Heinz tops grocery poll

Geronimo, a London-based, integrated marketing agency has asked housewives up and down the UK to name their ‘most desired’ supermarket brand of the year - and Heinz Baked Beans has come out on top.

The nation’s Top 10 ‘most desired’ brands in 2005 were:

1. Heinz Baked Beans (49.5%)
2. Heinz Tinned soup (42.2%)
3. Fairy washing up liquid (40.5%)
4. Kellogg’s Cereal (34.2%)
5. Nescafe coffee (33.3%)
6. Colgate toothpaste (32.6%)
7. Walker’s crisps & snacks (30.9%)
8. Heinz Tomato ketchup (29.4%)
9. Robinson’s squash (25.0%)
10. Andrex Toilet paper (23.4%)

From a total of 300 of the nation’s favourites, there were a few brands you would have expected to see that were missing from the top 10. Coca-Cola was number 11, Cadbury chocolate bars were number 20, with Hovis only reaching number 29. Surprisingly, L’Oreal was ranked 160 but Dove overshadowed it in the ranks by reaching number 27.

Geronimo, along with the University of Bath asked customers about the particular brands they felt most passionately about – rather than those which simply sell the most. The study surveyed 875 housewives via online questionnaire. For each supermarket category, they were asked to name their favourite brands, their level of disappointment and concern if they were unavailable, and their willingness to try other ones instead. The frequency with which respondents mentioned a brand was calculated and then used to rank the brands from the most to the least commonly identified. The results then enabled Geronimo to rank the UK’s top supermarket brands by how widely desired they are and what the nation’s favourites truly were throughout the year.

The findings showed that just five companies provided over half (52.5%) of the top 100 brands. These were: Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Heinz, Pepsico and Tesco (own label).

An interesting finding was that eight of the top 100 preferred brands in the UK were Tesco own label products, including Tesco Cheese which at number 50 beat Diet Coca-Cola at number 52 and Weetabix at number 70. At the same time, Tesco own label ranks ahead of giants such as Nestle, Kellogg’s and Masterfoods in terms of ‘preference points’.

However, there is little evidence to suggest that large brands are the most preferred. For example, Sarsons vinegar was ranked number 12; Colmans mustard number 14 and Branston Pickle, number 20. These are all relatively small brands yet come ahead of giants such as Ariel (number 31), Mars Bars (number 44) and Diet Coke (number 52). Sarsons Vinegar was only just beaten by Coca Cola at number 11.

Andy Snuggs, managing partner at Geronimo comments: "With this survey we have found out which grocery brands consumers feel most loyal to and most passionately about - and the nation loves its Heinz Baked Beans. Tesco is also a firm winner in the shopping trolleys all over the nation each week."