Brand Footprint 2021 - Latam - eng
Ever since our first edition in 2013, we have built up an unrivalled picture of the decisions consumers make, both around the world and across Latam,...
Brand Footprint 2021 Latam
A Latam ranking of the most chosen consumer brands
Welcome
Welcome to the Latin America edition of our ninth annual Brand Footprint report. It has been the most challenging year that any of us can recall, and one that delivered some surprising results
Ever since our first edition in 2013, we have built up an unrivalled picture of the decisions consumers make, both around the world and across Latam, dissecting the performance of thousands of brands to identify what will generate growth - both now and into the future.
The unique circumstances of 2020 meant that amid the dangers of COVID-19, lockdowns, and global uncertainty, FMCG brands experienced record in-home growth in Latam. The category benefited in part from the greater time we all spent at home, but also because from the widespread government financial support, particularly for lower-income groups.
Forty-three of Latam Brand Footprint Top 50 grew in value (+13% more than a year ago). Fifty-six per cent of these growing brands attracted new shoppers, and 14% were chosen more times, while 12% grew on both these key indicators.
Overall, the total value of the Top 50 grew by +10.8%, and 25 of Top 50 brands experienced double-digit growth. Our exclusive Consumer Reach Point (CRP) metric, which tracks how often shoppers actually pick brands off the shelves in every retail channel, found that 34% of the brands in the ranking gained new followers during the year.
This report reflects on the unique impact of COVID-19 and the government response to that challenge across our region, which varied substantially by country. While elements of the 2020 experience are useful for predicting the future, the bottom line is that this unique combination of pandemic and government support is unlikely to ever repeat.
We also look ahead to what might happen when the remaining government support is removed and which of the lockdown trends are likely to be retained as consumers find a new normal for their work, their life, and their retail habits.
The 2021 Brand Footprint report is your ultimate guide to a unique year that saw major changes in consumer choices, moments of indulgence, as well as, sadly, many personal tragedies. As you plan ahead, this report should be your source of inspiration in the constant search for new shoppers and business growth.
What is Brand Footprint?
Every purchase of an FMCG product is a moment when a buyer decides to choose one brand over another. Brand Footprint reveals which brands are winning at the moment of truth.
The Brand Footprint ranking reveals which brands are winning at that moment of decision using the Consumer Reach Points metric. This indicates the strength of a brand by tracking the number of times each brand is chosen by buyers.
This ranking is truly unique in its type based exclusively on the actual buying behaviour.
The categories
The complete ranking comprises five global FMCG sectors tracked by Kantar’s Worldpanel consumer panels: Beverages, Food, Dairy, Beauty and Personal Care, and Home Care
Fresh Food, Batteries and Pet Food are not included in the global ranking. All data relates to purchases brought into the home to be used or consumed there.
The data period
The Brand Footprint ranking is based on data collected over the 52-week period between November 2019 to the end of October 2020.
Eligibility criteria for a brand to appear in the ranking
- Global – Present in at least two continents
- Regional – Present in at least two countries in a region
- Local – Only available in a single country
Data source
Brand Footprint is a global initiative from Kantar, in partnership with Europanel, GfK, IRI, Intage and CTRL for the global ranking.
Brand Definition
Brand Footprint only covers consumer brands; retailers’ own labels are not included. Brands listed include all variants, categories and formats – for instance, Pantene includes all its shampoos, conditioners, treatments, hairsprays and hair oils. Brands sold under different names in different countries are considered as individual brands – for instance Tide and Ace. However, brands with a name that has been directly translated into a local language, for example Mr Muscle and Mr Músculo, are counted as a single brand.
How brands grew in 2020
Redefining our shopping habits
Did this new dynamic change why brands grow?
In our last edition, we explained that 2019 had been a complex year for Latin America.
The pandemic reversed a pattern of declining consumption that had been seen for a few years, thanks to the fact that families spent more time at home, which has driven the growth of items for consumption or use at home.
The change in consumption from out-of-home (OOH) to in-home has benefited a brand that is already valued by Bolivians, helped by more affordable prices for the leading formats in its portfolio. Showing resilience, Nescafé has consolidated its leadership in the consumption of instant coffee, with +10 million points of contact with the consumer. Climbing five positions in the FMCG ranking, it has also achieved a 58% increase in volume per occasion versus the previous year, thanks to its new large-format proposals.
