Dive into the success stories from three brands that got it right over the last 10 years
Over the last decade, Dove has seen its CRPs grow in every edition of Brand Footprint, one of only two brands in the global Top 50 to achieve such a phenomenal result.
Dove products are now chosen over two billion times a year, which is an increase of 80% in the last decade: 900 million extra in CRPs.
Such impressive global growth has meant it has featured regularly in Brand Footprint over the years and it was, in fact, the brand that saw the strongest growth in our inaugural edition of the publication.
What’s even more remarkable about this continuous growth is the effect of the pandemic: the Health & Beauty sector suffered, as did many brands, but Dove managed to see continued growth despite the obvious challenges.
Dove’s growth can be put down to the fact that the brand has consistently gained more shoppers. More than a third of the global population now buys it. That is more than 450m families using the brand each year, a number which has risen by over 100m.
Year after year, it reached more households and, in turn, the brand saw an increase in the number of times each household bought it.
But what’s key is the degree of change. The number of shoppers increased at a higher rate: it was over double the increase in frequency, with the brand’s increasing shopper base accounting for 68% of the brands growth. Only 32% came from the change in frequency.
So how has Dove achieved this? Through innovation, strong purpose-driven communication, category extensions and renovations.
Since 2010, we have seen the launch of Dove Men, Dove Baby, Dove Hair Care and most recently this year the relaunch of its body care range - Body Love Collection.
Time and again, the brand has actively looked to shatter beauty stereotypes and go against toxic beauty standards. This started in 2004 with its ‘Real Beauty Campaign’, after the brand found that only 2% of women considered themselves to be beautiful. The journey has only evolved since then, to what is now a social brand mission that led to multiple initiatives, like the Dove Hair Crown, a campaign and range of products designed to end race-based hair discrimination, and its recent fight against digital distortion in ads and social media.
Dove has proved beyond doubt that having a clear purpose and acting on it drives business results.
Of course, none of this means that Dove can rest on its laurels. We live in a world where even the most successful brands have both challenges and growth opportunities. In 12 markets, penetration is over 50%, with a high of 73% in Bolivia. In its two key markets, India and the US, it’s bought by over 190m households.
There are still many countries where penetration is low. In South Korea, it is just 6%. There is plenty to aim at for the next decade of growth, with millions of potential shoppers remaining in India, Mainland China and across Europe. All this, while the brand continues its mission to reduce plastic as part of its packaging rethink, to further evolve its Planet protection initiatives and to be recognised for environmental credentials on top of social ones.
Prior to 2021, Dettol was also a consistent grower, with nine years of back-to-back CRP increases. Its growth was both consistent and strong. Double-digit growth happened in four of the previous eight years (pre-COVID) and outperforming the Top 50 was the norm.
COVID-19 accelerated Dettol's growth, which saw six years of CRP gains in 2020 alone, when the brand grew 40%, with a 5.5% penetration-point increase. This increase was not just the biggest global gain that year, but the biggest we have seen in the history of Brand Footprint.
This equated to 68 million more Dettol shoppers – a gain 2.5x bigger than any other ever seen.
Such an achievement comes down to consistency across markets. Dettol had 1% penetration or higher in 22 markets, and the brand grew its number of shoppers in all of them. Last year, when we spoke to Pankaj Duhan, Dettol Global Category Director, he said this about how the brand had adapted to the ever-changing situation:
“The first task was to make sure there was ramped up supply and it took many months to be able to truly cater to it. At the same time, it was important to recognise that preventative hygiene habits like hand washing were the true defence against COVID-19.
Dettol partnered with many national governments and reputed NGOs to spread the message of the importance of hygiene habits in tackling the spread of the virus. One of the standout examples was the Dettol Hand Wash Challenge, which received over 125 billion views on social media.”
Despite seeing decline in 2021, Dettol has moved from being chosen 450 million times across the globe in 2011 to over 1.1 billion times in 2021. This extraordinary growth means the brand was selected 1.5x more last year compared to 10 years ago, and regardless of this short-term decline, the brand is still ahead of the growth trajectory it was on pre-COVID.
Although the number of shoppers numbers fell as well last year, over the decade the brand has increased its buyer base by over 100m – a 70% increase.
What did the brand do to achieve such phenomenal results? Originally launched in Indian hospitals over 80 years ago, Dettol Antiseptic Liquid was first used during surgical procedures. Since then, the brand has diversified to categories including bar soaps, liquid hand wash, body wash, and even the Homecare sector, with products available in surface cleansing and laundry detergents.
Universally positioned as ‘protector from germs’, it gains most of its CRPs from Asia and in particular India, where it experienced double digit growth in almost every year of Brand Footprint. Dettol’s brand equity there is such that in 2014 the Indian Prime Minister launched its campaign, Swachh Bharat, endorsing its Clean India message as one of his key governmental policies.
Throughout the decade Dettol launched smaller, more affordable packs which helped drive penetration in rural areas and smaller towns across Southern Asian markets. This is reflected in the spend per CRP being $1 and under in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, whereas in Europe it is at least $4.
The brand has also partnered with other Reckitt brands to help address water sanitation issues. In partnership with Harpic and the World Toilet Organisation, the brands announced the opening of the first World Toilet College in Rishikesh in March 2016. The college will teach students the skills needed to design and build toilets and is primarily aimed at young people.
