Danone Goes Offensive, Lush Ditches Paid Social & Grows

Danone is spending more, not less, to rescue its North America dairy business. Lush killed paid social and still grew. And Liquid I.V. just hired the CMO who built Poppi into a cultural phenomenon. In this episode: Danone reported 4% organic sales growth in Q3 but flagged North America Essential Dairy & Plant-Based as a drag, with management explicitly committing to an offensive brand investment strategy rather than cost-cutting. Lush exited paid advertising on Meta, TikTok, and X entirely over brand values conflicts with platform practices — and continued to drive commercial growth by leaning on owned channels, word-of-mouth, and community. Unilever-owned Liquid I.V. hired the former CMO of Poppi — the prebiotic soda brand acquired by PepsiCo — with an explicit mandate to shift the hydration brand from functional messaging to cultural impact. The FMCG Marketing Daily is a concise briefing for FMCG and CPG marketers, brand managers and CMOs, hosted by Marco & Klara. New episode every day. Enjoying the show? A quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps other marketers find us. Also from Marco & Klara: The Digital Commerce Daily · The Health Marketing Daily