The centerpiece of this campaign is a 4-minute-and-45-second high-definition video titled “Milk as You’ve Never Seen It Before,” which will air nationally from July to September on Adlink Media’s Yahoo! domain. Building on CMPB’s “Milk truths” campaign, the video uses urban myths about milk to reveal real information and expands into new media. A million-dollar Internet media buy includes placements on Yahoo!, ESPN, and ADP’s Palm. The campaign features a special website where milk is creatively depicted in various artistic forms, challenging traditional perceptions. Additional pages include black-and-white milk imagery with the tagline: “We can’t explain it. But it’s good,” as well as interactive features like a slogan contest and a gallery of dairy-related art. The campaign debuted globally just before the video broadcast, making a significant impact on both milk advertising and media innovation.

1. Introduction

The site’s “Posters” page is an additional nine black-and-white milk images showing it stirred, aimed like a missile and splashing into the air, with the tagline: “We can’t explain it. But it’s good.” The other pages include “Rollover,” in which black-and-white animation depicts a cow, a submit-a-slogan/haiku contest and a gallery of dairy-related art. Nearly worldwide debuts for the new media “Milk truths” elements occurred in the days just before to just after the broadcast of the main event. So, while the ultimate winner was milk, in reality, advertising won just as much. Academic and military institutions worldwide, both private and public, bought enormous sums of 29-liter containers of milk and temporarily clothed their tasting-operatives in plastic bodysuits to watch the very super marmite pitches.

2. Historical Context of Milk Advertising

Though children may still entertain fantasies of becoming cowboys or pilots, youngsters today hold none greater than becoming a YouTuber. The advent of the internet and globalisation has led to the resurgence of a trend that primarily originated in the West: the advent of viral marketing. Marketers today are being called upon to devise outrageously creative strategies in an effort to elicit the kind of marketing success that has eluded them in the past. Grazing cows have long captivated the hearts of children and hence, dairy company SUD Dairy (PTH SUD) decided to make one really cool video showing kids and cows. The whole idea was to get a cow in a cow costume, have it come home, feed it at the dinner table with its wee human buddies, and tuck it in at night. Only this plan didn’t work out of course – the cow almost smashed up the whole house and got the kids busted! While the video did receive substantial attention, garnering 600,000 clicks in two months, it was still a pale shadow in the world of viral videos. PTH SUD’s whole $20,000 breast-feeding-and-cheesing experience had gone down the proverbial cow’s gullet, like a Hollywood blockbuster that bombed at the box office [1].

Reaching for new heights, the marketing department brainstormed on what would be a fitting follow-up. One day while munching on fries and gulping down coke, a crazy idea struck the brain trust: kids gorging on junk food, and desperately slurping down milk with a really wild twist (the idea of the “greatest milk ad in the world” being modeled on a George A. Romero-style zombie flick would come later). Coincidentally, the same week, a cheesy home video with kids skateboarding naked was getting tons of attention, so why not do something almost as outrageous? After some research, a proposal was drawn up for the ‘Greatest Milk Ad in the World’ campaign, which was to be two-fold. First, there would be the execution of an over-the-top, no holds barred commercial, akin to a roller-coaster ride with kids going from mild to wild, showing the careless consumption of junk food before being saved at the last second, with a glass of milk appearing like some liquid superhero (the hose-down version: an old cop who saves the beat kids with his trusty patrol car). The second part would be to leverage the commercial, posting it on as many video websites worldwide and trading it for some silly journalism like a tabloid would (like saying milk makes drunk kids skateboarding naked, etc.), thus accentuating the zany commercial and allowing people to draw their own conclusions (thus increasing the ambiguity), which in theory should provoke people to mull and discuss around the idea of milk, branding SUD dairy products in the process. With a great proposition in hand, a creator friend of the family was approached, who enthusiastically agreed to bring the commercial to life, on a $30,000 budget.

3. Innovative Approaches in Modern Advertising

The milk advertising campaign, which began in July and ended in early September, certainly took an inventive approach to garner public attention. While some onlookers were intrigued by the unusual sight of ‘ukiyo-e’ style milk crates being thrown into canals from a great height, there were others who mocked the campaign for being unoriginal [1]. Nevertheless, these outrageous tactics did manage to captivate public interest like no other. After a period of intense backlash and commentary, consumers would resume their daily lives, forgetting these oddities altogether, or perhaps only having dim memories of it. However, milk would remain an integral part of the life they forgot, steadily converting them to avid consumers of Japanese milk (or other suitable alternatives available in the market).

