THE DANNON COMPANY: MARKETING AND

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (A)

SESSION 13

SUBMITTED BY:
Shashank Jaiswal- 14A3HP622
Rupam Das- 14A3HP623
Aastha Goyal- 14A3HP627
Manav Bansal- 14A3HP619
Gopika Gupta- 14A3HP615
Garima Agarwal- 14A3HP620
Karam Raj Singh- 14A3HP628

Question 1) Should Dannon proactively communicate its CSR activities to the public?
Discuss pros and cons of your decision.
Answer: Dannon should not communicate its CSR activities to the public. Dannon and
Yoplait are the two leading company in US with Yoplait have 35.4% market share and
Dannon is second with 28.9% market share. Dannon is not too far behind Yoplait and so they
dont need to do much to become the number 1 player in America. Also, the consumers can
gather more knowledge about the CSR activities of Dannon through the Dannon cares section
on the website and the 16- page Corporate Social Responsibility Overview. So, it is not that
the consumers are fully unaware of the companys CSR activities.
The pros of not communicating the CSR activities are:

When they will spend their marketing budget on TV ads, in-store shopper marketing
tactics, branded websites etc. people will become more aware about the high health

benefit products that they provide and thus increase the consumption.
Communicating its CSR activities to the public will not be of much benefit because
consumers are more concerned about how much satisfaction the product can provide

and how it impacts their life.

As the consumption increases, the loyalty will increase and there will be long-term

sales impact.
Sometimes the consumers may get confused as to which company is promoting its
CSR activities and competitors may get an undue advantage because of this Halo

effect. This situation can be avoided by not communicating the CSR activities.
CSR activities are internal initiatives and not for public relations. Not emphasizing on
the CSR activities too much will help the company to increase their credibility.
Otherwise the customers might think that they are just advertising their activities just
to increase their product consumption.

The cons of not communicating the CSR activities are:

The emotional bond between the customers and the company may not be too strong

because the customers do not come to know about the CSR activities extensively.
If the activities are communicated the company can differentiate itself as a leading
player that cares about the health of the customers and also of the society in which it
operates.

Communicating the activities will create great credibility for the Dannon brand which
otherwise may not be created. It will help them to have a emotional relationship with
the customers.

Question 2) How does having a corporate parent (Danone) effect its decision to externally
communicate its CSR programs?
Answer: Having a corporate parent affected the decision of Dannon to externally
communicate its CSR programs. The Dannon Company was a U.S. subsidiary of Danone,
which was one of the largest health-focused food company in the world.
Danone felt that the U.S. was an emerging market for yogurt and hence, Dannon focused its
marketing strategy on increasing the yogurt consumption and expanding the category.
Dannon had to follow Danone and maintain a strong commitment to CSR. At Danone, local
decision making and was trusted and encouraged. Also, Dannon had a responsibility to its
parent company and was accountable for a set of deliverables and data for reporting purposes.
It believed in collaborative decision making and therefore major strategy and resource
allocation decisions were presented before the executive committee. Decisions were always
strongly influenced by Danones global strategy and mission.
Danone paid a lot of attention to social responsibility and social values were deeply
embedded in the culture of the company and business. As Dannon was a subsidiary of
Danone, it was encouraged to develop projects that capitalized on Danones three main CSR
themes: nutrition and health, nature and people.
It was becoming a little difficult to communicate the CSR activities because of having a
parent company activities as it would require a change in the fundamental commitments with
Danone in Paris. They would also require to change the budget. Using Danones brand name,
Dannon can increase its credibility.

Question 3) Assuming that Dannon decides to communicate to its consumers, please come
up with a communication strategy for the campaign.
Answer: The communication strategy to be adopted by Dannon to inform the consumers
about their CSR activities are:

The company should hold press releases to tell the public about their CSR activities.
Along with it they should also inform them about the increased quality of their

product.
They should seminars in different business schools and under graduate colleges to

make the youth more aware about their products as well as their CSR.
They should associate themselves with more social causes or NGOs which will

automatically increase their credibility.

Other social media like networking sites, which are very popular today can be used.
They can conduct some competitions and reward prizes to make people aware about

their CSR. This increases the goodwill.

Advertisements should be given in newspapers, magazines etc. It also increases the
loyalty of the customers.