Food Loves Milk Campaign from the California Milk Processor Board

The California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), creator of got milk? and toma leche, has launched a new chapter with the Food Loves Milk campaign, designed to pique consumers’ interest in drinking milk with a wide range of foods, from time-tested classics to new pairings.

The CMPB teamed with both Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), originator of got milk?, and Grupo Gallegos, which created the Latin-market toma leche effort, to produce a cross-media integrated campaign that addresses the wide-ranging, leading-edge food tastes of all Californians.

“Today’s consumers are very willing to experiment with what they eat, and they’re open to trying a glass of milk alongside different foods,” said Steve James, executive director of the CMPB. “The campaign starts by reminding people of how much they enjoy milk with foods like cakes, brownies and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then brings them along on a journey to try milk with foods like chilaquiles, barbacoa tacos and peanut butter spicy noodles.”

Two 30-second spots from GS&P, “Sweet Loves Milk” and “Spicy Loves Milk,” will run across the major networks, taking advantage of the fall premieres as well as special events such as the Emmys. In addition, five 15-second spots from Grupo Gallegos will air on Univision, Telemundo and local stations. Later this year, the campaign will also extend into more traditional avenues, such as print, out-of-home and in-store.

Much of the journey, however, will be initiated by consumers themselves, as they will be encouraged to share the foods they pair with milk by using the hashtags #FoodLovesMilk and #MeGustaConLeche. Some of the crowdsourced results will be aggregated in a gallery at tomaleche.com and also used as part of other “Food Loves Milk” digital-media elements.

“The ‘got milk?’ campaign has always been based on the fact that certain foods demand pairing with milk,” said Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of GS&P. “Now, along with suggestions from all over California, we will together explore new frontiers.”

“The campaign stretches imaginations so that consumers will realize they can enjoy milk with a wider variety of food choices,” said Sebastián Garín, executive creative director at Grupo Gallegos. “Many Hispanic consumers already drink milk with savory dishes, so we invite them to push the envelope even further with such combinations as ramen burgers and milk or Korean barbecue tacos and milk.”

To localize the campaign and further feed into consumers’ hunger for wholesome yet exotic flavors, RL Public Relations (RLPR), CMPB’s PR agency of record, will bring together a variety of experts and top chefs to speak about this new culinary trend, conceptualize original dishes and highlight the health benefits of pairing food with milk.

In addition to the user-generated food-milk pairings, online elements over the course of the campaign will include the following:

•     A nine-part online video series that follows Hispanic stars Yarel Ramos and Eddie G! as they surprise diners at restaurants, cafes and food trucks with a glass of milk to try with their meals
•     Partnerships with the California Sunday Magazine and Bon Appétit magazine’s Food Innovation Group, whereby well-known chefs with California ties will create interesting and surprising new pairings that get Californians excited about experimenting with their own pairings. There will be videos, recipe guides and sponsored editorial around the chefs’ inspiration for and the creation of each dish, and everything will be featured with a cold glass of milk
•     A partnership with BuzzFeed to create a video spot showing reactions from people as they try new food-milk pairings. Also, content will be developed around the science of “Food Loves Milk” and how consumers can make their food-milk pairings even more Californian
•     A range of content by social influencers of varying backgrounds that will give consumers different ideas of how to experiment with pairings. Content will include Pinterest boards, Instagram posts, YouTube videos and blog posts

The entire campaign will culminate at Super Bowl 50 on February 7, as the game returns to the Bay Area for the first time in 30 years.