• by Karl Greenberg , February 20, 2010

The California Milk Processor Board, the state-market trade group that created the original "Got Milk" campaign, is launching an iteration of its four-year-old California-focused Hispanic-market "Toma Leche" (drink milk) campaign. The new effort, which carries the theme "More than Just Milk" (Mucho Más Que Leche), is the board's biggest Hispanic-market effort to date. It is also the first that uses radio ads.

The campaign, by Long Beach, Calif.-based Grupo Gallegos, touts the nutritional benefits of milk with three 30-second Spanish-language spots: "Dentist" (Dentista), "Hair" (Pelo) and "Sports Drink" (Bebida Deportiva). The first two set up a conceit suggesting the product is toothpaste and shampoo, respectively.

In the first, a little girl is being examined by her dentist when suddenly, animated teeth begin dancing about the office to the surprise of the dentist, his assistant and the patient, singing about the virtues of beautiful, healthy teeth: "Beautiful teeth. Strong teeth. Healthy teeth all-year long. Presenting a product that has it all, that fights for you." Cut to a carton of milk in a fridge. "Presenting milk," says the voiceover, "Its calcium helps produce strong teeth and prevents cavities."

The second ad, breaking March 22, uses the same approach by exploiting a shampoo-ad cliche of a beautiful woman with long, silky hair walking in the forest. The sports-themed ad, breaking in April, touts chocolate milk as a drink that builds muscle and is ideal for sports.

Steve James, executive director of the board, tells Marketing Daily that the campaign includes a robust online component, "where we will have a website dedicated to 'Mucho Mas Que Leche'," as well as print for the first time, and special events including pop-up kiosks at malls. "It is much more multifaceted than anything we've done before in the Hispanic market," he says. "We felt that with the very high awareness of 'Got Milk' combined with the fast-growing Hispanic population, which over-indexes on consumption of milk, we felt we could afford to shift media dollars to the Hispanic side."

Sports sponsorships may be coming, although that hasn't been hammered out. He says that since the sports-themed ad doesn't launch until later in the year, "we have until August or September to decide how we will support that tactically." Spanish-language radio spots in California broke last week. The campaign will also feature a new Web site and magazine wraps for People en Español, which will be distributed at family doctors' offices starting June.

James says the CMPB is also prepping a general-market campaign that will launch in about a month: "It will be very, very beautiful to look at and very aspirational." The most recent general-market campaign, "White Gold," is based on a fictive rock star who benefits from drinking milk and has a milk-filled transparent guitar ended in the fall.