And why it matters to challengers and category leaders.

"My category doesn't have elastic shelves" is a common refrain from stressed supermarket buyers.

They're not being difficult.

They've got nothing against your brand.

But every day, they're juggling a dozen key suppliers, hundreds of urgent/important emails – all the while doing their damnedest to grow their category ahead of their competitors.

What they're telling you is each category only has a limited number of spaces available and they need to make that choice based on which roles each of the brands will play; and the resulting blend of brands and products which maximise their revenue and achieve above-market returns.

But what are those different roles? And how might they apply to your category?

We've identified 13 clear and profitable roles a brand can occupy, ranging from the more obvious Category leaders or Halo brands, through Bridge brands and Legacy brands, onto Ransom brands or even Boomerang brands.

The important thing is to understand the roles, identify those that are vacant in your category and see if your brand supports that role. This is critical for challenger brands, as it allows them to take a fruitful place in the ecosystem – filling a different and valuable slot to the Category leaders.

Crucially, it also sets up a platform for evaluating the size of that opportunity – what most buyers will want to know. And for Category leaders, it shows up the weak spots in your category strategy – so you can defend against losing valuable shelf space to upcoming brands.

So let's look at a few examples of those 13 Core brand roles, and how they add more than their sales revenue to the retailer:

1. Bridge brands
   An interesting role that we've successfully applied to a number of brands in chilled food. For example, we found that customers who bought one sausage brand we worked with were happy to trade down to the lower-priced market-leading brand but equally happy to trade up to the retailer's Premium/Finest range. Whereas there was little buyer switching between the market leader and the premium range. As such we occupied a unique 'bridge' position between the two – given the retailer strategically wanted to sell more of their premium range, this was a very valuable position. And one that the market leader couldn't fulfil. Have you thought about what products or own brand's your buyer really wants to sell more of; can you adopt a complementary position?
2. Entry brands
   Entry brands are the route into the category – especially important in less mature categories or markets with lower penetration. We found, working with a vegan cheese brand several years ago, that there was a group of 'vegan-curious' consumers who were interested in trying but felt that buying a block of 'not-sure-what-it's-made-of cheese' was too high a risk at nearly £4 a block. So we developed some hot-eat products which only contained a small amount of the cheese as a way to trial at lower risk. The result? A valuable new audience for the retailers, and two new retailer listings for the brand. And as a bonus these products acted as a 'trojan horse' for other SKU's in the range.
3. Ransom brands
   We love Ransom brands. You usually find them in very emotive categories like baby food. As we found with Cow & Gate milks, there are some categories where, if a consumer can't find their usual brand, then the mother will take her whole shop elsewhere (and a mother's basket value is usually very high). Hence the name 'Ransom brand'- the key here is to understand the wider value of where your brand fits into the consumer's lives.

Where this becomes hugely valuable is that it allows you to build combination roles and reinforce your hold on the category. For instance, you could be the Entry brand and play a secondary role of bringing younger consumers into the category: a double win for the retailer and you!

What's more, it also allows you to create new roles. This involves looking at the category, segmenting it properly and finding what gaps and underlying problems the category faces. And it requires imagination, good quality data and an understanding of what happens in other categories.

So whether you're the category leader wanting to grow the category, or the challenger looking for a valuable role, there's much to be gained from understanding the different roles and how they can apply.

If you'd like to find out more, message nigel@themarketingplace.co.uk and we'll send over the full paper, or arrange a time to Zoom through it with examples from your category.