Rising Stars: Category matters
Rising brands are found more often in specific geographic areas. Besides location, do we also find sweet spots in terms of categories for such brands to thrive?
- Household care and petfoods are promising category targets with twice as many rising brands as personal care (see figure).
- Upcoming brands are more frequent in categories with high rather than low PL shares.
- Rising brands help category growth: Categories with many rising brands increase their penetration by 6% compared to stable penetration in categories with a low number of upcoming brands.
- Exemplary categories with the highest number of rising brands are potato crisps, breakfast cereals, processed cheese, carbonated mineral water and liquid detergents.
- Categories that feature few upcoming brands are colas, washing powders, shaving foams, hair colouring products, and pasta.
Our analysis indicates that some categories are more promising for rising brands than others. Are many rising brands a consequence of category characteristics like need for variety or high consumer involvement – or are manufacturers missing out on opportunities in less active categories? Manufacturers should monitor categories and their dynamics carefully to identify the most promising categories for their new-coming stars.
Our analysis is based on 14,825 brands across 31 countries and 81 categories. To qualify as a “rising star” a brand needed to claim at least 0.5% (but below 5%) in relative penetration in 2013 and to grow this number by at least 50% and at least 1 penetration point over the next three years.
