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A building with a digital ad showcasing people on roller skates and the tagline "Milk hydrates better than water."
A building with a digital ad showcasing people on roller skates and the tagline "Milk hydrates better than water."

WE Invented a fictional alt-Milk brand that really took root.

A tall building with an advertisement a rock climbing wall, a man standing on top, and the slogan "You're gonna need Milk for that. Got Milk?"

Challenge

Milk has faced decades of decline and dwindling cultural relevance. There’s intense competition from a whole new category claiming to be Milk. With alt-milks taking a more aggressive and competitive approach to their marketing, we decided it was time to make a statement and put Milk back in popular culture.

Solution

The fact that the alt-milk industry will make Milk out of just about anything is a funny and relatable insight, no matter what you drink. We wanted to highlight that there’s only one OG: Real Milk. To create conversation and increase cultural relevance, we created a fictional alt-Milk called Wood Milk, with a famous co-founder, Aubrey Plaza.

A tall building with an advertisement a rock climbing wall, a man standing on top, and the slogan "You're gonna need Milk for that. Got Milk?"
A tall building with an advertisement a rock climbing wall, a man standing on top, and the slogan "You're gonna need Milk for that. Got Milk?"
A tall building with an advertisement a rock climbing wall, a man standing on top, and the slogan "You're gonna need Milk for that. Got Milk?"
A tall building with an advertisement a rock climbing wall, a man standing on top, and the slogan "You're gonna need Milk for that. Got Milk?"
“What’s next in your coffee?
Salmon milk? Hot dog milk?”
“The revival of an advertising juggernaut, only transformed for these wildly different times.”
“funny and surreal”
“Wood Milk is blowing up social media, which is exactly what dairy milk companies were hoping for.”
“boldest, brightest

and best”
RESULTS
2.6b
EARNED IMPRESSIONS
77m
VIEWS (YT, IG, TIKTOK)
805%
PAID PERFORMANCE
ABOVE INDUSTRY BENCHMARK
18,000
@DRINKWOODMILK IG FOLLOWERS
60%
Increase in milk
social mentions
22%
INCREASE IN CULTURAL RELEVANCE AMONG MOMS
Three teenagers enjoying chocolate milk from plastic bottles.

Telling Our Fake Product Story

We launched this fictitious brand on all the channels you’d expect from a real brand; social, out-of-home, and through press and influencer outreach. We built DrinkWoodMilk.com, a bespoke ecommerce site, providing visitors with more information on Wood Milk and our “zero nutritional value” message, allowing them to purchase eco-friendly brand t-shirts.

Wood Milk in the Wild

We showed up in all the places where alt-milks show up, including digital out-of-home boards in LA and NYC. Our creative featured Aubrey Plaza wearing a Wood Milk mustache, chock full of wood chips and sawdust.

wood milk union square campaign imagewood milk union square campaign imagewood milk subway campaign imagewood milk subway campaign image

Doing Good, Not Just Cracking Jokes

Nothing about Wood Milk is real, however, our commitment to grow 10,000 trees with non-profit, One Tree Planted, was. That’s as real as it gets.

Three smartphones display Instagram posts of celebrities discussing milk.Three smartphones display Instagram posts of celebrities discussing milk.

THANK YOU.