This document summarizes a case study on the successful "Got Milk?" advertising campaign launched by the California Milk Processor Board in 1993. The campaign was created to address falling milk sales and make milk more appealing to consumers. It used humor and memorable slogans/images to remind people of the disappointment of not having milk. The campaign was highly successful, increasing milk sales in California by 7% in the first year. It gained widespread recognition and awards over its 15-year run. The "Got Milk?" tagline became one of the most famous commodity brand slogans in the US.

1. Ειςηγητθσ: Γ.Πανηγυράκησ
Marketing Coordinators: Ιωάννησ Γκατζθμασ
Ιωάννησ Σταιάκησ
Νικόλαοσ Φιλιππάκησ

2. Humor in Advertising
Influence
consumers'
brand attitude
Repetition Brand
causes wear- information
out of humor recall
Desirable effects Perceived
in persuading humor affected
consumers to by social
adopt products setting

3. dos and don’ts
Don't over-analyze a humorous idea
Don't use humor for its own sake
Don't use humor to deceive or tell a lie
Do use humor to entertain
Do use humor to be thought-provoking
Do test humorous concepts, not techniques
Do engage the imagination of your customers
Do the homework on your customer
Don't forget that rules are meant to be broken

4. Audiences like to be entertained.
Different things are funny to different people.
Old jokes die along with the product.
Best products to sell using humor tend to be those that
consumers have to think the least about

5. Planning the use of humor
Focus on the recipient’s identity, not yours
Never use cartoons as just another form of teaser copy
Focus on affinities
Psychographics, not demographics
Make sure the recipient comes out on top
Use comic tension
Always refer to recipients out-of-frame
Never use gender-specific references
Take a reality check
Always use the best talent available

6. Case study

7. About the campaign
Problem
• 1993 : Falling sales of milk, as Americans switched to other
drinks
CMPB
• 11 milk processors in California create the California Milk
Processor Board (Jeff Manning, Executive Director)
Purpose
• Created to promote the consumption of milk through
marketing, advertising, promotion and PR
Solution
• The board launched the “Got Milk?” campaign, created by
Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GSP)
Intension
• Convince current milk-drinkers to consume more milk
• Making Milk Cool (re-positioning)

8. Milk
Retail Consumer
Industry
Milk
Retail Consumer
Industry

9. Deprivation strategy: rather than selling
milk as a complement to certain foods,
instead the strategy became to remind
milk drinkers of the anxiety and
disappointment that came when milk
wasn't available at crucial moments.

10. Aaron Burr (1993)
“We wanted them to feel the pain”
Heaven (1994)
“Milk is cool”
Milk & Oreo (1995)
“Food-Beverage Synergies”
Isolation (1996)
“Gain back the share of their stomach”
Draysville (1997)
“Try to keep the campaign fresh”
La Llorona (2000)
“The Hispanics thought it was funny”
Everywhere (2000)
“Do I really have to say it?”

13. Successful and long-lasting campaign 15 years!
One of the most famous commodity brand campaigns in the United
States
The campaign has been credited with greatly increasing milk sales in
California
California milk sales increased 7% from 1993 to 1994
In the first three months the effort reached a 60% aided recall level

14. Household penetration had increased from 70% in 1993 to 74% in 1995
Sales grew by 13.5 million gallons
The campaign had a 97% awareness rate in California
A 1999 national survey revealed that awareness for the tagline ‘‘Got Milk?’’ was 12 times
greater than the slogan for Pepsi, 6 times greater than the sports drink Gatorade’s tagline
‘‘Life’s a sport. Drink it up,’’ and 4 times greater than Coke’s slogan ‘‘Enjoy.’’

15. Multiple Clio Awards
Several EFFIEs
A number of gold ADDY Awards
A Silver Lion at the Cannes International
Advertising Festival
David Ogilvy Research Award

16. by Nikolaos Filippakis, Ioannis Gatzimas & Ioannis Stathakis
Athens University of Economics & Business MBA 2011