Large-scale Dano campaign in Yemen

Over the past five weeks, Arla Foods has been handing out sample packs of Dano powdered milk to 35,000 families in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. The packs have been distributed by 47 local women who have received a 3-day briefing by Arla Foods Ingredients on the importance of the milk’s role in a healthy diet and on the special qualities of Dano.
Part of a major campaign for Dano, the door-to-door distribution initiative has been necessary as sample packs cannot be sent out by mail in Yemen. The involvement of local women was also dictated by Muslim traditions, which made the involvement of men in the distribution force impossible.
Besides the samples, the Dano campaign comprises TV commercials and free distribution of football shirts and other obsolete sports equipment from the time when Arla Foods was still MD Foods. The campaign, which will continue to the end of the year, aims at cementing Dano’s dominant position in southern Yemen while making new inroads in the market in the northern part of the country where the brand has traditionally been weak.
As part of its market drive, Arla Foods Ingredients has set up a new distribution network and employed a team of three salesmen in northern Yemen. These will service the large number of small retail outlets which characterise Yemen’s retail trade.
“Distribution is all important for the success of the campaign,” said Export Manager Peder Pedersen, Division Ingredients Detail. “Our aim is to become a major player in the northern Yemeni market over the coming year.”
Arla Foods Ingredients has marketed Dano in Yemen since 1977. Today the brand is the leading brand in the southern part of Yemen.

Assisted by a male colleague, one of Dano’s specially trained female “ambassadors” hands out samples to a Yemeni shop owner. A total of 200,000 samples have been distributed to the retail trade and to private households.