Hovis Bakeries – the new identity for the merged Allied Bakeries and Hovis businesses – burst onto the scene in July after being given the go ahead by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
It had been a long time in the making (even with the CMA approval process fast-tracked) due to the continued struggles facing both firms in the bakery market. Indeed, Hovis’ most recent accounts showed operating losses had almost doubled to £17.2m in what the 140-year-old business described as an “especially challenging year with difficult trading conditions”.
While a new identity can’t wipe the slate clean or eliminate the wider market challenges, it can provide a signal of hope for the heritage brands, their employees, and those who do business with them.
“It’s a very sensitive brand to create,” Leo Hadden, head of strategy at branding agency BrandOpus, tells British Baker. “As with any merger or acquisition, there are people and livelihoods involved, and we needed to be mindful of those… We also had to take on board the vision to be category leading and bring a renewed energy to what has been a difficult decade.”
“This is a business that’s capable enough to lead the category and vital enough to grow it”
Having previously worked with Allied, BrandOpus was no stranger to the bakery market which Hadden describes as “a bit brow beaten”. This meant the new brand identity had to count, particularly as it applied to the B2B brand not the consumer facing ones.
However, the latter are expected to get their own investment as Hovis Bakeries CEO Sarah Arrowsmith acknowledged in a recent interview with The Grocer that Hovis and Kingsmill weren’t supported as well as they should have been, but this would be rectified with a £10m marketing spend already in place for the next year.
“This identity and the positioning [of Hovis Bakeries] is as important for the people in the factories and driving the trucks as it is in the suits in the boardrooms,” Hadden notes. “We wanted it to feel like this is a business that’s capable enough to lead the category and vital enough to grow it.”
That’s how they got to the idea of nourishment, something which Hovis Bakeries appears to have wholeheartedly got behind with its tagline ‘Nourishing the Nation’.
“It needs to create a presence for Hovis Bakeries that marks where the business is today and where it’s going to tomorrow. And that’s why this idea of nourishing the nation is the one that rose to the top,” he adds.
It’s something that has been recognised by others in the market as well.
Leo Campbell, co-founder at Modern Baker which has a three-year licensing agreement with Hovis to produce Superloaf, described the move as a “clear signal of intent to revive one of Britain’s best-loved brands by returning it to its roots – making everyday bread a health-positive food”.
“It is also encouraging to see such an important part of the UK food system move into ABF ownership, backed by a business with deep food heritage, scale and a long-term view. That matters because bread is not a niche category, it’s the country’s most important staple food,” Campbell adds.
A symbol of convergence
Taking a closer look at the assets of the new Hovis Bakeries logo, Hadden says the mark itself is a “symbol of convergence” representing not only the unification of Allied Bakeries and Hovis, but the essential elements of making bread – flour from the ground, water in the dough, air in the rise, heat in the oven – which come together to “create something that is greater than the sum of their parts”.
Notably, there isn’t a wheat sheaf or bread slice in sight as BrandOpus wanted to create something that “sits on a different plane to the consumer brands”.
“Branding and creativity as a strategic business tool, not a decorative exercise,” adds Hadden. “The major trapping there is basically ending up with something that fits in more than it cuts through. That’s why we actively avoided any of the category tropes because all they do is say we are a bakery business and that, quite frankly, is obvious from the name.”
While Hovis Bakeries likely has a long and challenging journey ahead of it, particularly as it looks to create a ‘sustainably profitable UK bakeries business for the long term’, the new brand is a beacon of positivity for what will hopefully be a promising future.
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