FRANCE – French dairy producer Danone is reportedly considering rebranding some of its popular products in Russia to maintain its share and to go over the difficulties in the markets.
Danone owns Russia’s top dairy brand, Prostokvashino, with 12 production sites and 8,000 employees. Russia was among the leading ten markets of Danone.
In 2021, the country accounted for six percent of total net sales, and in the first nine months of 2022; the company reported a five percent.
According to Mash, a Telegram channel, Danone is contemplating abandoning names such as Activia, Alpro, Actimel, and Danone to make its brands more relevant to the local market.
The telegram channel revealed that popular yoghurt brand Activia will be rebranded to ‘Let’s Take it Easy,’ while Actimel milk drink may become ‘Tasty. Healthy.Deal.’ to make its brands more relevant to the local market.
“In the coming months, Activia and Aktimel brands may change to new products of local lines, and if the creatives won’t come up with a better name, the products will then appear on the shelves under ‘Tasty. Healthy. Deal,” and “Let’s Take it Easy” brand names,” the post read.
Danone’s decision to rebrand its products is a testament to the importance of adapting to local market conditions and consumer preferences to remain competitive and relevant.
“Danone may not object to the use of consonant names for global brands and recognizable packaging design elements–for example, ‘ActiviYA’ instead of ‘ActiviA,'” the head of Streda Consulting, Aleksey Gruzdev, said.
The rebranding began after Danone announced its intention to transfer control over its dairy and plant-based foods unit in Russia to local management last October.
Several Russian companies were named as potential buyers of Danone assets, and new products such as yoghurts and desserts already appeared in Russian supermarkets.
Danone finally divests dairy factory in Spain intended for closure
Meanwhile, in Spain, Danone has divested its dairy facility to the Dutch dairy business Royal A-ware to improve its “competitiveness and industrial efficiency.”
The deal will boost Royal A-ware’s strategy to serve customers with the broadest possible product portfolio.
“We will produce mozzarella in Salas for customers in retail and food service worldwide. To best meet their needs, we will invest in this dairy factory. In doing so, we are providing long-term growth opportunities for dairy farmers in the region,” Royal A-ware CEO Jan Anker said.
In a statement, Royal A-ware said it plans to invest in making the facility “more sustainable and future-proof.”
When announcing the intention of selling the unit, the company stated that the planned closure is part of a rationalization process aimed at reducing capacity and concentrating volumes to guarantee the continuity of the brands- and to gain competitiveness and industrial efficiency.
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