With increasing competition in the soap and hand wash space, Dettol used statistics which showed low levels of access to basic sanitation to grow the category, igniting a social movement to spread awareness and bring out behavioural change around hygiene and sanitation.
During India’s annual pilgrimage, volunteers distributed branded hand sanitisers, bringing a new usage occasion to the market and showing the breadth of its portfolio. Dettol’s Swachh express bus visited many small towns and over 2,000 villages across India. Innovative marketing techniques and the use of local radio stations, leafleting and even tannoys to deliver public announcements on the importance of personal sanitation country-wide.
Dettol now counts the United Nations, the Gates Foundation and several other NGOs as its partners in the fight against poor hygiene.
The brand has plenty of room to return to growth in the future. For example, in the Chinese Mainland, less than one in five households buy the brand, meaning it has plenty of new buyers to target in the years to come.
Returning to our conversation with Pankaj, he had this to say about Dettol’s consistent success, “It has been an unflinching focus on what Dettol does best – ensuring the highest standard of germ protection. This focus has created a very clear purpose and a consistent brand footprint across the world.”
With this unrelenting focus we are sure the brand can return to the same growth path it was on before, gaining more and more shoppers around the world.
In every edition of Brand Footprint there has been one brand that has topped the ranking – Coca-Cola. With growth of 3.5% in both 2020 and 2021, the brand was chosen 6.6 billion times in the latest year.
Over the decade (2012-2021) the brand was chosen on 63.8 billion occasions by shoppers. For context, that is 21 billion times more than the next most chosen brand.
One of the brands key strengths is its availability. Coca-Cola is present in almost every market in the world, with the brand as far back as 1923 aiming to be ‘within an arm’s reach of desire’.
And where the brand is present it tends to dominate. It is the most chosen Beverage brand in 26 (out of 48) markets. And when the brand is not number 1, it often features close to the top.
Not only is the brand the most chosen in our main FMCG ranking, which is based on purchases for consumption in the home, Coca-Cola also tops both the online brand ranking and the out-of-home ranking – another indicator of the brand’s dominance across channels and occasions.
But it has not all been plain sailing for Coca-Cola. Like many brands in the carbonated soft drinks category, they have had to adjust and adapt to changing sugar regulations across markets.
After seeing some CRP decline through the decade, the brand has shown its resilience and has returned to growth with three years of consecutive CRP increases growth to reach an all-time high in 2021. This performance has meant the brand’s footprint has increased 9% since 2011, or in real terms the brand was chosen 500 million more times in 2021.
Coca-Cola’s success has been solely down to shopper recruitment. The number of households buying the brand increased from 460 million in 2012 to just under 540 million in 2021 – a 17% rise. While the number of interactions with the brand per shopper has fallen from 14 in 2012 to 12 in 2021.
The brand is in a unique position. It has the second highest global penetration and, in several markets it has over 90% penetration and exceptionally high purchase frequency. For example, in Mexico the brand reaches 98% of households and is bought 62 times across the year.
In fact, the brand has over half the population buying it in 32 different markets. However, the brand struggles in Southern Asia, where penetration is under 20% and goes to as low as 3% in India.
Over the decade the brand has remained relevant through a combination of new variants, innovative responses to packaging and tie-ins with cultural and sporting events.
When Coca-Cola Zero was launched, it was the brands biggest in 22 years and its first product targeted at men. Rather than being a ‘diet’ beverage, Coca-Cola Zero is positioned as ‘calorie-free’. Its masculine focus is supported through celebrity endorsements, advertising and sponsorships, including the release of Skyfall back in 2012.
The brand also delivered a personal touch through their ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, which took personalisation to 32 countries. It produced 800 million bottles with the most popular 150 names in each market.
Beverage packaging lends itself well to innovation. Under the ‘Hello Happiness’ banner, Coca-Cola in Dubai turned used bottle caps into currency. In a specially constructed phone booth, migrant workers could phone home by inserting a bottle cap as payment for the call.
In 2016 Coca-Cola and PepsiCo united to discuss downsizing their products and cutting back on cut-price deals in stores taking an ethical – rather than a solely profit-driven – stance towards product development and packaging. This is congruent with the growing demand for more sustainable packaging and production, which has only accelerated since.
Adjusting package sizes has a secondary effect: differentiation. In 2015, Coca-Cola launched a 1.25-litre bottle as an alternative to the 2-litre bottle, and a 7.5 ounce can as an alternative to the traditional 12-ounce can, resulting in a 9% spike in sales in the USA.
Prior to the brand returning to growth, 2018 marked the beginning of the revival for the brand. In fact, Coca-Cola enjoyed strong growth in every region other than Mexico (-7%).
Strong performance in China Mainland and the UK paved the way for the brands resurgence in 2018, as it gained more shoppers in both markets. Buoyed by an unusually hot summer and England’s success at the football World Cup, Coke Zero was the key to the brand’s success in the UK — gaining eight penetration points in the 12-month period.
In China Mainland, a focus on smaller pack sizes (both single- and multi-serve) helped drive growth across major cities. Coke No Sugar also performed well, playing to consumer demand for healthier options. Interestingly, the markets where sugar taxes have been introduced are generally where the brand performed best.
In 1971 the brand launched its famous advert, ‘I’d like to buy the world a Coke’. Well, the world certainly likes to buy Coca-Cola and with its ability to adjust to ever-changing challenges we have no doubt that if we were to celebrate the Brands of Decade again in 2032, it will still be the world’s most chosen brand.