A broad brand strategy helped the mayonnaise brand gain + 24% consumption occasions and move up 6 positions in the FMCG ranking. The 1-kg “More for Less” packages make pantry missions easier. In addition, the brand launched premium flavours such as Chipotle, Verde and Aioli, taking advantage of the in-home consumption. Finally, its new advertising positioning targets younger audiences -– using a mixture of expressions in English.
Taking advantage of more usage occasions, since 8 in 10 households stated they cleaned their house more in the pandemic, the brand gained approximately a quarter of a million new buyers from all SELs with Large Formats (gallons), and the Wholesale channel proved particularly successful. In addition, it invested in innovation by developing a new higher-value segment, with Splash-less Bleach, as well as affordable offers with small packs of wipes for the Traditional Channel.
A strategy of boosting new consumption occasions and different options for product use saw Quaker offer innovative recipes, reinforce traditional distribution, as well as offer more affordable options, with new sizes and price points. In addition, it has emphasized its nutritional benefits during the health emergency, highlighting the vitamins that help the immune system, resulting in greater empathy with shoppers.
Mouthwash has strengthened in a strategic channel, Supermarkets, and in one of the areas most affected by COVID-19 – thanks to a global campaign revealing that rinsing helps prevent Coronavirus. Additionally, Listerine succeeded in leveraging Mouthwash as one of the fastest-growing FMCG categories.
Brand performance highlights in the pandemic
The story of 2020 is really a tale of three separate phases of consumer behaviour
Between March and April, shoppers started stockpiling, with bigger purchases and fewer visits.
For the next few months, until July, social distancing was the priority and consumer shopping focused on the most urgent items, with purchase frequency rising as basket size fell.
For the rest of the year, consumers started to adapt to the new situation and restrictions started to ease. Spending remained stable at high levels, but the frequency of visits remained low, albeit with a recovery for Christmas.
As lockdowns ease and OOH consumption returns, knowing the full 360° view will be the only way to understand how your brand is truly performing. This ranking presents only in-home consumption, but our full capability to analyse the in-and-out view paints a much more accurate image for snack and beverages brands. Reach us to know the Top 10 Most Chosen Out-Of-Home Non-Alcoholic Beverages Brands 2020.
Rankings available for Brazil, Chinese Mainland, France, GB, Indonesia, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Thailand.
Online doubled its growth rate in 2020, attracting an additional 67 million households to the channel. Curious about The Brands Most Chosen Online in 2020 in Latam? For the first time, food and beverages were impacted by online purchases.
Explore online rankings talking to us.
Rankings available for Argentina, Brazil, Chinese Mainland, France, GB, Ireland, Malaysia, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
COVID-19 impacted each and every industry differently
The pandemic reversed a decline in in-home consumption. Its success was the result of the transfer of out-of-home consumption occasions to in-home moments. Categories that were most relevant for daily life did best.
Overall, food and dairy brands did well but beverage struggled. Personal Care brands did not have their best year if we consider the "vanity" categories. Thinking about health and the need to keep one’s hands clean against COVID-19, the Top Risers include some hand soap brands developing in 2020.
New habits were established, including a preference for making large purchases under one roof in channels such as wholesalers and the modern trade, the adoption of proximity channels and a major boom in ecommerce. Even when restrictions were lifted at the end of the year, these habits were retained.
Across the region, the average number of FMCG trips made by households fell in seven of nine countries, with a median drop of 8%. That is 1.6 billion fewer shopping trips, although the spending per trip increased 11.9%.
Big brands did best
The pandemic boost was biggest for larger brands; those with penetration greater than 30% grew CRPs by 40%, compared to a growth of just 21% for small brands (those with 1-10% penetration). However, this improvement may be temporary. More than half of the value growth seen by brands came from attracting new shoppers, often those with additional economic power thanks to governmental aid, remittances and other economic support. This helped low-income consumers to buy essentials to their families in difficult moments, but it is likely the economic aid will reduce in 2021 so the impact may not be permanent.
This is the opposite of the overall global pattern, where small brands did best, growing CRPs by 46% compared to 20% for big brands.
The record growth in consumer goods in 2020 will not repeat
In 2021, the rising unemployment, inflation and a drop in economic aid will reduce the overall growth rate. At the end of 2020, growth was still high in most countries, although it was falling in countries with high levels of unemployment, such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil. The risk in these countries is that spending will drop among lower socioeconomic groups as the large-scale government intervention drops to the lowest levels seen in the likes of Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Growth remains strong in Mexico and Central America thanks to remittances from citizens working abroad, while Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru are currently benefitting from an economic bounce-back after harsh lockdowns.
