Danone Is Redefining the Influencer Marketing Playbook

At a time when culture moves quickly and content is ubiquitous, Danone is redefining the marketing playbook along with Linqia, its agency of record and one of the largest influencer agencies in the world.

Linqia’s chief strategy officer, Keith Bendes, sat down with Danone’s chief marketing officer, Linda Bethea, and executive creative director, Eric Flinn, at ADWEEK’s 2025 Social Media Week in May to discuss their ever-evolving marketing strategy and philosophy.

For Danone, creator marketing is an important part of its current strategy because the path to purchase for younger consumers has changed. 

“The traditional linear marketing funnel is dead,” Bethea said, calling brand engagement a “continuous loop of discovery” thanks to the rise of social media and influencers.

Bethea sees her job as making sure the consumers are targeted throughout the whole loop: “I need to make sure that our content and our brands are engaging with them at the right moment, at the right time, in the right place.”

Embracing failure in creator marketing

Interestingly, part of Danone’s influencer marketing playbook is trial and error, which includes failure. But Bethea doesn’t see it that way. 

“We believe that you have to take risks to get rewards,” she said. “You should be just as proud of the [content] that sucks because you learn from them and do better next time.”

“It’s probably the only space in the company where there’s more appetite for failure, in social,” Flinn agreed.

In embracing the possibility of failure, Danone has created a system to turn creative risk into an advantage. 

“We have a system of green, yellow, red—like what are the things that make [content] more risky,” Flinn said. “That way, when the moments pop up and things are timely, it’s easier to make those [decisions] based on some frameworks and guardrails.”

Finding the right creator

Being nimble and able to respond in the moment means that Danone seeks influencer partnerships that are organic and authentic. 

“We have a portfolio of over 20 brands, and it’s important that we understand the brand purpose, the brand positioning, and the target audience for each,” Bethea said. 

By doing so, Danone can bring a brand to life in an authentic way.

One example of this was partnering Oikos, a Greek yogurt brand, with powerlifter influencer Anatoly. In the video, Anatoly pretends to be a lowly janitor cleaning a gym, but after eating just a spoonful of Oikos, he’s able to lift more than the gym’s beefiest guys.

“Oikos is a brand known for strength,” Bethea said. “So, this absolutely made sense for this brand.”