Coca-Cola has been named the ‘most-chosen brand on the planet’ for the tenth consecutive year by marketing data and analytics company Kantar.
The research firm released its annual Brand Footprint study last week featuring a detailed analysis of global shopper behaviour in 2021.
The FMCG giant’s products were purchased 6.6 billion times during the year, up 3% year-on-year. Toothpaste brand Colgate was the second most-chosen brand, with 57.% of the world buying a tube at least once per year. After a one year break, Maggi also returned to top three, being purchased 3.4 billion times, up 11% year-on-year and saw the biggest global penetration increase (1%) of any brand.
Overall, the study found that in 2021 households consistently focused their brand choice on just 55 brands per year. Some 416 billion brand choices were made, growing 1.4% since 2020. The global top ten brands represented 7.4% of all purchases, growing 3.2% year-on-year, while the global top 50 represented 17.2%, growing 1.8% year-on-year.
READ MORE: Cost of living crisis: Consumers want brands to price products fairly, IPA reveals
Kantar Worldpanel Division global thought leadership director Benjamin Cawthray found that the study provided the world with three “fundamental truths” for how consumers purchase grocery products.
“Firstly, the number of brands shoppers buy has remained consistent over the decade with the average household choosing just 55. The challenge is how to enter a shopper’s portfolio which changes every year. Increasing your household penetration rate is also the best way to grow and the only way to consistently grow year-after-year. Success for small brands means increasing household penetration by 0.5% per year within a market, and for more established brands 1.5%.”
Dove and Vim from Unilever were the only brands from the top 50 most chosen to see growth in each of the ten years Kantar has produced the Brand Footprint study.
Separately, Red Bull saw the biggest CRP gain outside of the top 50 brands, with a 16% increase in CRPs, which is equal to being chosen 77 million more times, the joint tenth biggest increase seen globally, moving up 13 places in the rankings to 65th. This ‘strong performance’ is a continuation of the growth it has experienced for the last four years, increasing CRPs by 170 million since 2017.
India also continued its ‘growing importance’ to the top 50 global brands, representing 23% of purchases in 2021, up from 21% in 2020, while the US decreased in its significance from 19% of purchases in 2020 to 18% in 2021.
“The biggest brands continued to show their strength and resilience in 2021 outperforming the rest of the branded FMCG market. This isn’t a one-off either. Over the last decade they have increased their global reach by 11%, compared to 8% for the Top 50 as a whole,” Kantar CEO Worldpanel division Guillaume Bacuvier said.
“To become a global powerhouse, brands need to achieve some increasingly difficult goals. Global penetration rate of at least 30% is required to join the global top 10 brands, alongside a purchase frequency of at least six times per year per household.”
Click here to sign up to Marketing Beat’s free daily email newsletter
