The Dannon Company Super Bowl Ad to Feature Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt and Actor John Stamos

Crowdsourced ad directed by possibly the youngest professional in the history of Super Bowl ads

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Dannon Company announced today that the first-ever Super Bowl yogurt commercial will feature Dannon Oikos® Greek yogurt and actor John Stamos. The Dannon Oikos advertisement will run during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVI and will also be released on the Dannon Oikos Facebook and YouTube pages as part of a fully-integrated marketing campaign. Stamos appeared in the previous Dannon Oikos’ TV commercial, the first for the brand, which debuted in August 2011.

“It is confirmed in a national taste test of non-fat berry flavors, including Strawberry, which is the most popular flavor, that Dannon Oikos is preferred on taste to the leading brand of Greek yogurt by a margin of two to one1”

In addition to bringing better-for-you food to the biggest single television event of the year, Dannon chose a unique approach to creating the ad. The commercial was crowdsourced among a select group of top talent in collaboration with Poptent, the crowdsourced video production company. Crowdsourcing is the process of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community (crowd) through an open call or, in the case of Dannon, a member-only call. The member-only crowdsourced campaign was conducted privately in keeping with the tradition of secrecy and surprise of Super Bowl advertising.

“Greek yogurt now accounts for more than one quarter of the entire U.S. yogurt market. Americans continue to crave Greek yogurt and demand continues to grow as we see a shift in the way that Americans enjoy yogurt. We make what is possibly the best tasting yogurt in the world with Dannon Oikos and now is the perfect time to highlight this delicious and nutritious snack in our Super Bowl ad,” said Sergio Fuster, Senior Vice President of Marketing, The Dannon Company. “We are preparing some very memorable advertising that emphasizes just how good it is, and we’ve invested in production capacity to meet anticipated increased demand.”

The process for making delicious, authentic Greek yogurt, like Dannon Oikos, requires unique know-how, specialized equipment and disciplined operations, and The Dannon Company and Danone, Dannon’s parent company, are the world’s leading yogurt makers.

“It is confirmed in a national taste test of non-fat berry flavors, including Strawberry, which is the most popular flavor, that Dannon Oikos is preferred on taste to the leading brand of Greek yogurt by a margin of two to one¹,” said Michael Neuwirth, Senior Director of Public Relations, The Dannon Company. “We first brought yogurt to the U.S. in 1942, and we’ve been bringing new ways to enjoy yogurt since then. We’re advertising Dannon Oikos during the big game to help Americans continue to make better food choices, and our Greek yogurt is an ideal choice. This new ad takes our campaign of ‘Possibly the Best Yogurt in the World’ to a whole new place and takes our relationship with John Stamos to a whole new level.”

John Stamos Loves Oikos

John Stamos’ first commercial for Dannon Oikos, which debuted in August 2011, compared the yogurt to the world’s best-tasting delights such as Champagne and Swiss chocolate. And with his return in this new commercial for Dannon Oikos, Stamos said, “I’m so impressed with the direction Dannon took with this new commercial. I’m really proud to be part of the project.”

Possibly the Youngest Professional Super Bowl Ad Director in History

Director Remy Neymarc (21) and his brother, Andrew (23), submitted a concept that was selected from the best of the best of a privately crowdsourced Poptent community submission process in response to Dannon’s creative brief posted via the Poptent.net community in mid-2011. Under Poptent’s Invite Assignments process, Dannon worked directly with Poptent to hand-select a short-list of videographers, including Remy, from Poptent’s social network based on the brand’s specific requirements and skills of the videographers.

Remy Neymarc, born August 13, 1990, is possibly the youngest professional director in the history of Super Bowl advertising. Dannon has submitted an application to the Guinness World Records^TM to secure this historic milestone.

Remy and Andrew Neymarc both grew up in the suburbs of Paris, specifically, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés. Remy, who directed the ad, graduated high school in 2008 and is expected to earn his degree from Lewis & Clark College in 2012 in Computer Science.

Remy began working as a professional photographer at age 17 and quickly transitioned to filmmaking with his brother, Andrew, to pursue their strong passion for storytelling. The two brothers are self-taught, have no formal film education and work with a mentality that nothing is impossible. As a team, Andrew and Remy write, direct, shoot and edit everything themselves. They also compose the music when possible. Although they do everything together, Remy specializes in directing and cinematography, while Andrew specializes in writing and producing.

In 2011, Andrew and Remy founded their production company, Neymarc Visuals. They work independently for companies and also competitively through crowdsourcing companies such as Poptent. For more information about the Neymarc brothers, visit: www.neymarcvisuals.com.

“Working with Dannon on the Dannon Oikos commercial has been a fantastic experience,” said Remy Neymarc. “I’m honored to have the opportunity for my work to be represented during TV’s single most watched event. It was a thrill to be selected via Poptent to work with a globally respected brand like Dannon.”

Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt is available nationwide in several delicious flavors—strawberry, blueberry, honey, vanilla, and plain, peach and black cherry, and a few more indulgent, blended flavors of strawberry, key lime, and raspberry. Plain and vanilla varieties are now also available in new 32 ounce containers. To learn more about Dannon Oikos, visit www.OikosYogurt.com and www.Facebook.com/Oikos.

The Dannon Company has a long-standing and deeply respected relationship with its advertising agency-of-record, Y&R, which played a consultative role in the production of this ad.

About The Dannon Company, Inc.

Headquartered in White Plains, New York, Dannon has plants in Minster, Ohio, Fort Worth, Texas, and West Jordan, Utah to serve its customers and makes approximately 100 different types of flavors, styles and sizes of cultured fresh dairy products. With a strong commitment to high-quality, wholesome, nutritious and innovative products, Dannon is committed to encouraging people to eat a balanced diet and live a healthy lifestyle. Dannon is a subsidiary of Danone, and Dannon is the top-selling brand of yogurt worldwide, sold under the names Dannon and Danone. This commitment is also illustrated through The Dannon Company's support of the Dannon Institute, an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting research, education, and communication about the links between nutrition, diet and health.

Danone holds top positions globally in healthy food through four businesses: it ranks number one worldwide in fresh dairy products, number two in bottled water and baby nutrition, and is Europe’s number one medical nutrition company. Listed on Euronext Paris, Danone is a component stock of leading social responsibility indexes including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes DJSI Stoxx and DJSI World, ASPI Eurozone and the Ethibel Sustainability Index.

About Poptent:

Poptent (www.poptentmedia.com) is a crowdsourced video production company for leading brands and agencies, producing commercials and other video assets through a powerful social network of more than 42,000 videographers in over 140 countries. Poptent's marketing and social networking professionals work with clients to develop high quality commercials and other video assets at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods for both online and offline use. Brands who "Poptent" their videos get the benefit of reviewing numerous video executions, then choosing the perfect videos for their needs. Poptent creators benefit through the industry networking and other resources available to them at Poptent, and by having their work seen, reviewed and potentially purchased by leading brands and ad agencies. Founded in 2007, Poptent's principal offices are in Southern California and suburban Philadelphia, with regional sales offices in New York, Chicago, and other key US markets. The company also opened an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil in mid-2011.

¹ Dannon Oikos blueberry and strawberry non-fat yogurts were preferred on taste to Chobani’s blueberry and strawberry non-fat yogurts in a national paired taste test.

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