Coles to roll out new branding scheme

In a recent move to increase sales, Coles Supermarkets has decided to produce additional home brands. The new brands, "You'll definitely love Coles", "We're sure you'll love coles" and "Coles-Savings-Farmland-Smart Buys" will hit stores early next week.

Currently Coles offers shoppers the choice of Coles, Coles Farmland, Farmland, Farmland Coles, Coles Persona, Savings, Coles Savings, Smart Buys, Coles Smart Buys, Bi-Lo, and most importantly You'll Love Coles.

The new branding system is reportedly designed for overall ease of consumer understanding and knowledge. Coles Group CEO John Fletcher commented late last night that "It's about simplifying our brand by creating a diversity of brandings. It's really that simple."

The new variations on the "you'll love coles" theme will help streamline consumer awareness. Consumers will be able to understand just how much they will enjoy the product they are purchasing.

Keith, father of two, says "I just love Coles chocolate cookies - they're rich and choco-licious", and Ben, full of beans, comments that "Coles baked beans make me go go go - they're bean-riffic!". If these comments - from obviously credible sources - are anything to go by, these new Coles products are destined to be successful.

Coles opposition leader Mr Wool Worths stated early last morning that "this is simply an attempt by Coles to undermine and copy Woolworths' products" and that "the products are clearly a copy of our 'Select' brand."

Mr Imakeatoomuch Money from the ACCC (Aus Coles Consumer Consultation) group said that the public had responded positively to Coles' last re-branding scheme of simply changing the packaging of products and increasing the price. "Being able to pay $3.79 and read an assessment by an authoritative figure for a product instead of paying $1.50 for exactly the same product in a different packet is definitely an advantage," Mr Money said.

IGA Managing Director Mr Ova Charge was outraged over the increase in prices, alleging that Coles must be paying people to say positive things about their products, and that this is why they (the new brands) are more expensive. "They are using pay-offs to generate positive publicity!" Mr Charge exclaimed.

Mr Fletcher rejected this claim, stating that people freely offer their opinions on their products, and that Coles selects the best comments for publishing on its product labels. "Mention 'love' or 'coles' in your description and your halfway there!" Mr Fletcher joked.

Despite differing opinions on the new product brands, Coles is certainly striving to Love Fresh (despite grammatical issues with this slogan that contains no object or subject) with its Innovative Relabelling Scheme (IRS). Will the IRS succeed? Find out next time on Inside Shopper.

The Satire, Mother of Two and Yogurt Fanatic