Wednesday 21 December 2011

Gregg's knowingly undersold

In some parts of the UK, Gregg’s is the luxury option. “Pound…” is now the branding prefix of choice.

As part of our regular contribution to the end-of-year economic stocktake, GOM is pleased to bring to the attention of the nation his eagerly anticipated annual Mince Pie report.

In 2009 GOM concluded that Greggs' pricing power had become more prominent; and that the offerings of Konditor & Cook were not three times better than Gregg's. Scroll forward to 2011, and the floor has been lowered.

The strategic drivers of the mince pie industry are commodity prices, labour rates and availability, premises costs and, above all else, asset utilisation. The killer strategy is asset utilisation. Get them in your shop and then sell them a cup of tea for 80p.

Mince pies December 2011

Pret a Manager
Price each: 1.25p
Price 11/ 08: no price benchmark for 2008 available
Light pastry case, not the usual biscuity crumb; pastry star reinforces communistic branding; vague dusting of icing sugar; more pastry than filling; filling moist but not liquid, not excessively sweet nor too tart, fat currants, hint of spice

Konditor & Cook
Price each: £1.00p
Price 11/ 08: 112%
Case is convincing pastry that has been acquainted with a rolling pin; thin & light case with satisfying fatty flavour; mincemeat maybe lacking spice & seasoning, not moist, no distinguishable individual items of fruit

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference
Price each: 29p (if 12 are bought)
Price 11/ 08: 86%
Fetching star-shaped aperture in centre of top, rather reminiscent of PaM; rather too much biscuit crumb; distinct aroma of brandy; fat, moist fruit; overall effect is of dough rather than mincemeat; not light; pie is more rigid than foil container

Gregg’s
Price each: 30p
Price 11/ 08: 111%
Moist filling; reasonably tart; case a bit more like pastry; slightly malformed with 30% slope; presentation not particularly uplifting; dusting of icing sugar; sold individually; paper/ cellophane bag; cold shop

Pound Bakery (branches throughout North West England)
Price each: 25p (4 for £1)
Price 11/ 08: no price benchmark for 2008 available
Adequate; possibly handmade; not as good as Gregg’s, but cheaper; and tea or coffee for 80p

The research was conducted between 5 and 21 December by our highly-trained, fearless field force of mince pie inspectors.

Thursday 15 December 2011

RBS makes case for Eurozone membership

A letter in today’s Times asks (of the failure of RBS) “what compensation will be paid to the taxpayers, private investors and pension funds that have lost millions…?”

One can only assume that this is an ironical question, since the compensation could only come from the taxpayer, and would represent in moral terms a very quaint form of redistribution.

The fact is UK banking will remain too large to fail and therefore be accountable for failure until we are part of an economy that has other revenue-producing industry sectors of similar scale.

It is, sadly, hardly likely that the UK will develop such industries in our or our childrens’ lifetimes.

Is this not the best, if most humiliating, reason why the UK should be part not only of the EU but of the Eurozone itself? The UK’s version of unrestrained capitalism and an ineffective political oversight have led to the loss of control of both our moral compass and our financial future. For the worst possible reasons membership of an industrially diversified Europe is our only hope.

If they’ll admit us.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

The cat and the non-deportee

Surely Theresa May's cat is merely a reincarnation of Schrodinger's more famous moggy.

It's simultaneously material and immaterial.

Thursday 29 September 2011

Only Producers or Predators?

Ed Miliband seems to have captured in a sound bite a hugely popular distinction. Manufacturing is good, trading in empty ETFs and derivatives is bad.

Extractive industries are good, casino banks are bad. The trade unions love it, and Will Hutton has endorsed it.

The trouble is life isn’t so simple.

Some global manufacturing practices are certainly not good – unless our moral compass now accommodates sweat shops.

Similarly some companies in the extractive industry are guilty of horribly exploitative employment practices and a cavalier attitude towards the environment.

The earnings of some captains of manufacturing and extractive industries are certainly not “progressive” in economic terms.

But more importantly most of us in the UK aren’t really producers or predators at all, in economic terms we’re simply passengers.

Whether we work in the law, accountancy, consultancy, civil service or hairdressing, we do little to add real wealth to the nation’s coffers. Neither do most of us take home obscene bonuses.

We merely help to achieve a modest redistribution of wealth. We ride the pillion of the economy.

Pathetic really. What did you do in the Global Financial Crisis, Daddy?

Tuesday 15 March 2011

The trouble is, I don't know which half

Marketing Magazine, in collaboration with Neilsen, reports that the spend of the top 100 UK advertisers totalled £3.9bn last year.

In financial services, the taxpayer-owned banks led the way, with the combined Lloyds and Halifax expenditure at £81m compared to £48m in 2009; and RBS (Direct Line, NatWest and Churchill) £94m in 2010 compared to £67m in 2009.

Aviva, which rebranded in 2009, cut its advertising outlay from £48.6m in 2009 to £22.7m in 2010.

The three biggest-spending insurance comparison sites (GoCompare, Confused and MoneySupermarket) were up slightly from £63.2m in 2009 to £67.7m in 2010.

Is this spend being converted into brand equity, in the form of enhanced pricing power and margin improvement?

Or is this all just an act of faith?

Thursday 20 January 2011

Web 2.0 finds its pay day - or not

Marketing Magazine reports that McKinsey has given corporate Boards comfort that there has been a positive ROI on Web 2.0 spend.

However a careful reading of McKinsey's research suggests that a conclusion rather better supported by the evidence is that payback "is hard to quantify", as one of their respondents opined.

GOM is not at all averse to social media, being an experimenter and contributor in several domains, with followers numbered well into double figures.

To assess whether Web 2.0 has really found its pay day, perhaps we need to look at how much each corporate has spent to date, and what outcomes have been obtained in terms of contacts made, the measurable impacts on corporate reputation and - heaven forfend! - products bought.

Some rigorous comparisons against espoused business case wouldn't go amiss, either.

Maybe it's too early to start thinking about pay days.