The Co-operative brand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Co-operative or The Co-op is a common branding used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom. Many in the UK mistakenly consider the Co-op to be a single national business, often confusing it with the Co-operative Group[1] as this is the largest consumer co-operative in the world and so the biggest user of the Co-operative brand (rolling out the uniform brand to all of its 4,500 trading outlets across the country).[2] However, each of the individual and independent retail societies in the UK trade as "the Co-op",[3] and many use the common branding, such as the Midcounties Co-operative and Scotmid.[4] Most Co-operative Societies have businesses in many different areas, however the largest areas of the businesses are in foodstores, particularly convenience stores, thus the largest and most visible use of the branding is as The Co-operative Food.
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[edit] History
[edit] Cloverleaf brand
Following the early success of the Rochdale Pioneers, co-operative shops were established across the UK and soon began taking customers away from private traders: these traders responded by making it increasingly difficult for co-operatives to source quality goods to sell to their members.[citation needed] The solution was for several co-operative retailers to come together in 1863 and form the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS): the organisation (now the Co-operative Group) was responsible for sourcing and producing goods for sale in its members' shops, and also for a unified marketing and branding for the societies. It carried out this role for CWS members for nearly 100 years, and in 1968 launched "Operation Facelift" which resulted in the first ever national Co-op logo.[5]
The "cloverleaf" logo became a very well recognised symbol for co-operatives, playing its part in creating the impression that they were a single organisation rather than a number of independent organisations sharing common principles.[4] The brand was strengthened further by the creation of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) in 1993, providing Co-operative branded own-brand products (as well as other food supplies) to its members for sale in their stores: by 2002, the CRTG provided 100% of the food supplies sold by UK consumer co-operatives.[6] However, over time, the brand became tarnished by inconsistent customer delivery from one shop to another and the image perceptions of the cloverleaf logo were irreparably damaged: in market research carried out in the early 2000s, there was a consistent decline in consumer ratings of "the Co-op"'s effectiveness when asked about the "Co-operative", to the "Co-op" and finally when shown the existing logo.[4]
[edit] “The Co-operative” brand
At the same time, the Co-operative Movement called on the Prime Minister to establish a Co-operative Commission to consider ways to ensure the survival of the co-operative model into the twenty-first century: the Commission, chaired by John Monks, published its conclusions in January 2001 and made a series of recommendations regarding co-operative branding. Most important of these recommendations were that a Co-operative Brand Panel representing all sections of the Movement should be established to monitor and maintain the positive image of the Co-operative brand, and that this panel should consider the "cloverleaf" logo's future.[7]
On behalf of the movement, the Co-operative Group's designers and marketers collaborated with Harry Pearce, John McConnell and Leah Speakman of the designer's co-operative, Pentagram, to develop a new visual identity to represent “The Co-operative”. The selected artwork was based on a sans serif bold lower case logotype of the wording, with different colours representing different businesses, and won a silver award from the Design Business Association. In 2007, the Co-operative Group's High Street supermarket in Fordingbridge became the first in the country to adopt the new brand, as part of a pilot programme of 115 shops, that saw sales up 15 per cent, beating the concurrent 4.6 per cent uplift at stores that still used the 1993 cloverleaf.[3][8][9][10]
[edit] References
- ^ Co-op Online, <http://www.cooponline.coop/index.html>. Retrieved on 19 November 2007
- ^ The Co-operative Group, Welcome to the corporate section of our website, <http://www.co-operative.co.uk/en/corporate/>. Retrieved on 19 November 2007
- ^ a b DBA, The Co-operative Brand Identity, <http://www.dba.org.uk/casestudies07/branding/case6.asp>. Retrieved on 19 November 2007
- ^ a b c Charnock, Catherine, Marketing The Co-operative Advantage, <http://www.cooperatives-uk.coop/live/images/cme_resources/Users/CMSUSER/cms%20event%2015th%20june%202006/Catherine-Charnock---re-branding-presentation.pdf>. Retrieved on 19 November 2007
- ^ UK Co-op Milestones, Co-op Online, <http://www.cooponline.coop/about_intro_milestones.html>. Retrieved on 13 May 2008
- ^ CRTG website, 2007, <http://www.crtg.coop>. Retrieved on 19 November 2007
- ^ The Co-operative Commission, Chapter 2 – Successful Co-operative Business in the Twenty-first Century, <http://www.co-opcommission.org.uk/summary/summary_fr.html>. Retrieved on 20 November 2007
- ^ New at Pentagram: Harry Pearce to Judge Prison Art. Pentagram (design studio) (2007-08-02). Retrieved on 2008-05-21. “Pearce, who has also been ... working on a new brand identity for The Co-operative Group”
- ^ "The Co-operative group’s rebrand launched today", How-Do, North West Media News, 2008-04-07.
- ^ "New-look £1m Co-op store a national first", Salisbury Journal, 2007-04-19. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
[edit] External links
- The Co-operative Food – customer website for the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG)
- CRTG – trade website of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group
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