By David Orgel

Albertsons Companies has undertaken a “rigorous process” of rethinking three of its biggest own brands over the past couple of years and has relied heavily on consumer input.

The results are now showing up in stores.

Katie, Ceclan, Vice President, Own Brands, outlined the journey for reinvigorating O Organics, Open Nature and Signature SELECT during a presentation at the recent Velocity Conference.

“We said the consumer should be at the center at every phase,” Ceclan elaborated. “We had great learnings on how far we can stretch the brands.”

Evolving O Organics

Albertsons decided the O Organics brand needed to become more differentiated from the retailer’s Open Nature brand, which focuses on free-from, minimally-processed products.

“Consumers helped identify how O Organics could evolve for the future,” she said. “Consumers gave us permission to keep moving, be fresh and vibrant, and talk more about sourcing.”

The result was that the brand became “more energetic and spirited.” The retailer refreshed the logo and added vivid color backgrounds and vibrant photography. The brand’s key benefits are being showcased in a new ad campaign.

Enhancing Open Nature

Albertsons had to solve for a few challenges in rethinking Open Nature. The brand needed to be clearer about what it stood for, and the design and messaging required a bit more humor and fun, Ceclan said.

“We decided to lean into the free-from space by infusing the brand with a distinct personality,” she explained. “We wanted to be really clear around simplicity in free-from and what is not in the products.”

The redesign incorporates a distinctive look, a new logo, “iconic” food photography, and witty one-liners on packages.

Expanding Signature SELECT

Signature SELECT, the retailer’s largest own brand, is getting even bigger. The company has announced it is consolidating the Signature family of brands under Signature SELECT.

“Consumers helped us identify how Signature SELECT could evolve for the future,” Ceclan said. “It had too many sub-lines so everything now will go under the master brand.”

Signature SELECT features a refreshed, modern logo; bold packaging; and a new marketing campaign.

“There will be more unification of packaging across the store,” Ceclan added.

The Signature SELECT transition is expected to be completed early next year.

What’s Ahead

Albertsons is eyeing future own brand opportunities for aspects including specialty and seasonal. There are also openings to coordinate key trends across categories.

“We’re really good at innovating within a category but what about across multiple categories?” Ceclan elaborated.

The Velocity Conference took place in Charlotte N.C. last month. Videos of the sessions and photos from the event are now available for viewing.