Danone. Dannon’s parent company. was one of the largest health-focused nutrient companies in the universe. Danone traced its heritage back to 1919 in Barcelona. Spain. when Isaac Carasso wanted to make yoghurt with built-in wellness benefits. Through the old ages and different lines of sequence. Danone continued to turn. but ne’er lost its core vision of supplying better wellness to people through their merchandises. When this instance was written. Danone’s planetary concern focal point was on fresh dairy ( Activia yoghurt ) . bottled H2O ( Evian ) . medical nutrition. and baby nutrition.

Danone viewed the United States as an emerging market for yoghurt. therefore Dannon’s selling attempts needed to concentrate on turning U. S. yogurt ingestion and spread outing the class. while besides turning its trade name. ( Marquis. p. 1 ) Dannon entered the US market in 1941 and by 2010 was poised to go the leader in America’s domestic yoghurt sector. This was a major achievement for the simple fact that America’s yoghurt market was practically non-existent at the clip! A new merchandise. called “Fruit at the Bottom” changed that and became an instant success. In 2007. even though Dannon had success. U. S. yogurt ingestion was merely 11. 8 lbs versus 62.

4 pound in Switzerland and 42 pounds in France ( Marquis. Exhibit 2 ) The deduction of the latter statistics to Dannon was the U. S. was a high potency market for the following 5 to 10 old ages. ( Marquis. p. 5 ) Dannon had maintained a strong committedness to CSR and was integrated into the company’s overall mission of “bringing wellness through nutrient to as many people as possible. ” Their CSR mission. nevertheless. was really internally focused and few clients knew about its activities. ( Marquis. p. 1 ) Dannon’s CSR activities fell under the Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Department and focused around three cardinal subjects: nutrition and wellness. nature. and people.

The instance identified noteworthy achievements in each of these countries. to include the U. S. Dannon Institute ( non-profit-making foundation dedicated to advancing excellence in the field of nutrition ) with its many notable educational plans. The inquiry behind this instance. as proposed by its senior manager of public dealingss. was how Dannon’s long-standing. deeply deep-rooted corporate societal duty ( CSR ) attempts could play a function in accomplishing Danone’s and Dannon’s overall selling scheme.

Discussion with Key Dannon Leaders brought out the following pro’s and con’s refering the proposed thought of pass oning Dannon’s CSR attempts to its consumers: Pro Con Possible addition in selling of Dannon’s societal mission Hard to mensurate ROI and benefits would be largely intangible Possible addition in marketing single merchandises Limited. short-run gross revenues impact Consumption of merchandises might increase Impact of ingestion might non be immediate Potential revenue enhancement inducement or authorities aid to advance wellness plans Rivals could take advantage of hallo consequence

Opportunity to pass on what Dannon stands for at the merchandise degree Change in overall budget precedences and outgos for new plan Opportunity to utilize Danone planetary trade name Critics could state CSR attempts were merely for promotion Brand run would hold aura effects down to Dannon’s single merchandises Customers could comprehend attempt as artful. Dannon employees would experience better about the company they worked for People don’t purchase merchandises merely because they like the company’s CSR stance Would aid construct societal involvements May non back up concern involvements Message might be excessively complex

( Pro and Con information taken from instance survey. pages 9 -14 ) To Communicate or Not to Communicate? Dannon seems to be really focussed on its Return on Investment ( ROI ) for selling and communicating dollars spent. While the inquiry of whether or non to pass on its CSR seems really simple. research shows this of import project is really complex and there is no easy cookie-cutter reply for Dannon executives. What consumers feel does non ever interpret to what they buy. Harmonizing to a 2010 study. more than 75 per centum of consumers surveyed say that societal duty remains of import to them despite the recession.

In add-on. 38 per centum of these respondents indicated that they would pass the same or more on merchandises or services from socially responsible companies compared to 2009. Yet. harmonizing to the really same study. these sentiments do non hold a important impact on favorability and purchase purpose — merely 13 per centum of folks really proactively seek out CSR friendly trade names and buy them. ( Lester. 2010 ) The latter determination seems to hold with other academic research. Harmonizing to another study. CSR impacts a really little group of people. viz. the affluent.

