US marketing (From Western Telegraph)

US marketing

Can milk ever be a brand to compete with Coca Cola? It would be every milk producers dream to capture just half the sales achieved by this Atlanta-based soft drinks giant.

Dreams can come true as the milk industry in America is demonstrating. Millions of dollars are spent every year to guarantee milk a spot in the premier league that is the billion-dollar soft drink industry. American equivalents of David Beckham are used to change the profile of milk in the minds of children and their parents.

The success of the promotion impressed the executives at Coca-Cola who flagged down the gravy train as it gathered steam. Company researchers plan to launch a range of milk-based products this year, cashing in on Americas hugely successful Got Milk? campaign.

Coca Cola officials say researchers are looking at ways to counteract negative perceptions of milk - that it isnt hip, refreshing or something kids will want to drink in public.

That is certainly true in Britain. When did any of us last see a teenager walking down a high street swigging milk from a carton.

Everyone knows that milk is good for you, especially if you are a growing child. But todays children are bombarded with a choice of cool, if unhealthy, drinks.

It is unfair to suggest that the British milk industry has done nothing to court sales. Results from the Dairy Council show that The White Stuff campaign led to an extra 61 million litres of milk being sold between June 2000 and September 2001.

It was credited with positively changing peoples attitudes towards milk and the amount of milk drunk increased each time the adverts appeared. The promotion campaign was jointly funded by producers and dairy processors. But just as it was having a positive impact, the Dairy Industry Federation withdrew its financial backing and marketing was suspended.

Across the Atlantic the milk marketing campaign grows from strength to strength. The National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board, Americas equivalent of the Dairy Council, recently announced that it will continue its two-year partnership with the National Basketball Association with a focus on sponsoring junior fixtures.

This is just the sort of profile the British milk industry needs. Im heading to America in September to gain an insight into how its dairy sector has transformed the image of milk.

My visit has been made possible thanks to a travel bursary awarded by Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers Ltd. I have also been given an additional grant by Barclays Bank. I am extremely grateful to both organisations for giving me this fantastic opportunity.

My schedule includes interviews with representatives of the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board and politicians in Washington DC. I also hope to meet advertising executives in New York.

In Britain meanwhile, the Dairy Councils application to Europe for funding to advance the White Stuff campaign is being considered by the European Commission.

Money from Europe, match-funded by the Milk Development Council, would help fund another high profile campaign to promote the wider healthy benefits of drinking milk.

For the sake of the British milk industry we can only urge the politicians holding the purse strings to approve this application. Without adequate marketing, milk producers can only dream about what might have been.

Debbie James.