items for today’s families, so it is working with partners to develop convenient, healthy products that use graphics and flavor to entertain kids as vehicle to improve their health. Disney’s support of its co-brands doesn’t stop there, though. Disney has been working with Sobeys on a big promotional push that will introduce Canada to Compliments Junior Disney throughout the coming months.
“This will be one of largest marketing support programs Sobeys will be doing this year,†Mills noted. “There will be TV, radio, print and Web advertising, as well as a lot in-store. Sobeys will be using wraps around their trucks to advertise. We’ve allowed them to use some of our best creative [and] given them access to our art library so they can best use our characters.â€
Thus, Disney has helped Sobeys develop a comprehensive program to address nutritional issues impacting Canadian children in a manner that meets parental needs, but also addresses the preferences of kids, even those kids who are normally wary of anything that might be good for them.