This study went on to province in its decision. “consumers with strong societal penchants ( and high income ) purchase CSR merchandises and consumers with weak societal penchants ( or low income ) purchase non-CSR merchandises. ( Etile & A ; Tyessier. 2011 ) General “assumptions” about CSR and consumer purchases may non be stating the whole narrative. though. Further research indicates consumers attach more CSR importance to certain industries. For illustration. the nutrient and health care industries had an 88 per centum importance evaluation for CSR enterprises – two of the top three in the full study ( the other was energy ) .

“Drilling down” even further shows the sector where CSR is both of import to the consumer and CSR communications has performed highly good is in the nutrient industry. ( Lester. 2010 ) One of the most revealing findings in the 2010 CSR branding study was the importance of binding societal duty to a merchandise. Its decision was consumers are more likely to choose the merchandise with an added societal benefit biddy given a pick between similar merchandises. ( Lester. 2010 ) Research shows a consumer’s trueness to specific merchandises besides has an impact on a company’s overall trade name.

In an on-line article of The Economist. the writer writes about the importance of trade name in the context of specific merchandise purchase. Once clients trust a certain merchandise. they tend to look for the trade name associated with it when choosing dissimilar merchandises or services. ( Case for Brands. 2001 ) This all being said. the impudent side of the power and influence of a trade name is its turning exposure – a individual failed advertisement run or intimation of dirt can direct clients flying. Harmonizing to another article. “brands—and the multinationals that are progressively identified with them—are non more powerful. but more vulnerable.

Consumers will digest a icky merchandise for far longer than they will digest a icky life style. ” ( Who’s have oning the pants. 2001 ) Pulling all of these points together lead me to the undermentioned decision: If Dannon intends to bind CSR into its merchandise selling. it should make so at the single merchandise degree. and If Dannon intends to include CSR as portion of its selling and communications scheme. it needs to be sustained and knowing to hold an affect ( i. e. mensurable ROI ) . My recommendation is Dannon follows my two suggestions above!

Dannon has a distinguishable advantage in being a well-known name in both the wellness and health sectors every bit good as the nutrient sector. Customers surveyed tend to research a provider’s repute more strictly in these countries. as such. a combined external CSR and CR run would be. in my sentiment. advisable. Dannon’s current CSR scheme. which is largely internal. is good for its civilization and employee keeping. However. it does non maximise profitableness and overall good will. Therefore. an external scheme must be added for full ROI maximization.

Impact of a Corporate Parent Dannon is a entirely owned subordinate of Danone and has a important fiducial duty to them. Harmonizing to our instance. Dannon is obligated to run into one-year marks for profitableness. runing free hard currency flow. fabricating safety. and environmental sustainability. Dannon’s determination to alter its selling scheme. either as a stigmatization exercising or for a specific merchandise. would perfectly impact several of these duties. ( Marquis. p. 1 ) Obligation Potential Positive Impact Potential Negative Impact profitableness

a in turn executed program will increase client gross revenues and trueness. both holding a long term impact to the parent company’s underside line. If clients feel the CSR communications are artful. they will stop purchasing Dannon merchandises. therefore losing market portion and cut downing overall net incomes. runing free hard currency flow Increased profitableness should increase overall free hard currency flow. Sustained selling costs a batch of money and will cut down the company’s hard currency flow ; presuming a long-run committedness. this will go a retarding force on net incomes if non successful. fabricating safety No impact

If hard currency flow is reduced. new equipment of safety preparation may non be purchased. therefore leting for accidents to go on. environmental sustainability No impact When hard currency flow is reduced. local operators might look for ways to cut disbursals. One manner to make that is to cut corners. particularly in the ways waste is disposed of. client trueness A good run will increase the figure of Americans purchasing Dannon merchandises every bit good as the sum being consumed. Market portion will increase and supply chances for new Dannon merchandises to be distributed. All the contrary of the positive results.

