Caso 2 - Got Milk?

Branding A Commodity

- It was an ad campaign of the 90s by California Milk Processor Board (CMPB)

- It aimed to remind consumers of milk that go with certain foods (chocolate
chip cookies, cereal)
- There was a decline in the dairy industry, but the ad helped reverse it.
- How long can the ‘got milk’ campaign last?

Dairy Industry

- Made up from three sectors: farmers -who produce milk, processors -who
convert raw milk into lower-fat milk, and retailers who sell the final product.
- In 2003 milk was the much purchased item in grocery stores.

Marketing a commodity

Four major supply differences in commodity marketing:

1. Too many decision makers.- Each member of the industry has an input on
every marketing program associated with the commodity. It results in little
flexibility and it is more difficult to implement new programs.
2. Small budgets.- Commodity marketers have significantly lower budgets
available for advertising, promotion and marketing research than brand
marketers.
3. Slow budget process.- The commodity budgeting process is slow moving
because it requires a lot of approvals.
4. Push versus pull.- Commodities generally spend almost all the funds raised in
generating a strategy to pull consumers.

Demand side differences

- Changing a category versus market share.- The challenge for commodity marketers
is to change consumer behavior toward an entire category as opposed to trying to
increase the market share of a brand
- Influenced by other industries.- Demand for commodities can be dramatically
influenced by other food industries.
Background

- The beverage industry includes all beverages from beer and liquor to bottled water
with soft drinks.
- In 1993, the industry was highly competitive and fast-growing.
- Milk was one of the few beverages that experienced decline.

Previous milk campaigns consisted of the following:

Adults: Milk is good for you and should be part of your diet.
Teens: Milk makes you strong.
Kids: Milk is cool.

The United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA) made a marketing research to study the
decline of milk consumption, and found that there were several factors that influenced that:

a) Proliferation of other beverages

b) Lack of portability.- Most milk is consumed at home
c) Lack of flavor variety
d) Not thirst quenching
e) Lack of consumer mind share.- Milk’s a “forgettable” beverage.
f) Shared nature of consumption.- Milk is rationed.

CMPB Branding Strategy

- They thought that the best strategy was to embark on a new advertising campaign.
- The campaign had to satisfy three objectives: 1) change consumer behavior, 2)
increase mind share, 3) halt sales decline.
- Their target market were ‘regular’ users of milk who already had a favorable attitude
toward it.
- Regular users were segmented according to behaviour; that is, when and where
consumers drink milk.

“got milk”

- They decided to reach regular users with a “deprivation strategy”. Each ad showed
different foods that go along with milch, but the ad hid the character of milk.
- Milk was never shown in the ads and they didn’t talk about their health benefits.
- “Got milk?” logos came in cookies and cereal boxes as ads.

Campaign reconsidered

- In 1997, the deprivation ads became predictable.

- To increase milk per capita consumption, they made flavored milk products to attract
young people.
- In 2002, the board agreed to continue with the campaign but along with the “milk is
healthy” message.
- Independent dairy farmers tried to sue the program because they didn’t want to pay
for their ads.
- In 2001, hispanic consumers were heavy milk drinkers. The campaign made a
spanish commercial with a “La Llorona” to attract their attention.

- Milk sales falled again in 2004.

- How long can the “got milk?” campaign last?