Brandspiration: Lidl

Our editorial consultant Emily shares her Brandspiration on Lidl, a brand that inspires through impactful action and category-busting design (Lidl sneakers anyone?).

I think it was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant who said that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who shop the middle aisle, and those who don’t. To shop the middle aisle is to lick the lid of life; to jump in feet first; to wring and wrestle every possible opportunity for joy and fun and strangeness out of the bleakness of this life governed by end-game-capitalism and overdraft extensions and smear tests.

The middle aisle is perhaps a uniquely German proposition, shared by beloved budget behemoths Lidl and Aldi. to pick a favourite feels all quite Sophie’s Choice; but for the purposes of this article where just one brand has to be thrust into the spotlight, it has to be Lidl. Why? Because of the merch.

I proudly sport the Lidl baseball cap, the trunks (two different designs), the t-shirt, trainers, tote-bag. When Lidl first launched its trainers, as many will recall, the internet went wild: people were snapping them up to resell on eBay for eye-watering amounts going into the hundreds of pounds. It’s interesting to think about why people were so desperate to proclaim their love for Lidl by wearing its brash, primary brand colours and roundel logo. Would they have done the same for Tesco, or Sainsbury’s, or Morrisson’s? Unlikely.

Aldi has since followed in Lidl’s footsteps – sort of literally – launching some fetching trainers of its own, in a decent skater-shoe-esque design (I’m going to be honest here, I bought those too as soon as I spotted them in that hallowed middle aisle). But these weren’t met with any of the fanfare of Lidl’s debut foray into footwear.

Perhaps that’s because now, other seemingly unglamorous, but much beloved brands have tried to ‘pull a Lidl’, as it were: there was Greggs’ Primark collab (people did get pretty excited about that one).

There’s no one reason that the Lidl brand is so great, and why people went so loopy over it. But in a cost of living crisis, there’s a lot to be said for the cheap and cheerful – and Lidl really is cheerful, with its hilarious riffs on well-known brands and products – its Henry the Hippo to M&S’s Percy Pig; its ingeniously named Counter Culture IPA to Brewdog’s Punk, to name just a couple.

Agency Siegel+Gale has suggested that its success might also be down to its simplicity. In a piece published in The Drum last October, the agency revealed that Lidl came out on top of its ‘simplest brand’ index, beating the likes of Aldi, Amazon, Google and MacDonald’s. Its simplicity, Siegel+Gale argues, runs in parallel to its success: “With 12,000 stores worldwide, Lidl has been highlighted by Kantar as the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket and by the Ethical Commerce Society today as the UK's most trustworthy supermarket,” the agency wrote. “High praise indeed. But what is the linking factor behind its success? Answer: a series of simple brand-led decisions to ensure the chaos of shopping is seamless, not a chore.”

Some have also suggested that Lidl’s brand voice – and notably, its pivot from focusing on value to underscoring quality – is what has made it so successful. A copywriter blogging under the name The Brand Voice guy wrote: “By switching up their brand voice, Lidl also shifted their positioning. They weren’t just a budget brand anymore, they were now a challenger brand with the big supermarkets in its sights.” He’s got a point: no longer is Lidl seen as a slightly embarrassing budget decision – today, it’s proudly displayed in themes middle class of kitchens.

I’d argue too, that the logo is somewhat comforting. It’s rather childlike, when you think about it: the red, blue and yellow primary tones that are loud and straightforward, the little quirk of a skew-whiff lowercase ‘i’. It feels nostalgic, like it's borrowed from the visual language of soft play areas and Toys ‘R’ Us. Simpler times, more joyful times. And who doesn’t want just a hint of that when doing the big shop, in these strange and terrifying times?