Cows for Silk Soymilk
Brand: Silk Soymilk (WhiteWave Foods)
Execution: TV, Print
Link: Click Here
Target: Health-conscious adults
Rating: **
Reviewer: David
Description:
This campaign promotes Silk brand soymilk using actors wearing cow heads. Each TV spot has these people talking about the health benefits of Silk soymilk. There are five spots featuring Frank, Connie, Amanda, Sandy and Maxine each of whom has a different take on why they drink Silk Soymilk. Each spot ends after the brief monologue with the tagline, “Silk. Beyond nutrition.” Each character also has a print ad associated with them.
What Works:
This campaign relies primarily on :15 second spots which make their point and move on quickly, so pacing is not an issue. The cow heads on humans is a memorable execution. The copy of these spots is also punchy and promotes soy milk and soy protein from different points of view. Branding in these spots is good with multiple product shots of the Silk Soymilk carton.
What Doesn’t:
Using fake but memorable cows to endorse Silk Soymilk creates several problems in this campaign which are both strategic and tactical.This advertising blog has not been supportive of this trend in general (see our reviews of the Dasani spots here, for example), but the issues are different in this case. The primary issue is that there is a significant potential for confusion and misattribution. Since the strongest association of cows is with cows milk, some consumers may not initially understand the brand proposition if they are watching the cows heads more than listening to the copy.
The cows may also cause cognitive dissonance for vegetarians who are an important core target for Silk Soymilk. Even if they intellectually understand that Silk is making a strong pitch for non-dairy alternatives, vegetarians may be put off by the association of cows with the vegan product they consume daily.
This is category advertising as the spots position soymilk to be preferable to cowsmilk. While this may help the soymilk grow awareness, It is less likely to sell Silk over another brand of soymilk. As the largest brand, this tactic is appropriate since the greater opportunity for Silk may be converting new users from cow’s milk rather than increasing share against other brands.
The tonality of these spots is questionable. They were created to sound chatty and informal but may strike some consumers as patronizing or annoying.
Branding Bottom Line:
Thanks Silk – we didn’t know that Cows were producing soy milk.
July 14th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Good points. Here's another one: using spokes-cows is hardly new. California Cheese and Chick-Fil-A have already covered that area to the point where it's just covered with hoof prints.
July 20th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
I'm am a vegetarian who avoids dairy consumption. When I saw the commercial on TV it definately got my attention– I thought it was going to talk about animal rights. But I should have known better… The aspect of the talking cow heads is humorous but at the same time confusing and possibly misleading (I can see how people could easily be lead to the idea that cows produce soymilk, and it is just a healthier alternative than lowfat milk) and just plain wrong.
August 11th, 2006 at 5:44 am
This is one of the worse commercials on tv. They are extremely annoying to watch and makes one want to have nothing to do with drinking soy milk.
August 15th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Pretty good observations. I think you overthink some of the issues. As you point out, the campaign is primarily :15 spots which really don't give the viewer time to contemplate some of the issues you mention. Also, since most TV commercial watching is a secondary activity (more listening than watching) the direct copy I think gets the point across well. Regarding the issue about vegans and vegitarians, they are clearly not the target for the spots. They are already soy or rice milk users. The spot target is daily milk users who I suppose are pretty comfortable with cows and less likely to be offended by them.
Todd's point is well taken. The regionally famous Chick-fil-a "Eat more chicken" outdoor makes almost the exact same point as the Silk cow spots so points off for originality BUT at the same time, the Chick-fil-a boards have been wildly popular, memorable and effective so maybe this is the right approach for Silk.
August 16th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Mike,
Yes, we specialize in overthinking. We have been hearing more complaints from dairy users that the spots are annoying, however. As for the rest of it, we agree that most of those things wouldn't be conscious reactions to the spot, but we do think it is confusing.
dv
August 24th, 2006 at 8:50 am
The whole point of the commercials is that dairy is cruel and unhealthy unlike silk soymilk. Do the research people.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
I enjoyed the commercials that were out a little earlier with the cookie and the dog. They got the nutritional facts out there, and led people to believe that you could drink soy milk with everyday foods. Not everyone is aware of this and it targets more of the soy milk drinking audience in my opinion.
The cows are a little crazy but fun.
October 26th, 2006 at 1:33 am
I am a student at San Jose State and I am doing an Ad analysis on this campaign. I agree that the cows in the commercial are trying to say that soy milk is better for you and "them" rather than dairy milk. In a way it is funny. I also think the idea of the commercials is to notify people not only of the health benefits but the great taste that might be better than regular milk…hey if anyone knows best about milk it's probably cows.
July 7th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I enjoyed this advertisement because it not only has humor, and wittiness in this ad, but it gives you the hard facts on all of the benefits you receive from drinking soymilk. They additionally move you right into their website, which also has more information that they present in a very funny manor. On this web site Frank and his family have bios on each family member, a fan club, and they each have their own blogs. I enjoyed how this ad educates people on the benefits that are associated with drinking soymilk, and being healthy sells. It sell more now then ever before with the media informing people about health issues like healthy bones, prostate cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol, menopause, and lactose intolerance. “Soy milk sales have been growing by a rate of 7 % for the last three years.†This makes me wonder when the other ads say “got milk?†more than like they don’t.
I have been drinking soy milk for almost ten years and enjoy it for the health benefits I get from it, it is great in a bowl of cereal, used in anything that asks for milk, and yes, this is the drink for me.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
You people are so stupid. No, cows don't make soymilk. I think the reason they make cows the spokespeople is because, duh, soymilk is the counterpart of milk that comes from cows, and cows probably WOULD, if given the choice, drink soymilk rather than dairy milk because then they know that milk didn't come from their daughter or some shit like that.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Who is the actress in the white blouse among the three or four women in the kitchen sampling the Silk Soy milk?
February 15th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
she was in a sitcom, but i can't place her . Its driving me crazy
March 21st, 2008 at 10:14 am
Latest spot, running since about 3/15/08, has Gen Y woman with short dark hair, jacket, jeans, discussing Silk and how good it is with cereal, with slightly dippy rising inflection.
Scuttlebutt is it may be Julie Potash, aka Hesta Prynn from rap-rock act Northern State. Any intel? I find her extremely hitable
March 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Yes, it's Julie. (Hesta)
April 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
does anyone know where i can find a link to the Hesta Silk commercial?!!!
August 17th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
So far, everyone has talked about the cows and Julie/Hesta, but I'm interested in finding out whose voice reads the rest of the commercial. It sounds a little like the guy who played Miles on Murphy Brown, and a lot like Mark Brunetz, the designer from Clean House. Anybody got an idea?
May 29th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
What Silk customers do not know, and what I found after 10 years of drinking this product is that, without informing ANYONE, (not their customers, nor the retailers) they degraded the product from organic to natural. The price and the look of the box have stayed the same. Once you trust a product you stop reading the labels on the box. I called them and they could not care less. They made it my responsibility saying they have posted in their website. I consider they have been poisoning me since January and I am very upset. I think people need to know this.