Brand Health Check: Daddies Favourite

by Jemima Bokaie, Marketing 15-Apr-08, 08:45

LONDON - Daddies Favourite sauce sits alongside Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Colman's Mustard in the British condiments hall of fame. In fact, for many families, the main meal of the day is not complete without a dash of their favourite table sauce, propelling the products to near-iconic status.

Yet, despite its heritage, Daddies is declining in a growing, but crowded, bottled-sauce market dominated by brands that command high consumer loyalty. Sales of the brown sauce, which launched in 1904, slumped 16% to £4.5m in the year to 6 October 2007, according to Nielsen, pushing the brand out of the sector's top 10.

One factor that has contributed to the brand's troubles is a lack of advertising investment following its acquisition by Heinz in 2005 as part of its purchase of HP Foods from Danone. While Heinz, now market-leader in both brown and tomato sauces, boosted its adspend on its other bottled-sauce brands, Daddies Favourite has received no marketing support. Even the daddies.co.uk website carries only HP sauce-related content.

In comparison, Heinz launched a £4m campaign, including TV ads, for its HP brown sauce brand last year, which led to sales growth of 4.5% to £30m in the year to 6 October 2007, accelerated by the introduction of the top-down pack format in January 2007.

To make matters worse for Daddies Favourite, Premier Foods extended its Branston brand into the table sauce sector in 2006. Its tomato variant has overtaken Daddies tomato sauce, while its brown sauce is not far behind Daddies Favourite.

The bottled-sauce market is forecast to grow by 14% to £414m between 2006 and 2011, according to Mintel, but the pressure is on to win share. Innovation in the category has led to a surge of new products and a further challenge is being mounted by brands introduced from other countries. Meanwhile, concerns over healthy eating have led to the launch of variants with reduced levels of sugar and salt. Growth of own-label premium ranges and organic products is also threatening the Daddies Favourite brand.

What can Heinz do to put Daddies Favourite back on dining tables? We asked Kate Waddell, head of consumer brand at branding agency Dragon, and Andrew Marsden, former marketing director at Britvic and HP Foods, and founder of Andrew Marsden Consulting, for their advice.

Diagnosis 1

Kate Waddell practice director, consumer brands, Dragon

It was always debatable how with shifting life-styles, health agendas and eating habits, Daddies' previous daddy, HP, could justify the support of two brown sauces in one portfolio. So, it's no surprise to find Daddies has taken the fall in the Heinz buyout and been deported to the Netherlands, where, if heated blog posts are to be believed, the recipe is being corrupted and the signature taste abused.

One glimpse at the blogs shows there are fans out there searching for Daddies, but they are being met with the 'owners in process of a rebrand' excuse. How ironic, as every day it is off the shelf may signal more converts to HP, or even own-label.

Certainly, lined up against iconic shelf-mates such as HP, Heinz Ketchup or Lea & Perrins, the brand suffers visually. Perhaps the once warm, approachable brand name may now suggest 'Asbo chic' - 'Who's the daddy?' imagery that puts off concerned mums or aspiring foodies. It has done nothing to allay the hype that sauce is processed, over-sweetened, salted rubbish worthy only of the TV dinner-obsessed British slob.

Remedy

Sort the presentation - currently not even ironic 'caff cool'. Revisit on-pack language - 'strong brown sauce' could deter trial.
Claim eating occasions and own them, as Lea & Perrins has with cheese on toast.
Seek celebrity/connoisseur fans - a Delia, Jamie or Gordon on-side wouldn't hurt.
Flaunt the secret recipe and outdo competitors on taste - as it's true.
Generate a Wispa-style viral 'bring back' campaign. Create a Daddies cult.

Diagnosis 2

Andrew Marsden founder, Andrew Marsden Consulting

I must declare an interest in that I used to manage Daddies, but, oh dear, what has happened to this once great brand?

The table-sauce market is full of quirky, traditional brands that are all part of our rather eclectic culinary tradition. Many, like HP and Lea & Perrins, have both provenance and strong regional loyalties; Daddies is one of these brands.

The original owners developed it into an important national player. Although now in the same stable as HP and Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Daddies was always positioned as different.

Today's pack reveals little of this heritage. The presentation has an extraordinary retro feel about it and the pack is dominated by a childish 'thumb through a polo' logo. In stark contrast to its stablemates HP and Heinz, there is no explanation of what the product is all about or what makes it different.

The key question is whether the small growth in HP is more profitable for Heinz than the 16% decline in Daddies. I doubt it. At the current rate of decline of Daddies, such a strategy is flawed.

Remedy

Restore a tangible reason why people should buy. Provenance, heritage and differentiation are all good starting points.
I linked Daddies ketchup with a permanent donation to the NSPCC to magnify the brand imagery. That has been abandoned, but there may be other third-party options.
Establish a stronger culinary appeal. A more artisan approach would introduce a 'farmer's market' element to differentiate its position from HP and Heinz.