French identity in LU biscuits (Mondelez)






LU, the french biscuit brand created in France in 1846 is owned since 2007 by Mondelez. Even if this company has a powerful brand identity, as we will see, Mondelez provides the overall direction for all its brands from different countries.


Mondelez's vision:

 Mondelez is a worldwide group that is present in 150 countries. It owns a lot of brands like oreo, Belvita, Milka, Lu, Cadbury etc. Even if it has to adapt its brand to every different country, its vision remains the same for all of them: « snacking made right.» In other words, that means offering the right snack, at the right moment, made in the right way. Mondelez is a frightening competitor. In France, it has a research center in Saclay where scientists and cookers always try new methods and new components for the products to boost innovation. Mondelez is health-oriented: 70 % of its innovations are focused on well being. Its strength are biscuits.
Lu is following Mondelez's vision that direction but in its proper way in order to keep the french spirit. Let's see how it builds its brand image.

LU, A really old french brand:

In 2012, Lu is the favorite brand of french people. Lu has a great story which is very important for the customers. It was first little biscuits with butter and flour for school children and then they develop to other recipes. Its long history of biscuit expertise gives the brand legitimacy because they exist for 170 years and several generations have approved them. LU maintains a decisive comparative advantage at the local level, a footprint in the memory of the French with very popular products and a strong identity. Furthermore, Lu even has is own museum that retraces the story of the brand.
The typical little french boy: "Le petit Ecolier" is the well-known schoolchild mascot.
"Le petit écolier" targets school children.
Indeed, the slogan to promote the product is "Petit Écolier de LU is only for children". The portions are pocket format to allow the child to eat it where he wants. It is the French touch in a biscuit with the classic uniform of the child. It is a biscuit that has become part of the daily life of children. We can notice that the design of the biscuit is really sophisticated like the french old style.



A brand engaged in CSR :

In France, CSR is a real stake for companies. The brand Lu is working well on his partnership with the agricultors. Indeed, the consumer and the shopper are aware of the responsibility of these brands in the life of farmers. Some consumers even feel concerned when they purchase. Mondelez launched with LU ten years ago the Harmony charter, a sustainable wheat program. In addition to being a guarantee of transparency on the origin of raw materials, it is a proof of quality. On their website, we can see pictures of some of the agricultors that work for them. We thus feel that we have traceability and transparency in the product, and this enhances the confidence that the consumer has in the brand. In the heart of the program Harmony there is also the eco-friendly concern of the products. They promise to reduce the pesticides in the products to protect biodiversity and that is really great.




 A Brand aware of its consumers' health: 

 Lu has changed some of its recipes to adapt to the new consumer's demands. Just a parenthesis, but in France, the Yuka application that rates products according to their composition has led to the change of 900 product recipes.
According to LSA, here are some types of change that the brand Lu made: In the biscuits Prince, saturated fatty acids have been reduced by 55% since 2006 and fats by 12%, with the addition of whole grains by 15%. Ourson suffered the same fate with a 30% reduction in saturated fatty acids in the dough in 2000, thanks to the switch to rapeseed oil, then 25% in the fodder, in 2014. As for Belvita, in 2015 alone, its saturated fatty acids were reduced by 46%, and its cereals increased by 32%.
Changing all these recipes allowed the brand to communicate more on the nutritional benefits of its product and it becomes a severe factor of competitiveness. For example, improving the recipe of Belvita biscuits allowed Belvita to write on the packaging « energy for the whole morning,» and this will boost the sells. Naturality of the product is now a must-have for the consumer.

A real effort concerning consumer experience :

 The brand understands well the importance of emotions in the customer experience. This is why they love to surprise their consumers. Here are two examples of successful ideas :







A giant teddy bear 2 meters high, representing the mascot of the biscuit LULU L'Ourson was waiting for the little boy in a Parisian public square :







Another heartwarming story :
Yasmina had the chance to receive a surprise for her birthday on April 27th! A very nice message written by her daughter Maylie was addressed to her on a large poster near her home :






On the website www.LU170ans.fr, people can send free real birthday cards featuring their favorite LU cookies.
With all these events, Lu engages its consumers in the Lu experience and share something meaningful, emotional that creates memories. It contributes to show that Lu cares about each of its children.

 LU produces biscuits for everybody in the family:
The brand target several segments of consumers; children (Ourson, Paille D'or, mikado), working adults (Belvita, Tuc), old people (Pims). And they have snacks for all moments of the day, from the morning with Belvita then the snack at 4 pm with Pepito and in the evening with the appetizers TUC.
Lu gives the image of good nutritional products, creativity, and playfulness. The brand does a lot of in-shop activities to involve consumers.


The brand is being digitalized
It was a transition that also urgently needed to be adopted for the brand. Lu launches a video game featuring Prince Lu (Prince Lu biscuit mascot) who has to recover stolen bags of wheat. It is a form of brand entertainment that has been very successful because nowadays kids love to plays on smartphones or tablets.
A few years ago, the brand was spending 90% of its advertising budget on television. It is now focusing on digital technology with the launch of a 3-minute animated film broadcast on Youtube with the prince, the children's hero.

As we saw it, the brand Lu has a strong french identity and keep the same spirit for many decades. However, it has been able to adapt to changes in society by developing products for other segments and redefining its strategy to meet CSR challenges.

Lucille Brunet

Sources :

https://www.lu.fr/gclid=Cj0KCQiAiNnuBRD3ARIsAM8KmltTDqzicePj1RSr4SIAw1nqQjfp0HI747_wgVV0zFRe7VtAxnDWBLcaAgTxEALw_wcB

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