Danone Early Life Nutrition

Danone Early Life Nutrition (ELN) is committed to helping parents and give children the best nutritional start in life. Parents today expect seamless engagement with brands, across channels. To do this, we created a transformative online consumer journey involving various brands and channels. A journey that is fully focused on the consumer, powered by Valtech.

Let's dive into the approach a bit more. Our key word for the programme was "holistic." This played out as a multidisciplinary, international, start-to-finish approach that was tailored to the individual countries so each could go through the transformation at its own pace. A team of digital consultants, data specialists, technologists, architects, UX designers and digital marketers assisted every country in the process. Below is what this meant in practice.

1. Assessment

Every country began its transformation with an assessment in which we assessed their digital capabilities on: digital communications, technology, data and online brand identity. Based on this information, we determined the roll-out approach and set-up of their local platforms.

2. UX

Danone ELN comprises a large number of brands that must express the same style despite their different characters. In this situation, the only way to achieve a consistent user brand experience was to work with brand-specific style guides. At the same time, we needed to create independent user journeys and components that would answer parents’ everyday questions and concerns.

Besides inspiring and designing, our UX team also initially provided advice by doing expert reviews and domain research to establish a clear picture of a parent’s 1,000-day journey in the digital domain. We also conducted an international usability test to map the interaction choices required to develop the components for Aptamil, Danone ELN’s largest brand.

3. Technology

The assessment confirmed that each country had its own needs and wishes. The Adobe Experience Cloud is the best fit for Danone because it can be expanded easily, in line with the digital developments in each country. The platforms come configured with the Google Analytics 360 suite and a tag management system for A-Z measurement. A scalable front-end and central component library ensure that every country works with a consistent and customised platform.

4. Data

The only way to assess platform performance is with a well-implemented set of data tools. We opted for an agnostic approach, which means that we can use any tool to measure any event. This approach is becoming increasingly popular and gives more flexibility and independence.

5. On-boarding & training

We set up an on-boarding and training programme to ensure all Danone ELN teams knew how to use the platform and get the most out of it. We trained the local Danone ELN teams in digital marketing and platform topics such as KPIs, A/B testing and content management.

We also set up a learning platform covering strategy, best practices, platform, process and governance documentation, and webinars. Based on the needs and requests of local teams, Valtech continues as their digital marketing partner after the roll-out.

The only way to achieve a consistent user brand experience was to work with brand-specific style guides. At the same time, we needed to create independent user journeys and components that would answer parents’ everyday questions and concerns.

The impact of the transformation can be seen in the results from the first countries. Even in difficult markets, these countries are on course to increase net sales by 2-4%. They are also seeing significant performance improvements in the following areas:

• Measurable increase in ‘brand of first choice’ thanks to improved online marketing activities.
• Increase in ‘return on ad spend’ thanks to more efficient purchasing.
• Increase in ‘lifetime value’ thanks to growing retention rates across product categories.

The project is also delivering positive results in terms of technology. Thanks to a centralised ‘plug and play’ ecosystem, the costs for ongoing development work have fallen by more than 30%, while the improved performance measurements and tracking dashboarding also deliver significant value.

An international program of this size always has challenges, but they have enhanced the final result in the end. The fact is that, by taking a holistic approach, we have already deployed Danone ELN platforms in 8+ countries, which is an exceptional achievement. Websites like C&G Babyclub and Aptaclub, in the United Kingdom, Nutricia in Brazil and Milupa in the DACH region help parents better than ever in their first 1,000 days of parenting. The results don’t lie: sales have grown, engagement with parents has increased and tech operational costs have decreased.

Most important though is the future. Continuing to lead and retaining consumers in a changing market requires innovation, and Danone ELN is already looking beyond the current platforms towards new technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence. Our Valtech team is ready to guide Danone ELN in every step of their transformation journey.