BERKELEY, Calif. (FNS) -- The California Milk Processor Board and the Washington MilkPEP Board have agreed on a licensing deal for the California group's popular Got Milk? campaign.
Under the licensing deal, the MilkPEP Board, a national association of processors, will use the campaign in its national print and outdoor advertising, sales promotions and publicity. The Got Milk? message immediately was added to the milk mustache print advertising early this month.
"This merger of advertising icons will make national milk marketing more focused, more memorable and more competitive," said Jeff Manning, executive director of CMPB. "Our goal is to help milk gain a larger share of the beverage market."
Dairy Management, which represents milk producers nationally, has been licensing the Got Milk? campaign since 1995.
"Virtually all generic promotion of milk will be under the Got Milk? banner," said Manning. "It is a good retail line because is asks consumers if they do have milk. It's a good call to action and drives consumers to the refrigerator and to the store.
"The share of spending is coming in line with share of stomach," said Manning, referring to the milk mustache campaign of 1995, when milk represented 14% of nonalcoholic beverage consumption, yet received only 3% of the category's promotional dollars.
Part of the Got Milk? success is that many foods -- cookies, cereal and graham crackers, to name just a few -- are promoted with the campaign.
"These other items increases the value of the shopping cart beyond a bit more milk," said Manning. "It is about more than simply selling milk; it's about selling food."
Retailers have picked up on this tie-in and have been promoting milk in the cereal section, and are garnering two or three more item sales as a result, said Manning.
CMPB uses retail sales and consumption figures to determine the impact of the Got Milk? campaign. It is believed that in California the downward spiral of sales and per capita consumption of fluid milk in the 1990s has stopped as a result of the campaign. Manning said sales were declining 3% to 4% per year.
In 1994, the first year of the Got Milk? campaign, sales in California rose 1%, 1995 sales were relatively flat, in 1996 sales gained 1% and 1997 sales were up 1/2%.
Per capita consumption in California was 29 gallons per person in 1980. That figure slid to 23 gallons by 1993 and has remained at 23 gallons since the introduction of the Got Milk? campaign.
"I believe the campaign has stopped the hemorrhaging, and that in California consumption is growing with the population," said Manning. "It is now different than losing gallons per year. We are holding our share."
