2008 saw the rise of Private Labels from international hypermarket retailers like Tesco, Carrefour and GIANT as well as other local chocolate beverages, aggressively eating into MILO® share of throat. Our challenge was to stop mothers from migrating to private labels and other local chocolate beverages and to maintain their loyalty in the MILO® world.
In the famous story of David & Goliath - MILO®’s dominance had become a weakness, as these copycats worked even harder to steal share from MILO® in the same retail space. They boasted a price tag of being 30% cheaper, provided active sampling and engaged live promoters in-store that assured mothers of the superior and more affordable quality of private label chocolate malt drinks. In sheer determination, these retailers dedicated full product bays to dominate on-shelf product visibility to further enhance their acceptance.
In research we found even the most ardent MILO® loyalists were swayed – believing that private labels provided the same ‘value’ as MILO®! Mothers were satisfied with the taste (sampling and small packs allowed mothers to trial) and the international brand of retailers lent so much credibility that mothers believed they would maintain the same nutritional standards for their children. (Source: Project Hifido, Research International, Nov 2008)
This simmering encroachment turned into an all out blood-shed by the end of 2008 – with the economic downturn forcing mothers to re-evaluate their purchasing decisions coupled with the competitive activity of the school holiday season. As wallets tightened, we needed to give mothers a reason to choose MILO® again.
We had to move beyond brand messaging and provide a VALUE proposition that mattered.
1. As the undisputed category leader, protect and maintain MILO® market share at 90% and decrease private label growth in the campaign period (end November 08 to March 2009).
- Since it was the category leader, MILO® primary goal was to maintain share and defend its ground against private labels.
2. Significantly shift perceptions on the value of MILO® via brand health and communication scores.
“Familiarity breeds….Ignorance?”
The idea emerged from the product itself. Our logical reasoning told us that if private labels were indeed 30% cheaper, they must be cutting back on something. During research, we compared the nutritional values of private labels and MILO® – and found that MILO® was far superior in terms of nutritional content as well as more controlled in amount of sugars and flavours added. Mothers had no idea that there was such a discrepancy, but upon being given a blind test to choose between nutritional comparison charts – MILO® won hands down. We heard mothers say repeatedly during the focus groups that they could not believe they switched to private labels thinking it was a ‘good’ buy. (Source: Project Hifido, Research International, Nov 2008)
Inadvertently, we also unearthed a larger perception problem – while categories from Growing Up Milk to Cosmetics were shouting intrinsic product benefits and giving consumers enough knowledge about key ingredients (e.g. DHA for brain development) – few mothers really knew what MILO® did for their children. They knew that MILO® was ‘good’ and gave ‘energy’, but beyond that the information played back was sketchy. Functions of ingredients like Actigen-E, Protomalt and other vitamins and minerals were lost to them. And it was no wonder that they were so easily swayed. (Agency observation)
Some part of it was due to its long brand heritage – everyone drank MILO® growing up. It was a staple of a Malaysian diet, present in every kitchen and no one ever questioned its use. Despite MILO®’s commitment to innovations over the past 50 years – consumers took it for granted. It was a classic case of a brand that everyone used, everyone had some affinity to, but no one ever really thought about.
We had begun to form a point of view that consumers needed to know what was in MILO® that made it so different. We observed that around the world, brands like Hellman’s mayonnaise and Petit Filou children yoghurt were stripping bare to essential ingredients and winning consumers that way. And the final breakthrough came with the tainted milk scare in China. Mothers became wary of ingredients and called for transparency in packaged foods. They did not want a brand story to allay their fears; they wanted the truth laid down simply.
What we then came to believe was that the strongest strategies are often the most obvious. Unlike ever before, the dominant market leader needed to shout the Hard Facts - telling mothers directly that MILO® had a superior nutritional edge over any other drink in the entire category. To clearly show that it was what was inside MILO® that made it so different and good for their children.
MILO® has always been traditionally associated with sports. It is an expression of the energy proposition that most consumers have learnt to identify with. However, all the communications in the past presented the overall MILO® benefit, without highlighting the specific ingredient benefit.
We realised that if we were to bring each ingredient alive, it needed to still be in the sports arena to be on-brand. Hence for the main communication pieces, we chose to highlight 3 different sports that were suitable to 3 main ingredient benefits:
- Swimming as an expression of Actigen-E, needed for optimized release of energy from food.
