Re-launch of No Name
In 2009, Loblaw re-launched No Name, "the iconic brand and its unmistakable plain black printing on yellow packaging". New product packaging included a return to black Helvetica lettering on a yellow background, along with some limited product illustration. Loblaw executive David Primorac said the company decided to bring back the original colour palette as something familiar to shoppers. "It's something recognizable and it's easy for consumers." Also, for the first time since the early 1990s, No Name television commercials were aired which showed Loblaw Executive Chairman Galen G. Weston in a shopping cart comparison reminiscent of the Dave Nichol commercials of the early 1980s:
Pointing at the cart of "top selling no name products" and then the cart filled with "26 comparable national brands," Weston says the national brands cost $100.38 in its stores, while the No Name brands cost just $73.91. That's a savings of $26.46, he adds. (Based on average prices from May 25 to Nov. 22 in 922 Loblaw-owned stores, the company notes in fine-print.) He then removes any risk involved in switching by saying if you don't like the no name version, Loblaw will give you your money back.
Weston also made reference to the economic recession, noting that "challenging times and you need real, no-nonsense ways to stretch your dollar." A later series of television commercials simply showed text on a yellow background with various promotional lines on how No Name "helps you save." One ad noted, "We don't have a single item under $2. We have 300." David Rosenberg, creative director for Bensimon Byrne, the Toronto agency which created the TV spots, commented that the ads were produced for a fraction of what a standard Canadian TV commercial costs.
With tougher economic times, the company has refocused its attention on its "control label" program. According to vice president Paul Uys, "private brands are very important in a recession." Noting the company's renewed competitive bent, he described how some national brands were infringing on the company's own frozen rising-crust pizza sales. Loblaw switched its product from the President's Choice label to No Name, dropped the price by a dollar and gave it prominent display space. Sales subsequently rebound.
Since the launch of No Name in 1978, the generic line has expanded from the original 16 items to more than 2,900 different products.
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