Lactofree To Be TV Star

Today you can't get through a comedy without somebody making a lactose intolerance joke. (Fart humor is as old as time. I'm sure there's some graffiti in hieroglyphics on it.) Yet when I learned I was LI in 1978, I had never heard the term before.

So what happened in between? Well, in 1990 DairyEase entered the lactase and lactose-free markets to compete with Lactaid. For a couple of years the two companies blitzed television with $10 million ad campaigns. You don't think advertising works? Here's proof to the contrary. Although DairyEase was never to be more than a distant second to Lactaid in market share, the whole of the American audience now knows the term "lactose intolerance."

The UK has long been behind the U.S. is LI awareness. That might change soon, and for the same reason.

Arla Foods for the first time is going to do tv ads for its lactose-free milk called Lactofree. Those ads will be just part of a £3m cross-media campaign.



Nikki Sandison of BrandRepublic.com wrote:

The TV spot will be supported by a number of print ads in women's consumer titles, as well as advertorials that will include an elimination diet challenge and lactose-free recipes using Lactofree.

Digital agency Outside Line will revamp the Lactofree website to include a new Community Hub section.

Lactofree's PR agency, Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster, will launch a nationwide Lactofree cafe, offering samples of hot teas and coffees using Lactofree at major supermarkets.

Over at TalkingRetail.com, they said that Arla has more plans for the fast-growing Lactofree brand:

2007 saw the brand grow by 185.20% and Lactofree has recently launched in Ireland and just announced that it will be stocked in Somerfield - in addition to the other leading supermarkets.

Of course, that huge rise is building from a very tiny base. I announced the introduction of Lactofree only two years ago.

Just a reminder. Whenever you see a percentage in the article, think twice. Large percentage growth almost always means that a tiny thing has become a little bigger, not that some big thing has become huge.