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The Dannon
company
MARKETING AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Submitted To: Presented By:

Dr. Mousumi Group No. 3
Sengupta Section-A
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Danone the parent company
1919: Danone traced its heritage to Barcelona, Spain when Isaac Carasso wanted to create
yogurt with inherent health benefits.
1929: Daniel, his son founded danone in Paris.
1939: Daniel Carasso became the CEO and embarked on rapid expansion plan in Europe.
1941: It entered the U.S market and worked to train its leaders and communicate the
company values in a better way.
1942: Carasso changed the name from Danone to Dannon to make it more American.
1947: Major breakthrough was achieved by introducing fruit on the bottom yogurt.
1955: Dannon proved innovation again by introducing low fat yogurt.
1997: Danone made its debut on NYSE.
2008: Danone posted net revenue of 21.2 billion dollars and ranked No. 1 worldwide in
dairy and nutrition business and No. 2 in bottled water and baby nutrition.
 Dannon 3
Leader in Americas domestic yogurt sector.
Dannon was a US subsidiary of Danone (one of the largest health focused food companies in the world).
Business operations focused on fresh dairy, bottled water, medical nutrition and baby nutrition.
No. 2 player in the domestic yogurt market in 2008.
Mission : bringing health through food to as many people as possible
Top competitor : General mills whose product is Yoplait , had an awareness campaign save lids
to save lives
In 1988 launched Dannon light, the companys most successful product launch until that point
Dannons relationship with danone
Dannon was a wholly owned subsidiary of danone.
Dannon was a fiduciary responsibility to its parent company and was accountable for the set of
deliverables and data for reporting purposes. Also the local executives were responsible for the profits
and losses of the country based business units.
The company values were referred to with the acronym HOPE: humanism, openness, proximity and
enthusiasm
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Dannons Products
Indulgent; 6%

Kids; 12%
Drinks; 3%

Staples/ quartz; 38%

Dannon sold and purchased 6 million cups of yogurt per day
Proactive health; 13% in almost 100 flavours, styles and sizes.

Proactive health had become a major area of growth and

competitive differentiation for Dannon since it launched
Light; 27% Activia, the leading proactive health brand in 2006.

Activia yogurt contained bifidus regularis a probiotic culture

Staples/ quartz Light
clinically proven to help regulate the digestive system.
Proactive health Kids
Within 1 year of launch, Activia reached $100 million in net
Indulgent Drinks sales less than 1% of new products ever achieve this
milestone in their first year.
 Mode of operations 5
Local decision making is encouraged and trusted
Local executives are responsible for CBU (country based business units)
Companys values were referred to with acronym HOPE
They follow Collaborative decision making
It Established both internal and external programs:
(A) Internally, it focused on development of employee through Dannon Way
(B) Externally, it supported its customers ,suppliers , local communities
Its volvic brand collaborated with UNICEF to launch the 1 litre for 10 litres
It took stance on sustainability , by targeting to achieve Carbon neutrality on 5 brands by
2011
In 2001,It instituted sensible plants program to reduce water consumption by
30%,energy by 20% ,packaging weight by 10%.
In 2008, All targets were achieved except water consumption (93% of target).
Danone expected its suppliers to promote environmentally friendly farming practices
 Dannon management vision 6
Vision : Dual commitment to economic performance and social responsibility.
Antoine Riboud, the CEO of Danone , stated, "Corporate responsibility does not end at
the factory gates or at office doors. The jobs a business creates are central to the lives of
employees, and the energy and raw materials we consume change the shape of our
nature.
For Dannon, the social responsibility was categorised as below :
1. Economic Performance
2. Social Responsibility

Nature and Health People Nature

Promote healthy Support mutual values Focus on packaging,

products and lifestyles within communities water resources and
Create products and Develop employees footprints
business models Integrate benefits from
against malnutrition nature in our products
 Dannons CSR activities
Nature and Health
Dannon Institute created in1997
Focused on promoting childrens nutrition
and leadership development of nutrition
researchers
Created nutrition education curriculum
Celebrate Healthy Eating.
Developed NutriDay which was renamed
later to Dannon $1.00
Donated 2 million pounds of fresh dairy
products.
Donated $120,000 per year to non profit
organizations.
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People
During Children Day, all of the Dannons Locations
provided volunteers to help the children in need
All the employees in Dannon participated in
American Heart Associations Annual Heart Walk
which had raised over $5,135.
Developed a comprehensive work-life wellness
program for employees.
This included free exercise programs, tuition
assistance, financial adoption-related expenses
and a scholarship program for children of
employees
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Nature

From 2004 to 2009, Dannon reduced the quantity of its primary packaging by 15%.
Dannons plants and offices had regular recycling programs
In 2008, 85% of Dannons products were carried by trucks which had reduced carbon
dioxide emissions and also conducted carbon footprint analysis.
Based on the results of analysis, the company prioritized nine key areas for improvement.
They are packaging, manufacturing plant energy and water use, employee education and
engagement, waste and losses in the entire life cycle, supply chain and logistics, external
communication, office and workplace, raw materials and retailer/consumer engagement.
 Dannons Issues with CSR Activities 9

Should Dannon start to proactively communicate to consumers about its CSR initiatives?

If they do so, whether they should spend more money on the corporate level promoting
social programs or towards fueling stand alone brands?
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Solutions to the issues

Short Term : CSR marketing should be Product specific as they are concentrated
on ROI because,
1) US Yogurt marketing is still growing.
2) Some people are still unaware of the health benefits of yogurt, So they should be
educated.

Long Term : CSR marketing should be Corporate level because,

1) People will be aware of the companies activities and for what values it
stands.
2) Company can leverage on the opportunity ,once the yogurt
consumption of US increases.
3) CSR campaigns plays an important role in employee retention and recruitment.
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Recommendation
1. Neuwirth should propose the strategy to executive committee, and Galyle Binney should
undertake this strategy. Although, the company does communicate their CSR activities
through the Dannon care section on the website, it is not enough so it should attempt for
a broader reach.
2. Company should focus on preparing CSR report and its communication to its
stakeholders
3. Brand level campaign should be done by the Dannon
4. Dannons CSR activity is good but they have to make changes in such a manner that it is
communicated well by one yogurt every day so that it can increase the consumption
also.
5. Dannons product mainly concentrated on health and nutrition benefit as Activia helps in
regulating digestive system. company will achieve revenue from the strategy, so that
company can use that for future campaigns.
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Thank You!!!!