Make Mine Milk campaign enjoying online success

A campaign to promote the benefits of milk to teenagers is proving a hit on the internet, boosting hopes it will lead to an increase in demand.

The Make Mine Milk campaign is being funded by the Milk Marketing Forum, a consortium of leading British dairy companies and milk co-operatives, with assistance from the EU.

The poster campaign is fronted by celebrities – such as racing driver Jenson Button and model Elle McPherson – who sport iconic milk moustaches to help promote the message that milk is fashionable.

The team behind the campaign is also making full use of the internet to spread its message through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

A fan page on Facebook has attracted more than 17,000 fans – a figure which is growing by the day.

Videos of celebrities, such as X-Factor star Olly Murs, racing to drink a pint of semi-skimmed milk in as short as possible time are proving a key attraction for the page.

A video of teenage pop sensation Justin Bieber has already amassed a total of 235,229 views on YouTube in four weeks.

Sandy Wilkie, chair of the Milk Marketing Forum, said by using celebrities the campaign aimed to help improve emotional attitudes towards milk.

“Over the last few years, when there has been an absence of generic advertising, milk has become less visible, particularly among a younger audience – who are regularly communicated to by fizzy drink, health drink and snack brands with big budgets,” he said.

“By the end of the campaign, we hope that young people in Great Britain will recognise low fat milk as a ‘cool’ product that they are happy to include in their personal repertoires.”

Mr Wilkie said it was too early in the campaign to be able to measure changes in consumption among young people.

“However, we’re absolutely delighted that our independent attitudinal tracking research, which is running for the duration of the campaign, is already showing an increase in the amount of British teens who see milk as a ‘cool’ and low fat product.” 

Other campaign milestones include:

* Results from the first four months of campaign activity have shown really positive results in terms of awareness – 29% of people now recognise the ‘make mine Milk’ phrase/logo and associate the ‘make mine Milk’ celebrities with the campaign.

* The campaign has been mentioned on BBC Radio 1, GMTV and Channel 4 and features and news article on it have appeared in many big name publications including The Times, The Sun, Daily Star, Sunday Telegraph, Metro, OK!, New Magazine and Sunday Sport.

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