The Co-operative brand

Co-operative Brands Limited

Branding on a Co-operative Food store
Product type	Consumer co-operatives
Owner	The Co-operative Group
Introduced	2008
Related brands	Co-op cloverleaf (below) Somerfield Britannia
Markets	United Kingdom and Crown dependencies
Website	Archived 29 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine

The Co-operative is a common branding used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom.

Many in the UK consider 'the Co-op' to be a single national business, whereas the brand actually represents a number of different consumers' co-operatives spanning various sectors. The Co-operative Group is the largest consumer co-operative in the UK and the biggest user of the Co-operative brand in its 4,500 trading outlets.^[1] Many independent retail societies in the UK trade as "the Co-op",^[2] and many, such as the Midcounties Co-operative and the Central England Co-operative, use the latest incarnation of the common brand.^[3] Most co-operative societies have businesses in many different areas; however, the largest areas of the businesses are in food stores, particularly convenience stores, thus the largest and most visible use of the branding is as The Co-operative Food.

The Co-operative brand as it is widely used today came about as a result of the Co-operative Commission's report into the British co-operative movement which recommended that all UK consumers' co-operative societies switch to a universal recognisable co-operative brand.^[4] This single brand would be in contrast to the previous array of brands which had existed up to this point including the '1992 Cloverleaf', the 'Co-op Welcome' and 'Co-op Late Shop' brands which was understood by the commission to be holding back the public's perception of the co-op sector's modernising approach. Not all of the UK's consumers' co-operative adopted the resultant 2008 version of The Co-operative brand with the Lincolnshire Co-operative and Scotmid being notable examples.

History

Cloverleaf brand

Original 1968 "cloverleaf" Refreshed 1993 version

Following the success of the Rochdale Pioneers, co-operative shops were established across the UK and took customers away from private traders who responded by making it difficult for co-operatives to source quality goods to sell to their members.^[5] The solution was for co-operative retailers to come together in 1863 and form the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) (now the Co-operative Group) responsible for sourcing and producing goods for sale in its members' shops, and for unified marketing and branding for the societies. The CWS carried out this role for members for nearly 100 years, and in 1968 launched "Operation Facelift", which resulted in the first national Co-op logo.^[6]

The movement's cloverleaf logo created the impression that it was a single organisation rather than independent organisations sharing common principles.^[3] The brand was strengthened by the creation of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) in 1993, providing Co-op branded products and other food supplies to its members: by 2002, the CRTG provided 100% of food supplies sold by UK consumer co-operatives.^[7] Over time the brand became tarnished by inconsistent customer delivery and image perceptions of the cloverleaf logo were irreparably damaged. Market research carried out in the early 2000s showed a consistent decline in consumer ratings.^[3]

2008 "The Co-operative" branding

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 business model into the 21st century. The commission, chaired by John Monks, published its conclusions in January 2001 making recommendations regarding branding. Most important were that a panel representing all sections of the movement should be established to monitor and maintain the positive image of the brand, and that it should consider the "cloverleaf" logo's future.^[8]

The Co-operative Group's designers and marketers collaborated with Harry Pearce and John McConnell of the designers' co-operative Pentagram, to develop a new identity to represent "The Co-operative". The selected artwork was based on a sans serif bold lower case (Neue Helvetica) logotype for the wording, with different colours representing different businesses. It won a silver award from the Design Business Association. The brand was trialled between 2005 and 2007, at several outlets of the Co-operative Group, Scotmid, United Co-operatives and Midcounties Co-operative. A 2007 pilot programme of 115 shops saw sales rise by 15%, beating the 4.6% increase at stores using the 1993 cloverleaf. The brand was introduced to food packaging in 2007, and officially launched in 2008. It was used in national advertising and a national programme of store refits.^[2][9][10]

Example of the 'Co-Op Welcome' branding from Stansted Mountfitchet.

Example of the 'Cooperative' branding from Holcombe, Greater Manchester.

Example of the 'Late Shop' branding on the co-op store in Whitnash.

Uses of The Co-operative Brand

The Co-operative Bank

A retail and commercial bank, now 20% owned by The Co-operative Group

The Co-operative Childcare

A chain of child day care facilities operated by The Midcounties Co-operative.

The Co-operative Credit Union

The credit union for employees and members of UK co-operative businesses.

The Co-operative Electrical

An online electrical retailer run by The Co-operative Group and the branding used by many other retail cooperatives in the UK for their electrical departments.

The Co-operative Energy

An electricity and gas supplier operated by The Midcounties Co-operative

The Co-operative Estates

The property division of The Co-operative Group.

The Co-operative Food

A common branding used for the majority of foodstores operated by UK retail cooperatives.

The Co-operative Flexible Benefits

A business of The Midcounties Co-operative.

The Co-operative Florist

A common branding used for the majority of florists operated by UK retail cooperatives.

The Co-operative Funeralcare

A common branding used for the majority of funeral directors operated by UK retail cooperatives.

The Co-operative Healthcare

The pharmacy chain of The Midcounties Co-operative.

The Co-operative Insurance

The insurance company operated by The Co-operative Group.

The Co-operative Legal Services

A legal services provider operated by The Co-operative Group.

The Co-operative Party

The UK political party representing the interests of the cooperative movement which has had an electoral past with the UK Labour Party since 1917.

The Co-operative Pharmacy

A common branding used for the majority of pharmacies operated by UK retail cooperatives.

The Co-operative Phone & Broadband

An independent mobile and fixed-line telephone co-operative.

The Co-operative Travel

A common branding used for the majority of travel agencies operated by UK retail cooperatives.

The Co-operative Membership

Membership is crucial to co-operatives and more than 8 million people are members of co-operatives in the UK which use 'The Co-operative Brand'. Members of co-operatives get to be democratically involved in the running of the society, often with votes on key business decisions and for the election of board members. It is also common for members to be provided with a share of the society's annual profits which is proportional to the amount of money that an individual has spent with the society over the year. This share of the profit is commonly referred to as the co-op's dividend. The size of the dividend varies depending on the financial performance of the group.

Membership of the majority of consumers' co-operatives in the UK was brought under one identity in 2008 as a part of the launch of 'The Co-operative Brand' however each individual co-operative retains its own individual membership scheme. Members of these societies are given a card which all look very similar but which will list the specific co-op which the individual is a member of on the front. As a part of their membership schemes, many of the larger co-operatives which have adopted 'The Co-operative Brand' will allow members of other co-operatives to earn a share of their profits in a reciprocal agreement. This is particularly the case with those co-ops which have interests in supermarkets, whereas other users of the co-op brand, such as The Phone Co-op operate entirely independent membership schemes.

Because it facilitates democratic engagement with the co-operative and because it is also a profit sharing mechanism, The Co-operative Membership scheme differs from loyalty cards which many other businesses offer.

Somerfield becomes The Co-operative Food

On 2 March 2009, the Co-operative Group bought Somerfield Stores for £1.56 billion following regulatory approval and the stores not sold as part of the conditions of the sale were rebranded with The Co-operative Food name.^[11] The number of stores owned by Co-operative Group rose to 3,000 after the purchase and led to the group's share of the UK supermarket sector rising from 4.5% to 8%.^[12]

References

External links

• CRTG – trade website of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group
• Co-op Logo and ‘Operation Facelift’ — the Co-operative Group, 3 June 2013