Which dairy companies make their mark in Kantar’s global top 50 brand rankings?

The fourth edition of Brand Footprint: A Global Ranking of the Most Chosen Consumer Brands, a global study of winning brands in the FMCG space, covered 15,000 brands and 200 categories in 44 countries on five continents.

The 44-page document covers many categories and statistics, however, for dairy companies, Danone is the first in the top 50 list, maintaining its position at 21. Danone also has the second of the dairy entries, with its Activia brand featuring at 37, down six slots since the 2015 report.

Japanese company Yakult moves up three places to 47, while General Mills’ Yoplait brand drops one to 48.

The ’top 10 global risers’ category includes Yakult in eighth.

Dairy sets example using occasions to grow

In the food section, dairy gets a thumbs-up from Giles Quick, director of Kantar Worldpanel’s usage panel in the UK.

In the ‘How We Eat, How We Buy’ section, Quick says dairy brands have been successful in growing through occasions.

“By segmenting their category by use, you have yogurt for breakfast, yogurt for lunch boxes, natural yogurt for cooking. I can choose diet pots. There are products for every occasion.”

Yili top in China

Yili is singled out for special attention in the ‘Number 1 brand by country’ section. The company rose to the top of the country ranking for the first time.

The report says Yili grew its CRPs by 5.45% in 2015.

Consumer Reach Points (CRPs) measure how many households globally are buying a brand (its penetration) and how often.

The premium UHT brand, Milk Satine, registered growth following a nationwide marketing campaign that used Chinese singer, songwriter and actress Wang Faye as the brand ambassador.

QQ Star, Yili’s flavored milk drink, sponsored the reality television show ‘Dad! Where are we going?’, and Kantar says the show is popular among its target audience: children and parents. This led to a 14% value growth for the brand.

Yili boasts a penetration of 88.5% and is bought by nine out of 10 Chinese urban households.

Junlebao jumps up

After fast national expansion from 2002 to 2008, dairy brand Junlebao re-invented itself in 2015, premiumizing its image through celebrity sponsorship, introducing a range of healthier products and creating a line of products ideal for gifting, says the report.

In 2015, the brand increased its CRPs by 16%, moving up nine places in the national brands ranking in China.

Price makes a difference in Ecuador

Ecuadorian brand Lenutrit grew in popularity by tapping into consumers’ need for a cheaper alternative to regular dairy milk, the report says, and it positioned itself as a nourishing milk drink at a low cost.

Lenutrit created a hybrid category: a product that tastes like milk but that is actually made from 50% milk and 50% serum.

This price point made the brand available to every socioeconomic group, the report found. Lenutrit increased its performance during 2015, especially in the coastal region, where 68% of its sales are concentrated.

Lenutrit is purchased by 58% of Ecuadorian families and is the 11th most chosen brand in that country.

French goat cheese rises

Soignon saw its penetration rise in the French dairy market.

The brand is tapping into consumers’ desire for milk alternatives and brands with heritage to leap 10 places up the ranking in 2015, growing its CRPs by 16%.

The report says that retailers in France are also responding to consumers, offering more space for these products. Soignon launched several new SKUs in 2015.

The full report can be downloaded here