Could premium milk be the greatest coup for beverage companies since bottled water? Coca-Cola apparently thinks so. Like its competitors within the beverage industry, the company is trying to find new ways to boost profits since their flagship products, fizzy drinks, have long been suffering from flat sales. While more consumers avoid both sugary and diet sodas and hipsters find alternatives from cold brewed bottled coffee to kombucha, Coca-Cola’s shareholders want increased sales. Premium milk could be the answer for Coke. Coca-Cola is a major investor in Fairlife, which promises to transform the dairy industry by providing “more vroom for your milk.” Starting with the marketing, this is not your parents’ or grandparents’ dairy: instead of pastoral scenes of farmers and cows, the ads are a composite of Alicia Silverstone Aerosmith videos, Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Seven Year Itch photo and a certain scene in Something about Mary. So what is all the fuss about? After all, it is just milk, right? Not according to Coca-Cola.
Could premium milk be the greatest coup for beverage companies since bottled water? Coca-Cola apparently thinks so. Like its competitors within the beverage industry, the company is trying to find new ways to boost profits since their flagship products, fizzy drinks, have long been suffering from flat sales. While more consumers avoid both sugary and diet sodas and hipsters find alternatives from cold brewed bottled coffee to kombucha, Coca-Cola’s shareholders want increased sales. Premium milk could be the answer for Coke.
Coca-Cola is a major investor in Fairlife, which promises to transform the dairy industry by providing “more vroom for your milk.” Starting with the marketing, this is not your parents’ or grandparents’ dairy: instead of pastoral scenes of farmers and cows, the ads are a composite of Alicia Silverstone Aerosmith videos, Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Seven Year Itch photo and a certain scene in Something about Mary. So what is all the fuss about? After all, it is just milk, right?
Not according to Coca-Cola. This is the Bugatti of milk, specially filtered so that it has 50 percent more protein and calcium than conventional milk, with half the sugar and no lactose, that nasty molecule that has been long the scourge of Westerners. And before you roll your eyes at the thought of high fructose corn syrup-loving Coke pitching a health product, guess again. You can take a virtual visit of the company’s flagship farm in Fair Oaks, Indiana, where happy cows roam unfettered and anaerobic digesters turn cow manure into sustainable energy. At a time when everyone wants to know the source of their food and drink, Coke offers up answers, promising traceability “from grass to glass.”
Coca-Cola’s venture into dairy started two years ago, when the company invested in the company that manufactures the protein shake Core Power. So far the roll-out of Fairlife has been limited: at press time it is only available in the Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago areas. For those who are anxious to try this latest innovation in milk, the company will take your email and zip code once Fairlife is available at your local stores.
Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Triple Pundit.
Milk image via Shutterstock.
