At Tesco's

Just got back from shopping at Tesco's for the first time in ages. Can't believe the power of private label. It's almost 10 minutes before you can see any other brand apart from the retail superpower. In fact, tesco's home produce sections are almost the only unbranded sections left on the planet. Amazing how things change. No wonder retailers are so keen to start with fresh produce!

How did we let ourselves be sucked into this vortex of reduced choice? Instead of more brands on the shelves there are less and less. How can we have real choice if own brand is super-dominant? It seems to me as if brands stand for less and less in this day and age. Whereas there used to be things like a carefully managed brand vision, with some sort of raison d'etre, we're now in an age where a brand only exists to generate cash and fleece the public. if it does succeed in standing for something then someone (usually a fund) comes in and buys the owners out for £30M... I had a meeting today with one family run company who have resisted something like 161 takeover offers they don't sell because they're located in a remote corner of the UK and if they did sell, their 8,500 employees would be fired, destroying the local economy they sustain.

Branding used to have a noble purpose as well as generating income. Clearly, these days it's only a rare minority that can resist the temptation to stand for nothing beyond making a healthy profit or being bought out by a private equity firm.