French dairy producer Danone may rebrand some of its popular products in the Russian market as it seeks to maintain a share of production in the sanctioned country, Telegram channel Mash reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, the food giant plans to rebrand Activia yoghurt as ‘Take it easy’ and Actimel milk drink at ‘Delicious. In good health. It’s an affair.
The company has confirmed its intention to drop names such as Activia, Alpro, Actimel and Danone, and is “Consider ways to make brands more relevant to the local market.”
The rebranding is expected to take place in the coming months, according to the outlet.
“Danone cannot object to the use of consonant names for global brands and recognizable packaging design elements – for example “ActiviYA” instead of “ActiviA””. Streda Consulting chief Aleksey Gruzdev said.
Among other options for switching to local brands, Danone is also reportedly considering a transition to another brand. According to Gruzdev, the company is currently testing an expansion of the product line under the Prostokvashino brand. New products like yoghurts and desserts have already appeared in Russian supermarkets. Danone owns Russia’s leading dairy brand, Prostokvashino, with 12 production sites and 8,000 employees in the country.
The rebranding began after Danone announced plans to transfer control of its dairy and plant-based foods unit in Russia to local management last October. The move came amid a wider exodus of Western companies from the sanctioned country. According to industry experts, the company will most likely retain a buyout option, but will not transfer global names to the new owner.
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