Japan is not the only country known for bizarre advertising stunts with huge social media reach. In the United States, brands like Taco Bell and Burger King have undertaken similar publicity stunts. It is, however, rare for such an approach to be seen in the field of dairy product advertisements. What will most likely happen if these unconventional gags are to be attempted in their respective countries, especially the Western ones? Would they be met with the same level of success?

4. Case Studies of Successful Milk Advertising Campaigns

Through an in-depth analysis of successful and standout milk advertising campaigns, the scrutiny aims to distill the elements that contribute to their success. Notable examples will be explored to illustrate effective techniques used, shedding light on the varied efforts across the many iterations of milk advertisements.

LOVE LIFE, LOVE MILK (by UHT Ultra Milk)

Setting out to ask if consumers would choose health or taste, the ad jumps from a presentation of tawdry fast food choices—great for sitting around a burger—but unquestionably leading to fat and cholesterols, to the energy-rich milk choice. Next, the ad presents a look at milky drinks (whole, low-fat, sweetened) as both kicks of energy and routes to confidence—milky drinkers have super-model looks, productive offices, and successful romances.

This visual rhetoric wraps up the ad and has two sides. In a micro level, Ultra Milk’s energy and confidence boosting messages are appealing—both to introverts wanting a little boost for their self-confidence, and the (male-centric) prioritization of economic success pushing its own healthy-from-the-middle perspective. Even before this healthy reward arrives, the ad’s more titillating message is also part of its general appeal: it is strong on “sexy”.

What’s great here is that, having initially asked if health or taste will win out, taste drifts to the background while health-laden milk emerges as uncontested champion [1].

1% LOW-FAT MILK HAS PERKS! (by Arkansas Department of Health)

1% Low-Fat Milk Has Perks!, a patient-level social marketing campaign aimed at changing fat milk consumption from 2% to 1% low-fat milk, is thoroughly evaluated [2]. Findings suggest that a rigorous, multi-level social marketing campaign based on consumer psychographics effectively changed an entrenched behavior through paid advertising alone. Having 1% low-fat milk as the primary ingredient in ad spots was not enough to create awareness among the target audience. However, awareness of the low-fat milk ads was 50% higher among those with matching psychographic profiles than those without that profile. Overall population estimates calculated from sales data imply that 1% low-fat milk sales surpassed 2% milk sales by approximately 20% one year after the campaign’s completion in response to the campaign. A second patient-level analysis, consistent with this finding, illustrates that the consumption rate of 1% milk increased at the population level by 15%, while the consumption of 2% milk decreased.

5. The Future of Milk Advertising

Futuristic Technology for Milk Product Ads: AR and VR

It is anticipated that, in the near future, advertisements for milk products would integrate futuristic technological innovations like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Consumers will view their products through AR visualization, where they will get a 3D model of how milk travels from farm to the consumer. Such AR or VR experiences will be massive and could reach 360-degree videos. However, it comes at the cost of consumers having to download applications, and the advertisement may be viewed on videos instead of television. Recent speculations on the national television about a local consumer goods manufacturer hint at similar mass AR ideas. Furthermore, companies could incorporate interactive story-telling of how their milk products are so beneficial to the consumer. These promotional steps have not been heavily utilized, thus enabling companies to connect to the consumers emotionally by conveying a heart-warming story. [1]

Minimal Budgets for Milk Products Ads

Currently, a promotional idea revolving around the fairness of the offering with minimal budgets would not occur even though a campaign would be beneficial for shedding light on the current milk products. Focusing solely on the offering would be difficult to analyze as the whole competitive environment has different political implications. This idea is given on the basis of the current advertisements with low competition. It could become a visual representation for other products to create differentiation. However, such offers of clarity about the product may backfire as advertisements are generally meant to be incredibly persuasive. Here, the consumer would not see the advertisement as something influential, yet would rather curse them for “not getting the picture” thus becoming emotional. [3]

References:

[1] P. Ardhianto and W. Manuel Son, “Visual Semiotics Analysis on Television Ads UHT Ultra Milk “Love Life, Love Milk”,” 2019. [PDF]

[2] K. Jaye Finnell, R. John, and D. M. Thompson, “1% low-fat milk has perks!: An evaluation of a social marketing intervention,” 2016. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

[3] R. Gvillo, “Milk Advertising, Vending Machine Purchases, and Their Health Implications,” 2015. [PDF]