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Brand Footprint
The British ranking of the most
chosen dairy brands
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Dairy
Setting the scene and introducing the top 20 brands of 2019.
Dairy: everywhere, everyday
Dairy products are ever present in
most consumers’ lives, and
certainly in their shopping baskets,
with 94% of households buying the
sector in an average week. The
sector has a unique challenge, and
opportunity, because many of the
categories within it are co-
dependent on other foods and
drinks. For example, butter is only
consumed on or in something and
milk’s success is intrinsically linked
to the popularly of hot drinks and This Brand Footprint report is
cereals. So the growth or decline in being published at a time of
demand for things like sandwiches huge behavioural and
and black tea, naturally have a economic change due to
strong impact on the fortunes of COVID-19. At the time of
dairy brands. Successful dairy writing this situation is
brands must therefore be fully ongoing and the long-term
alert to wider consumption outlook is unclear.
trends. Read more
Two substantial forces are driving Retailer shares of dairy category
change and growth in the sector.
The first is the discounters, in which
brands are becoming a more
common sight, and this increase in
distribution is naturally having a
positive effect on sales.
Top 20 Dairy Brands
The second factor is the rise of
plant-based dairy. We include dairy
alternatives in this report because
they can play the same role as
traditional dairy at the moment of
consumption, whether chosen for
perceived health benefits or due to
intolerance. A category which
didn’t even exist a few years ago,
dairy alternatives are in significant
growth, with fast-expanding ranges
and wider availability. Dairy
alternative brands are launching
products across multiple categories
while traditional dairy brands are
creating plant-based alternatives of
favourite products.
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Changing definitions
Finding new moments of consumption is a powerful lever for growth. Dairy is a complex market with many
sectors for growing brands to stretch across.
One way that brands can grow is
by identifying shifting patterns
of consumption, whether that is
yoghurt brands playing into the
breakfast occasion or cheese
brands creating snack versions
for eating on the go.
While sales of adult yoghurt are
down 1% this year, the luxury sector
is in strong single digit growth. This
is an opportunity that Müller, the
number one dairy brand,
capitalised on with the launch of
Amore. In a development which
reflects our requirement for
products which meet multiple
needs, Amore appeals specifically
to super-creamy yoghurt shoppers,
and is also fat free and high in
protein. The brand has also
launched gin and tonic flavour
yoghurts in a six-pack to appeal to
the fashion for all things gin.
Hear more from Marcelina Fedczyszyn on why understanding the
dairy market and beyond is key to discovering opportunities for
growth for dairy brands.
Oykos, although currently outside
the Top 20 in position 29, had a
very significant growth of 28% in
CRPs this year. This is because the
luxury yoghurt sector is in growth
and the brand has attracted new
shoppers, increasing penetration by
two percentage points to 15%. This
year the brand launched, Oykos
Signatures, which is multi-layered
with a solid base of either biscuit,
nuts or shortbread designed to
appeal at the dessert yoghurt
occasion.
Arla is a brand that is very Top requested by children dairy products
successful at moving into new (excluding milk)
spaces of the market through new
product lines. The brand, in
position 15, grew CRPs by 13%
driven by increasing frequency by
22%. The brand encompasses
several product lines, with Skyr,
BOB and Organic all growing
particularly well. This year it
launched Arla Explorers yoghurts
aimed at children, with 30% less
sugar than other children’s
yoghurts.

