Global Partnership Announced Between Shakira & Activia For Its New 'Dare To Feel Good' Campaign

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.– The leading-selling brand of yogurt worldwide1, Activia, is announcing an exciting global partnership spanning more than 50 countries with international icon Shakira. The Colombian-born superstar supports the yogurt brand’s new ‘Dare to Feel Good’ campaign. The new campaign brings to life Activia’s ‘Feeling Good Starts from the Inside’ tagline with a new dance-themed ad.

Since its introduction, first in Europe in 1987, in the USA in 2006, and now in more than 50 countries worldwide, Activia has been at the forefront of the digestive health conversation and the new platform brings a new level of global visibility for the brand.

“This new campaign demonstrates the connection between how you feel when your digestive system is working well and your overall well-being,” said Jeffrey Rothman, VP of marketing, The Dannon Company. “Like no one else in the world, Shakira’s performance illustrates how feeling good on the inside can help you feel wonderful overall.”

Filmed in Barcelona, the new ad, which begins airing globally on Sunday, March 16, features Shakira in a fantasy forest where she is showered with swirls of gold stardust and dances to express how good she feels inside. “I believe that feeling good on the inside is the key to personal well-being, and dance is one way to communicate that synergy of feeling good inside and overall well-being. Part of why I collaborated with Activia to make the new TV commercial is because I truly believe that taking care of yourself from the inside helps you unlock and express your well-being on the outside,” said Shakira.

Earlier in 2014 in the USA, the brand kicked off the "Activia Tummies. Happy People.” campaign to encourage Americans to experience the many benefits of feeling good from the inside. This initiative is in partnership with leading multi-media entertainment artist Reba McEntire, the respected health expert Travis Stork, and world-class athlete Laila Ali, and is helping spread the message to a broad audience nationwide. The trio will continue to disseminate the brand’s message throughout the year in the USA.

Shakira’s new song “Dare (La La La)” will be included on her new album, “Shakira,” which launches on March 25th, and provides the soundtrack for the new global commercial. Developed by Vinizius Young & Rubicam Barcelona, the advertisement forms the central piece within Activia’s first ever integrated global communication campaign. Directed by the acclaimed photographer and director, Jaume de Laiguana, the commercial’s renowned production team also included Oscar-winning art director Eugenio Caballero and award-winning Javier Aguirresarobe.

The campaign includes the launch of a new global website, www.activia.com on March 16 that will house exclusive campaign content including behind-the-scenes footage from the ad shoot. A preview of the behind-the-scenes video is available beginning March 12 on Activia’s global YouTube channel. The new commercial will be available on www.activia.us.com beginning March 16.

Activia is a probiotic yogurt that helps regulate the digestive system when consumed daily for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.

About SHAKIRA

Over the course of her career, Colombian singer-songwriter and Grammy-winner Shakira has sold over 60 million records worldwide and has won numerous awards including two Grammys, eight Latin Grammys, four World Music Awards, three American Music Awards and five Billboard Music Awards, to name a few. She is the only artist from South America to have a number one song in the US, and has had four of the 20 top-selling hits of the last decade. At the age of 18, she founded the Pies Descalzos (Barefoot) Foundation which currently provides education and nutrition to over six thousand impoverished children in Colombia and is expanding its work to other countries, including newly launched projects in Haiti and South Africa. In October 2011, Shakira was named a member of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. Shakira served as coach on the 4th season of "The Voice," NBC's hit reality vocal competition series that searches for the nation's best voice. She returned to the show on season 6. Shakira’s new album releases on March 25th 2014.

About The Dannon Company

Headquartered in White Plains, New York, Dannon has plants in Minster, OH, Fort Worth, TX, West Jordan, UT, and Portland, OR. Dannon makes more than 200 different flavors, styles and sizes of cultured refrigerated and frozen dairy products to serve its retail and foodservice customers. In its pursuit to bring health through food to as many people as possible, Dannon is committed to Americans enjoying yogurt every day as one of the three recommended daily servings of dairy.

Dannon is a subsidiary of Danone, and Dannon is the top-selling brand of yogurt worldwide, sold under the names Dannon and Danone. 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.

1 *Source: Nielsen

Source: The Dannon Company