SPAR has unveiled a new UK-wide brand positioning that celebrates the individual characteristics of its convenience stores.
The new brand positioning, 'The Joy Of Living Locally’, launches in the retailer's stores and across its digital communication channels in January.
New SPAR Branding
SPAR UK, which invested significantly in its operations last year, is using three new pillars to bring the positioning to life in-store – 'value on your doorstep', 'nurture our neighbourhoods', and 'passionate about local'.
According to Suzanne Dover, SPAR UK brand & marketing director, “We saw that we needed to showcase what makes SPAR unique and the meaning behind our strapline ‘There for You’. As a result ‘The Joy Of Living Locally’ brand positioning was born.”
“Since 2020, we have looked at our brand to understand what it really means to our customers. At the same time, we have been in the middle of a pandemic, where our stores have been valued for meeting the needs of consumers for local convenience, availability of products and friendly services, when it was needed most."
Branding Creativity
Moving forward, each pillar will have its own distinctive creative badge, which will also be incorporated into future store designs and across all marketing collateral.
The pillars aim to communicate to shoppers how SPAR attempts to add value through promotional activity or everyday pricing, nurtures neighbourhoods by employing people from local communities, supports local causes and charities, celebrates neighbourliness, and showcases local food and producers through its passionate about local pillar, the retailer said.
In addition, a new typeface, dubbed the ‘SPAR scribble’, will be used in-store and on all communications, together with a complementary colour palette to the existing SPAR company colours of green, red, and white.All five SPAR wholesalers are sharing the new positioning and expression with independent retailers and company-owned stores.
'A Significant Step Forward'
“We have taken ‘The Joy Of Living Locally’ into research and consumers love the new positioning and creative expression, saying that it is modern, progressive and a significant step forward for SPAR in the UK," Dover added. “Consumers have rapidly reassessed how they have used convenience stores over the past two years and they have told us that when we put the needs of the community at the heart of our offer, it is very motivating for them.”The new look launches in SPAR stores during January with the ‘value on our doorstep’ pillar. SPAR is working with multi-award winning advertising agency Genesis in Belfast on the new brand positioning.
In March of last year, SPAR UK announced it was extending its partnership with Too Good to Go.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Conor Farrelly. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
