Amazon.com Inc has cooked up a public-relations project called “Ratatouille” to boost its image in France, where the company is not as popular as in other European markets.
The plan agglomerates a dozen sub-projects, including local television advertisements, the promotion of French-made products sold on Amazon and studies that purportedly show the positive economic impact of the company’s warehouses, people with knowledge of the effort said.
The Ratatouille project was inspired by the popular Disney film, which features a friendly French rat who cooks the well-known stewed vegetable dish from Provence.
Started about three years ago, the project is aimed at “Frenchifying” Amazon, one of the people said.
Last month, Amazon for the first time attended the popular Paris farming fair, with a booth showcasing local food producers. The e-commerce giant also in 2021 opened an online shop showcasing products made in France, a section that generates few sales, but is widely promoted.
In a Roland Berger study released last month and paid for by Amazon, 84 percent of local shop owners in a region of northeastern France said Amazon opening a warehouse near them had a neutral impact on their business.
Another commissioned poll from Ifop showed that eight Amazon employees out of 10 would recommend working at the company.
In 2021, Amazon Prime Video secured the broadcast rights to most of France’s soccer competition, a move that was not prompted by the Ratatouille plan, but helped Amazon’s image, the people said.
“For more than two decades, we’ve worked to earn the trust of our customers in France by contributing to their communities, providing good service, and offering a broad selection at low prices, even as the cost of living has escalated,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “Like many companies, we’ve always worked to share information about how we support the communities where we operate.”
The Ratatouille plan was inspired by McDonald’s Corp’s France playbook, one of the people said.
In the late 1990s, left-wing activists dubbed the fast-food giant a symbol of globalization, but McDonald’s improved its image by striking deals with local farmers and adapting menus to French tastes, with salads, pastries and a McBaguette sandwich.
Since launching in France in 2000, Amazon has proven a success in the country, where it has 200,000 employees and is the e-commerce market leader.
However, it remains less popular among consumers than in Germany or the UK.
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