Rather than preaching the benefits of milk, British Columbia Dairy Foundation's (BCDF) eclectic, new advertising campaign demonstrates the consequences of not drinking enough milk, making it much more interesting and meaningful to targeted teens and young adults.
"Each ad tells a story of a particular moment in the lives of some quirky characters and how milk could have changed it all. Using humor, pathos and visual bizarreness, the delivery of the tagline "must drink more milk" is the whole point of each of these twisted stories and delivers a surprise pay-off moment," said Dean Lee, creative director, DDB Canada, Vancouver. "We didn't want to show anything that you'd expect from milk advertising, yet the message is clear. If you want to be healthier, stronger, faster, you need to drink more milk."
BCDF charged its agency of record, DDB Canada's Vancouver office, to create a media-neutral platform for its larger marketing communications program that spans over the next three years. The ultimate objective of the campaign is to make milk more socially relevant to teens.
"Based on past campaign experience, we found three years is the ideal lifespan for a campaign, which allows it to gain momentum and become part of pop culture and youth vernacular," said Liz Gurszky, director of market development and communication, BC Dairy Foundation. "Our new campaign, 'must drink more milk,' features breakthrough creative that focuses on humorous scenarios, where drinking milk would have changed the situation outcome for the better."
In the new campaign, the need to drink more milk is always an internal dialogue. It's never preaching. It's always the individual frustrated with his or her performance, and saying to himself "must drink more milk."
DDB Canada, and its online and interactive division, Tribal DDB Canada, created 14 visually compelling, animated film executions, which include six 30-second TV spots and eight online digital short films of various lengths. The debut of each execution will be staggered over the next three years, and will be featured on British Columbia television and cinemas, a You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/milkvids and the www.mustdrinkmoremilk.com microsite.
While all 14 film executions are uniquely different, each employs stop motion animation and uses various computer animation programs to enhance and create varying looks. Each execution includes a different logo and treatment of the words "must drink more milk" to reflect the art direction.
The six TV spots end with a call to action to visit the You Tube channel, www.youtube.com/milkvids, where consumers can watch the edgier digital short films and post their own milk videos to compete for prizes. The campaign microsite provides complete contest details, digital assets and advice on how consumers can produce their own milk videos. Monthly prizes will be awarded to the user-generated milk video that receives the most views. In January 2009, grand prizes will be awarded to the recipient with the most creative user-generated milk video, judged by a panel of experts, and to the recipient whose milk video receives the most views overall.DDB Vancouver also developed four t-shirts with graphic design expressions of "must drink more milk moments," which will be given out at various events throughout the year.
The "must drink more milk" platform will be adapted by the BCDF, targeting youth on the street and at high schools, colleges, and universities with various events, contests, programs and promotions.
