JKR

There are plenty of valid but contradictory views around the impact the recession has had on the relationship between premium and value brands. My take above is certainly debatable, but at least the diagrams were fun to draw…

Until the recession kicked in, we were seeing basic commodities becoming posher and fashion brands launching ever more affordable lines. This double whammy created a huge mass-premium category. Fancy smoothies replaced plain old juice in our fridge, along with organic yoghurts and puddings sold in ceramic ramekins. Meanwhile, “designer” accessories were as likely to be real as knock-off. The downturn appeared to tighten the belt on this swollen middle, creating an hourglass silhouette that could give Dita Von Teese’s corset a run for its money. A polarisation away from the centre could be perceived in the success of value lines such as essential Waitrose (with a predicted £600 million of sales in the first year) at one end, and the burgeoning “super luxury” brands (8% growth last year according to the wealth bulletin) at the other. At the middle meanwhile, as belts tightened, sales of take-away lattes and Innocent Drinks (surely the brand most synonymous with the mass premium trend) dropped. Meanwhile the Gü puddings brand is reportedly up for sale.

So what next? With Waitrose reporting healthy business in their premium ranges (chiming with new Nielsen figures indicating that premium own-label is once again seeing an upturn), perhaps the hourglass figure is breathing out again. In design terms, I’m not sure the declining fortunes of the mass premium category have resulted in generally cheaper looking design; we have become used to getting a more finessed and sophisticated level of branding whatever the price point. Perhaps as the green shoots appear, the visual distinctions between “good, better and best” categories will remain permanently blurred?