Building Brands During Recessions

SUMMARY

WHEN DOWN IS UP: BUILDING BRANDS DURING RECESSIONARY PERIODS

By IRI Growth Consulting


The COVID-19 pandemic has propelled the market into a recessionary track faster than ever before. As a result, brand leaders have to be swift but calculated in their actions.

To provide insight into the future, IRI’s Growth Consulting Practice studied consumer product companies during the Great Recession of 2007–2009, documenting some of the most critical moves that successful CPG companies took during that prolonged market downturn.  This paper shares lessons learned from that recession, implications for the current crises and guidance to those managing through current COVID-19 recession. 

Highlights:

• Spending across categories demonstrates that consumers gravitate to comfort and personal indulgence during and after a recession.
• Leading CPG growth companies take bold action during recessions, investing where others withdraw.
• Some smaller, private CPG companies used the Great Recession to invest for future growth and ramped up innovation efforts.
• There are six key strategies for driving brand development and growth during a recession, including curating assortment, hyper-segmenting consumers and pursuing opportunistic acquisitions. 

Companies should use the coming weeks to refine their growth strategies, enhance engagement with consumers, capitalize on trial stemming from new consumers entering their brand franchises and categories, and never lose sight of the important fundamentals of building robust, demand-driven growth strategies.

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