Dairy Farmers Milk Producers Challenged Persuading Teenagers

¶ … dairy farmers milk producers challenged persuading teenagers young adults drink milk. Once a child turns 11-12, milk consumption drops dramatically. Although milk marketers success "Got Milk?" Milk Mustache marketing campaigns, attracting teens drinking milk remains difficult.

The main problem with marketing milk to teens is that, in the teens' perception, drinking milk is associated with being a child and, as such, with being immature and in a lower level of social and behavioral development. There are two deriving aspects from this perception that need to be analyzed. First, it is the attitude of the teenager towards himself. The teenager is at a phase in his life when he wants to be an adult and, as such, anything that could associate him with being a child will be rejected.

Second, it is the attitude of the peers towards the teenager. It is common knowledge that peer pressure at this age is tremendous and that teenagers look to every opportunity they can to put pressure on their colleagues and friends. Drinking milk makes the teenager vulnerable because of the jokes that can be made on his behalf. The connection between milk and being a baby is easy to make in a teenager group,

Another important development that occurs during the teenage years and that will affect the marketing of milk products is the need to stand out as an individual. Sometimes associated with the concept of being "cool," the need to stand out will reflect in the teenager's attitude towards most of the things he or she is in contact with at that particular moment in time. Standing out of the group will almost automatically attract the admiration of the peers, which is something that teenagers crave at this time of their development.

All these observations about the characteristics of teenagers at a certain moment of their development bring interesting conclusions on what product attributes should be emphasized when marketing milk to teens. The first important attribute should be that milk is not necessarily something for children, but that adults are very much drinking milk as well. This can be done in several ways, but mostly through different advertising campaigns that will emphasize the role of milk in adults' everyday life: from putting milk in the coffee to using milk and milk products in different dishes.

The second thing is related to the notion of being "cool." Drinking milk should be a "cool" thing to do. This could be achieved through a series of TV advertisements similar to the Pepsi -- the New Generation concept. The idea of these commercials would be to emphasize the fact that the new generation is keen on drinking milk. The commercials could include famous sport and TV stars that drink milk on a regular basis