The Marketing Strategy of America's Milk Companies
Hope you're ready for a lesson on Big Dairy
Good morning. My inner investigative journalist got the best of me this weekend, so this letter is a bit longer than usual and more of a deep dive. If you’re here for witty hot takes, this may bore you. If you’re still waking up and want to go down the rabbit hole of why the government wants you to add some cows milk to your coffee this morning, read on.
🐄Government-Backed Groups Are Getting Serious With Their Marketing Efforts
Remember when I mentioned Big Dairy’s campaign last week? Quick refresher, New York Magazine’s The Cut launched a sports section sponsored by “26.2 Team Milk”, a campaign targeting young women. Full disclosure, I went down the rabbit hole of what these campaigns are, who pays for them, etc. and wasted a misty afternoon in a pub along the coast writing a long section on it. Ultimately, I scrapped it all in last week’s letter because my editor told me the whole situation was too confusing to try and relay. But that’s exactly why I wanted to write about it. So I’m ignoring his advice and am going to tell you what I found anyway. In an effort to make this less confusing, I’m gong to begin at where all this research led me to and work backwards toward where it started (26.2 Team Milk).
America’s Milk Companies run this group called Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP for short). Their self-described mission is “to increase dairy milk awareness and drive milk consumption to benefit all processors and the entire industry.” They have a board who is monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service. Board members include representatives of farms and large grocery chains (Albertsons/Safeway, Publix, and HEB) as well as five “members at large” three of which are in the dairy industry, and one of which is “from the general public”.
All board members work in the dairy industry, except for one. Robert Baker (far right) is a partner at an executive search firm and, I’m assuming, the member at large from the general public.1 Baker’s LinkedIn profile shows that he has an MBA from Columbia and was a Captain in the United States Air Force. Something tells me he’s got friends in high places. How convenient that this member from the “general public” likely has close ties with politicians who wouldn’t mind benefiting from Big Dairy’s financial contributions in exchange for keeping dairy products on grocery shelves and in schools across the country. The dairy industry is known for lobbying members of Congress, so this isn’t necessarily a groundbreaking discovery.
Similar to a Fortune 500 company making business decisions to increase shareholder value that get the stamp of approval from a board with aligned financial interests, MilkPep’s marketing campaigns need to increase the value of the dairy industry which ultimately benefits the USDA. But the USDA is a government agency and it does not operate to generate profit in the same way a private business does. Instead, the USDA is funded through the federal budget allocated by the U.S. Congress which goes to support various activities. However, the USDA staff who oversee the MilkPEP program are paid through MilkPEP fees not the USDA’s general funding, according to Politico. This places the USDA in a position where there is a clear incentive to prioritize increasing industry value over the traditional responsibilities of government agencies such as regulation, food safety enforcement, and the promotion of public health.
And how can MilkPEP ensure that they continue increasing shareholder value aka dairy industry value? Well, it’s no secret that Big Dairy exerts market influence through lobbying Congress. In 2023, individuals and PACs associated with the dairy industry received $7.6mm in federal contributions according to OpenSecrets. This is an election year which means that number will certainly increase. While that certainly is a lot of money, it pales in comparison to the marketing budgets MilkPEP is using. It turns out MilkPEP spent more than $400mm on marketing in 2021, according to the program’s most recent report to Congress. To put this in context, 30-second Super Bowl spots are going for $7mm this year. That’s typically what brand’s like Oikos yogurt or Silk milk pays for media over an entire year2. Campaigning with the fervor of the next president-elect, MilkPEP is running three marketing campaigns currently that are trying very hard to make dairy cool again.
