How to make low-interest products like milk and bread exciting again

How do you make a low-interest product exciting again?

You make a low-interest product exciting again by putting it back into the moments and memories where people already love it, instead of repeating its benefits. That is our thesis.

At IW Agency, we think the problem with milk, bread and biscuits is rarely the product. Somewhere along the way, the brands stopped talking about life and started talking about nutrition. Everyone already knows milk is good for you. Telling them again changes nothing. What changes behaviour is a feeling at the moment of choice.

Conclusion: Nobody needs convincing that bread is bread. Make them miss it.

What did Got Milk? prove about commodity brand marketing?

Got Milk? proved that reminding people what they lose without a product sells it better than a list of benefits. Jeff Manning and the California Milk Processor Board launched the campaign in 1993, when milk was familiar but consumption was falling (Capital Press, 2016). Manning described the task as a "15-year decline in per capita" (ANA Educational Foundation).

Benefit messaging had already done its job. Milk campaigns worldwide had led 96 per cent of the public to believe milk was healthy, yet people still chose soft drinks, sweetened tea and sports drinks (Capital Press, 2016). Manning's verdict: "It didn't matter how much money you spent on 'good for you,' it did not change behavior."

The campaign dropped calcium and protein. Research by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners found that "milk is usually consumed with something else, and that the only time people really think about milk is when they've run out of it" (WARC). So the strategy became deprivation. The cookie with no milk. The dry bowl of cereal. It targeted people who already drank milk. WARC's case study reports a 7 per cent rise in California milk sales in the first year.

The detail we return to most is another line from Manning: "When you're on the 'good for you' strategy, you don't want to talk about Oreos." The health message had kept milk away from the food it actually belongs with.

Conclusion: Benefits explain a product. Absence makes people want it.

Where does an everyday brand find its excitement?

An everyday brand finds its excitement in three places, which is how we look at the problem: the moment, the memory and the mischief.

• The moment. This is the occasion the product belongs to: milk with the biscuit, rye bread at breakfast, chocolate milk with a hot dog. Own the moment and you own the reason to buy.

• The memory. Heritage brands carry decades of shared experience. A private label can copy a pack, but it cannot copy that history.

• The mischief. This is permission to surprise. A category everyone has decided is dull is exactly where a bold colour, a sharp line or a cultural moment cuts through.

Our own case base is full of this problem. The brief from Arla Ko asked how milk, one of its most ubiquitous yet valuable products, could reclaim its cultural status. Hatting faced a rye bread category long defined by muted tones and functional messaging. Göteborgskex and OLW both met private labels multiplying around them. For Ballerina, the brief was to give a cookie classic renewed relevance. Champis needed to go from slumbering classic to relevant icon without losing its heritage.

These are different products with the same diagnosis. Each brand had stopped being part of the conversation, even though it was still in the basket.

Isn't price all that matters in a commodity category?

Price matters, but it explains less than most category plans assume. This is the strongest objection to our thesis. When products are near-identical, shoppers pick the cheapest, and the growth of private labels seems to prove it.

The Got Milk? numbers point the other way. People did not abandon milk because it was expensive. They chose other drinks that gave them more of a reason to choose them.

Oatly offers a second angle. It sells an oat drink that sits on the shelf next to milk, and its revenue grew 106.5 per cent to $421.4 million in 2020 (Oatly Group AB prospectus, 2021). Those figures do not show that marketing caused the growth. They do show that the shelf beside milk has room for a brand people choose on purpose.

We also concede the limits. Emotion does not rescue a worse product or an indefensible price gap. What a strong brand changes is what shoppers compare. Competing on price alone teaches them that you are interchangeable. Private labels imitate the classics because the classics' look carries value.

Conclusion: Compete only on price, and you agree you're interchangeable.

Why does this matter more when AI assistants help people choose?

It matters more because an assistant can only recommend what it can describe. Ask one which milk or bread to buy, and it summarises what it knows about each brand. Generic benefit claims produce generic answers.

We think brands tied to a clear moment and a clear meaning are easier to describe, and so easier to name. Distinction used to win the shelf. Now it also wins the sentence an assistant writes about your category.

What does this mean for your brand?

• Stop restating the benefit everyone knows. If your category's health or quality message is already believed, more of it will not move behaviour.

• Find your moment. Map the occasions your product belongs to, then choose one to own in pack, media and retail.

• Treat heritage as an asset. Decide which memories are worth keeping and which habits only make the brand look tired.

• Give the brand permission to surprise. Write that permission into the brand platform, not into a single campaign brief.

• Talk to existing buyers first. Got Milk? went after people who already drank milk. Your fastest growth may be in your current baskets.

Frequently asked questions

What is commodity brand marketing?

Commodity brand marketing is building preference for a product that is functionally similar to its competitors. The aim is that people choose your milk, bread or butter for reasons beyond price and specification.

Should a commodity brand talk about health benefits at all?

Yes, where the benefit is genuinely news to the audience. If most people already believe it, as with milk, repeating it rarely changes what they buy.

Can an everyday brand become exciting without losing its heritage?

Yes. The memory a classic carries is often the strongest material it has. Renewal means choosing what to keep and changing how it shows up.

Do you need a new brand platform to revive a low-interest brand?

Not always. If the brand still knows what it stands for, the work is in expression. If it doesn't, start with the platform, as described in what a brand platform is and when you need one.

Bring the ordinary back

Milk, bread and biscuits are not boring. They are familiar, which is a different thing and a bigger opportunity. If your everyday brand has stopped being talked about, write to us at hello@iwagency.com.

Sources

• Got Milk? architect describes campaign's lasting mark on marketing — Capital Press, 2016

• got milk? case history — ANA Educational Foundation, n.d.

• California Milk Processor Board: Got Milk? campaign — WARC, n.d.

• Oatly Group AB, Form 424B4 prospectus — U.S. SEC, 2021