Comment 8719

Back in the late 90s, when Dean Foods introduced its Chug bottle, with vibrant shrink sleeves and a funky, retro-style cap, the launch was so successful that it lifted sales of milk across the category, the first time the dairy industry had seen such growth in decades. The renewed sales activity seemed to awaken a sleepy industry, and soon dairies across the country were churning out Chug-wannabe bottles and new flavors. Previously relegated to retail stores' loss-leader status, milk suddenly acquired an air of panache.

So now, several years later, how has dairy's stature changed in the eyes of the consumer? Or hasn't it changed at all? To find out, Dairy Management, Inc.—the umbrella management organization for the American Dairy Association, National Dairy Council and U.S. Dairy Export Council—and Dairy Foods magazine undertook a survey of 1,000 consumers.

Although most of the questions centered on milk's health benefits and taste, several of the consumers addressed milk's packaging. One survey respondent said, "Maybe change the way it's sold rather than change the product itself. It would be great if you could buy it frozen." Another remarked, "Milk should be sold in individual sizes about the size of a yogurt container, and then pack it as a six-pack." Drinkable yogurt comes that way...why not milk?

Another consumer said, "I would only sell milk in glass bottles. It tastes better that way than in plastic." (Oberweis Dairy, in Aurora, IL, would fervently concur.) One respondent suggested that flavored milks should be made available in larger-size packages, and another said that dairies should add extra calcium and vitamins to milk to make it more nutritionally complete. Then there was this critic: "I don't know why most milk packages look the same. They're boring."

Other findings from the survey involved consumer preferences. For example, two-thirds of consumers drink milk (this could include on cereal) at least three times each week, with 42 percent claiming to drink milk at least once a day. The survey found that most people are either great fans of milk or are milk avoiders; very few consumers would fall into that middle ground of occasional drinkers. One-fourth of respondents say they have three or more different kinds of milk in their refrigerator at any given time. Half keep 2-percent milk on hand, and one-third buy whole milk. Only about 20 percent of consumers keep flavored milk, but of those that do, chocolate was by far the favorite, followed by vanilla. Two-thirds of the consumers say they become aware of new milk products while just browsing the store, and more than half attribute such awareness to television and magazine advertising.

Whether dressed in a dazzling, full-body shrink sleeve label, or packaged in the common, handled plastic jug, milk's got it!