Promotion sees milk consumption hold

DA industry promotion and product innovation group manager Isabel MacNeil said it was originally conceived to present a complete, consistent story of the industry, “from grass to glass”.

”We wanted to tell the story right across the value chain,” she said.

Ms MacNeil said the campaign was aimed at influencers, such as health professionals, farming communities and consumers.

“It’s the same message being driven across each target market, but it’s delivered in a different way, through different channels,” she said.

Ms MacNeil said the Australian milk market was quite unique.

“It’s really hard to find another market quite like Australia,” she said.

“Consumer demand in Australia is doing pretty well, especially liquid milk and cheese.”

Ms MacNeil said there was even a resurgence in full fat milk consumption, with the product up 5.6 per cent in the past 12 months in volume terms.

“If we look at the United States, the United Kingdom and some Scandinavian countries, we see a real decline (in milk consumption),” she said.

“Our liquid milk consumption is holding up well, compared to the population.

“We’d love people to consume more milk, but (it’s good) to just maintain good consumption.”

Ms MacNeill said dairy consumption was important to local producers, with domestic sales about 66pc of Australia’s production.

But the campaign was not just about pushing milk sales, but also showcasing the value of the industry.

“We want people to see value in the industry, not just in the product sense but its place in regional and rural communities,” she said.

This is why so much of the campaign looks at how much dairyfarmers are a part of their communities.

She said this involves profiling individual stories, showing diverse people and the human face of dairy.

“It’s something we’ve neglected in the past and it’s really great to see it,” she said.

“We trust and believe we’ve got a place in society, economy and diet.”