You would be hard-pressed to name an advertising campaign as ubiquitous and renowned as “Got Milk?” and its milk-mustache-wearing celebrities.
The man who helped create and conduct the campaign will be at the South Florida Museum on Monday to discuss how it all came about.
Kurt Graetzer, outgoing chief executive officer of the Milk Processor Education Program, was integral in coming up with the milk mustache campaign that has featured celebrities like Christie Brinkley and Kermit the Frog to promote milk drinking.
“The program is one of the top three or four visible print campaigns in advertising history and is probably among one of the more notable campaigns overall,” said Graetzer, who now lives on Tidy Island in Manatee County. “It has become kind of iconic not only for the Got Milk? slogan, but the celebrity milk mustaches seen everywhere.”
The first Got Milk? Campaign was actually limited to television in California in 1994, Graetzer said.
At the time, milk sales were declining due to perception issues about the beverage.
Milk was seen as a beverage for children only, and one that carried potential health risks for adults, Graetzer recalled.
A year later, with the help of New York ad agency Bozell Worldwide, now Lowe Worldwide, Graetzer developed the milk mustache campaign.
Although ad agencies typically bring multiple concepts to the table during the bidding process, Bozell brought only one. And it made sense, Graetzer said.
“When you look at the milk mustache — the contemporary celebrities who are very young and very attractive — you addressed the problems milk was having at the time,” Graetzer said. “One of the nice things about the whole campaign is the fact that new celebrities are created every day so you’re able to use a current celebrity. It is always a way of making the campaign current and contemporary every day.”
Eventually in 1998, Graetzer obtained the rights to use the Got Milk? slogan in conjunction with the milk mustache ads.
Over the years, the Got Milk? slogan has been co-opted by various entities. It’s not uncommon to see Got Jesus? stickers on car bumpers and small businesses have often twisted the slogan to their use, assuming they were doing so under the radar.
But Graetzer and the Milk Processor Education Program, an advocate for milk consumption funding by the nation’s milk processors, never got too upset about it.
“Over a long period of time it might have had some eroding factor on the impact of Got Milk? but in all honesty, it is still our belief that every time someone tries to rip it off, everybody knows where it came from. So it still reminds them of the Got Milk? campaign. So in a strange way it still has a positive impact on Got Milk?. For a number of years initially we let it go because everybody was using it everywhere and we would have spent our whole life in court.”
Graetzer announced his retirement from the Milk Processor Education Program in April after being at the helm for about 15 years.
He and his wife sold their home outside New York City last year and now reside in Tidy Island.
“I’ve lived in the country outside of New York all of my life. My wife and I have always wanted to have a place on the water in a warm climate,” Graetzer said. “And that’s where we found it. It’s really a special place and we love the Sarasota-Bradenton area.”
Jim Fraley, a board member of the South Florida Museum, said he helped snag Graetzer’s appearance through his membership in the American Marketing Association of Tampa Bay, which arranged for Graetzer’s appearance.
“We’re very excited to have Kurt here, particularly considering the historic nature of the Got Milk? marketing campaign,” Fraley said.
“It’s internationally renowned and is probably one of the most famous campaigns.”
The presentation will begin at 11 a.m. and there will be a lunch buffet afterward.
The cost of the presentation is $30 for American Marketing Association members and $50 for non-members.
To reserve a spot, log onto www.amatampabay.org.
Walk-ups will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis, Fraley said.
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