David Beckham to stand by calamity-hit GO3 |
James Ball, The Grocer 17 October 2009 In: Industry news, Frozen
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GO3, the frozen food range fronted by David Beckham, recorded sales of just £600 in September, but the football superstar has promised to keep the faith as a series of disasters beset the brand.
The range of healthy frozen foods, all incorporating omega-3, was launched last October in a blaze of publicity, with Beckham featuring on-pack and as an investor.
But less than three months after the launch, the factory producing the ready meals was destroyed in a fire, while the company that produced the meals, Newcastle Productions, fell into administration.
This led GO3 to cancel its in-store and above-the-line campaigns, sending sales into freefall. IRI data shows the six main GO3 frozen lines recorded £150,000 in sales in the month after launch, but fell to just £24,000 in February. Last month, sales were a mere £633.
Data from market intelligence company Brand View suggests the last GO3 food products were delisted from supermarkets in August.
However, the GO3 vitamins and supplements business continue to trade, with sales in excess of £160,000 a year in the mults alone.
"We had the worst luck you could possibly have," said GO3 director of marketing and NPD Lynn Saul. "The fire at our production facility disrupted everything, and as our recipes are bespoke it was almost impossible to outsource production at short notice. Added to that was a change in the frozen category as a result of recession the goalposts shifted to high-volume lines for £1. That's not our product."
Saul said the company was talking to retailers and producers about redeveloping the range to include more categories, which she hoped would be on-shelf by mid-2010.
And a spokesman for David Beckham said the footballer remained committed to the brand and would continue to be the face of the new range.
But brand analysts warned its prospects would remain difficult.
"David Beckham is a bad fit for food generally and particularly poor for these products," said Ned Colville, senior consultant at The Value Engineers. "Omega-3 is associated with brain development and concentration but Beckham's known for his sporting prowess rather than intellectual ability.
"Frozen food is a tough category for pester power to work in, as children don't look in freezers, in-store or at home. There's no time for them to recognise the brand. Beckham is a great fit for a lot of products, but the large range dilutes his power. There are limits to brand Beckham."
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