From overestimating its profits by more than £250m and short-changing suppliers, to inadvertently selling horse meat and a hygiene scandal at one of its chicken suppliers, Tesco has often found itself hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years.

Despite this, it remains the UK’s largest supermarket with a 28% market share, according to Kantar Worldpanel figures. And since Dave Lewis took over as CEO in 2014 – when its YouGov BrandIndex score (based on a combination of metrics including quality, value and recommendation) had plummeted to an all-time low of almost zero – perceptions of the supermarket have been on a steady upwards trajectory. It now has a score of 23.6, although it is still behind all of its major competitors.

Consolidation; changing consumer behaviours; the threat of Aldi, Lidl and now Amazon; as well as inflation and the proposed merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda, are all making the grocery sector increasingly competitive and hard to succeed in.

One thing, however, has remained consistent since Bellini started her first job in the marketing industry at JWT in the 1980s. People still need brands.

“I genuinely feel while everything is changing, nothing much is changing at the same time,” she tells Marketing Week in her first major interview since taking on the role. “What fundamentally ties people with brands is even stronger today. People need brands; we are surrounded by them all the time, every day. Branding is important because it helps people navigate.”

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com