New yoghurt launched by Danone this year

Danone launched Densia this autumn, and early sales indicators supplied by Mintel suggest the yoghurt is performing well.

Densia differs from existing yoghurt products in its positioning. Instead of focusing on the burgeoning bone health market for children, Densia is aimed at older consumers.

But importantly, Danone has targeted women above 40 implicitly without resorting to direct marketing claims, which have previously floundered in Europe. Consumers prefer not to be reminded of their age so Danone has opted to talk discreetly about vitality and bone density.

Ogeia Lewis said Densia can attract older women indirectly because they are already big yoghurt consumers and are aware of bone health issues.

Densia is perhaps the first serious attempt to reach these consumers. It is fortified with vitamin D and calcium, so that each 125g pot contains 100 per cent of the daily RDA for vitamin D and 50 per cent of the RDA for calcium.