Packaging Opportunities for Fluid Milk

Dairy Foods, June, 2001

Deja Moo is the brainchild of Jim Odney, owner of Enoch Schultz Creamery, Bismarck, N.D., and president of Minneapolis-based American Dairy Corp., an innovative sales and marketing company with the sole purpose to market dairy products as national brands. Until now, this has never been done in the fluid milk category.

A few years ago, Odney contracted a design firm to develop a unique milk package and brand. It was important that the name, structure and design help redefine milk as cool and contemporary. The design and brand also had to be proprietary and marketable.

"Since it's still milk in the package, our marketing efforts have to revolve around the package design and brand," Odney says. "Anything can be differentiated. Whether perceived or real, branding adds value to any product by creating a desirable difference. This either leads to increased sales, improved margins or both. However, neither of these is likely if processors continue to treat milk as a commodity."

Odney explained to the design company that the footprint, or base of the jug must be the same as a standard milk jug. He also identified other key dimensions that must be consistent with current packages in the marketplace. "This is so dairies do not need to make any capital investment in order to manufacture and distribute Deja Moo milk.

"When the design firm presented its models, everything was great about the jug except that it was not a full gallon or half gallon," Odney says. "But then the question was asked, where does it say a milk jug must be 128 or 64 oz?

"Consumer focus groups loved the package design and size," he adds. "Without making it an objective, the design company managed to develop a package that solved many of the problems consumers typically find with gallon jugs, such as being too heavy and awkward to handle."

Designers accomplished this by reducing volume at the top and in the shoulder of the jug, which also produced the eye-catching horizontal and vertical curves that give Deja Moo a strong shelf presence.

Retail sales confirm that the Deja Moo package has consumers buying more milk. "In January, we introduced Deja Moo milk to North Dakota retailers, replacing the old Schultz brand. Sales increased 798% during the first two months of the year, as compared to the same period last year," Odney says. "What's significant is that our growth is not coming totally at the expense of the competition. Retailers tell us we have significantly increased overall milk sales and our numbers indicate we have achieved more than a 25% market share in stores within our trade area."

The Deja Moo milk container comes in three sizes: 1.5 and 3 liter jugs, which are priced 20% lower than traditional gallon and half-gallon sizes, and a single-serve pint. These smaller jug sizes are recognized by consumers as being fresher because they get used up faster.

Schultz's success story is just one of many to come. The Deja Moo turn-key program gives licensees access to well-designed, high-quality packaging that is supported with a national advertising program all at a fraction of the cost of a dairy producing and placing ads on its own. This provides smaller creameries with the opportunity to take advantage of national sales, marketing and distribution in order to better leverage the Deja Moo brand.