BRAND INTERVIEW
Dancow is a household name among Indonesians in powder milk, can you briefly share the history of the brand?
Dancow is a beautiful brand with over a 100 year history in Indonesia. We are so proud to have raised many generations of kids. Through insights from the Kantar Report, we know that Dancow is present in almost every second home in Indonesia. Mothers have chosen this brand for its great nutrition and kids have consumed it for its great taste. We hope to continue to build on that success and further increase our household penetration.
With such a long history, it is proven that the brand can evolve thru different generations, how does Dancow stay close to consumers over decades?
At Nestlé, we believe that to build a strong brand there must be a strong belief. This brand belief is something that defines the DNA of the brand. Dancow, for example, believes there is nothing more demanding nor powerful than a mother's love in raising children for the future. This belief gives rise to our brand purpose.
Dancow’s brand purpose is that we support every mother's love. We then translate our purpose into all of our marketing activities. Not only advertising, but also on ground where we touch real kids and real mothers and bring value not only in terms of products, but also the social issues that we tap into. We believe it is this belief and purpose that has sustained Dancow over the years.
Recently, we knew that Dancow have a recent program that reached out about two million mothers. Could you tell us a bit more about that program?
A brand that has been in the country for so long cannot only survive on advertising. It must be deep-rooted in Indonesian culture to understand mothers - both today and tomorrow. Our program asked more than two million mothers who have been part of the journey of kids’ freedom to make a pledge about what they want to be, and nurture them with right nutrition. So, it was not only about nutrition, but also about the right parenting style for today's generation that will successfully raise the kids of the future
Dancow managed to win a place in Kantar Brand Footprint 2023 within dairy category, what does it mean for Dancow?
Firstly, we're very happy that Dancow - a 100 year old brand – still remains relevant today. It means that a lot of our strategies are working and we are just as close to our consumers as we have always been.
Secondly, we all know that shoppers are spoiled for choice. It's not so difficult to launch a new product these days. We don't need big factories and it's not difficult to advertise - just 10 or 15 years ago TV budget used to be the pivotal thing for a brand’s success. Now, there are so many platforms.
The third thing, I remember not so long ago, the biggest issue that brands had was getting space on retailers’ shelves. Now, every consumer carries a shelf on their mobile phone. In such a changing environment, we feel that the big brands could be at a disadvantage as people are bombarded from different places with new news and by so many new competitors continually entering the market.
What we want to do is to maintain our deep roots in Indonesian culture. If we are just advertising, then it’s likely our competitors could create even more exciting ads. What we bring to the table is more than that. We bring a unique blend of heritage and trust, combined with our efforts to continually evolve our brand to stay relevant. We hope that this will help us last for another 100 years.
With all the facts, how do you Future Proof Dancow to stay top of mind when consumers are faced with so many choices?
Well, there are many different elements here, but I would like to talk more about two important foundations or fundamentals.
Firstly, how to have a lasting presence. If we look at research data and case studies, we see that typically an average brand or a business is at its weakest strategic health when it is at the peak of its financial health. This is quite counter intuitive. How you can be at the weakest strategic health when you are at the top of your financial health? The answer is because most of the time brands have the right strategy at the beginning, which gives them growth. But then they tend to relax, and the momentum carries forward. By the time the momentum plateaus we figure out that something is not right, but by that time it's too late. So, what we are trying to do is check ourselves more during the good times than the bad times because in good times we have the resources available to change course.
The second fundamental is passionate brand builders. I don't think there is any great brand in the world that was built without passion. Passionate brand builders are people who are bold and have both imagination and conviction. A brand will not go everywhere, but we must break new ground under the big umbrella of brand belief and purpose.
Lastly, there are many other things in marketing that help a brand to stay top of mind. A brand needs to have a point of view in the cultural context. Brands with heritage earn the right and have the responsibility to have a point of view, which is just not possible for many younger brands. We have ventured into some areas of parenting, of motherhood, of different kinds of mothers, to try and leverage this and provoke thought among our consumers.
Frisian Flag has been a popular brand in Indonesia in the dairy category, can you share briefly the history and the mission of the brand?
Frisian Flag has been a core part of Indonesian life for generations. Most us will have tried its products and many of us will be loyal users of the brand. Originally called Susu Bendera, the brand has grown and is now known as Frisian Flag. We have a long history in Indonesia dating back 100 years. We entered the market with condensed milk, but over the years we have transformed our portfolio and expanded into powder and liquid milk. Now we offer the most comprehensive range and formats of milk in Indonesia, which provide nutrition for all ages – from toddlers through to teenagers and adults. We have a very strong and determined vision to help nourish Indonesia as it advances.
From the Kantar Brand Footprint report, Frisian Flag has been consistently among the top 10 Most Chosen FMCG brands suggesting the brand become the prominent choice for consumers. How do you manage to stay close to your consumers?
Firstly, I must express our gratitude and thank you for the partnership. Kantar has been a very pivotal source of information, insights, and validations and given us a lot of foresight that is helpful to drive our innovations and portfolio agenda.
One of the fundamental things a FMCG brand must do is build hyper proximity with its target audience, whether this is the consumers it serves or the distributor of its products. We invest significantly in terms of time and effort to provide that proximity and work with our partners, like Kantar, to understand our consumers today and how they will evolve in the future.
Innovation and speed to market helps us to stay close to our consumers. Speed is also important to ensure that your brand is seen as progressive and innovative. Our ability to translate both consumer insight and foresight into our current portfolio and think three to five years ahead will be critical in driving our future innovations. Lastly, the ability to keep up with the latest technologies in the nutrition world and leverage these will help us to ensure the quality of the fresh milk and other dairy products in the Frisian Flag portfolio.
As we know that Frisian Flag has a range of dairy portfolios, from powder milk to liquid milk, and condensed milk. With such a diverse portfolio, how do you stay ahead of the competition with continuous innovation?
We have the most complete range of portfolios, which cater to different target audiences - from the younger generations through to the whole family. We need to understand the needs of our consumers and shoppers, keep up to date with the latest trends and understand the social, economic and demographic factors so we can provide our consumers with the most relevant offerings. But it’s not just about offering the best innovations, we must also make our products accessible and affordable to as many Indonesian consumers as possible. As we age our nutritional needs change and we need to ensure that our innovations meet these needs so we can stay ahead in the game.
Last question, how are you going to future-proof your brand to stay relevant and be ready to face new challenges ahead?
In the past, it’s taken us between 12 and 18 months to launch new innovations. We need to be leaner, more agile and faster in processing information so we can turn insights into innovations much more quickly.
We have evolved how we source insights. We now not only draw on conventional way to connect with consumer, but also use social listening and keep up to date with market trends – all to help trigger innovative ideas that can help us to stay ahead of the competition. Our aim is to anchor all of these insights with our mission to support Indonesia with the right nourishment to help the country to flourish and advance.