Looking at our instance. I think the impact to Danone is really minimum. It seems that Danone’s civilization is to swear the country-based units and develop its leading to believe globally. From my position. if Dannon executes a successful CSR run for a individual merchandise. the likeliness of success is highly high. The Communication Strategy As indicated in the “To Communicate or Not to Communicate? ” subdivision of this paper. Dannon should take advantage of being in the market sectors where CSR impact is really high ( health/wellness and nutrient ) and choose a individual merchandise to utilize as a CSR selling and communications platform.

Because of its market incursion and laterality. I would utilize its top proactive wellness merchandise. Activia. as the merchandise. Danone and Dannon’s sustainable development theoretical account focuses around Nutrition and Health. People. and Nature. These three countries and how they relate to Activia would be my focal point. with the specific underside line consequence being how Activia contributes to a customer’s “personal wellness and nutrition of course. ” Once this is done. I would prove my new outreach theoretical accounts in focal point groups. specifically those that are already buying Activia ( bing clients ) and those that aren’t ( possible clients ) .

All successful selling program needs to maintain both groups in head ; if no new clients are drawn to this attack. so travel back to the pulling board. This scheme falls in line with Dannon’s desire to concentrate on turning the yoghurt industry and turn outing its relevancy to Americans. ( Marquis. p. 5 ) When both groups trended positively toward the new selling scheme. I would turn over out a multi-faceted program that includes print. web. telecasting. cyberspace. and societal media.

I would besides bind this new communicating in with the community grant plans that Dannon is already known for. This program would necessitate to be executed for 90 or 120 yearss and so measured for touchable ROI. specifically on the Activia merchandise and secondarily on additions in other trade name gross revenues. Decision In decision. I believe that Danone was created with a definite CSR civilization as portion of their overall operating scheme. As such. all aspects of their planetary organisation reflect these nucleus values. to include Dannon.

I think this bodes good for an expanded. external CSR communications scheme because: Dannon hazards really small in disparagers stating they are merely pass oning their CSR achievements as a net income motivation – their bequest as a company. both locally and globally. province otherwise. Dannon is fortunate plenty to be in the right sectors where CSR and CR are extremely regarded. As such. they can leverage this fact to impact their merchandise selling even more. Dannon’s consumers. particularly the wellness witting. be given to hold more disposable income and be more drawn to sustainable merchandises and trade names.

Dannon has a individual merchandise. Activia. that is really high in market incursion and fits into both health/wellness and nutrient classs. Again. this can be leveraged. Dannon can prove the impact of pass oning their CSR doctrine with a individual merchandise before exposing their full trade name. If Dannon’s product-based attack works good. so they have set a positive templet to add new merchandises. both within the United States and beyond. If it does non. so Dannon can softly drop their selling run without defiling all their merchandises or the overall Danone trade name.

In the concluding analysis. I think Dannon is an ideal company to foster pass on their CSR values. As a planetary company. they can impact and act upon other organisations within the nutrient industry. Mentions Etile. F. & A ; Tyessier. S. ( 2011 ) . Corporate Social Responsibility and the Economicss of Consumer Social Responsibility. Paris School of Economics. August 2011. Retrieved May 18. 2013 from hypertext transfer protocol: //ageconsearch. umn. edu/bitstream/120399/2/Etile_Fabrice_359. pdf Lester. B. ( 2010 ) . Corporate societal duty branding study. Penn Schoen Berland. Retrieved May 18. 2013 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.

psbresearch. com/files/CSR % 20Branding % 20Survey % 202010 % 20EXTERNAL % 20FINAL. pdf Marquis. C. . Shah. P. . Tolleson. A. . & A ; Thomason. B. ( 2011 ) . The dannon company: selling and corporate societal duty ( A ) . The Harvard Business School. Revised September 28. 2011. File figure 9-410-121 The Economist. ( 2001. September 6 ) . The instance for trade names. Economist. com. Retrieved May 18. 2013 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. economic expert. com/node/771049 The Economist. ( 2001. September 6 ) . Who’s have oning the pants? Economist. com. Retrieved May 18. 2013 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. economic expert. com/node/770992