MILO, traditionally associated with providing energy for sports in Vietnam, faced stagnant sales as competitors dominated key nutritional spaces like immunity, brain health, and height. To regain relevance with millennial mothers, MILO partnered with Vietnam's National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) to launch a groundbreaking scientific claim: "MILO is now scientifically proven by NIN to improve kids' endurance."
The campaign strategically "hijacked" mothers' digital journey throughout the day with innovative media technologies and consistent messaging that highlighted the overlooked importance of endurance for children's long, demanding days. Through a multi-phase approach that built awareness, credibility, consideration, and engagement, MILO successfully shifted the conversation around children's nutrition while demonstrating how its product, combined with physical exercise, could build endurance. The campaign achieved impressive results, including sales growth, stronger brand attributes, and high engagement across digital platforms.
MILO aimed to revitalize its market position by introducing a unique nutritional claim focused on endurance — a benefit that hadn't been claimed by competitors who were focused on traditional growth markers like brain development, height, and immunity. Based on a scientific study of 600 children conducted in collaboration with Vietnam's NIN, MILO sought to awaken millennial mothers to this hidden nutritional need and establish itself as the solution for their children's endurance requirements.
Since entering Vietnam in 1992, MILO had positioned itself as providing nutritious energy for sports, targeting children's physical and mental strength development. However, competitors had secured key nutritional territories, leaving MILO sandwiched between well-established and newer entrants, all vying for millennial mothers' attention. This was the first year of MILO's scientific nutritional claim — the first in the market to focus on physical endurance for children — requiring a distinctive approach that would differentiate it from previous MILO campaigns while establishing credibility beyond conventional marketing claims.
The campaign targeted progressive millennial mothers of six-to-12-year-old children in urban Vietnam who prioritized their children's happiness and future success. These mothers were information-savvy digital users who balanced scientifically proven growth priorities to give their children competitive advantages. With numerous nutritional milk options available, each making its own claims, MILO needed to resonate with these mothers' trust in science and desire for holistic growth, positioning itself as the ultimate endurance booster that aligned with their high standards.
The creative strategy aimed to convince mothers that endurance should be a top nutrition priority by immersing them in their children's long, active days. MILO built awareness and credibility for its scientific claim through consistent visual cues of scientific testing, highlighting NIN's involvement, and featuring parenting and nutritional experts in discussions.
Recognizing that awareness alone wouldn't persuade savvy millennial mothers, MILO employed hyper-relevant engagement tactics, hijacking mothers' digital journeys with innovative media technologies that led them to MILO-owned touchpoints. A strong, single-minded message, a consistent visual device (battery), and a seamless online-to-offline strategy to recruit, reward, and retain mothers brought the campaign to life across multiple platforms.
MILO executed a comprehensive campaign that hijacked mothers' daily digital journeys to deliver consistent messages about "Need of Endurance" and "How MILO and physical exercise can help build kids' Endurance."
The campaign unfolded in four strategic phases:
MILO's campaign was distinguished by its use of AI trendjacking on YouTube and contextually tailored creatives on digital and OOH platforms to deliver highly personalized messages to mothers. The brand deepened engagement by featuring authentic mothers, experts, and KOLs on Facebook and TikTok, maintaining seamless communication by transitioning from Zalo (a popular messaging app in Vietnam) to offline events where mothers and children could enjoy interactive endurance games.
The campaign delivered impressive results across business, brand, and campaign metrics:
Business Impact
Brand Impact
Campaign Performance
By taking a different direction from competitors and leveraging its strength as the first in the liquid milk category to have a clinical trial claim on Vietnamese children, MILO successfully scaled awareness through its cross-digital campaign. This approach highlighted MILO's unique position and credibility in the market.
The campaign also aligned with MILO's long-term commitment to Project 641, the Vietnamese government's initiative to enhance children's physical fitness through nutrition and physical activities. The new nutritional claim from NIN accelerated MILO's credibility, transitioning its perception from providing nutritious energy for sporty children to being a holistic contributor to building all children's endurance and overall physical fitness.
