Milk Mustache Adds ‘Body by Milk’ Auction
The folks behind the Milk Mustache campaign break a campaign today that makes full-body contact with teens.
The new campaign, Body by Milk, centers on a continuity program that lets teens use UPCs and expiration dates from milk containers to bid on goods ranging from T-shirts and hats to musical instruments, cell phones and one-of-a-kind experiences from a half-dozen popular brands: Adidas, Fender, Roland, CCS, Epic and Baby Phat.
The International Dairy Foods Association signed the slate of partners to provide auction items, collaborate on local events and give IDFA access to celebrities for new ads in its long-running Milk Mustache campaign.
IDFA and its agency, Chicago-based Draft FCB, looked at the top 10 product categories where teens spend their own money—with different lists for boys and girls. Focus groups helped them home in on popular brands. The resulting slate of auction items runs the gamut from music downloads and clothes to Fender guitars and Samsung electronics, with new items each week.
Most items are activity-based “to get kids out and moving,” said Julie Buric, IDFA’s senior director of promotional marketing. “We’re looking for brands that want to send out the same healthful message. And we can offer them entry into schools, which a lot of companies want. The important thing is to be sure they enrich students’ lives.”
There’s a separate slate of items for school groups (such as PTOs and student councils) to bid on collectively—band equipment, computers, a David Beckham Academy soccer camp. Beckham also appears in Milk Mustache ads: When Draft recruited adidas for the campaign, Adidas brought along Beckham. Brand partners also will work with IDFA’s milk-processor members on local events this fall to foster sampling.
Body by Milk posters in 45,000 middle and high schools tout the auction, which runs today through December. More online components are slated for spring semester, with new prizes and content (and new cafeteria P-O-P) bowing in January.
Teens earn five points for each UPC or expiration date from a single-serve container; they can also earn bonus points for taking health-related quizzes and doing other activities on BodybyMilk.com. One section of the site lets teens chat with each other about healthy lifestyles.
IDFA’s Milk Mustache mobile will tour through fall, supporting the Body by Milk launch. Body by Milk posters in 60,000 grade schools extend the Milk Mustache campaign without offering the auction to kids under 13. Draft FCB handles the program for Washington, DC-based IDFA as part of the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) that IDFA executes.
IDFA and Draft will track the program’s success by measuring fall sales against last spring’s, using a panel of 20 school districts to track sales as well as use of posters and signage. A survey of foodservice directors will track how P-O-P is used in cafeterias. Pop-up surveys on BodybyMilk.com will help IDFA and Draft monitor teens’ interest in the auction and participating brands, and keep their finger on the pulse of emerging trends.
Body by Milk reinforces IDFA’s ongoing message to teens: Milk helps you look your best, and teens who drink milk tend to be leaner. That dovetails with schools’ wellness initiatives, Buric said.
“Milk is in a unique position to be a partner with schools to achieve schools’ nutrition goals and drive their sales,” added Colin Kennedy, VP-account director at Draft.
The campaign also builds on solid consumer awareness of the long-running Milk Mustache print campaign, with teen-targeted ads starring athletes Beckham, Freddy Adu and Sasha Cohen as well as entertainers Raven Simone and Carrie Underwood, among others. The campaign has 70% to 80% awareness among teens, and consistently scores in the top three for CO Marketing Evaluation’s Q scores among teens.
Body by Milk’s auction format resembles Coca-Cola’s current MyCokeRewards.com and earlier auctions by Pepsi-Cola Co. (Pepsi Stuff) and Dr Pepper/Seven Up Cos. (Liquid Loot).
“We have noticed these programs on soda brands for a long time, and kids respond to that,” Buric said. “We learned some from that, but our message is unique because we’re speaking to them on a health level.”
Kennedy added, “We have access that soft drink companies don’t have: teens in schools. It’s interesting to see how well informed teens are on obesity and wellness; they have strong opinions on what’s healthy food. They’re looking for new reasons to concentrate on the healthiest products.”
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