The roast and ground coffee
market is having a craft-like
revolution at the moment with
many people making their favourite
brew at home. The dairy
alternatives brands have been
quick to identify this changed need
for their products. Swedish brand
Oatly launched a foaming barista
milk which doesn’t separate for use
in both coffee and tea. The brand,
which has expanded rapidly in
recent times, also launched three
flavours of ice cream, more recently
followed by a fourth, into Tesco.
Innovate to grow: Yoghurts lead on dairy innovation
Alpro, in position three, is the
highest placed of the dairy-free
brands in the ranking with strong
growth of 4% in CRPs. The brand
this year also launched a barista
milk, available in soya, oat or
almond, specifically formulated to
complement the coffee occasion.
Alpro had a brand relaunch in
summer 2019 with a new look and
feel, and a number of new
products. This included Greek
yoghurt and low calorie ice-cream.
Its UHT range has been particularly
successful, growing at 29% year on
year, an increase of £17 million.
Free from dairy sales mirror trend in other aisles
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Smart snacking
Dairy competes with confectionery, biscuits, savoury snacks and fruit as options for those moments we
need a boost between meals.
Snacking has been in growth for a
number of years now and 125
million more snacks were
consumed in the last year alone.
With consumers’ heightened
awareness around sugar affecting
products like children’s yoghurts,
cheese brands have stood to
benefit as a sugar-free and protein-
rich alternative.

Cheestrings rebranded this year to

Strings & Things and expanded its
range. The brand, in position 23 of
the Brand Footprint ranking, had
had an increase in CRPs of 13%.
New additions this year included
cheeshapes featuring emojis and
manufacturer Kerry Foods brought
Yollies - individually-packaged
yoghurt lollies positioned for
lunchboxes or snacks - into the
Strings & Things brand.
Brand focus: Mini Babybel
Mini Babybel, in position 17 of this
year’s Brand Footprint, has the
second highest growth in the
ranking at 20%. This is driven both
by more people buying it resulting
in a penetration rise of 5% and
people buying it more often, with
frequency up 13%.
The brand is very well positioned to
benefit from the growth of cheese
as a whole and specifically mini
portions which grew 16% over the
last 12 months to be worth £136
million.
Mini Babybel’s key innovation this
year was Mini Rolls, a new format
devised to appeal to older
children. It has been highly
successful, the sixth best-selling
NPD in cheese, delivering £700,000
sales in its first year, of which 8%
was incremental to the lunchbox
category. Mini Babybel Original
remains the biggest part of the
portfolio, but Mini Babybel Lighter
is driving growth this year, playing
into consumers’ ongoing focus on
health.
In terms of distribution, being listed
in the discounters has been key to
the brand’s growth, which is also
very successful at Tesco and had
significant growth in Asda this year.
Not captured in this ranking, which
covers take-home grocery sales,
Babybel has also now become
available in the Boots meal deal in
the smaller three-net format, in
the smaller three-net format, in
both light and original, a move
which has proven popular. Babybel
Original became the third best-
selling branded chilled snack in
Boots in the first 12 weeks after
launch, demonstrating that the
listing enabled the brand to better
target adults.
Ice cream is the classic dairy
snack product and although
overall sales paled in comparison
to an extremely good summer in
2018, many brands are still
gaining share. Wall’s Magnum, in
position 14, continued to perform
well this year with growth of 2%.
The brand successfully launched a
vegan version to broaden its
market appeal. It is however the
mass appeal of Magnum tubs as
well as the white chocolate and
cookie flavour range which has
driven growth this year.

