The make mine Milk campaign celebrates its first birthday

The make mine Milk campaign is celebrating its first anniversary this month, one year on from its launch in April 2010 when Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsey and pop princess Pixie Lott were announced as the first famous faces of the campaign. Using a mix of advertising, PR, events and social media activity, the campaign has shaped a successful year communicating the health benefits of low fat milk and refreshing its image among British consumers.

Since the make mine Milk campaign launched with Gordon and Pixie, many well-known celebrities have been keen to front the campaign with Usher, the cast of the A Team, supermodel Elle Macpherson, Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, TV personality Tess Daly and British boy band The Wanted all sporting the iconic milk tash in the past year.

Twelve months on, tracking studies monitoring the progress of the make mine Milk campaign suggest these tactics are beginning to pay off. Awareness of the campaign, monitored by Researchcraft, has reached 50% amongst the British public with 68% of female teenagers aged between 13 and 24 saying they are familiar with the campaign.[i]

Market data from Kantar has also shown an increase in the amount of liquid milk being purchased in Great Britain; sales are up 1.8% for the 52 week period ending in February 2011 compared to the 52 week period ending 18 April 2010, the period before the advertising started.[ii]

Sandy Wilkie, Chairman of the Milk Marketing Forum, is encouraged by the first year of the campaign. He said:

Weve had a really positive reaction to the make mine Milk campaign. Its been great to have such reputable public figures getting involved to help rejuvenate the way that milk is perceived by the British public. What were beginning to see now is a shift in attitudes milk is becoming cool again.

Were off to a strong start and over the next two years, we want to build on what weve achieved so far and continue to communicate to even more people the benefits of consuming low fat milk.

Jim Begg, Dairy UK Director General is looking forward to seeing the campaign develop. He said:

The make mine Milk campaign has started well and were all keen to see where the campaign will take us over the next couple of years. The campaign has clearly been well received by the public and there is considerable interest from the retail trade. Weve had great feedback from farmers too.

As we move forward we want British farmers to be at the heart of what were doing. I would encourage all farmers interested in helping to promote the campaign to register their interest by emailing their details to the campaign team on milkmedia@kindredagency.com. Wed like to see posters backing the campaign on barns, in fields, on tractors, wherever theres space for them!

Highlights from the past 12 months include:

• The make mine Milk Challenge this challenge (to drink a pint of low fat milk as fast as possible) has been particularly influential on the campaigns social media channels. Justin Bieber launched the challenge in August 2010. His video went global and has been followed by challenges from other celebrities including Olly Murs, The Wanted and Shayne Ward, with British teens getting involved in the competition in January 2011. This activity has contributed to the campaigns popularity online, the Facebook page now has nearly 50,000 fans and the campaigns YouTube videos have been viewed nearly 500,000 times.

• T4 on the Beach the campaigns experiential presence at the T4 on the Beach festival in July 2010 offered British teens the chance to be a celebrity for a day. Over the course of the day, 2,300 gig goers had their milk tash photos projected onto a huge screen and the activity generated 1,347 photo tags on Facebook.

• The make mine Milk Sunday Session – on 16 January 2011, the make mine Milk campaign hosted a free gig for fans in Potters Field, London to celebrate The Wanted becoming the new faces of the campaign. Over 3,000 fans turned out to see the band perform and take part in the make mine Milk Challenge live on stage. The Wanted were also key to promoting the campaign on British television as they appeared on popular TV shows including Daybreak on ITV and BBCs The Graham Norton Show.

• Team Milk the five athletes that make up Team Milk play a key role in promoting healthy living and the nutritional benefits of consuming low fat milk.  Team Milk consists of Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis, cyclist Ed Clancy, 110 metre hurdler Andy Turner, Paralympian sprinter and long jumper Stefanie Reid and freestyle swimmer, Jazmin Carlin. As the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games approach, their involvement will become more prominent, with a move into retail planned for late 2011.

The make mine Milk campaign was created by the Milk Marketing Forum, which is a consortium of leading dairy companies comprised of Arla Foods UK, Dairy Crest Limited, First Milk, Milk Link and Robert Wiseman Dairies, with support provided by Dairy UK and The Dairy Council. Of the 7.5 million total spend for the campaign, a third comes from European Union funding.

The campaign has its roots in Scotlands The White Stuff campaign, which was an initiative from the Scottish Dairy Marketing Company, made up of the milk processing companies in Scotland and part funded by the EC, with additional support provided by Scottish farmers. The success of The White Stuff campaign in reversing the long term decline in milk sales laid the foundations for the make mine Milk campaign.

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.

• Milk is a nutrient-dense food which means that it is a healthy addition to any modern diet and is suitable for all members of the family from school kids to the elderly.

• Low fat varieties of milk have less than 2% fat which can make it a healthy choice in a climate of rising obesity. The low fat varieties of milk are:
  1. • Fat free (skimmed milk)
     • 1% fat milk
     • 0.75% fat milk
     • 1.5% – 1.8% fat (semi-skimmed milk)

• Milk contains nutrients which are important for bone health including protein and calcium. These nutrients are also important for dental health.

• The make mine Milk campaign has been commissioned by Dairy UKs Milk Marketing Forum. Of the 7.5m total spend for the campaign, a third comes from European Commission funding.

• The Milk Marketing Forum is a consortium of leading British dairy companies and milk co-operatives with administrative support from Dairy UK, and nutritional advice from The Dairy Council. Its members are Arla Foods UK, Dairy Crest Limited, First Milk, Milk Link and Robert Wiseman Dairies.

• Dairy UK is a trade association that represents the interests of dairy farmers, producer co-ops, milk processors and doorstep deliverymen. For more information visit www.dairyUK.org.

• The make mine Milk campaign will run, initially, for three years in England, Scotland and Wales.

• The make mine Milk campaign will be implemented by the London-based communications agency, Kindred.

• The White Stuff celebrity milk moustache campaign in Scotland was an initiative from the Scottish Dairy Marketing Company with support from the EC. By year ending December 2009, the long term decline in total fresh milk sales had been reversed with a significant increase of +3.4% in sales of milk in Scotland against the base year of year ending March 2003 (Source: Scott Montcrieff Independent Auditors)