• By Arundhuti
  • / June 14, 2019
  • / Business

Milk Mantra – not a Moo Point

‘We are not just a Dairy Company
We are a ‘little company’ with big ideas about
Nourishing Truly Pure living from our consumers to farmers.’

Founded in August 2009, Milk Mantra, India’s first venture capital, was set up to solve the milk scarcity problem in the state. From the development of a strong dairy supply chain in rural Orissa to ethical sourcing from farmers and innovative packaging, the company attempted a makeover of the dairy industry, says Srikumar Misra, Founder and MD, Milk Mantra (in an interview by Money Control).

While Milk Mantra is the Umbrella Company, it has 2 major brands under it that have grabbed a lot of attention from consumers:

a. fresh milk brand called the Milky Moo
b. Moo shake brand – a product developed and launched in Bangalore (now also available in other Tier 1 and 2 cities)

Apart from bigger brands like Amul, Metro Dairy, Nestle and Britannia, there are quite a few local players present in this particular segment; as far as innovation of products is concerned, Milk Mantra has definitely upped their game especially with the brand MooShake.

PACKAGING

Keeping in view the evolving needs of today’s urbane life, Milk Mantra, claim that their USP is the innovative double-layered packaging technology that not only increases the shelf life of milk but also, makes the milk truly pure without the need for boiling.

Packaging being the crux of their ‘mantra’ of being ‘pure’, The Milky Moo pouches use Tripak technology which is a 3-layered film, with a black layer preventing damage due to exposure to light – extending the life of the milk by 3 days. Whereas, for paneer, they use German packaging technology Multivac, which increases life by 21 days.

To help bring to life the core propositions, the packages are designed using doodled cows – comic and pop art style, for all products of Milky Moo and Moo Shake. In fact, the Moo Shake packages have the entire story of the transformation of an ordinary milk product to Sooper milk product. The use of this distinctive style has lowered the brand age for this company, whereas the others have maintained a rather serious one for ages.

With Milky Moo, the company’s first fresh dairy product was launched in early 2012. After that, the company has come out with various dairy-based products such as paneer, probiotic yoghurt and lassi. To give their consumers a premium yet traditional experience, the new packaging format focuses on giving an easy to serve and easy to drink format, while offering premium quality drinkable yoghurt with no preservative. They claim that ‘global standards of packaging materials’ are used in order to maintain the purity and quality of products. In this particular market, keeping quality and extended shelf-life is quite the killer proposition.

MILKY MOO

The flagship brand of dairy products of Milk Mantra, Milky Moo, created with an approach towards innovation in all things ‘milk’. Now, a great example of this innovation is their product ‘MooShake’. Milk Mantra had come out with a total fun drink.

What made it so different from the other brands of the same category, you wonder?

MooShake was created using a “sooper ingredient” – curcumin! The health benefits of Haldi is not unknown. So, all Milk Mantra had to do was combine curcumin with high-quality milk, flavours – that kids love – and great food packaging technology. There we had a “sooper awesome milkshake” called MooShake. There was the “innovation” which other brands like Metro Dairy, Nestle and Britannia missed. Amul, on the other hand, has a similar product with Amul Kool, which is basically flavoured milk – and that definitely may be considered as a competition, especially with the brand name of ‘Amul’ involved. There are other competitive brands like ‘Canvas’ who have come out with ‘milkshakes’, but aren’t considered of belonging to the same league as the big names like Amul and Britannia. Milk Mantra, on the other hand – definitely.

While their biggest design challenge was to ensure that while they communicated the key ingredient Curcumin, consumers were not put off by the idea of a milkshake with ‘Haldi’. This concern resulted in the branding, packaging and all pieces of communication being inspired by comic and pop art, which helped in bringing to life the core proposition – Milk Just Got Sooper. The character of ‘Super Moo’ was further created in order to be relatable for kids and thus engage.

The company has made its way through to families by leveraging the power of branding and merchandising and using digital media quite extensively. MooShake has rolled out an online and offline campaign in order to connect with children as well as parents on their products’ functional health benefits

PRODUCTS

MooShake presently comes in five flavours – Nutty Badam, Peachy Strawberry, Slurpy Mango, Oh So Chocolatee and Vanilla O La La – is less sweet and has a thicker ‘mouth feel’. MooShake was launched after extensive research with an intention to fill this very gap. Compared to its other milk products, MooShake has a longer shelf life

The product range includes

Truly Pure Milk, Probiotic Dahi, Pouch Dahi, Paneer, Lassi and buttermilk and Meethi Mishti Dahi.

PROMOTIONS & MARKETING

(Milky Moo)

Considering the “personality” which has been created for Milk Mantra – it appeals to a rather younger crowd – the early adapters (the upwardly mobile middle class) who are much more approachable. Even though milk has been around for ages, very little innovation has happened around it – this is the insight based upon which Milk Mantra’s campaign has been designed. Their promotion strategy includes ads in leading regional and English dailies like Vijay Karnataka and Times of India, Bangalore. Outdoor advertising such as hoardings, bus shelters, an extensive bus and auto branding.

A YouTube video featuring the brand mascot ‘SuperMoo’ is an inspirational story about how drinking milk alone for years, never helped Moo achieve his dream of becoming SuperMoo, but then MooShake loaded with Curcumin certainly did.

The campaign was recently rolled out across Bangalore on social media and offline. On YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, it generated buzz for #milkjustgotsooper. On Twitter, their brand mascot sent quirky personalised tweets to Bangaloreans and influencers, catching them completely off guard.

When online activities were integrated with offline: There was a Mall activation through a ‘Fly with SooperMoo’ engagement, product sampling and in-store promotions, carried out at the more famous malls which garner more footfall, compared to others. As a result, a day before the launch #milkjustgotsooper was trending at the first position in Bangalore.

Their communication thus engages with children and parents on the brand’s functional health benefits. In the coming months, MooShake is scheduled to launch in more Indian cities, as it plans to scale up rapidly.

 When the mooing gets tough, the tough gets ‘sooper’ mooing!

The product line produced and presented by Milk Mantra is a part of our daily diet. And the kind of credibility they have created – already – is rather commendable. Their products are well-packaged, their communication is well-understood and appreciated too by the audience. They’re a young brand who have made their place in the market at a quick pace.