- Running as an expression of Protomalt, for energy to keep the body going.
- Gymnastics as an expression of the Balance, in Nutrition.
For the remaining touch points, we had to maximise the ingredient story and make it more direct. So we stripped the communications bare to its essentials - “10 reasons why MILO® does more for your child”. The tagline that came out of this thinking crystalised it further: “Not just any chocolate malt drink”.
We rolled out the campaign in 3 stages, seeing that while mothers were receptive to mass advertising, most of their decisions were based on some prior consideration and finally made in-store:
- Establish the campaign story of “It’s what’s inside MILO® that makes it unlike any other”
- TVC, Print and Radio – Based on the target audience of mothers, traditional advertising channels were deemed to be most effective in spreading the ‘news’. We had to consider that MILO® has always had a big brand feel and enjoyed a dominant brand status and tone of voice. So although we were proposing to go down the Hard Facts route, it still needed to maintain its premium image without commoditising the brand. The modern execution and dramatic score heightened the anticipation of something different.
- Avenue to compare nutritional information
- Print -“10 reasons why MILO® does more for your child” was the key communication to educate - encapsulating all the benefits of MILO® that were different from the private labels in an easy checklist-type manner.
- Advertorials with nutritional information were run in major dailies.
- From the focus groups (Source: Project Hifido, Research International, Nov 2008) we knew that Malaysian mothers were not savvy with nutritional guides on packaging, so we instigated a dialogue with mothers via a microsite with a Nutrition Calculator and “Know what you eat” label reading guide.
- We also sent a nutritional comparison coaster via direct mail to mothers who were not digitally connected.
- MILO® to the People!
- Point of Purchase
- Strong visibility of point-of-sale items like Posters of “10 reasons why MILO® does more for your child” and full in-store displays to grab immediate attention.
- "Nutrition Ambassadors” were hired to distribute Nutrition Booklets on MILO® – which contained information on the importance of understanding the nutrition table on food labels. We believed that kind of information would help them make more informed choices for the good of their children.
- A Nutrition Fair at Tesco – was a large on-ground activity and sampling exercise to build MILO® as the expert in Nutrition and ambassador of active lifestyles.
- Energy Truck & Sampling Van to neighbourhoods - The Energy Truck not only distributed MILO® in neighbourhoods, but ran activities like mini futsal, soccer dribbling, and foosball to get children excited and encourage interaction with the brand. MILO® ambassadors also shared nutrition leaflets with mothers in those areas.
Objective 1
As the undisputed category leader, protect and maintain MILO® market share at 90% and decrease private label growth in the campaign period (end November 08 to March 2009).
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MILO® volume share was protected at all costs, achieving 90.5%.
- Private label share declined from 3% to 2.2% during the same campaign period, meaning mothers were switching back to MILO®:
- For mothers aware of Private labels, 53% reported MILO® had an “acceptable price” and 64% reported that it “appealed more”.*
*There was no benchmark, as this was the first time it was included in the tracking, Source: Millward Brown ATP, Apr/May 09.
When audited two months after the campaign (April & May 2009) to see if there were any residual effects, the news was even better:
- MILO® share was at an all time high of 92.6%, the highest since August 2007!
- Private label share further dropped to 1.6%!
- And it seemed that MILO®’s gain was also interestingly made in the face of declining sales for:
- Horlicks - the next largest competitor - who fell from 3.7% in Nov 08 to 2.5% in May 09, and
- VICO - who fell from 2.0% in Nov 08 to 1.7% in May 09!
(All Sourced: ACNielsen, HFD May 09)
Objective 2:
Significantly shift perceptions on the value of MILO® via brand health and communication scores
- As a testament to the fundamental shift inspired by the campaign, 90% agreed that MILO® is “A brand I would pay more for”, that’s a +4 point increase from 86% in the last quarter before the campaign.
- On tracking scores, mothers valued MILO® higher on a number of aspects:
(All Sourced: Millward Brown Advance Tracking Program, HFD Apr/May 09)
On-ground – shifting mothers perceptions of MILO® had encouraging results.
Some in-store activities were carried out nationwide in GIANT (local hypermarket chain) aiming to educate consumers on the importance of understanding the nutrition labels on the packaging.
The response to the event was very positive with a total of 1416 consumers across 24 days in 12 outlets.
(Source: Client data)
