Milk as beverage

Dairy Foods, Sept, 1995 by Jeff Reiter

Want to sell more milk to kids? Maybe it's time to look beyond chocolate. For that matter, beyond the dairy industry.

Smilk, a flavored milk line introduced in May, was inspired by the observation that, outside the milk category, the foods and drinks that kids like best are mostly fruit-flavored.

Studying market data, Blair Gensamer, president of Smilk Inc., Greenwich, Conn., found that fruit-flavored varieties of pre-sweetened breakfast cereal for kids outsell chocolate-flavored types by a four-to-one margin. He also noted kids' loyalty to fruit-based drinks like Hi-C, Hawaiian Punch and Kool-Aid.

These are the brands dairies must compete with, Gensamer says, and traditional products are not getting it done. It's time, he believes, for dairies to look at the big picture. In other words, start thinking like beverage marketers instead of milk processors.

That's where Smilk comes in, with flavors like Chuggin' Cherry, Grinnin' Grape, Pleasin' Punch and Very Very Strawberry.

"We believe Smilk, with the right dairy partners, can do for milk what Snapple did for ready-to-drink iced tea," says Gensamer. "Dairies need a beverage brand that can expand the fluid milk business."

Gensamer, a former Nestle Foods marketing executive, can hardly be blamed for thinking big. His product concept--the flavors, the name Smilk (smile milk, get it?), and even the "spokescharacter" Smilkster-scored well in pre-launch tests with children and mothers. He's also encouraged by the interest in Smilk from processors and retailers. The goal is to take Smilk national through a network of licensed dairies.

West Lynn Creamery, Lynn, Mass., the first licensee, introduced UHT Smilk half-pints in Boston-area schools just before summer vacation. Results were positive: Kids loved the flavors, with strawberry the clear favorite and punch No. 2.

'The Better Beverage'

West Lynn also learned that foodservice directors, faced with a mandate to reduce the fat content in school lunches, appreciate that Smilk is fat free.

"Drinkability" dictated a nonfat formula as well. Smilk is meant to be light and refreshing, like the non-dairy drinks it strives to compete with. And since the competition is fat-free, Gensamer figured Smilk must be also. "We're positioned as 'The Better Beverage,' he says, "not as a flavored milk."

Accordingly, a key formulation change was made during the summer that reduced Smilk's sugar from 32g to 24g per serving, and lowered calories from 160 to 130. Ounce for ounce, Smilk now boasts less sugar than most juices, juice drinks and regular soft drinks--parents and schools can appreciate that.

Besides schools, Smilk is available for retail outlets. West Lynn offers the line in pints and may soon add quarts. Plus, two new flavors are coming this fall, Orange Vanilla and Raspberry Jazz, which Gensamer says will have adults drinking Smilk too.

For now, however, the most promising market is kids. To kick off the new school year in Boston, Smilk Inc. and a local radio station sponsored two public sampling events Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, each dubbed "The Boston Smilk Party."

The theme was fitting. By dairy industry standards, Smilk is revolutionary.