The Future of Copycat Products on our Shelves
There has been much in the press recently about original brand owners fighting the supermarket giants for what it considers a "trademark infringement". The recent court ruling of the Thatcher's (cider) vs. Aldi case, in favour of the original brand, is likely to have a significant impact on future food and drink lookalikes.
This isn't a new phenomenon. The consumer group Which? in 2013 found some 150 products in similar packaging and revealed that, of the 2000+ people surveyed, 20% reported buying a copy by mistake instead of the brand.
An article in the Sun, back in 2017, quoted that the "lookalike product is mistaken for the brand in 20% of cases when both are present on shelves". This apparently increased to 64% when only the copycat version was present.
We are curious what this means for existing lookalikes that we have been used to seeing on our shelves for many years. We suspect it would be too late for those who have already had another business take unfair advantage of their established trademark to make a claim.
For future marketing and creative departments, it's now time to be original and find alternative ways to appeal to the consumer as to why we should change brands.
What are your thoughts?
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Fiona McDonald
Business Operations Manager
Fiona McDonald is an experienced recruitment professional with a degree in Hospitality Management. With more than 25 years' recruitment industry experience, having worked across temporary and permanent agency recruitment, in-house and executive search, she has supported businesses and senior professionals across Food & Drink Manufacturing recruitment, Engineering, HVAC, Fire & Security, Commercial and Hospitality.
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