Global or regional brands?
When we looked at global numbers, we see how relevant global brands became during the pandemic. Yet, when we look by region, we see that there are very different stories. In Latin America, local brands are still the ones consumers spend the most on (59.6%)– a trait that has remained stable for the past two years. Is the second region in global brands’ shares, following the US. This demonstrates the great opportunity the region represents for global FMCG brands.
Also, two thirds of the region's CRPs were generated by two countries, Brazil and Mexico, and last year Mexico added more to the brands in the ranking than ever.
Outlook for 2021: Lower growth and higher rationalisation
For the 75% of FMCG brands listed in the Top 50, 50% or more of the growth contributions came from lower-income consumers with government-boosted purchasing power. We are now seeing a slowdown in the growth of this demographic group as they move to cheaper brands. The degree to which any given brand or category will be affected depends on how essential it is, as measured by its purchase frequency, and on how dependent it was on purchases from lower-income consumers in 2020.
Categories that have lower purchase frequency are at high risk as they have become a less essential part of consumer routines. Categories that are at medium risk are part of consumer’s daily lives, but could see economic pressure forcing lower-income groups to rationalise spending by trading down, switching to smaller packages, focusing on promotions, etc.
Latin America's Most Chosen Brands
More brands have won buyers than in previous years, and big brands have taken a greater proportion of places in the Top 50. How has this atypical year modified the Top 50?
There are 2 rules to enter the Top 50
1. Having more than 10% penetration, 48% of the brands in the ranking are chosen by at least 10% of all households. The two exceptions have high buying frequency, which gave them their places in the ranking
2. Having at least five purchase choices – the median for the region is 4.8 highly aligned with last year’s 5.3, globally. Twenty-three brands within the Top 10 were chosen more than 5 times in 2020.
More brands are chosen more times
For all the changes seen in FMCG in 2020, there was only one new entrant in Latam. Looking into the Top 50, 56% of the brands appeared in each edition of the ranking in the last 5 years, presenting a year of strong resilience for the brands in the region.
Food and Dairy contribute the most brands to the winners' set, with Pepsi standing out for being in the Top 10 for the past 5 years and gaining several positions. This goes hand in hand with the baskets that have the highest number of brands among the winners. Only 37% of the brands in the ranking grew.
It is interesting to notice that while in the global ranking, the Top Riser in penetration was Dettol, in the region this kind of products that were important to keep us disinfected during the pandemic do not occupy the first position as Top Risers, but are present in the Top 10 with Protex (5th place), Lux (6th place). Dove, which is in the 15th position in the ranking, was the only personal care brand in the Top 25 increasing consumer choices.
Twenty-eight of the brands that are in this year's ranking have figured in the five last editions. This year, only one new brand is in the Top 50, Brazilian Brahma beer.
We have witnessed some great achievements in the rankings: this year alone, three brands managed to climb more than 10 positions. All three driven by Brazil:
-
Aurora +15
-
Lux +15
-
Brahma +13
The five most chosen FMCG brands in Latin America
The Top 25 Most Chosen Latam FMCG Brands 2020
The Next 25 Most Chosen Latam FMCG Brands 2020
Until the end of June all rankings in Latin America will be published in this report – stay tuned!
Big penetration gains 2020
Food and Dairy have more brands in the top risers, followed by Personal Care.
Since penetration is the key driver for brand growth, each year we have a secondary ranking of the most significant penetration gains.
Aurora
It entered the TOP 20 most chosen brands by being chosen 189 million times by Brazilians. Its gain of +37% CRP vs. 2019 was driven by +11.8-point penetration growth. It sponsored a Brazilian famous culinary reality show, produced livestream concerts on social media and was active in social projects. Its good performance reached especially mature households, from the lower SELs, located in South and North-Northeast regions. Another goal was to raise frequency in the Modern Trade (7%) and Traditional Retail (11%). It also conquered new buying households in more than 10 categories, such as Sausages, Ham and Frozen Foods.
