This week saw Unilever announce the launch of new Organic Delight shampoos and conditioners under its Timotei brand, staking the company’s claim for the new products as the first mass-market

This week saw Unilever announce the launch of new Organic Delight shampoos and conditioners under its Timotei brand, staking the company’s claim for the new products as the first mass-market 100% organic haircare range.

With all-organic ingredients, Ecocert approval, a 95% biodegradable formula and 100% recyclable packaging, the new range will add a hefty dose of support to the brand’s ‘natural’ positioning. While it’s very unlikely that Timotei’s Organic Delight products will draw the UK’s most environmentally-active consumers away from smaller, specialist brands like Organic Surge, Lovea Bio or Green People, they offer a potentially punchy point of difference around which to grow and build new growth.

We were delighted to comment on the new launch in this week’s The Grocer. Rebecca Cook spoke of its relevance and appropriateness to the brand, adding that it was likely to be considered an attractive addition for existing users.

To see the full article, click here.

On Sunday, The Value Engineers were delighted to be asked to contribute to a regular LBC radio show, hosted by the lovely Kay Burley.

Lou Ellerton joined Kay to talk about the post-Christmas retail surge, as consumers flocked to London’s Oxford Street, Westfield and shopping centres around the country to make the most of the sales.

Leading department store John Lewis announced a record start to its online sale which began on Christmas Eve, with hourly orders up 70% on last year, while Selfridges took in more than £1.5 million in its first hour of trading on Boxing Day. The story was no different online, with UK internet users making 84 million visits to retail websites on Christmas Eve and 107 million visits on Christmas Day, up 86% and 71% respectively compared to the same days in December 2011.

So what’s the story behind the surge? In Lou’s view, much of it can be boiled down to a metamorphosis by UK consumers into strategic shoppers – or ‘stroppers’, for short.

Now well trained by the major retailers to expect heavy discounts in the week immediately before and after the 25th, ‘stroppers’ are spending less on presents to unwrap on Christmas Day – focusing on smaller, more intimate gifts that show thought in place of the big-budget purchases of Christmases past – leaving them able to take advantage of discounts for the key family purchases.

While the post-Christmas sales boom will have come as welcome news to retailers beleaguered by poor pre-Christmas figures, the Olympics downturn and stormy weather, it remains to be seen whether tills will have taken enough to keep them from suffering as we head into another year of economic uncertainty. Either way, we’ll be keeping our ears open for more signs of the stropping phenomenon…

Sadly, we’re unable to post a copy of the interview here due to size constraints, but if you’d like to hear Lou’s comments or find out more about stropping, drop us a line.

Last Wednesday, The Value Engineers were delighted to be asked to contribute to ITV1′s Daybreak show.

Lou Ellerton appeared on the show at the ungodly hour of 6:40am to talk about Tesco’s trials and tribulations with its Fresh ‘N’ Easy brand in the US, Philip Green’s decision to sell a 25% stake in Top Shop to a US investor, and the opportunities that a Royal baby might create for British brands. It’s an eclectic selection of topics, we agree!

If you’d like to see for yourself how Lou got on, the show is available here on ITV Player until Wednesday morning (12th December). Her comments start at 00:37, just after the ad break.

If you haven’t seen the latest ads for “the people’s pension” from B&CE check them out – nice little outline line drawing as part of a blue line stretching across the page

http://www.thepeoplespension.co.uk/

They might remind you of something you might have seen a couple of years ago…

http://player.vimeo.com/video/16059637

When brand / endorsement partnerships work, they really work.  Each party in the relationship can reinforce and contribute to positive perceptions of each other, bringing new audiences into both as well as building on existing fans’ love.  But for this to happen – as with human relationships – each “‘brand’s” attributes need to complement one another…they’ve both got to bring something to the table that is relevant to their partner as well as beneficial.

The relationship between Sainsbury’s and Jamie Oliver is one which is frequently extolled for its perfect fit of both vision and values as well as attitude and personality – which is demonstrated in the bottom line results the partnership is credited with.

It was therefore no surprise when it was announced that the Jamie / Sainsbury’s partnership is separating tongues wagged…and when it was announced that David Beckham is the new mistress, they wagged even faster.  Will Beckham replace Jamie? How could Beckham replace Jamie when he’s not a chef? Is this just an Olympics ploy or is the partnership intended to be more long term…All these are questions which we don’t know the answer to yet but Beckham is certainly an interesting choice.

So, we were delighted to comment on the new partnership in this week’s Grocer.  James Littlewood spoke of how ‘It is hard to imagine Posh and Becks pushing their trolley down the aisles at Sainsbury’s’ and to emphasise the importance of the bottom line influence the partnership has to have to be a success: ‘Sales of nutmeg went up 400% when Oliver suggested putting it on Spaghetti Bolognese.  With Beckham it will be more of a struggle to push specific SKUs’

To login to the full article on The Grocer, click here. 

We’re watching this space with interest to see how Beckham will be deployed as a rather expensive tool to communicate a value message in hard times…