What comes to mind when the word “co-op” is mentioned?
When the British co-operative association Co-operators UK asked that question earlier this decade, not all the answers were expected or pleasant.
Many Britons described co-ops as old-fashioned and inefficient, said Peter Couchman, a British co-operative consultant.
Couchman, who spoke at the annual meeting of the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), in late June, said British co-operatives used the survey to create a new brand for themselves.
The first challenge, he said, was to accept that there were misconceptions about British co-ops, which are mostly grocery stores.
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Couchman, who before becoming a consultant was responsible for corporate marketing at the Mid-counties Co-operative, said the common complaint of British co-op members was that “they (the public) just don’t get us, no matter how hard we try.”
Francoise Morissette, a faculty member at Queen’s University’s Industrial Relations Centre, said Canadian co-operatives face similar difficulties.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions and ignorance, like you have to be a member of a union to belong to a credit union,” she said.
“Or that it only exists in rural areas and is for poor people.”
Couchman said the solution was to work together on a unified message to represent all co-ops.
Over several years and many strategy sessions, a brand slowly evolved out of the initial survey.
The strategy was to be just as efficient as other grocery stores or travel agencies but emphasize how co-ops are distinct from regular businesses.
That required building upon how consumers who were familiar with co-ops perceived their differences from other businesses.
“The characteristics people identified (in the British surveys) were ethical, idealistic, good citizen, involved in the community,” Morissette said.
The next step was to go public with the brand, which included the difficult choice to replace the “co-op” label with “co-operative.”
“People actually trust the word ‘co-operative,’ ” Couchman said, referring to focus groups and other research on the change.
As a consequence, new signs with the word “co-operative” are going up over the front entrances of co-ops across Britain.
In another change, all retail shops must pass the inspection of a mystery shopper, meeting standards for quality and service, before they will be refitted.
“If you have a good new brand and a lousy store, it’s gone (quickly),” Couchman said.
He said recent surveys show the rebranding project is making a difference in how consumers perceive British co-ops.
Morissette added that the change to one label for all co-ops is especially helpful for co-operatives that don’t have a clear identity with the public.
“In Alberta, there’s a credit union called First Calgary … but you would never know (it’s a co-op) because it’s not in the name,” she said.
A unified logo helps all co-operatives because consumers are likely to try a furniture co-op if they like a grocery co-op.
Although the CCA and its Quebec counterpart, the CCC, have just started work developing a national brand, Morissette is hopeful Canada can match the success of the British model.
“It has achieved their objectives of informing the public, brand recognition and increasing the bottom line. This is something we absolutely have to do in Canada and I’m hoping that in the next five years, it will be done.”