Ranking by country of the most chosen brands in 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Mexico 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Peru 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Colombia 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Ecuador 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Brasil 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Argentina 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Bolivia 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in CAM 2020
The Top 20 Most Chosen FMCG Brands in Chile 2020
With protection and prevention essential parts of our daily routine, cleaning and disinfecting products did well. This is how Ayudín became the number 1 brand in Home Care, capitalizing on new habits across its portfolio of bleaches, cleaners and aerosols. The launch of new formats (splash-less bleach, flow-pack towels, larger packs) were key for the brand to remain relevant, as well as an omnichannel effect, by placing the brand in increasingly more shopping channels.
This 70-year-old brand now leads the Food ranking, by adding homes and new shopping trips. Growth has been driven by all the categories in which it participates: oils, mayonnaise, and dressings. Natura is managing to add cross-target homes: strengthening its own high-SEL profile, as well as growing at the base of the pyramid through its strong pricing strategy. The brand, historically strong in the Traditional Channel, knew how to leverage that channel’s development in pandemic times.
Top 3 in penetration growth in Foods, Ledesma benefitted from two distinct strategies. On the one hand, thanks to controlled prices, it managed to grow its basic product, sugar, taking advantage of the momentum that the category had within the home in 2020. On the other hand, using innovation as a lever, it has developed in segments such as sweeteners, light and brown sugar. The result, a cross-target growth from regular sugar, as well as a strong boost with its innovations across higher-income households.
The brand managed to climb four positions in the FMCG ranking, today ranking 6th, and grow 3.4 p.p. in penetration. Pura Vida managed to democratize natural juices for its affordable price and variety of flavours with local fruits. The brand also expanded its portfolio with the launch of Waters and Tetra Pak format for juices.
Margarina Regia growth can be explained by a range of factors caused by the pandemic. The presence of children in the household provided a +45% consumption boost. A rise of +8.7% in penetration came from recipes and ideas for new options for in-home eating. The brand climbed 13 positions in the FMCG ranking, also investing in light proposals that gained +10% in consumption and +23% in replenishment missions.
Home care benefited from the pandemic and, consequently, so did brands like Assolan, manufacturing steel wool and sponges. Rising 8 positions in the FMCG ranking, it is the 7th most chosen brand in its basket. Steel wools had +3 million new buying households, or +6 penetration points, and synthetic sponges added +1.2 million new buying households, with +2 penetration points.
Seara Alimentos advances nine places in the ranking and becomes the 8th most chosen brand by Brazilians, around 244 million times; besides coming in 3rd in Food. Last year alone, it reached +4 million new buyers. Even in a setting of social distancing, it also manages to grow in frequency, + 15.6% vs 2019 in the Super Conventional, Wholesalers and Traditional Retail. It reached more targets across all social classes and ages and enlarged throughout Brazil.
It expanded its portfolio with lines of vegetable and gourmet products lines. At the same time, it invested in advertising with celebrities, co-creating and sponsoring culinary reality shows, and producing a drive-in music festival, streamed online.
Although washing powder brands naturally benefited from the pandemic, the brand’s strategy was to strengthen distribution in most countries in the region, achieving large growth in penetration in Guatemala (+5pp) and Honduras (+9pp). In addition, it invested in marketing for all its variants. Taking advantage of the opportunity presented by COVID-19, a new Antibacterial variant was launched, generating an incremental rise in penetration, thanks to purchases in the Modern Trade. It is the brand with the greatest shift in the FMCG ranking: up 18 positions.
This brand of toilet paper has focused on digital communication, where it demonstrated its ability to supply its products during the pandemic and keep prices affordable. In addition, Nube Blanca has benefited from impulse purchases. It gained +7% buyers in CAM, or 188K new buyers, as well as a +5% increase in the consumption choice, becoming the brand with the highest growth in CRPs and penetration.
Soprole innovated by launching Protein+ in 2018, a yogurt with high milk-protein content, easy to digest, and rich in amino acids. Today, it has achieved a +35% volume growth and +8.4% of the average purchase by creating a full line of dairy products – including semi-skimmed milk, cultured milk, and protein shake.
With its category benefiting from the pandemic, Clorinda successfully differentiated from competitors. It has consolidated in the Home Care Basket with 198 thousand new cross-sectional homes by SEL. In addition, it has enhanced its portfolio of liquid and gel bleach segments, seeking new uses, and increasing brand loyalty.
The female hygiene product brand promoted a new image, with vibrant colours and focused on reaching women from a specific target: the empowered ones, helping it move up seven positions in the Personal Care ranking. Some success factors of Kotex: distribution via the Minimarket channel helped increase consumption, 35-49 year-olds brought a 22% increase in spending, and its “Night-time” version provided +27% spending per trip.
