Dannon Case Study
Steven Wallace
Case Study #3: The Dannon Company
Southern New Hamphire University
Due May 19, 2013
Introduction Danone, Dannon’s parent company, was one of the largest health-focused food companies in the world. Danone traced its heritage back to 1919 in Barcelona, Spain, when Isaac Carasso wanted to create yogurt with inherent health benefits. Through the years and different lines of succession, Danone continued to grow, but never lost its core vision of providing better health to people through their products.
When this case was written, Danone’s global business focus was on fresh dairy (Activia yogurt), bottled water (Evian), medical nutrition, and baby nutrition. Danone viewed the United States as an emerging market for yogurt, thus Dannon’s marketing efforts needed to focus on growing U.S. yogurt consumption and expanding the category, while also growing its brand. (Marquis, p.1)
Dannon entered the US market in 1941 and by 2010 was poised to become the leader in America’s domestic yogurt sector. This was a major accomplishment for the simple fact that America’s yogurt market was practically non-existent at the time! A new product, called “Fruit at the Bottom” changed that and became an instant success. In 2007, even though Dannon had success, U.S. yogurt consumption was only 11.8 lbs versus 62.4 lbs in Switzerland and 42 lbs in France (Marquis, Exhibit 2) The implication of the latter statistics to Dannon was the U.S. was a high potential market for the next 5 to 10 years. (Marquis, p. 5)
Dannon had maintained a strong commitment to CSR and was integrated into the company’s overall mission of “bringing health through food to as many people as possible.” Their CSR mission, however, was very internally focused and few customers knew about its activities. (Marquis, p.1)
Dannon’s CSR activities fell under the Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Department and focused around three key themes:
Case Study #3: The Dannon Company
Southern New Hamphire University
Due May 19, 2013
Introduction Danone, Dannon’s parent company, was one of the largest health-focused food companies in the world. Danone traced its heritage back to 1919 in Barcelona, Spain, when Isaac Carasso wanted to create yogurt with inherent health benefits. Through the years and different lines of succession, Danone continued to grow, but never lost its core vision of providing better health to people through their products.
When this case was written, Danone’s global business focus was on fresh dairy (Activia yogurt), bottled water (Evian), medical nutrition, and baby nutrition. Danone viewed the United States as an emerging market for yogurt, thus Dannon’s marketing efforts needed to focus on growing U.S. yogurt consumption and expanding the category, while also growing its brand. (Marquis, p.1)
Dannon entered the US market in 1941 and by 2010 was poised to become the leader in America’s domestic yogurt sector. This was a major accomplishment for the simple fact that America’s yogurt market was practically non-existent at the time! A new product, called “Fruit at the Bottom” changed that and became an instant success. In 2007, even though Dannon had success, U.S. yogurt consumption was only 11.8 lbs versus 62.4 lbs in Switzerland and 42 lbs in France (Marquis, Exhibit 2) The implication of the latter statistics to Dannon was the U.S. was a high potential market for the next 5 to 10 years. (Marquis, p. 5)
Dannon had maintained a strong commitment to CSR and was integrated into the company’s overall mission of “bringing health through food to as many people as possible.” Their CSR mission, however, was very internally focused and few customers knew about its activities. (Marquis, p.1)
Dannon’s CSR activities fell under the Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Department and focused around three key themes:
References: Etile, F. & Tyessier, S. (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility and the Economics of Consumer Social Responsibility. Paris School of Economics. August 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/120399/2/Etile_Fabrice_359.pdf Lester, B. (2010). Corporate social responsibility branding survey. Penn Schoen Berland. Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://www.psbresearch.com/files/CSR%20Branding%20Survey%202010%20EXTERNAL%20FINAL.pdf Marquis, C., Shah, P., Tolleson, A., & Thomason, B. (2011). The dannon company: marketing and corporate social responsibility (A). The Harvard Business School. Revised September 28, 2011. File number 9-410-121 The Economist. (2001, September 6). The case for brands. Economist.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://www.economist.com/node/771049 The Economist. (2001, September 6). Who’s wearing the trousers? Economist.com. Retrieved May 18, 2013 from http://www.economist.com/node/770992