Got Milk? Not Anymore! US Milk Industry Adopts New Protein-Touting Marketing Strategy

Heidi Klum Got Milk ad

Heidi Klum Got Milk ad

Say bye-bye to your favorite milk mustache-wearing celebrities: the U.S. milk industry is adopting a new advertising campaign and leaving the “Got Milk” tagline to rest. The new campaign will feature the tagline “Milk Life” and will emphasize milk as a protein-filled source of energy perfect for jumpstarting your day, according to Ad Age.

Drinking-milk sales declined by about 1% in 2013 according to Euromonitor International, and cereal sales have stalled. Consumers are no longer taking the time to eat a bowl of cereal before work in the morning. Instead they are taking yogurt and nutrition bars to go or ordering breakfast sandwiches from restaurants. Other companies producing dairy milk competitors are gaining ground in the milk market, too. Soy and almond milk producer Silk, for example, saw a 9.4% increase in sales in the year preceding January 26, according to the market research group IRI.

Milk Life breakdancing ad

To encourage Americans to bring milk back into their diets, the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) is playing off the current trend toward high-protein diets in its new marketing strategy. The new Milk Life ads start off, “What 8 grams of protein looks like when…” followed by various activities powered by milk like diving, guitar playing and breakdancing.

Working with New York-based ad agency Lowe Campbell Ewald, MilkPEP has budgeted over $50 million on the new TV, print, digital, retail and PR campaign.

“Got Milk has very high awareness,” Sal Taibi, president at Lowe Cambell Ewald, New York, told Ad Age. “But we have a new strategy. We have a new message and we just felt we needed a new approach.”

While I’m sad to see the milk mustaches go, and though I’m not so sure milk is the healthiest way to increase protein in the American diet, I find the campaign persuasive, and the campaign’s imagery is certainly appealing.

The “Got Milk?” tagline originated with the ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which created it for the California Milk Processor board in 1993. The national milk industry began licensing the tagline in 1995.

Have you seen any Milk Life ads yet? What do you think of the new campaign?

Milk Life ad courtesy of Red Alert Politics
via The Verge

Lauren Mobertz

By Lauren Mobertz

Lauren is the former managing editor for DashBurst. One part geek, one part urban nomad, she is constantly scouting for the latest tech and world news. In the evenings you'll find Lauren running in strange places or attempting to dance salsa.

1 comment

  1. I am sure this ad campaign will help the milk industry a little but there is no ad campaign in the world that would get me to drink this nasty puss filled concoction we know as milk! Milk is for baby cows, it is not for human consumption!! It is cancer, heart disease and stroke in a glass, it is liquid meat only worse! The milk industry will say anything to get you to buy their products, do the research, milk is for baby cows not humans! Check this link http://www.notmilk.com to learn how bad milk really is!

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