Bridesmaid No More
June Dairy Month presents the perfect stage to help retailers moo-ve more milk and dairy products.
June may be for brides, but the food industry knows how to milk the month for all it's worth.
In a perennial early-summer rite, milk processors are once again standing ready to work with grocers on dairy promotions that make sure they're not leaving any money on the altar, er ... shelf.
Beyond the usual sales, couponing and cross-promotional deals, the industry this year is using the occasion of June Dairy Month to kick off the latest phase of an ongoing project to make the dairy department more of a go-to source for meal solutions for supermarket shoppers.
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, whose “Dairy Department of the Future” was profiled in PG last August, is initiating a pilot test this month with six retailers participating nationwide. “The goal is to create opportunities for consumers to shop and consume dairy in more meaningful ways,” says Rebecca MacKay, VP of strategy, insights and planning at the Rosemont, Ill-based center, which is working with retailers to identify better universal merchandising solutions for dairy products.
The pilot will test six meal solution-based merchandising concepts that were identified through consumer research, encompassing all mealtimes plus snacks and targeted pairings.
Milk, Cookies and More
Meanwhile, the folks at the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) are offering members June promos to share with their retail partners.
For the second straight year, MilkPEP is teaming with Oreo on in-store POS materials that encourage moms to visit milkandoreo.com every hour to share their favorite milk-and-Oreo-cookie moments for a chance to instantly win free milk and Oreo cookies. Plus, there are two coupon offers: An IRC on packages of Oreos for $1 off with the purchase of one package of Nabisco cookies and a gallon of milk, with the same dollar off available online.
MilkPEP is also offering “Liquid Sunshine” promo materials to help showcase the important role of milk's vitamin D content. Dairy processors can share numerous POS items with their grocery store partners, including decals, wobblers and clings.
Reinforcing the health benefits of milk, plus the added value of functional foods, is Dyna Moo milk. Launched in the weeks leading up to June Dairy Month by St. Paul, Minn.-based Agropur Natrel USA, Dyna Moo is a single-serve post-workout recovery beverage that combines the natural benefits of milk with the kind of dynamic packaging graphics most commonly found in the energy drink category. The shelf-stable product can be stored for up to nine months without refrigeration.
Invasion of Privacy
Milk processors have been fighting the commodity mindset for years, and now — due to economics and value-added products like Dyna Moo — the tide may finally be turning in favor of branded products, some market analysts say.
As commodity costs increase, grocers are raising prices for many items and relying less on loss leaders like private label dairy products to generate store traffic, so retailer pressure on dairy processors “seems to be abating,” analyst Alexia Howard of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. recently told Dairy Herd Network.
This could be a boon for processors such as Dallas-based giant Dean Foods, whose profits suffered after the recent recession sparked fierce price competition among food retailers. Dean has a private label business, but most of its products are sold under a variety of regional brand names such as Dean's, Meadow Gold, Mayfield, Purity and Garelick Farms.
“Pressure from retailers to play milk manufacturers against each other to obtain lower prices abated last summer, and so far, we are not seeing any resurgence of such behavior,” Howard added.