No Name (brand) - Launch

Launch

On March 21, 1978, Loblaw launched "No Name" with 16 generic or unbranded items in black and yellow packaging. Promoted as "basic products in plain packaging at down-to-earth everyday low prices", No Name promised savings of between 10 and 40 percent over national brands. The launch beat rival supermarket chain Dominion, with its own line of generic products, by 24 hours. Available at Loblaws’ 135 stores across Ontario, full-page ads claimed that No Name offered the best value for money as a combination of price and quality – the result of cost controls associated with using standard instead of custom packaging and the efforts of its own "task force" in negotiating lower priced, bulk orders from suppliers.

The introduction of No Name, along with other generics, coincided with a period of rising inflation rates and consumer complaints regarding the high price of food. Two years earlier, French hypermarket Carrefour unveiled Produit Libres, a line of 50 unbranded products. Loblaws Supermarkets president Dave Nichol modelled No Name on Produit Libres. Although Nichol made no guarantee that the product line would be continued beyond the initial launch, after two and a half weeks more than a million units had been sold. With suppliers trying to keep up with demand, and some products sold out, Nichol declared No Name a “runaway success” that exceeded his own expectations:

But diving headlong into No-Name products, which have had only limited success in France and the United States, was Nichol’s idea. Grocery shoppers have snapped them up at a rate that has astonished even Nichol. In nine months, Loblaws has sold 15 million of them, which Nichol says is enough to make Ontario the largest market in the world for unbranded products. And strangely enough, Loblaws shoppers seem to be developing a brand loyalty to these unbranded products.

A few months after the launch, Loblaw opened the first No Frills store, a deep discount, limited service and selection supermarket, with only 500 items, which featured No Name among its product selection. The opening proved a success and two more Toronto area stores soon followed. Meanwhile, Nichol continued to heavily promote No Name on television and was dubbed "Mr. No Name" by news headlines. While one competitor spoke critically of Nichol for spending so much on advertising, thereby increasing the costs associated with a discount product line, Nichol responded that Loblaw had simply redirected more of its promotional budget towards No Name. Four months after the launch, generic products across all Canadian grocery store shelves accounted for nearly 10 percent of supermarket sales. One year later, Loblaw had expanded its generic line-up to over a hundred items.