Milk Industry's Pitch in Asia: Try the Ginger or Rose Flavor
SINGAPORE -- On a recent afternoon, New Zealand's biggest dairy company gathered its Asia-based marketing directors here for an unusual milk-tasting session. Among the flavors on offer: green tea, rose, ginger and several kinds of honey.
The mainly Asian tasters decided that one thick honey blend was too Western, says Sarah Kimber, milk innovation manager of New Zealand Milk, a unit of Fonterra Co-operative Group. A lighter, sweeter honey milk got higher marks. But ginger "was a real winner," Ms. Kimber says. "Almost all Asians use ginger in cooking. It's a taste they're used to."
Fonterra, one of the world's biggest milk producers, is experimenting with offbeat flavors such as wheatgrass and the aromatic pandan leaf in an attempt to tap into calcium-deprived Asians' growing appetite for milk.
Asia's $35 billion overall dairy market is expanding 4% annually, according to Euromonitor, a market research firm. By comparison, the U.S. market is expanding at a lean 2%. Total milk sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose to an estimated $14.7 billion in 2004 from $12 billion in 2001, Euromonitor says.
Yet Asians (except the Japanese) still consume less milk per capita than almost anyone else in the world -- just 1.3 gallons a year, compared to eight gallons in Latin America and 24 gallons in North America.
Got a new taste for milk? Cartons of ginger, papaya and mango-papaya-flavored milk at a Hong Kong grocery are aimed at boosting sales in Asia.
Still, as Asia's middle class grows, so does overall milk sales. Like Fonterra, a number of dairy companies are tailoring milk flavors to tempt local palates and are pitching their products as health supplements -- which appeals to many Asians' predilection for traditional medicines. As a result, the region's supermarkets are brimming with varieties of milk crammed with extras ranging from the fatty acid DHA (usually found in fish oil and believed to boost children's brain functions) to folates, a type of vitamin B used by pregnant women to promote cell growth.
"Western consumers see milk as a natural product, and probably don't want too much added to it. In Asia, people are into the science. The more things you can add, the better," says John McKay, Fonterra's marketing director.
Asians in developing countries have shied away from drinking milk in part because many of them find it too expensive. Geography and dietary habits also play a role. Temperate-climate regions in northern Asia, including Japan and northern India, have dairy industries, so consumers tend to drink lots of milk. Tropical climates further south aren't conducive to a flourishing dairy business -- milk-producing cows fare better in milder weather -- so milk isn't a part of local diets.
To help prod consumers, Fonterra's New Zealand Milk unit arranged for teaching hospitals in Hong Kong and Malaysia to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate that one of its products -- a vitamin-D enriched powdered milk -- offers a bone-building boost. The positive results of the studies were printed on the company's milk cartons.
Asian diets typically contain less calcium than those in the West and osteoporosis -- a decrease in bone density and strength -- is a big problem in the region, according to the World Health Organization. Calcium intake is just 500 milligrams or less a day -- half of the recommended 1,000 milligrams, says Edith Lau, a osteoporosis researcher in Hong Kong and president of both the Hong Kong Osteoporosis Foundation and the Asian Pacific Osteoporosis Foundation.
So Fonterra put two dozen bone scanners in supermarkets across Asia to show consumers their bones aren't as dense as health experts recommend. In Thailand, the company recently loaded a scanner onto a mobile "bone bus" and took it to parks and recreation areas in Bangkok where the elderly gather to practice Tai Chi.
Fonterra's Asian marketing drive -- it sells its products across much of the region -- is helping to lift sales. Asian revenue for New Zealand Milk hit $600 million last year and is increasing 10% annually.
Other dairy companies have joined the move. The Netherlands' Foremost Friesland Co. sells green tea-flavored fresh pasteurized milk in Thailand. Japan's Diary Meiji Co. is selling a pandan-flavored fresh pasteurized milk in Singapore. And Malaysia Dairy Industries Private Ltd., or MDI, a Singapore company that sells its products across Southeast Asia, sells a drinkable yogurt and wheatgrass combination.
