Strategies for Adapting International Food Brands to the Local Context: Analysis of Identity and Discourse Mutations for Danone, Nestlé and Carte d'Or from a Franco-Italian perspective

Abstract

This comparative Franco-Italian study analyses how the food brands Danone, Nestlé and Carte d’Or adapt their brand names and slogans to best meet the expectations of local consumers. Unlike traditional approaches that focus on literal translation, this research looks at the complex mechanisms of linguistic and cultural adaptation that go beyond traditional marketing localisation models. We explore the tension between local cultural roots and global identity in the context of neo-localism. Using a small corpus of 18 slogans (9 Italian, 6 French, and 3 English) from the 1980s to the present, we examine marketing localisation strategies that focus on linguistic and cultural adaptations that allow brands to differentiate themselves in saturated markets and strengthen their identity. Danone, for example, changed its name to Dannon for the US market, while Nestlé used the prefix “nes-” to unify its range. Similarly, Carte d’Or has adapted its flavours and formats to local preferences, while retaining its name. We want to shed new light on the marketing of food brands and show how they manage to combine universality and local roots to strengthen consumers’ attachment to shared values.