Danone Selects Carat For NA Media Duties

Yogurt and water marketing giant Danone has selected Carat to handle North American media planning and buying duties after a review, the company confirmed Tuesday. The selection is part of a series of regional reviews that the client started in the spring of this year.

The firm spent about $80 million on ads in the U.S. in 2011 and 2012, according to Kantar, but the client has indicated that it sees the U.S. as one of its “high growth potential” markets.

The North American incumbent was Havas Media which defended.

The North American award follows last month’s selection by Danone of GroupM to handle media duties in Europe. Four GroupM shops—MediaCom, MEC, Mindshare and Maxus—will handle parts of the European assignment.

The company spent more than $600 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2012 according to Recma, most of it earmarked for Europe. Global spending by the client totaled nearly $900 million last year, per Recma.

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Danone confirmed the assignment, covering 24 European countries. “The decision reflects the Group’s desire to develop a new media model around consumer engagement with its brands,” the company stated last month. The company added that its “new integrated model spans a range of media putting digital technology in the forefront and will sharpen the focus of brand-based communications.” Havas Media and Omnicom had been incumbents in Europe.  

A U.S.-based rep for the client confirmed the selection of Carat for North America, but did not elaborate.

Last year, Danone reported sales of approximately $24 billion. Its footprint has changed dramatically over that past 15 years. In 1997, 80% of company sales were derived from Western Europe, whereas now the region accounts for just 38% of sales, while emerging markets account for 51% of sales, according to the company.

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