{"id":70408,"date":"2026-08-11T11:58:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/70408\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T11:58:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:58:40","slug":"paddy-gilmore-if-going-off-brand-is-bad-why-is-aldis-slice-of-the-market-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/70408\/","title":{"rendered":"Paddy Gilmore: If going \u2018off-brand\u2019 is bad, why is Aldi\u2019s slice of the market growing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 25 years of hearing ideas dismissed as \u201coff-brand,\u201d Paddy Gilmore MBD (Member of the Order of The Drum) challenges one of advertising\u2019s most convenient creative vetoes.<\/p>\n

This month, I\u2019m going to \u201cadvance a thesis,\u201d as they say in academic circles. Normally, you spend four years writing a PhD, eating beans on toast beside a rusty stove, before defending all 637 pages in front of a panel of dried-up academics.<\/p>\n

I ain\u2019t doin\u2019 that. I chose The Drum. Sure, I won\u2019t get the letters after my name, but I might get more readers. [We gave you some letters in the standfirst].<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my thesis:<\/p>\n

Pick, if you will, a comedy double act. Whichever one you like: Morecambe and Wise, French and Saunders or Laurel and Hardy.<\/p>\n

You know the structure. You have the funny one and the straight one. The straight one often provides the setup before the funny one delivers the gag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wise: \u201cWhat\u2019s on the TV?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morecambe: \u201cA fruit bowl and an ashtray.\u201d<\/p>\n

The straight one is dependable, unremarkable, even dull. The spotlight inevitably falls on the funny one. They get the best lines, but without their foil, as they well know, they would be nowhere.<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s my thesis. Imagine brands are the straight one and their marketing communications are the funny one. The brand can be, as I\u2019ve noted, dependable and unremarkable. Its communications can, and I believe should, be witty and entertaining, although brands need to judge when a joke suits the moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I mention all this because one brand has stood out over the summer: Aldi.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Aldi wouldn\u2019t describe its brand as unremarkable, but it is a supermarket. As such, what do we expect? Full shelves, ripe peaches and a cart without one wheel heading north by northwest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, so unspectacular.<\/p>\n

But its communications? Beautiful. During Wimbledon, it came up with this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During the World Cup, it focused on the hydration breaks and came up with this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As the heatwave intensified and more of us had to stay home, it hit us with this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Want to go deeper? Ask The Drum<\/p>\n

And it is happy to jump on a juicy meme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Its #FreeCuthbert campaign even won the Grand Prix at The Drum Awards for Social Media<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And even some confrontation with Nandos:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

All superb, witty work.<\/p>\n

So why does this matter?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you why.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked in marketing for 25 years, initially as a creative and later as a hybrid: a creative strategist or strategic creative. You know the type. I bounced around, doing stints at various agencies, including McCann, BBDO, Rapp and 101 smaller agencies.<\/p>\n

Over time, I noticed something. All too often, I would come up with an idea, execution or scamp, only to be told:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really \u2026 on-brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Often, the person telling me this worked in client services or account management. Y\u2019know, a true expert of brand\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really \u2026 on-brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

I heard it a lot. Was it because I wasn\u2019t good at my job?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps I should have pursued a career in taxi driving or taxidermy. Or both.<\/p>\n

Still, like most people in advertising, I had my hits and misses. Advertising is the closest thing business has to baseball. But I heard the phrase again and again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really \u2026 on-brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many ideas, far too many of them, and not only mine, have been thrown on the bonfire for failing to be \u201con-brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it shorthand for \u201cI don\u2019t like it\u201d?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or perhaps it is the fallback position of many agencies, especially in today\u2019s fearful climate: \u201cThe client might not \u2026 like it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perish the thought of challenging the client\u2019s thinking. Or evolving it. Or improving it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I think: the argument is complete nonsense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A campaign and a brand perform different jobs. There is a dotted line between them, of course, but hardly an umbilical cord and certainly not a handcuff. A brand delivers what we need. Its communications generate interest, amusement and engagement around why we might need it.<\/p>\n

Looking at an ad and saying it is \u201coff-brand\u201d is a bit like looking at a dog and complaining that it doesn\u2019t moo.<\/p>\n

Voil\u00e0!\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is my thesis. I\u2019ll now defend it with a graph showing Aldi\u2019s growth over the past two decades. \u00a0Aldi\u2019s commercial decisions will not always work, but its rivals should recognize that the supermarket is doing something very, very well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frankly, the joke\u2019s on those that don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Paddy Gilmore is managing director of Studio Gilmore. Read more opinion from Paddy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 25 years of hearing ideas dismissed as \u201coff-brand,\u201d Paddy Gilmore MBD (Member of the Order of The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21128],"tags":[21143,20414,29907,52382,52383,1027,21144,43],"class_list":["post-70408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aldi","tag-aldi","tag-brand","tag-creative","tag-creative-thinking","tag-funny-matters","tag-marketing","tag-sud-nord","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}