Research Outline

Danone Brand

Goals

  • Identify key themes/goals that the Danone brand has focused on/promoted over the past 18 months.
  • Build a SWOT analysis of the Danone brand.
  • Provide an overview of the Danone brand that includes their current company status/situation, company financials, company focus, operational footprint, and public remarks from their CMO.
  • Identify the market share of the Danone brand in the industry that it is a part of.
  • Build an overview of Valerie Hernando-Presse, the CMO of the Danone brand.
  • Build an overview of Elaine Rodrigo, the Chief Strategy & Insights Officer of the Danone brand.
  • Provide an overview of the recent marketing/advertising efforts that the Danone brand has enacted, how it is competitive, and the results of their efforts via consumer insights. In addition, note whether there are any advertising agencies that they are working with around the world.
  • The overall goal of each of the above points is to have a complete overview of the company that can be shared as an Executive Summary with C-Suite personnel.

Early Findings

key themes

  • The Danone brand aims to "inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices." This is aligned with the company vision that strives to support the health of people and the planet as a whole.
  • By the year 2030, Danone plans to become a Certified B Corp. business and align their work with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the U.N. In this manner, they will work to leverage their brand model, which is to improve the health of people through locally better products and habits while still preserving the Earth.

company overview

  • In 2018, 29% of Danone's sales were in specialized nutrition, 20% were for essential dairy & plant-based products in North America, 18% was from waters, and 33% was from International essential dairy & plant-based products.
  • The top 3 selling brands owned by Danone in 2018 were 1) Aptamil, 2) Activia, and 3) Danone.
  • Danone brought in €24.7bn in sales in 2018, experienced a 2.9% increase in sales growth, and had an EPS of €3.56. 55% of their sales came from Europe, the U.S., and Canada. The top 3 countries with the greatest sales were 1) U.S., 2) China, and 3) France.
  • In 2018, Danone reduced their CO2 emissions by 15.6%. Additionally, 87% of their packaging is now recyclable, reusable, and/or compostable.

valerie hernando-presse (cmo)

  • Valeria Hernando-Presse began working in marketing in 1990 for Yoplait until she was hired at Danone in 1994. In 2001 she became the Marketing Director for Danone, but then later began working as Strategy Consultant for Mandragore and a Global Strategy & Marketing Services Director for Lactalis Group. In 2011 she returned to Denone as their Director of Corporate Affairs.
  • Hernando-Presse attended the KEDGE Business School for marketing from 1987-1989.

elaine rodrigo (chief strategy & insights officer)


competitive marketing/advertising efforts

  • In mid-2017, Danone announced that they were repositioning their brand to become a "manifesto brand" in order to better reflect the company's goals and vision. This included the implementation of a new company logo, a new approach to helping more people make healthy food choices, and to essentially give people power to be smarter consumers.
  • The new marketing efforts implemented in mid-2017 and 2018 are aligned with the brand's goal to become a certified B Corp. business, which means they will have met very strict standards of social and environmental criteria and can prove their accountability and transparency.