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No Name (brand)
No Name (stylized in all lowercase as no name, French: sans nom) is a line of generic brand grocery and household products sold by Loblaw Companies Limited.
No Name products are available in stores across Canada that include Loblaws, Dominion, Extra Foods, Fortinos, Freshmart, Maxi, No Frills, Provigo, Real Atlantic Superstore, Real Canadian Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart & Pharmaprix, SuperValu, Valu-mart, Your Independent Grocer, and Zehrs. Additionally, No Name-branded stores were tested in 2023 and 2024.
On March 21, 1978, Loblaws launched "No Name" with 16 generic or unbranded items in black and yellow packaging, including ground coffee, instant skim milk powder, tomato juice, and powdered laundry detergent in a plastic bag. Initially promoted as "basic products in plain packaging at down-to-earth everyday low prices", No Name promised savings of between 10 and 40 percent over national brands. The launch beat rival supermarket chain Dominion, with its own line of generic products, by 24 hours. Available at Stuarts' 135 stores across Ontario, full-page ads claimed that No Name offered the best value for money as a combination of price and quality – the result of cost controls associated with using standard instead of custom packaging and the efforts of its own "task force" in negotiating lower priced, bulk orders from suppliers.
The introduction of No Name, along with other generics, coincided with a period of rising inflation rates and consumer complaints regarding the high price of food. Two years earlier, French hypermarket Carrefour unveiled Produits Libres, a line of 50 unbranded products. Loblaws Supermarkets president Dave Nichol modelled No Name on Produits Libres. Although Nichol made no guarantee that the product line would be continued beyond the initial launch, after two and a half weeks more than a million units had been sold. With suppliers trying to keep up with demand, and some products sold out, Nichol declared No Name a "runaway success" that exceeded his own expectations:
But diving headlong into No-Name products, which have had only limited success in France and the United States, was Nichol's idea. Grocery shoppers have snapped them up at a rate that has astonished even Nichol. In nine months, Loblaws has sold 15 million of them, which Nichol says is enough to make Ontario the largest market in the world for unbranded products. And strangely enough, Loblaws shoppers seem to be developing a brand loyalty to these unbranded products.
A few months after the launch, Loblaws opened the first No Frills store, a deep discount, limited service and selection supermarket, with only 500 items, which featured No Name among its product selection. The opening proved a success and two more Toronto area stores soon followed. Meanwhile, Nichol continued to heavily promote No Name on television and was dubbed "Mr. No Name" by news headlines. While one competitor spoke critically of Nichol for spending so much on advertising, thereby increasing the costs associated with a discount product line, Nichol responded that Loblaw had simply redirected more of its promotional budget towards No Name. Four months after the launch, generic products across all Canadian grocery store shelves accounted for nearly 10 percent of supermarket sales. One year later, Loblaw had expanded its generic line-up to over a hundred items.
In keeping with the generic nature of the product line, the original No Name packaging showed no branding – only text with a basic product description and name, such as "freshly ground coffee" or "fabric softener", on a solid background. Years later, a "No Name" registered trademark appeared. While other generic lines presented their packaging as black on white, Toronto designer Don Watt chose black, boldface text in a Helvetica font, all lower case, on a bright yellow background, as a means of attracting the attention of shoppers.
Throughout the 1980s, Loblaw continued to promote No Name as a value-oriented alternative to higher priced, nationally advertised products. In 1981, Dave Nichol went on television with two grocery carts, one with a selection of No Name items and the other with comparable national brands, to demonstrate a 30 percent savings:
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No Name (brand)
No Name (stylized in all lowercase as no name, French: sans nom) is a line of generic brand grocery and household products sold by Loblaw Companies Limited.
No Name products are available in stores across Canada that include Loblaws, Dominion, Extra Foods, Fortinos, Freshmart, Maxi, No Frills, Provigo, Real Atlantic Superstore, Real Canadian Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart & Pharmaprix, SuperValu, Valu-mart, Your Independent Grocer, and Zehrs. Additionally, No Name-branded stores were tested in 2023 and 2024.
On March 21, 1978, Loblaws launched "No Name" with 16 generic or unbranded items in black and yellow packaging, including ground coffee, instant skim milk powder, tomato juice, and powdered laundry detergent in a plastic bag. Initially promoted as "basic products in plain packaging at down-to-earth everyday low prices", No Name promised savings of between 10 and 40 percent over national brands. The launch beat rival supermarket chain Dominion, with its own line of generic products, by 24 hours. Available at Stuarts' 135 stores across Ontario, full-page ads claimed that No Name offered the best value for money as a combination of price and quality – the result of cost controls associated with using standard instead of custom packaging and the efforts of its own "task force" in negotiating lower priced, bulk orders from suppliers.
The introduction of No Name, along with other generics, coincided with a period of rising inflation rates and consumer complaints regarding the high price of food. Two years earlier, French hypermarket Carrefour unveiled Produits Libres, a line of 50 unbranded products. Loblaws Supermarkets president Dave Nichol modelled No Name on Produits Libres. Although Nichol made no guarantee that the product line would be continued beyond the initial launch, after two and a half weeks more than a million units had been sold. With suppliers trying to keep up with demand, and some products sold out, Nichol declared No Name a "runaway success" that exceeded his own expectations:
But diving headlong into No-Name products, which have had only limited success in France and the United States, was Nichol's idea. Grocery shoppers have snapped them up at a rate that has astonished even Nichol. In nine months, Loblaws has sold 15 million of them, which Nichol says is enough to make Ontario the largest market in the world for unbranded products. And strangely enough, Loblaws shoppers seem to be developing a brand loyalty to these unbranded products.
A few months after the launch, Loblaws opened the first No Frills store, a deep discount, limited service and selection supermarket, with only 500 items, which featured No Name among its product selection. The opening proved a success and two more Toronto area stores soon followed. Meanwhile, Nichol continued to heavily promote No Name on television and was dubbed "Mr. No Name" by news headlines. While one competitor spoke critically of Nichol for spending so much on advertising, thereby increasing the costs associated with a discount product line, Nichol responded that Loblaw had simply redirected more of its promotional budget towards No Name. Four months after the launch, generic products across all Canadian grocery store shelves accounted for nearly 10 percent of supermarket sales. One year later, Loblaw had expanded its generic line-up to over a hundred items.
In keeping with the generic nature of the product line, the original No Name packaging showed no branding – only text with a basic product description and name, such as "freshly ground coffee" or "fabric softener", on a solid background. Years later, a "No Name" registered trademark appeared. While other generic lines presented their packaging as black on white, Toronto designer Don Watt chose black, boldface text in a Helvetica font, all lower case, on a bright yellow background, as a means of attracting the attention of shoppers.
Throughout the 1980s, Loblaw continued to promote No Name as a value-oriented alternative to higher priced, nationally advertised products. In 1981, Dave Nichol went on television with two grocery carts, one with a selection of No Name items and the other with comparable national brands, to demonstrate a 30 percent savings: