DANONE

What role does cultural nuance play in shaping the 10 year global strategy for a multinational hydration giant?

GEOGRAPHY

Indonesia, China, France, Spain

INDUSTRY

Bottled Water & Hydration

RESEARCHERS

  • Aayush Dube
  • Aditi Jain
  • Louis (Keji) Zheng – China

Brief

What is the future of hydration? What role might Danone’s hydration vertical play in 10+ years?

Understand the shifting landscapes, behaviours and aspirations, and how water and hydration are shaping them across Indonesia, China, France and Spain.

Approach

Cultural Research:

We used cultural immersion and digital ethnography to find the overlaps and contrasts in cultural nuances and lifestyles in each geography

Horizon Scanning:

We studied the geographies to detect emerging macro signals and identify possible patterns for indicators of possible futures

Scenario Planning:

Using insights from the research and horizon scanning we conducted client workshops to draw up multiple scenarios of possible strategic directions for Danone hydration in 10+ years and helped identify the white spaces and built a strategic roadmap to help the organisation orient and adapt to the possibilities

Methodology

Cultural Research

Using ethnographic techniques to understand cultural nuance we studied:

Consumers – Lifestyles, Emerging Behaviours, Cultures

Culture – Quirks, Nuances, Local fashion, tastes, behaviours, work-arounds, pop culture, values, locations & occasions of consumption, etc.

Markets – Global context, Local Contexts, availability, products, packaging, technology, consumption, etc.

Horizon Scanning

We used Horizon Scanning to spot emerging signals, macro trends and behaviour that might influence the various geographies and Danone’s business

Horizon Scanning – Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political (STEEP) shifts

Pattern Mapping – Spotting and comparing patterns in behaviour, consumption, Socio-Eco-Political realities, etc. across geographies, cultures and demographics

Scenarios Workshop

The workshop with the Danone team allowed us to combine cultural insights with emerging signals and organisational priorities to develop scenarios allowing us to identify strategic directions.

Drawing out multiple scenarios across the value chains across geographies to help the Danone team to think through the various factors and build a 10 year strategy dynamic enough to adapt, keep up with changing scenarios and spot new opportunities. Some of the questions that we asked were:

  • What can they learn from one geography & apply to another?

  • How will their audiences change? How will the demand change?

  • Organisationally what are the steps they’ll need to take in order to be nimble enough to adapt to future realities?

  • What are the prototypes that can be deployed to keep adapting to changing signals?

Insights & Outcomes

Mapping Threat & Opportunity

We identified emerging signals, white spaces and evolving challenges likely to emerge globally & more specifically across geographies

Reframing

Backed by insights unearthed through the culture immersion and the emerging signals on the horizon, we helped the client arrive at alternate frames of considering the future of their business. We were able to flip the paradigm for the client and help them shift their “take successes from the West and apply them to the East” perspective to a “Learn from East and apply to West” perspective. This opened up entirely new opportunity spaces for the organisational focus and the organisational structure that hadn’t been considered before.

Planning Scenario

We built and examined multiple scenarios to help the client understand the strategic implications of various decisions and eventualities across geographies

Development Strategy

Based on emerging external trends and internal priorities we built a 10 year business strategy dynamic enough to adapt to the challenges and spot new opportunities

Exploring new futures for your business?

Exploring new futures for your business?