Off to a Good Start

Situation Analysis: Milk consumption is on an historical decade-long decline. The Strategic Milk Alliance – a marketing association comprised of five regional English Canadian milk-producing organizations – was formed to increase milk consumption, promoting the commodity of milk rather than any specific brand (all owned by milk processors). With no control over the price and packaging of the product, or the retail space in which milk is sold, stemming the decline in demand for milk could only be achieved by consumer communication.

Insight & Strategy: As past focus on the youth market had not been enough to stem declines, a new audience needed to be engaged and energized. Research showed that seniors were already over-consuming white milk, while parents aged 35 to 49 were under-consuming, especially females. Although they had great memories of drinking milk as a child, it was clear that health and nutrition messaging no longer motivated this group to drink more milk; it was key to make an emotional connection between the now two target audiences (youth and parents 35 to 49) and milk.

By tapping into pleasure factors for milk, specifically around enhancing, complementing and accompanying foods such as cookies, cakes and sandwiches, parents could rediscover (and teens could discover) the impulsive enjoyment of milk with their favourite foods. It was important not to depict milk as the hero; to be authentic about the role that milk played in people’s lives, it would be the sidekick, the enhancer of other foods.

Execution: Launched in June 2013, “Milk Every Moment” highlighted milk’s role in enhancing the taste experience. TV and cinema were used to evoke nostalgic memories of childhood consumption, while OOH, print and online, featuring headlines such as “Peanut butter and milk are soul mates. Jelly was just a fling,” focused on taste appeal, followed by shopper marketing components to close the sale at shelf. To address the two target markets efficiently, aperture moments (programming, content, events, etc.) were sought that were equally shared by both target groups.

Results: Within nine months of launch, year-over-year decline in milk consumption had slowed from -2.7 to -1.9, a difference of over 11 million litres of milk with increases in sales of cartons and jugs.

Cause & Effect: Four key brand metrics were measured pre- and post-campaign launch: “What emotions does milk evoke?”; “At what occasion do they choose milk?”; “How do they think about/position milk?” and “What personality does milk project?” After the first six months of the campaign there had been an average 8.6% increase across those measures. Other than the short-term, targeted shopper marketing promotions, there was no drop in price, or change of in-store shelf presence, packaging, formatting or distribution that occurred in the milk category during the time of the campaign.

Credits:
Client: Strategic Milk Alliance
Market development manager, Alberta Milk: Katherine Loughlin
Executive director, CEO, BC Dairy Association: Dave Eto
Director of communication and market development, BC Dairy Association: Liz Gurszky
Director of marketing, Dairy Farmers of Canada: Claire Payette
Assistant director, marketing, Dairy Farmers of Canada: Genevieve Desrochers
Program manager, marketing, Dairy Farmers of Canada: Lindsay Kay
Market development director, Dairy Farmers of Manitoba: Jason Brandes
Marketing manager, SaskMilk: Anita Medl
Agencies: DDB Canada/Tribal Worldwide/Shopper DDB
ECDs: Dean Lee, Cosmo Campbell
CD: Josh Fehr
ACD: Neil Shapiro
ADs: John Larigakis, Shawn McCann
CW: Neil Shapiro, Jon Mandell
Agency producers: Karen Brown, Kimberly Billan
Strategists: Rob Newell, Marty Yaskowich
VP, client services: Patty Jones
VP, shopper marketing: Jason Dubroy
Account director: Svetlana Connolly
Media strategist: Erica Bauer, Diana Walter
Media agency: M2 Universal
Digital artist: Laurice Martin
Digital designer: Shawn McCann
Technology lead: Justin MacLeod
Developer: Tyson Yau
Information architect: Kristy Streefkerk
Digital strategist/cultivator: Derek Lau
Director: Arni Thor Jonsson
DP/cinematographer: Adam Richards
Line producer: Ed Callaghan
Editor: Jon Devries
Colourist: Eric Whipp
Audio house producer: Yan Dal Santo
Audio house engineers: Daenan Bramberger, Harry Knazan