• by Aaron Baar , March 28, 2011

Silk, maker of plant-based milk products, wants consumers to get off the dairy wagon for 10 days and see how their lives will change.

The brand, owned by White Wave Inc. (which also produces almond and coconut milk products), has launched the "Silk for Milk 10 Challenge," which encourages people to substitute the dairy milk in their lives -- in their cereal, coffee, etc. -- with Silk soymilk. The company is backing the effort with a print, television and digital advertising campaign, as well as through a mobile tasting tour.

"Our goal is to gain greater awareness around the value of plant-based nutrition," Jennifer Hartley, director of marketing for White Wave, tells Marketing Daily via e-mail. "Silk is a great way to get more plant-based foods in your diet with our wide assortment of products including soymilk, almondmilk and now coconutmilk."

The television commercial promoting the 10-day challenge depicts a family from Wisconsin -- "the heart of dairy country" -- making the switch to Silk. In the commercial, the Dobrich family is shown trying the product with their cereal around the kitchen table, saying how surprised they are that they like the product. The commercial will air on broadcast and cable networks, including Lifetime, Food Network, TNT and Discovery.

"Consumers are intrigued with milk alternatives, but have a concern about compromising taste for themselves or their family," Hartley says. "The idea behind the copy was to show that if dairy lovers could like Silk, then so will the whole family. The TV commercial was filmed so that the participating family did not know it would be a commercial, and the ad is their authentic reaction."

Videos featuring other families will be unveiled on the Web site in the coming weeks, Hartley says. Similarly themed print ads will run in Us Weekly, as well as more specialized magazines such as Shape, Fitness, Weight Watchers and Yoga Journal.

Both the print and television executions direct people to the campaign microsite, www.SwitchtoSilk.com, where they can get coupons to help get started and tips to help them accomplish the 10-day challenge, as well as nutritional information. "The site is energetic and engaging, and we hope that the takeaway is that it's easy to make the switch," Hartley says.

The company is also taking its milks on a 10-city sampling tour, hitting metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. Ensuring its commitment to sustainability, Silk is offsetting carbon emissions from the tour with renewable Energy Certificates from Bonneville Environmental Foundation.