In the U.S., the best-known milk promotions are aimed at increasing overall milk consumption, but flavored milk has received the spotlight at times. The California Milk Processor Board, which came up with the famous "Got Milk" slogan in 1993, issued print ads in 2002 and 2003 for "licuados," a blended Mexican milk-and-fruit drink. Still, flavored milk represents less than 10% by volume of the U.S. milk market, says Gary Hemphill of Beverage Marketing Corp., a New York industry consultant. Still, he adds, "it tends to be growing at a fairly healthy pace in contrast to the overall market."
Simply adding popular local ingredients won't guarantee hit milk products. MDI's green-tea flavored milk three years ago flopped with local consumers. The company was confounded: green tea ice cream is a popular Japanese dessert. "It just wasn't a big seller," says Thio Syn Pyn, MDI's deputy managing director. It eventually was pulled off the market.
Asians like their milk a bit thicker and sweeter than do Westerners, says Lim Choo Peng, MDI's general manager. Many Asians are lactose-intolerant, so the company breaks the lactose down into its base sugar components, which results in a sweet, low-lactose milk.
Even MDI's regular liquid milk is lightly scented with vanilla to entice consumers. It also sells banana-flavored milk as well as chocolate and strawberry. The company, which has tinkered with its milk flavors since the late 1980s, expanded sales in its core market in Singapore to $120 million last year from $60 million in 1994.
Last year, MDI began producing a drinkable yogurt that is a runnier version of the thick Indian lassi yogurt drinks that are becoming popular in the West -- in an array of fruit flavors, such as mango and strawberry. The product was so successful that three months ago MDI began looking for a flavor that would appeal to health-conscious consumers. The company zeroed in on wheatgrass, which is mixed into a high-fiber drink sold at traditional Chinese herbal pharmacies and is believed to improve the complexion, reduce weight and blood pressure.
An MDI employee-tasting panel initially rejected the first version -- a wheatgrass and vegetable yogurt drink -- as too bitter. "It was too wheat-grassy. I said, 'You better add some fruit to make it taste better,' " MDI's Mr. Lim recalls telling the research-and-development team. The new version, with fruit that includes apples, pineapple, guava and lime, now is MDI's second-best-selling yogurt drink after mango.
