Borrowing from the past / Got Milk? was an American ad campaign that encouraged the consumption of cow’s milk and other dairy products. With 350 individual executions over two decades, featuring the most current celebrities of the time, the campaign is an iconic piece of advertising. As a challenger brand of alternative, dairy-free milk, Silk’s homage to the campaign feels satisfyingly subversive.
Casting the offspring of the original Got Milk? models emphasises that this is a campaign and product for the next generation; although it’s not immediately obvious who some of the models are, a closer look at the copy reveals familiar surnames. This gives the campaign appeal to a dual audience – those who were around for the original, and those who belong to the same generation as the Silk campaign models. Borrowing from the past is a smart, simple and cost-effective way to normalise the conversation around plant-based milk by taking an already famous creative idea and adding its own distinctive twist.
Cultural context / Nepotism babies – children of successful people – have been around forever, but the term became popular in February 2022, with a tweet about the cast of the TV series Euphoria. By casting the children of David Beckham and Shaquille O’Neal in the Nextmilk campaign, Silk lightheartedly plays into the nepo baby chatter, capitalising on the fascination in celebrities’ kids.
This campaign also comes at a time when much has been done to normalise the conversation about plant-based milk. In 2022, Oatly launched a mini-series in the UK and Germany called The New Norm&Al Show, an adult puppet content series during Veganuary to help bring plant-based living into the mainstream. What’s noteworthy about both is the distinct lack of finger-wagging or talk of animal welfare. On the whole, the popularity of plant-based milk has soared, with one in three Britons drinking alternative milk in 2021 and the global plant-based milk market estimated to be worth $19.8bn in 2023 and projected to grow to $47.2bn by 2033. The uptake is particularly strong among younger demographics; in a study by Onepoll, Food Navigator revealed that 49% of Gen-Zers felt ‘shame’ around ordering dairy products in front of their peers. Clearly, the plant-based conversation has moved on, freeing up brands to be more playful and focus on the qualities of their products, as opposed to needing to convince people to change their consumption habits.
