The Milk Moustache campaign needed to be able to communicate in the world of its target - teens - who use instant messaging and text messages to talk to each other. An emoticon, a typographic “short cut” used to express an idea or feeling, brings this visual brand identity to a text-based world. Most people have seen the emoticon for the smiley :?) and now Milk has given the smiley it’s own Milk Moustache with :?{) . We call it the Milk Mustache Emoticon. (To see the :?{) tilt your head left. The :-{) has eyes, a nose, a milk moustache and a smile.)

To do this, we sponsored a 7 minute in-program segment on ABC’s “The View” promoting the science behind milk and weight loss. We also sponsored a 1-minute in-program product segment on NBC’s hit, ”The Biggest Loser” where the contestants were told about the benefits of incorporating milk into their fitness regimen. They were shown drinking the beverage and comparing their ‘milk mustaches’. These on-air segments were complemented by online diet/nutrition tips on NBC.com. Also, 12 hours after the final episode aired we had a milk ad featuring the winner, Eric Chopin, in newspapers across the country.

The month in which The View segment ran, we received 900,000 hits to 2424milk.com. And over the course of our Biggest Loser promotion, 70 percent of 2424milk visits came directly from NBC.com. Milk sales increased by 420 million gallons last year and consumption amongst women was up 11 percent.