If Big Data can help mankind solve massive challenges ranging from gene sequencing to avoiding asteroid hits, surely a little dose of big data in the supermarket aisle could go a long way for its wielder, right?

Dannon USA and IBM are testing that notion with a partnership to harness IBM's cloud-based predictive analytics to help ensure that Dannon has the right product mix delivered at the right time to satisfy consumers in the highly competitive, $7 billion US yogurt market.

The move already has reduced the frustration of out-of-stocks for Dannon consumers, enhanced the brand's ability to manage a proliferation of SKUs in the yogurt section, boosted Dannon's forecasting abilities and allowed its sales, merchandising and distribution staffs to focus on creating and executing effective promotions rather than focusing on the math.

"Yogurt and the fresh-dairy aisle in general are high-turn environments and are promotionally sensitive," Michael Neuwirth, senior director of public relations for Dannon USA, told brandchannel.Continue reading...

This post has been updated with statements from Chobani and Dannon USA, both of whom are faced with disposing growing amounts of acid whey.

Greek yogurt continues to claim practically every new American yogurt eater in sight, but a fly has emerged in the ointment—or, more rather, a toxin in the culture. An article in Modern Farmer magazine about the production of "acid whey" in the making of Greek-style yogurt has been getting a lot of attention because of the potential implications of the problem.

First, the good news for Greek-style yogurt: It continues to burgeon, serving as the growth engine for what had become a relatively stagnant US yogurt business. Since occupying nearly nothing of the yogurt market six years ago, Greek-style yogurts have grown to 35 percent of the U.S yogurt trade, fueled by the success of the upstart brand Chobani as well as counter-forays by Dannon, Yoplait and others. American consumers have come to crave the substantial mouthfeel and satiety aspects of Greek-style yogurt as well as its tangy taste, compared with standard yogurt fare.

For New York state, the Greek-style bonanza has been huge because of the expansion of yogurt production by Chobani and Fage upstate in dairy country, giving New York a total of 29 yogurt plants. Dubbed the "Silicon Valley of Yogurt," New York now surpasses California in yogurt production by more than 100 million pounds.Continue reading...

Many a dairy brand have been trying to figure out how to pivot their offerings toward the perceived protein needs of men. That's how the whole phenomenon of chocolate milk as a workout "recovery" drink got started, and that's the positioning that has made hits out of tailored dairy-based products such as Muscle Milk.

Now a major brand known for a whole other kind of dairy wants to muscle in on the action. Dannon USA as been advertising in Men's Health magazine depicting its Oikos yogurt as a dose of protein that even men can appreciate. "The New Protein" ad depicts Oikos inside a hamburger bun, for example, on a grill with chicken breasts and in an egg container to underscore the fact that, as a Greek-style yogurt product, Oikos carries even more of a protein punch than regular yogurt.

Men's purchases likely would only ever become a sliver of overall demand for Oikos, which ranked as not only the most successful US new-product launch of 2012 among CPG brands, as evaluated by SymphonyIRI, but the most successful such launch since 2009.Continue reading...

TCBY, the acronym by which The Country's Best Yogurt chain is better known, once ruled the yogurt-retail world, but in recent years, a lot of competition has grown up around it. Part of that competition targets “back to the earth” consumers who are more interested in going back to a more “natural” yogurt and part of that competition is simply those hoping to horn in on TCBY’s frozen-yogurt mix-in turf.

The explosion in yogurt shops just in New York City of late has been astounding, including Chobani's first standalone boutique. “There’s been a veritable war in the Village,” real-estate broker Faith Hope Consolo, a retail real-estate broker for Douglas Elliman, told the NY Observer. “It’s the fastest-growing franchise in the country.” Don’t think TCBY is taking the war lightly.Continue reading...

Jamie Lee Curtis is back for Activia, and this time she's catching you while you're still rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

That's right, the long-lasting spokeswoman for Dannon's probiotic Activia yogurt stars in a new TV ad for the product, this one touting Dannon's new Breakfast Blend. The product boasts a container 50 percent bigger container than regular size, the inclusion of breakast-type ingredients such as fruits and grains, and even four breakfast-sounding flavors such as apple-cinnamon.

"It's a great way to start the day," a perky Curtis says in the ad about eating Activia Breakfast Blend, after waking up and sharing other parts of her morning routine with us, such as exercising and dressing "cute." Continue reading...

The need for jobs in a job-starved America can create some interesting political dynamics. Witness how New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is going out of his way today to praise practically every other politician in the state for having anything to do with bringing new PepsiCo jobs in yogurt-making to upstate — and implicitly thumbling his nose at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has put PepsiCo on the Most Wanted list with his proposed big-soda ban.

"This is a new New York State, partnering with the private sector to create jobs and grow new industries," Cuomo said in a PepsiCo press release today. He's been notably lauded even by some Republicans for making economic development (tagline: "New York - Open for Business") a priority of his administration, including a high-profile TV campaign promoting economic investments in New York State, with not only PepsiCo but Fage bringing their yogurt works to upstate New York.Continue reading...

It may be too early to say the cola wars are over, although it's clear that PepsiCo is ready and willing to take on another archrival. Following years of competing with Coca-Cola with its array of beverage and snack food brands in the U.S., PepsiCo is now getting into the red-hot yogurt market and adding Dannon to its competitive set.

Faced with a U.S. yogurt market that is more crowded than ever with brands, and demonstrating almost no growth except in the Greek yogurt category, PepsiCo announced Monday that it's introducing a fresh brand to yogurt-loving Americans — and one that isn't focusing on Greek — via a new partnership with the Theo Muller Group, Germany's largest privately held dairy

That's the prospect for Muller Quaker Dairy when it finally enters stores in northeastern and mid-Atlantic states with three lines of yogurt products birthed by the joint venture. Muller Quaker promises "innovative premium" products that aim to create differentiation and taste excitement in a U.S. yogurt category that PepsiCo executives believe is lacking both.

"It's been an 'I gotta have it because it's good for me' kind of a product," Dr. Mehmood Khan, who oversees PepsiCo's global research and development, commented to the New York Times. "The 'wanna have it' was missing."Continue reading...

Chobani made Greek-style yogurt part of the American food mainstream, and now the brand is trying to stay on top against catch-up efforts by every other major yogurt brand in the land.

Dannon, with its Oikos brand, has managed to join the startup Chobani brand on the top tier of the only category of yogurt consumption that is growing in the U.S. market these days. But the original Greek-yogurt brand in America, Fage, and Yoplait, which also is trying to play catch-up, are fading in their efforts to ride the boom that Chobani created.

Chobani already has become about a $1-billion concern over the past few years and owns nearly 50 percent of the category, according to a recent report by the Sanford Bernstein securities firm. Even after a furious catch-up effort, Dannon USA still has a less-than-20 percent share, and Fage 14 percent, while General Mills' Yoplait brand limps in with just 6 percent.

"We're dealing with some large organizations that aren't as nimble as Chobani," Niel Sandfort, director of marketing for Chobani, told brandchannel. "We're a billion-dollar company but still entrepreneurial. And we're continually investing in our core."Continue reading...