The agency that
got the job - Goodby, Silverstein and Partners.
According
to the ‘history’ page on the agency’s website, around that time they also
introduced the less memorable but quite creative Budweiser lizards
(Bud-Wise-Er). So it would appear that they had the beverage category
creatively covered.
ADWEEK
recently featured Jeff Goodby’s recap of this classic campaign.
Goodby
says his research shows that "got milk?" has become the most
remembered tagline in beverage history, outstripping those of beer and soft
drink companies with much larger budgets.
There
have been many great food and beverage taglines over the years – ‘Have a Coke
and a smile”, “Nobody doesn’t like Sara
Lee”, “It’s Miller Time” - but this little piece of culture was a real trend
setter back in ‘93. It’s probably advertising’s most competitive category, and
one that spawns many examples of much less memorable advertising, indeed.
Far
be it from me to dampen this celebration, but no discussion of this great
campaign could be complete without mentioning the downside. In this case, the
downside is the fact that every low-budget, non-creative thinker on the
client’s side of the desk thought it would be a great idea to do a ‘got _____?’
to immortalize their product, and simultaneously celebrate their complete lack
of creativity. For me, all those hacks kind of tainted – spoiled if you will –
what was honestly a brilliant concept.
When
you look back at all those celebrity milk mustaches, you can’t help but smile.
And all those ‘got milk’ imitators? I’ll bet you can’t remember a single one.