"We struggled during the early years. We didn't have product development and marketing then, and that's been really important," Mr. Thio says.
奶制品公司“味”诱亚洲消费者
最近的一个下午，新西兰最大的奶制品公司召集其亚洲营销主管参加了一次不同寻常的牛奶品尝会议，推出的口味有：绿茶、玫瑰、生姜和几种蜂蜜。
Fonterra Co-Operative Group旗下子公司New Zealand Milk的牛奶创新经理金伯(Sarah Kimber)表示，这些主要由亚洲人组成的营销主管认为稠蜂蜜配方过于西式。稀一点、甜一点的蜂蜜牛奶得到了较高的评价。不过，姜味牛奶则“大受欢迎”，金伯说。“几乎所有的亚洲人烹饪时都会使用生姜。这是他们习惯的味道。”
Fonterra是全球最大的奶制品生产商，公司正在试验几种不平常的牛奶口味，如芽草和香兰叶，以期挖掘亚洲人对牛奶日渐增长的需求。
根据市场研究公司Euromonitor的资料，亚洲奶制品市场的规模达350亿美元，而且正在以每年4%的速度增长。而美国市场的增幅仅为2%。Euromonitor称，2003年亚太地区奶制品销售额总计136亿美元，估计2004年增至147亿美元。2001年这一数字为120亿美元。
然而，亚洲人（除日本人以外）每年的人均奶制品消费量只有5升，低于世界其他所有地区，拉丁美洲地区为30升，北美洲地区为92升。
但随著亚洲中产阶级队伍日益扩大，奶制品的总体销售也随之增长。多家奶制品公司正在调整牛奶口味以迎合当地消费者的喜好，他们还把自己的产品当作健康补品进行宣传，这对于许多偏好传统药物的亚洲人而言很有吸引力。结果，亚洲地区的超市充斥著各种各样添加了各类成分的奶制品，从脂肪酸DHA（通常含于鱼油中，据信可以增强儿童的大脑功能）到叶酸（一种维他命B，孕妇可以用来促进细胞生长）等不一而足。
Fonterra的营销主管麦凯(John McKay)称，西方消费者把牛奶看作一种天然食品，可能不想要太多的添加成分。在亚洲，人们对科学深信不疑，你添加的东西越多，他们就觉得越好。
亚洲发展中国家的居民不常喝牛奶，在一定程度上是因为牛奶太贵。地域和膳食习惯也有一定的影响。气候温和的北亚地区，包括日本和印度北部等是奶制品生产地，因此消费者的牛奶消耗量很大。而南部的热带气候不适宜奶制品生产，因此牛奶不是当地人膳食的主要组成部分。
为了说服消费者，Fonterra旗下的New Zealand Milk子公司在香港和马来西亚的教学医院进行临床试验，以证明它的一种富含维他命D的奶粉能够增强骨骼生长。临床研究的积极结果已经被印在公司的牛奶包装上。
据世界卫生组织(the World Health Organization)称，与西方饮食结构相比，亚洲人的膳食通常缺少钙质，骨质疏松症是该地区的一大问题。Edith Lau是香港的骨质疏松症研究员，同时担任香港骨质疏松基金会(Hong Kong Osteoporosis Foundation)和亚太骨质疏松基金会的总裁，Lau表示，亚洲人传统的膳食中钙的摄入量仅为每天500毫克，甚至更少，仅为专家建议的1,000毫克的一半。虽然香港和新加坡等发达地区的骨质疏松症发病率几乎和美国或欧洲相当，但中国和泰国等发展中国家的发病率则要高出一倍。
因此，Fonterra在亚洲各地的超级市场放置了二十几台骨骼扫描仪，以向消费者证明他们的骨骼不如健康专家推荐的那么致密。在泰国，公司近来将扫描仪装备在一辆流动的“骨骼巴士”上，并停靠在清晨老年人打太极拳的公园里。
Fonterra的亚洲营销努力正推动销售不断提升。公司目前正在推广一种果汁加牛奶的饮料，有西瓜和芒果口味。公司还在计划推出生姜和蜂蜜口味的奶粉，奶粉是亚洲发展中国家销量最大的奶制品。去年，New Zealand Milk来自亚洲市场的收入达到了6亿美元，目前正以每年10%的速度持续增长。
其他奶制品公司也蜂拥而至。荷兰的Foremost Friesland Co.在泰国出售绿茶风味的巴氏杀菌奶，日本的Diary Meiji Co.则在新加坡出售一种香兰叶风味的巴氏杀菌奶。总部位于新加坡的Malaysia Dairy Industries Pte. Ltd.的奶制品在东南亚各地都有销售。
MDI从Fonterra等澳大利亚和新西兰公司那里购买奶品原料，然后在位于马来西亚和新加坡的工厂重新配制成盒装鲜奶。MDI多年来一直从事奶品本地化的工作。
MDI的总经理Lim Choo Peng说，与西方消费者相比，亚洲人喜欢牛奶浓一点，甜一点。许多亚洲人不能消化乳糖，所以MDI将乳糖分解为基本的糖类成分，这样就得到低乳糖的甜牛奶。
为了进一步吸引消费者，MDI在液体牛奶中添加了少量香草。它还出售香蕉、巧克力和草莓口味的牛奶。自80年代末以来，该公司一直在尝试不同口味的牛奶，去年其核心的新加坡市场的销售额已经从1994年的1亿新元跃升至2亿新元（约合1.21亿美元）。
想知道MDI新推出的牛奶是什么吗？芽草大豆牛奶
