Supermarkets breed superbrands

British retailers are biting the hand that once fed them, shifting their emphasis from stocking major brands to creating and pushing their own. Their efforts are giving the likes of Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson a run for their money, according to research carried out by leading IP services provider, CPA Global. Ten years ago, it was brand powerhouses like Mars, Unilever and L’Oreal that blazed a trail in the Top 25 league of trademark registrants.

This year’s UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) league table tells a different story, giving the most reliable indication yet of the supermarkets’ brand-building powers: Asda has achieved a meteoric rise to sixth place, followed by Marks & Spencer at seventh. Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl and Aldi have also put in impressive showings. To mark World IP Day, CPA Global will publish the findings in a new report which will set insights into trademark strategy at corporate level against a macroeconomic backdrop of parity between the goods and service industries.

A large part of the explosion in retail sector trademark registration can be attributed to own-labelling. This brand revolution, led by M&S, Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda, has created a range of sub-brands such as Tesco Finest, Simply Food, and Taste the Difference which are now seen as rivals to grocery sector power brands. That view is supported by business analysts, who rank the UK as Europe's biggest market for retailers’ own labels, accounting for some 40% of total grocery volumes, with an estimated value of £30 billion.

CPA Global’s research shows that more than half of UK adults (55%) are buying more own-label foods than five years ago. And not only are own-labels increasingly preferred, they are on their way to becoming superbrands, too. Tesco and Sainsbury’s topped the brand awareness chart, with 60% of the public able to recognise their premium Finest and Taste the Difference ranges independent of the chains to which they belonged. The results are echoed in Marks & Spencer’s 192% awareness leap into the world’s 100 most recognised brands.

Philippa Edward, commercial manager at CPA Global’s Trade Mark Directory Service (TMDS), said: ‘Once you’ve created a strong brand, it’s vital you rigorously protect it, lest you become the ready prey of imitators and end up surrendering the very thing that set you apart. So I foresee retailers taking a leaf out of the big brand owners’ books by becoming not only brand-creators but brand guardians in their own right.’