Let’s start with 26.2 Team Milk. Clicking on the ad in The Cut that started this whole investigation takes you to the site for Every Woman's Marathon “powered by 26.2 Team Milk” which is the first point of confusion. Is The Cut’s Sports Section sponsored by 26.2 Team Milk or Every Woman’s Marathon? Are these one and the same? In an effort to find out, I continued sleuthing around the site which if distilled into a few words would be radically inclusive. Each photo includes a diverse group of women running in urban places accompanied by copy to match. This “sisterhood of strides” promises to help women achieve “26.2 miles paved for us, by us”. MilkPEP’s press release was also touting this rhetoric of inclusivity and even tapped acclaimed poet Amanda Gorman to “create an inspirational mantra designed as a call to action for all women to join the movement”. The question I struggled to answer was what movement? Was this a run club with chapters in popular cities? Was this an online community of milk lovers? I clicked around to gain clarity. Aside from race details for the marathon held in Savannah, GA the site prompts visitors to join #TeamMilk which after a long search, appears to be little more than a newsletter.
The second campaign is called Gonna Need Milk. The landing page for the site repurposes all the same photos of women running mentioned above, the 26.2 logo, and the phrase “You’re Gonna Need Milk for That”. But the site also has other sections like Gaming (which touts milk as the performance drink of gamers), MilkTV (featuring short animated YouTube videos of milk cartons lifting weights), and Recipes. Confused yet? Same, dear reader, same.
The last one is ok2milk which includes a hotline and meme account on Instagram aiming to counter milk shaming. I called the hotline and was connected with a pre-recorded Queen Latifa asking if I’ve been milk shamed. After pressing 1 in confirmation of being milk shamed, an automated voice assured me this experience was “not your fault”. As I listened, I grew curious how much Queen Latifa was paid for this oddly pointless campaign.
And this, dear reader, is what a nine-figure marketing budget produced. All three are largely confusing, don’t have explicit value ads for consumers, and don’t have a clear way for individuals to participate. If the 26.2 Team Milk was an organized network of run clubs in various cities with elite athletes or influencers pushing free product at the end of each run, sure I can see how that would tip the needle. But a single race in Georgia, some cartoon videos on YouTube, and a meme page don’t seem to align. And they certainly don’t measure up to the iconic Got Milk campaign of our youth. Even if they replicated the notoriety of the Got Milk campaign, I’m unsure it could have the same impact in the current environment. In the late nineties, Whole Foods only had twelve locations, conventional grocery stores didn’t have natural food sections, and better-for-you packaged food brands weren’t a thing yet. In the information age, where we have access to a broader set of sources to make decisions on what we consume, I’m unsure Big Dairy can make the comeback they’re striving for. Yes, even if hot girls are drinking whole milk.
🛒Alison Roman Waxes Poetic About Being A Shop Owner
The food writer, cookbook author, and patron saint of modern food media Alison Roman opened a grocery store in upstate New York. When she’s not filming her YouTube series Home Movies, or recording her podcast Solicited Advice she gets to “do some pleasant unboxing and rearranging of the shelves because it brings [her] boundless happiness.” I am no shop owner, but during the pandemic I worked at Whole Foods while also in grad school. During a time when my stress levels were astronomical, something about the tactile task of stocking shelves was deeply therapeutic.
Ghia Gelato
Non-alcoholic aperitif brand Ghia partnered with West Hollywood-based Awan ice cream on four flavors of ice cream. The flavors include the brands hazelnut butter and signature berry as a nod to their recently launched flavor. Of course, Ghia founder Melanie Masarin included this product bundle in her Valentine’s Day Gift Guide. She also included a mystery box of apples and Spring & Mulberry Date Chocolate. Fun!
📦People Are Drawn to Minimalist Packaging
I feel like we’ve known this, but now there’s research behind it. The Wall Street Journal’s Heidi Mitchell wrote about how researchers found that minimalist packaging tends to increase the perceived purity and value of food items—unless the product in question is a store brand or junk food. In other words, consumers are willing to pay more for a cracker if it’s packaging is simple ($6.39), but less if the packaging is complex ($5.56). There is a correlation between simple packaging and the perception of a product being “wholesome”.
Enjoy your Monday!
The other three members at large are part of the dairy industry, but since there are five members at large and only four named on their site, it’s possible the member from the general public could be someone else.