Like magpies, our industry obsesses over the shiny and new, the fresh, the thrilling and the completely unexpected. Familiarity, consistency, steadiness; calm and composure are all too often undervalued in marketing.
‘Brand excitement’ isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Boring and reliable is not always bad.
In fact, it can sometimes give people just what they want or need.
The global pandemic has created an unparalleled focus for people on health, and healthcare brands, like no other time in recent memory.
However, despite all the vaccination headlines and our new found knowledge of virology, it’s not the new and shiny FMCG brands that people have sought out, it’s those brands that people have history with.
Carex is the number one hand wash brand in the UK, the first company to introduce liquid antibacterial hand wash (in a pump dispenser), and the first to introduce a gel hand sanitiser into the UK.
Our Participation Brand Index data also highlights that they are, in fact, the most ‘un-exciting’ brand bar one (BP) of all those in our UK data.
The Participation Brand Index Shows Carex are the 2nd least exciting brand after BP
As the UK’s leading hand wash, hand sanitisation & hand care brand in the UK, who better to benefit from the pandemic mantra of ‘hands, face, space’?
Initially, products sold out as people panicked.
New deliveries were gone within an hour.
All marketing activity was stopped until months later – when increased manufacturing capacity could match demand.
Only then did the brand start to communicate again to battle with own label brands and the myriad of new market entrants that started to manufacture hand gels, ranging from Brewdog to LVMH group.
This was typical of Carex. No noise, no fuss, no over-stating their importance at a time of crisis; they simply understood their role and made commercials to thank their ‘key worker’ staff for their commitment to the nation during the lockdown.
Whilst some might want to present Carex as some kind of hero, the brand continues to have an understated confidence.
Our Participation Brand Index data shows that in a year unlike any other, Carex was found amongst the least exciting brands to be found in the UK.
But, when viewed through the lens of a participation brand, it far outperforms the likes of Oral-B and Pampers in similar healthcare categories.
Not only that, it eclipses some of the celebrated brand stars of the pandemic like Twitch, Peloton and BrewDog.
There is much to learn from probably Britain’s most understated brand…
In the UK, our Participation Brand Index data shows that Carex is considered one of the brands that cares most about its customers, understanding and meeting their individual needs. In fact, it sits fourth behind John Lewis, Ikea & Oral-B, brands with far higher budgets and profiles.
However, the ‘on-trend’ tech-led brands so loved by young urbanites such as Twitch, Peloton and Monzo simply leave people cold and don’t yet demonstrate how they care for their customers.
Carex is all about caring and protecting people’s hands. To prove this, the brand donated over 500,000 products early in the pandemic to those most in need; vulnerable communities across the UK including Age UK and various homeless charities, alongside emergency service workers and NHS staff.
Actions such as this only further strengthened the existing goodwill towards the brand. Our Participation Brand Index found Carex was highly considered amongst brands helping customers make a difference in their local community; third behind Tesla and Allbirds, each of whom built their brands to do so.
Whilst our Participation Brand Index data highlights that Carex is highly trusted, it also shows that the brand is un-exciting, unprovocative and unchallenging. It’s a brand that people take for granted to do what it promises. The last thing that people want from it is provocation.
At a time of pandemic crisis, people wanted Carex to offer nothing other than reassurance and a demonstration that the brand knows it’s true place in the world. Carex is not alone. We’ve seen how other FMCG brands are considered to lack excitement versus other categories, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Established FMCG bands should show empathy, understanding not overstating their importance. Even the new, up-and-coming FMCG brands should consider carefully their approach to provocation – it’s not always the path to success.
Carex has not been a brand lauded by the marketing community during these difficult times. Instead, it has quietly reinforced its existing market position and increased market share in a growing market despite an onslaught of new competitors.
In an extraordinary year, in extraordinary circumstances; the quiet, unassuming and ‘unexciting’ brand continued to do what it has always done, and further won the trust of a grateful nation.
Carex’s approach is a case study in humility and substance; steering clear of the grandstanding undertaken by so many brands. It teaches us a valuable lesson in how to carve out a credible, meaningful place in people’s lives, just like the best brands do.