Manufactured by Bimbo, it is a regional brand of industrialized bread. Over the past year, it has grown 21% in spending and 11% in volume with a focus on the Minimarket channel. Mama Ines managed to maintain its consumer base through white bread, and achieve an expansion of its portfolio in these from Toasts. Growth from their core sizes (400-499 g) has not prevented the development of small and affordable formats. As such, it has been able to strengthen its presence mainly in SELs 1, 2 and 3, especially across smaller families and households with young children.
A traditional brand of flours has found success in new consumption occasions, adopting the strategy of an umbrella brand, which can innovate in new consumption segments. Haz de Oros has reached new audiences through easy recipes to make at home, such as pancakes. It recorded a 45% average quarterly growth vs. 2019, and a 40% average growth in household spending, due to innovation in premium segments. It is growing faster across DINKs (double income, no kids) and small families.
The leading brand in the Wheat Flour segment managed to capitalize on the diversification of its portfolio, either in its own segment, with products such as wholemeal or fortified flour, or through innovation. YA managed to generate an umbrella brand, achieving new consumption occasions and reaching new consumers through cake, pancake or pizza baking mixes, and oat flakes.
By gaining +150k new homes and a 12% increase in frequency, Girasol has managed to climb five places in the Food ranking, entering the Top 20 Most Chosen Brands in this basket. Success has come from leveraging in-home experiences; focusing on the premium segment in the Oils category, targeting mainly the middle class, while also offering affordability in margarines with competitive pricing.
This multipurpose detergent is another brand that surfed the wave of the pandemic. Its achievements include increased loyalty in low SELs, taking advantage of the product versatility, and adding high SELs to its buying household base (+2.9 p.p. in total). Roma climbed 11 places in the FMCG ranking and two in the Home Care ranking, helped by the growth of the Modern Trade.
Versatility and a period of opportunity have boosted the tomato puree brand. Helped by pricing activities such as a “More-for-less” promotion, gifts and discounts, plus larger packs without price changes. Households prepared more meals and sought to save time in the kitchen, supporting a 1.3% increase in purchase frequency. Del Fuerte has gained +5.3 p.p. in buyers, with 210-g, 259-g and 1-kg formats – boosting the category – climbing eight places in the FMCG ranking and three in the Food ranking.
The dairy brand has risen one position in the FMCG ranking taking advantage of in-home consumption, with Creams adding shopping trips (+14%) and buyers (+3.3 p.p.). In turn, Liquid Milk took advantage of the increased retail visits to sell greater volume (+7.1%). Alpura has achieved +7.9% in purchase frequency helped by its migration to channels that grew during the pandemic, such as the Modern Trade, and its downward price strategy.
This toilet paper player has had its performance powered by a premium version offering higher performance, gaining 27 penetration points and becoming the Number 1 SKU in Toilet Papers. As such, Paracas has climbed 19 positions in the FMCG ranking.
The pandemic has turned the kitchen into a meeting place, and data show that 54% of all homemakers have learned new dishes. Molitalia gained 57 million interactions, adding approximately 70k households. Faced with greater purchases, it relaunched the 1-kg format and promoted the “Molitalia family” concept with a 500-g twin-pack including noodles and tomato sauce. Finally, it expanded its Flour portfolio to include baking mixes, offering variety and convenience.
We have continued to ensure the brand and category definitions used are identical across countries, and continuously improved our product classification.
The overall result is that this year’s ranking is our most comprehensive and accurate reflection of global Consumer Reach Point metric.
Kantar is the world’s leading evidence-based insights and consulting company. We have a complete, unique and rounded understanding of how people think, feel and act; globally and locally in over 90 markets.
By combining the deep expertise of our people, our data resources and benchmarks, our innovative analytics and technology, we help our clients understand people and inspire growth.
Explore the data
You can access this year’s Brand Footprint data for all markets and sectors online. Learn more about your brand’s global footprint and the most chosen brands in your sector and market.
Special offer – Our deep analysis in your segment
If you want to see your overall brand performance and identify opportunities for the future through a 10-slide presentation that will bring the Brand Footprint dataset to life, please, contact us or your customer service team for more information.
$2,500 USD per brand
Food for thought
Explore our publications and discover our offering to understand how we help brands grow