Nuii was new to the market this

year and launched as a handheld
luxury ice cream with a unique
focus on natural and worldwide
flavours. Launched in February
2019, the brand has already
reached a penetration of 6% and is
fifth place in Kantar’s 2019 FMCG
Innovation ranking.
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Sustainable futures
Dairy brands are looking to do the right thing, as it’s clear shoppers want the industry to take the lead.
As with every sector,
sustainability is in the mind of
dairy consumers, retailers and
brands alike. Consumers care
about sustainability, but they feel it
is the job of the brands and
retailers to present them with the
solution - Kantar’s recent Who
Cares, Who Does study reveals that
only 20% of people believe that it is
their responsibility to use less
plastic. It might just be however
that legislation gets there first, with
the 2022 Plastics Tax recently
announced.
And when it comes to
sustainability, sometimes the old
ways are the best. There is some
evidence that the milkman is
coming back into fashion; in the
year to October 2019, milk delivery
gained 7% more shoppers. This is a
positive move away from plastic,
bearing in mind that 99% of the
packs sold in this channel are glass
bottles. As the impact of the
bottles. As the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic was felt, even
more were attracted to the channel
to the point that food essentials
delivery service Milk & More shut to
new subscriptions and had to
operate a queuing system for
operate a queuing system for
access to its website. Only time will
tell if this new customer base will
stick with doorstep delivery once
the crisis has receded.
As part of Unilever’s
#GetPlasticWise intiative, the
Solero organic peach range was
launched in wrapper-less
packaging this year as a trial,
achieving a 35% reduction in
plastic compared with the original
format. The recyclable cardboard
packaging was created with
compartments to maintain the
quality of the product with less
need for plastic wrapping.
It can be a big job to minimise a
brand’s environmental footprint,
acknowledged by Cathedral City as
it announced its plan to make all
packaging recyclable by 2022. The
UK’s second biggest dairy brand
grew by 5% this year; mature
cheddar is the best performing
variant, with the brand’s 550g pack
driving growth. The brand also
launched The Big Slice format and
lactose-free block cheese.
A breakdown of the cheese market
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Healthy focus
To be healthy can be taking out, adding in or even moving into emerging sectors.
One third of food and drink is
now consumed with health in
mind, a proportion that has
risen over the decades. Health
can be considered both positively
and negatively, either as
ingredients to include in the diet or
things to avoid. With the focus on
the sugar tax which became
effective for soft drinks in 2019,
there have been efforts to take
sugar out of dairy as well,
particularly products aimed at
children. In other respects, dairy
with its high protein content has
been seen as a relatively healthy
choice. However, there is an
expectation that saturated fats
could be the next focus for
legislation so more light versions of
traditional favourites seem likely.
Yeo Valley is the sixth largest
brand in this year’s dairy ranking
with a growth in CRPs of 1%. This is
all the more impressive as the
yoghurt market has at the same
time declined in value by 1%. Yeo
Valley, with organic credentials, is
well positioned as a healthy brand
and this has certainly helped with
its performance. Building on this,
the brand launched a Kefir variant
the brand launched a Kefir variant
at the end of 2018 which taps into
two key trends: gut health and
provenance. Kefir has been the
strongest product in terms of
growth, backed up by natural
yoghurt, growing at 17%, and
Greek style yoghurt, up by 32%.
The cream sector has grown this
year by 4%, but the growth is
driven by the light products as
people focus on indulgence in a
slightly healthier way. Elmlea has
grown CRPs by 1%, driven to a large
extent by its presence in the
discounters; in Lidl alone, the brand
has grown by 1% in the last year.
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Levers for growth in action

The 2020 Brand Footprint ranking has examples of brands responding to trends and using all of the levers for
growth to find new ways to grow. Here are a few of the notable examples.
Levers for growth

Mini Babybel - became Strings & Things - Arla - launched Kids Cravendale – targeted the Alpro – launched Barista
available as part of the rebranded and included Explorer Yoghurts holiday occasion milk for the coffee occasion
Boots Meal Deal Yollies

Elmlea – listed in the Activia – moved into Magnum – provided white Oykos – launched Lurpak – moved to
discounters smoothies chocolate and cookies for Signatures to attract ‘butterbox’ because the foil
younger consumers consumers as a dessert wrapping wasn’t easy to use
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Disruptors
Challenges and opportunities coming into view.
Disruptors

The Fat Act High protein Rise of the milkman

Will dairy fats be caught in the government’s Consumers look to their drinks to boost protein On trend for less plastic waste and buying local
focus on calories? intake
Further
Furtherreading
reading
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The British ranking of

the most chosen
dairy brands
At Kantar, we believe that in order to grow brands need to be
chosen more often and by more people. Now in its seventh year,
Brand Footprint is our global study of which brands shoppers are
choosing to buy, and why. The metric used for Brand Footprint is
called Consumer Reach Points (CRP) and is calculated by
looking a penetration and frequency in combination with the
number of households in the country. Consumer Reach Points is
the most comprehensive measure available of how many times
a brand is chosen from retailers’ shelves.

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