(September 5, 2007) California's Happy Cows will soon be grazing in a bigger pasture. Starting this fall, the popular icons for the California dairy industry, which have successfully promoted Real California Cheese through national advertising, are also going to promote nationally the full range of dairy products made with California milk including butter, ice cream and yogurt.
The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) announced today that it is introducing the Real California Milk seal which certifies that dairy products bearing the seal are made exclusively with California milk. The seal will begin appearing on packaging for California dairy products sold across the country in October.
"The California dairy industry has enjoyed tremendous success over the past two decades," said Stan G. Andre, CMAB Chief Executive Officer. "California is already the nation's leading milk producer and a growing supplier of dairy products. The seal supports this growing momentum and our research shows that consumers across the country want California food products," Andre said, noting that the decision to introduce the seal grew from several years of industry research and discussions with distributors, retailers and consumers.
"We already know that consumers like cheese from California because of the success of our national campaign for Real California Cheese. California cheese is now sold in every state," Andre said. "We also found that other California dairy products are more appealing to consumers when made with California milk."
The CMAB is committing $40 million for advertising and promotion to introduce the Real California Milk seal in California and nationally. The campaign launches with a full-page ad in USA Today and national television advertising as well as radio and outdoor advertising in select markets.
The popular Happy Cows advertising campaign is being expanded to support the new milk seal. The television advertising will continue to feature the Happy Cows, but now will close with a scene depicting the broad range of dairy products produced in California and a new tagline: "Great milk comes from Happy Cows. Happy Cows come from California. Make sure it's made with Real California Milk." The CMAB will continue to promote Real California Cheese and the cheese seal will continue to appear in the advertising.
"We know that most consumers across the country really like the Happy Cows campaign and they also like to buy cheese that comes from California," said Michael Freeman, Vice President of Advertising for the CMAB. "The Real California Milk seal is a natural way of leveraging these two positive attributes to support California's other dairy products."
California has led the U.S. in total milk production for more than a decade. It produced 38.8 billion pounds of milk in 2006, or 21 percent of the country's total production. Last year, California ranked first in the U.S. in the production of total milk, butter, ice cream, yogurt, nonfat dry milk and whey protein concentrate. The state is the second-largest producer of cheese, which is available nationally under the Real California Cheese seal.
The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) is an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture funded by the state's nearly 2,000 dairy families. Established in 1969, the CMAB is headquartered in Modesto, California, and is one of the largest commodity boards in the United States. Under the dairy umbrella, the CMAB executes generic advertising, publicity, retail and foodservice promotions and research programs on behalf of California dairy products, including Real California Cheese.