Brand Ranking
How Latam's biggest brands performed in 2023
The moment of truth is the millisecond when a consumer picks up your brand from the shelf, whether that’s in a hypermarket, supermarket or a bodega.
Brands have, of course, worked hard to ensure that consumers have that choice in front of them at the right price point and tried to activate that decision through marketing. But everything coalesces around the moment when a consumer decides to put your product in their basket or picks a competitor (or decides they can manage without).
The brands at the top of our ranking have combined best practice in every aspect of the journey to ensure that more people chose them in more places, more often.
In Latam this year, consumers have faced that moment of truth more often. People are picking at least one brand a day across the region as they curate an annual brand basket of 90 brands.
The Blueprint for Brand Growth highlights what drives brand growth and in these case studies – for categories and individual brands – we’ll showcase the brands that topped the charts, those that have grown penetration most strongly as well as those that are up in terms of frequency.
They provide the benchmarks that all brands can use to test their performance, to inspire them to predispose more people, to be more present and to find new spaces.
Best at Penetration and Frequency
Among the FMCG brands in our ranking, those that grew penetration fastest overall included Pepsi, up 6.4%, Sprite up 3.3% and Pringles 2.8%. Downy was at Number 4, having been No. 1 in 2022, demonstrating its ability to continue to find new spaces.
However, what we also see is a dramatic shift for all sizes of brand to frequency. When the data for 2022 is compared to our newest numbers we see that both penetration and frequency and frequency alone rising from Small brands to Super brands.
Even among Small brands the percentage of growth that comes from penetration and frequency has risen by nine points to 55% with frequency alone up from 7% to 12%.
The trend on frequency alone is most dramatic for Super brands. Last year they recorded just 2% growth from frequency, this year it’s 18% and that’s combined with a six-point increase for penetration and frequency combined.
Key growth brands and categories
BeverageWhile many categories are a mix of global and local brands, the non-alcoholic beverage sector is dominated by the global giants. Coca-Cola remains the big beast of the category but has still managed to grow CRPs by 6.7% across the region. The brand’s performance in Brazil alone would take the No. 2 spot in the Beverages category with 610m CRPs across the year.
In search of continuous growth, Coke has sought out new spaces and moments outside meals with individual and smaller formats. They are also looking to build the brand with Gen Z via new flavours, different editions and no sugar products are a big part of this.
It may have a way to go, but Pepsi is doing all it can to get closer to Coke and this year’s activity has helped it hit 605m CRPs. It’s the only brand in the Top 5 to show double digit growth.
Pepsi No Sugar has been front and centre of the brand’s messaging this year and is responsible for 50% of the growth seen in CRPs. No Sugar has proved to be a powerful growth accelerator for the brand, with a good repeat rate and flavour, backed by strong media activity and a focus on modern trade, where No Sugar is more important. By using all potential accelerators to maximize growth, Pepsi is gaining frequency among omnichannel consumers.
Across the category, growth is dominated by big brands and Beverages shows the lowest incidence of private label.
DownyProcter & Gamble’s Downy has a continued success story in this year’s Brand Footprint. It has grown its CRPs by nearly 14% (13.9%) and hitting a penetration of 42.7%.
The fabric conditioner brand attracted nearly 4m new shoppers on the back of penetration growth of 2.7 points. While many brands have grown via a combination of penetration and frequency, Downy’s growth comes mainly from penetration (6%), which it has been boosting since 2017. Frequency is up 3%.
This year’s contributions to come from across the region with Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Central America all contributing.
Downy has also joined an exclusive club of brands that have managed to keep growing for more than five years. It’s done this by adapting its premium price through multiple formats, allowing more people to purchase, and it's reinforced its brand with new fragrances.
TakisGrupo Bimbo’s Takis brand has been outperforming much of the Snack category, boosting CRPs by 33.6% in 2023. Growth has come from Bimbo’s home market of Mexico, where it’s up 30 places, Chile, where it has climbed a similar amount, and it’s also entered the Nicaraguan market for the first time.
Both penetration and frequency have soared, with the former up 19% and the latter up 14%, across the region.
The brand has sought to predispose more people by launching new flavours and moving away from its traditional Mexican taste. In 2023 it launched Dragon Sweet Chili, promising a “mythical taste experience” that embraced the classic Takis intensity with a touch of electrifying sweet heat.
Takis Blue Heat, for example, has outperformed the market and demonstrated the power of innovation, hitting 4% penetration in Mexican market in just three months.
Unilever Personal CarePersonal care did not grow that much as a category, but Unilever managed to outperform its rivals with three brands that demonstrated exemplary performance. Closeup, Rexona and Sunsilk/ Seda/ Sedal all performed well across the region. Closeup was the best performer, albeit from a lower penetration base, with 16.5% CRP growth.
Closeup benefited from Innovations in the form of natural toothpaste and multi-vitamin offerings in its premium range, while Rexona became an official sponsor for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, giving it a new platform to predispose more people.
Sunsilk/ Seda/ Sedal also offered new products designed to appeal to more people as well as buffing up its sustainability credentials and becoming PETA accredited. Building on its brand purpose of supporting and inspiring girls, it’s also worked with NGO Girl Rising to offer soft-skill training in schools and online.
