The ‘make mine Milk’ campaign turns two
The ‘make mine Milk’ campaign celebrates its second anniversary this month with the news that nearly 500 dairy farmers have signed up to help raise awareness of milk’s healthy properties in a very practical way.
Following an appeal for farmers to offer their fields and farm shops to showcase ‘make mine Milk’ materials, hundreds have come forward to lend their support. This means that a whole host of new banners and posters showing Team Milk, the milk-moustached sporting quintet led by Olympic legend Denise Lewis, will be displayed across the country.
This latest success comes hot on the heels of other triumphs for the campaign, including:
- Contributing to a rise in volume sales of +1.2% between 2010 and 2011
- Generating a rise in milk consumption of +3% among British teenage girls (a priority audience for the campaign) between 2010 and 2011
- Building a Facebook community of over 110,000 British teens
These milestones have prompted renewed calls from the Milk Marketing Forum (MMF) for a solution to be found for future ‘make mine Milk’ funding. The campaign is set to come to an end in October 2012.
MMF Chairman, Sandy Wilkie, said: “The resounding backing of dairy farmers across Great Britain is the perfect birthday present for the ‘make mine Milk’ campaign. Two years ago milk was suffering a decline but, following the introduction of the first GB-wide generic promotion for nearly 20 years, its appeal has been re-invigorated for a whole new generation of consumers.
“Suddenly the public is turning to milk again. It would be a big loss for everyone involved in the milk supply chain – farmers, processors and retailers – if funding can’t be found for beyond October.”
Other high-profile industry figures have also given the campaign their seal of approval.
NFU Dairy Board Chairman, Mansel Raymond, said: “This campaign has proved a big success so far and it’s great that drinking milk is now seen by young people as a ‘cool’ thing to do. There are challenging but exciting times ahead for the dairy industry and the ‘make mine Milk’ initiative has helped raise consumer awareness and changed attitudes towards milk.”
In the last 12 months, ‘make mine Milk’ – funded by the MMF members (Arla Foods UK, Dairy Crest, Robert Wiseman Dairies, First Milk and Milk Link) and the EU – added more celebrities from the worlds of sport and showbiz to the milk moustache hall of fame. These included Harry Potter star Rupert Grint, X-Factor judge Kelly Rowland, reformed wild child Kelly Osbourne, Hollywood heart-throb Ryan Reynolds and Team Milk.
With a large-scale PR and social media push helping to amplify the impact of advertising on the sides of buses and in women’s magazines, the campaign has undoubtedly helped to boost milk’s position in the British market.
The +1.2% volume sales increase is highlighted in independently audited sales figures from MMF members.
Other market data supports this trend. Figures from Kantar show consumption is up +2.1% for the 52-week period ending February 2012 compared to the 52-week period ending February 2011. Meanwhile, data from AC Nielsen shows a +0.6% growth in volume sales for the period ending February 2012 – this is in comparison to the -1.7% decline for the 12 months ending April 2010, the period before the ‘make mine Milk’ campaign began.
Furthermore, new data from the Kantar Family Food Panel which isolates milk consumption among teenage girls aged 11 – 16, shows that:
- There has been a +3% increase in consumption overall between Spring 2010 and Summer 2011
- The amount of milk drunk on its own among this group is up +3%
- The amount of milk consumed with breakfast is up +17%
Consumers as a whole are also more appreciative of milk’s rational and emotional attributes. Ongoing tracking research conducted by Researchcraft shows that the number of young people who perceive milk as ‘cool’ and ‘full of healthy nutrients’ has increased by 6% and 8% respectively. Awareness of the campaign has reached record levels of 60% among the British public as a whole and 71% among young people.
The success of the ‘make mine Milk’ campaign follows that of the generic ‘White Stuff’ milk promotion that ran in Scotland between 2003 and 2009. By the year ending December 2009, the long-term decline in total fresh milk sales in Scotland had been reversed, with a significant increase of more than 3% against the base year ending March 2003.
For news on the ‘make mine Milk’ campaign, follow @makemineMilk on Twitter, join the vibrant Facebook community at www.facebook.com/makemineMilk, or visit YouTube at www.youtube.com/makemineMilkuk.
