Coca-Cola is once again Ireland’s best selling brand, and will have held that accolade for 10 straight years if they manage to retain the title in 2012. On the back of their extremely successful ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, it seems like a good bet they’ll achieve a full decade’s reign at the top.
The latest figures have been compiled by Nielsen and Checkout Magazine, and provide an interesting insight into consumer trends – both old habits and new developments.
Despite Coca-Cola’s continued dominance, Irish brands feature strongly in the top 10. Avonmore milk is second, followed by Brennan’s bread. Despite various high-profile campaigns - most notably the already infamous cheese and onion chocolate - Tayto crisps have dropped a spot to sixth, losing a place in the top 10 to Cadbury’s Dairy Milk: the first ‘new entry’ into the top 10 brands since 2009.
Appropriately, 7up weighs in at number seven.
In terms of rising popularity, Glenisk yoghurts (39th), Galtee sliced meat (81st) and Cully & Sully (91st) have seen particularly significant increases, while Pringles (34th) have enjoyed a renewed burst of popularity in the aftermath of being acquired by Kelloggs.
Some high-profile brands have dropped down the rankings since last year. Some of the more notable decreases are Club soft-drinks (settling at 21st, a drop of four spots), Red Bull and Kit-Kat. Bottled water brands Deep River Rock (Coca-Cola’s water offering) and Volvic dropped eight and nine spots, respectively.
As for closest competition? The Innocent line of fruit juices is duking it out with long-time market leader Tropicana, with the ‘newcomer’ (90% owned by Coca-Cola, again showing a presence throughout the top 100 and not just the top spot) now a mere one spot behind its elder at 30th.
Maureen Mooney of Nielsen observes “when weighing up leading brands’ performance, it’s important to note, as well, that it’s not all about price. Premium products are selling very well in certain categories. For example, the yoghurt category is actually declining, but luxury yoghurt is growing by 9%. For brands competing in that marketplace, you have to be able to hit all those consumer touchpoints.”
Top 10 brands
1. Coca-Cola
2. Avonmore
3. Brennan’s
4. Lucozade
5. Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
6. Tayto
7. 7up
8. Jacobs
9. Walkers
10. Danone
