Zosia Fleming, Young & Rubicam: Together with Cohn&Jansen JWT, we are servicing our Danone client in Romania

Zosia Fleming, Regional Account Young&Rubicam for Danone, recently visited Romania, where the international network closed a partnership with Cohn&Jansen JWT. The partnership covers, among others, servicing Danone client (with all his brands) on ATL side

Fleming said, during a discussion with AdHugger, that Young&Rubicam is servicing its Danone client for many years now. Danone is the biggest client Y&R has in the region and one of the biggest clients in the world.

Related to Danone and CEE markets, Zosia Fleming answered a few of AdHugger’s questions.

AdHugger.net: Which are the differences between Danone’s markets within CEE?

Zosia Fleming: First, I must say Danone’s CEE geography is a bit wider than Central Europe. It starts from Turkey, goes through Romania and Bulgaria, than through Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, with Ukraine and Russia recently added to this group. The Nordics are also part of CEE region.

When it comes of Danone and CEE region, I would say the markets are very similar, therefore the strategies and approach of the consumers are quite similar, as the brands and what they offer to consumers are quite universal.

If you take Activia, it doesn’t really make much of a difference as far as the benefits, functional or emotional, would be for a Polish lady, a Romanian lady or even for a Finnish lady.

On the product side, Danone makes sure that the products are suited to the local tastes. While the brands are the same and structure of products is same, in terms of individual offerings they must fit local tastes.

AdH: How are the media channels divided over the countries?

Zosia Fleming : In terms of Danone, because it’s a main stream brand and its offering is mainstream, it’s very much TV driven also in CEE. However, there has been, during the last few years, a clear move to get out of TV – but not in the sense of replacing it –, get some of the budget and go to where the consumers are.

Traditional media like radio or outdoor are depending on the market. There are some differences, but not drastic differences, and I think the biggest switch is basically going to internet, the place where our consumers are now. When it comes of internet, this medium is definitely growing in CEE.

AdH: What’s Danone doing on digital? What’s the focus on? What channels do you use the most online?

Zosia Fleming : When it comes of digital, it depends of the brand. For example, Activia is very active in digital both in Romania and in other markets, connecting to women and giving them what they want, whether that is tips on looks, diet, on lifestyle or on sports.

In some markets, brands like Danonino launched games for kids and have programs that help parents raise their kids well, providing educational programs in an entertainment form for children.

I would say Danone brands are pretty active online and they are getting more and more so.

AdH: How much of the Danone account is going to be taken over by Cohn&Jansen, within Y&R partnership?

Zosia Fleming: Globally, we are the agency of record for ATL for Danone. On different markets, we also work with them on BTL, digital but that depends.

Who is Zosia Fleming?

Zosia started her advertising career 20 years ago, spending her first 3 years at BBDO Warsaw. In 1996, she joined Young & Rubicam, the agency she working for even now.

In her first 3 years at Young&Rubicam, she was Account Director; she then moved to Hungary where, for 5 years, worked for a series of international clients, among which Danone and Kraft.

In 2004, she returned to Poland, as Client Service Director and Deputy Managing Director. Two years later, she started working both for Poland and Czech Republic and, in 2006, she assumed an international position – Regional Account Director Y&R on Danone account and moved back to Poland