• Cravendale was looking to TV to continue delivering great awareness and sales in 2009
• Cravendale continues to act differently from the category, with three new executions as part of an integrated campaign
• Brand value is up by more than 18% and sales are up 7% in a declining sector

The challenge

Cravendale is a premium milk brand. In a commoditised and declining market, it dares to charge more for a pint of milky goodness. It wants Britons to become more passionate about the white stuff and think about milk as more than just something they have in tea or coffee.

The brand has used TV since launch and its animated advertising has encouraged consumers to become far more interested in milk. Its ads surprise consumers as milk brands rarely use this medium.
The problem was that interest in milk didn’t translate to a powerful enough reason to upgrade and pay more. Cravendale needed to make more of its core benefit – its purity credentials – to provide a more compelling reason to buy.

The TV solution

With 99% of UK adults drinking milk, Cravendale needed a medium that could connect on a massive scale. In 2007 and 2008, TV had been the most effective channel at growing both awareness and brand health measures and retained the role of lead medium for 2009.

A new creative approach, the Milk Bar – a pub for fans of the white stuff – was used in three different executions; Bad Bull, Slurp and Toe Tapping. These ads highlighted the unique qualities of Cravendale; its purity, the fact that you can enjoy it for your whole life and the range of different usage occasions.
The approach also conveyed the brand’s passion for its product and ensured that Cravendale was seen as very different from the rest of the milk market. Using a similar format in each execution reinforced the impact of frequency while also inspiring creativity, passion and the idea that milk can be fun.

Bad Bull features a hard-drinking bull, who can’t get enough Cravendale, drinking the Milk Bar dry. Disappearing through a trapdoor to the purity room he becomes purer and purer – losing his black spots and highlighting Cravendale’s unique filtration process and product purity – until romance blossoms with the bar cow girl.

Slurp shows a group of farmers drinking milk at the bar, in a musical style that had each slurping in turn to create music. The ad highlights the fact that milk is a drink that can be enjoyed at every life stage
Toe Tapping shows a customer with a wooden leg, tapping his leg to the sounds on the Juke Box, until he sets fire to the table, making the milk hot and reminding consumers that there are many ways to consume milk.

Activity ran throughout the year and other media included press and door drops.

Results

The TV message reached 91.1% of all UK adults with 12.4 opportunities to see across the year. The 2009 Milk Bar campaign delivered Cravendale’s strongest ROI ever.

Millward Brown analysis showed TV was the major driver in delivering positive movements in consideration and trial scores, reflecting the more positive overall perception of the Cravendale brand.

Brand value grew by 18.2% year on year as volume sales increases of 7% were recorded at retail. This compared with a 1.8% volume decline in milk sales as a whole.

“We are overwhelmed by the success of the brand, especially in the current commodity market.”

Jessica Hardcastle,
Group Brand Manager, Arla Milk