Creating value through the Brand: Branding in Retail.

Brands are much more than a name and a logo.

They are a tool that supports corporate and business strategy.

They are the first identifying element of an organisation.

They represent a purpose, values and identity.

They are the link established between the organisation and its different stakeholders.

They are a promise.

They are a strategic asset.

Columna Branding is an agency specialised in creating and connecting brands with people, with more than 33 years of experience, working from Barcelona and Madrid to the world.

With our integrated approach — Business–Brand–People — we accelerate the transformation of the business, the brand and the organisation in the service of value creation and profitability growth.

Always working with the intention of impacting business through brands such as Hijos de Rivera, Mondelēz, Pascual, PepsiCo, iryo, Simon, La Menorquina, Procter & Gamble, Fluidra, AC Marca, Consorcio de Transportes de Madrid, Uvesco and Grupo IFA.

Uvesco Case Study: Building a Brand System in Retail Distribution

The relevance of private label in retail

In recent decades, the large-scale retail market has undergone a decisive transformation: private label has evolved from being a tactical resource — aimed at competing on price against major industrial brands — to becoming a top-level strategic asset. Today, consumers expect the same from retailer brands as they do from manufacturer brands: proven quality, coherent storytelling, innovation, social responsibility and a distinctive value proposition.

In this context, brand architecture emerges as an essential tool to organise the portfolio, ensure consistency and facilitate navigation in an environment increasingly saturated with visual stimuli. It is not just about placing a logo on a pack, but about building a system that conveys values, experience and recognition across every customer touchpoint.

The Uvesco case exemplifies how a retail group can move from fragmentation to cohesion, creating a robust, flexible and future-ready brand strategy.

Towards a recognisable structure

Uvesco, a leading group in northern and central Spain, operates mainly under two banners: BM Supermercados and Super Amara. Both share a clear value proposition: excellent service, a wide assortment, quality, and a strong commitment to fresh and local products.

Until the beginning of the project, the group did not have a consolidated private label brand. There were several small retailer brands created to meet specific needs, resulting in a fragmented, inconsistent portfolio with no shared narrative. This visual and conceptual dispersion generated several problems:

• It made it difficult for consumers to navigate the shelves.

• It failed to leverage the strength of the retail banners.

• It prevented the creation of a differentiated identity against competitors.

The challenge was ambitious: to build a solid, structured and scalable brand system capable of transmitting quality and trust in every interaction.

The strategic challenge: connecting banner and product

The goal was not simply to create a private label brand, but to build a brand system that reinforced the value proposition of Uvesco and its banners.

The strategy needed to address three major challenges:

• Consistency: organising private label references under one umbrella and structural system.

• Meaningful awareness: creating and developing a brand with a clear, distinctive narrative and values that would resonate with consumers.

• Flexibility: ensuring the system could grow, adapt and evolve according to future needs of the company and the market.

The solution came after an exhaustive strategic analysis phase that included an audit of existing brands, competitor benchmarking, consumer perception studies and internal workshops with the different teams involved.

The decision: BM as the umbrella brand

The outcome of this process was the decision to use BM as the main product brand. This enabled a clear transfer of values: the awareness and trust associated with the BM Supermercados banner would be directly transferred to the product.

Thus, BM became the cross-category, approachable, visible and recognisable private label brand that acts as a guiding thread throughout the points of sale.

However, Uvesco wanted to go further. To differentiate a higher level of quality closely linked to local and proximity products, the Selecta brand was redefined as a quality sub-brand, aligned with values of excellence, authenticity and closeness.

In this way, the portfolio architecture was clearly structured:

• BM: a transversal private label brand, focused on a wide assortment and mid-to-high quality.

• BM Selecta: a premium sub-brand linked to local producers and higher-quality references.

From fragmentation to cohesion: unifying diversity

One of the key aspects of the project was the unification of multiple pre-existing brands.

The consolidation process was not driven by aesthetics, but by strategic decisions:

• reducing portfolio fragmentation

• facilitating consumer navigation on shelves

• more clearly conveying the distinctive values of the retail banners

The new architecture and segmentation strengthened consistency, optimised the shopping experience and provided Uvesco with a more robust and efficient private label brand.

The power of the brand block: visibility and trust

One of the major challenges of the project was the creation of a distinctive and consistent brand block — a transversal visual system that takes ownership of packaging and becomes a central element of the visual identity.

A brand block that delivers multiple benefits:

• Visibility: ensures immediate impact on the shelf

• Recognition: creates a graphic structure easily associated with the brand

• Flexibility: adapts to all categories and product proportions

• Clarity: simplifies and improves consumer navigation, helping build trust

In an environment where packaging is the brand’s first ambassador at the point of sale, this system acts as a lever to consolidate Uvesco’s identity in the consumer’s mind.

Packaging: from design to visual storytelling

The packaging redesign was another fundamental pillar of the project. With over 1,200 references to develop, the challenge was to bring global coherence to an extremely diverse portfolio.

For BM, a fresh and approachable design was chosen, with custom and dynamic illustrations that add uniqueness, along with distinctive and legible typography to support clarity and education. The information hierarchy was carefully designed to ensure consumer understanding.

For BM Selecta, a more sophisticated identity was developed: hyper-realistic illustrations, a restrained colour palette and graphic details inspired by BM’s diamond-shaped logo and the heritage of the former Selecta brand. All of this reinforces the premium character of the sub-brand.

Packaging does not merely fulfil an informative function; it becomes a narrative tool that communicates brand values and projects a clear and differentiated personality.

Origin identifiers: proximity as a differentiating value

Uvesco’s strategy highlights one of its strongest assets: its commitment to fresh and local products. For this reason, a system of origin identifiers was introduced to help consumers recognise the product’s provenance and local producers.

This identification language strengthens the emotional bond with the banner, enhances authenticity perception and responds to a growing trend: the demand for traceable, sustainable and locally sourced products.

Business impact and competitive advantages in the sector

The creation of the new brand system provides Uvesco with a set of tangible benefits:

• Visual and narrative consistency: a single story transferred from the banner to the product

• Greater differentiation: in a market where private labels compete not only on price, but also on quality and values

• Shelf optimisation: clearer and more efficient navigation for consumers

• Trust building: BM’s recognition as a banner becomes a credibility badge for the private label

• Growth capacity: a flexible and scalable system that can adapt to new categories or consumption trends

In a highly competitive environment, where other retailers have developed highly recognisable private label brands, Uvesco’s commitment strengthens its position and expands its customer loyalty capabilities.

Future perspective: towards omnichannel

The project is not limited to physical retail. Brand consistency is equally crucial in digital environments such as e-commerce, shopping apps and social media.

The new architecture of BM and BM Selecta lays the foundation for an omnichannel identity, consistent across all touchpoints, accompanying consumers throughout every stage of their relationship with the brand.

Looking ahead, the brand system created for Uvesco is prepared to incorporate key trends such as:

• Sustainability: responsible packaging materials and clear communication about environmental impact

• Personalisation: adapting assortments and messaging based on customer profiles

• Category innovation: launching new functional, healthy or premium territories

Conclusion: from fragmentation to cohesion

The Uvesco case demonstrates how a well-defined brand architecture strategy can become a lever for competitiveness. The group has evolved from a heterogeneous multi-brand structure to a robust, clear and scalable system capable of delivering meaning through every product.

This is not only a branding exercise, but a strategic move that strengthens brand architecture, improves the customer experience and prepares the company to successfully face future challenges in the large-scale retail sector.

Author: Víctor Contijoch, Executive Design Strategy, Columna Branding.