MilkPEP’s Miranda Abney on reclaiming milk’s cool factor

Summary

The Current Podcast: MilkPEP’s Miranda Abney on Reclaiming Milk’s Cool Factor

In the April 30, 2025 episode of The Current Podcast, hosts Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing engage in an insightful conversation with Miranda Abney, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at MilkPEP. The discussion delves into MilkPEP's innovative strategies to rejuvenate the milk industry's image, focusing on empowering women in sports, leveraging modern marketing techniques, and ensuring milk remains a staple in contemporary lifestyles.

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1. Introduction to MilkPEP and Miranda Abney

Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing kick off the episode by highlighting MilkPEP's legacy, notably campaigns like "Got Milk?" and "Chocolate Milk," which have left an indelible mark on public perception over the years (00:20). Miranda Abney elaborates on her role in steering MilkPEP towards new horizons, emphasizing the organization's commitment to innovation and community building.

2. Empowering Women in Sports

Miranda shares MilkPEP's multi-year mission initiated in late 2022 to support women in sports, particularly focusing on marathon runners. The company began by sponsoring female athletes in major US marathons, aiming to empower individual women rather than the events themselves (00:57). By 2023, MilkPEP had sponsored over 30,000 women, fostering a strong community of resilient and inspiring athletes.

Creating Every Woman's Marathon

As the sponsorship program matured, Miranda discusses the natural progression to host their own event, Every Woman's Marathon. This event was meticulously designed with input from real women runners to ensure inclusivity and empowerment for participants of all abilities and fitness levels (01:58). Miranda highlights the collaboration with Amanda Gor, whose poetic contribution defined the event's ethos, creating a powerful and resonant launch piece that continues to inspire (04:25).

Documentary: Every Woman's Marathon

A pivotal part of the campaign was the premiere of the documentary "Every Woman's Marathon," featuring five remarkable women and their journeys to the marathon start line in Savannah, Georgia (02:09). Miranda explains that the documentary aims to evoke emotions and inspire viewers to believe in their potential, showcasing stories of women overcoming various challenges to achieve their running goals (02:13).

3. The Strategic Importance of Women in Milk Marketing

Miranda articulates the critical role women play in the milk industry, positioning them as primary caretakers who influence household purchasing decisions (03:15). She emphasizes that Every Woman's Marathon was designed to be inclusive, welcoming women regardless of their fitness levels or backgrounds, thereby uniting them under a common goal and enhancing their connection to the MilkPEP brand.

4. Intersection of Culture, Sports, and Milk

Miranda draws a parallel between milk and physicality, referring to milk as the "original performance drink" historically consumed by ancient Greek and Roman athletes (06:14). She underscores the importance of maintaining milk's relevance amidst a crowded beverage market filled with alternatives like oat, soy, and almond milks. Miranda asserts that MilkPEP's performance platform is pivotal in reminding consumers of dairy milk's unique nutritional and taste benefits (07:06).

5. Engaging Younger Generations Through Modern Marketing

Recognizing the shift in consumer behavior, especially among younger audiences who favor entertainment over traditional advertising, Miranda outlines MilkPEP's "edutainment" approach (10:23). This strategy balances education with entertainment to capture and retain the attention of tweens and teens. Platforms such as Meta, YouTube, and TikTok are central to these efforts, alongside emerging channels like Disney's ad tier and Netflix's ad-supported services (12:44).

6. Campaign Outcomes and Metrics

Miranda highlights several key successes from the Every Woman's Marathon campaign:

• Community Engagement: An organic Facebook group emerged post-marathon, attracting thousands of women from across 12 countries who shared their experiences and journeys (13:22).

• First-Time Marathoners: Impressively, 42% of the 7,042 registrants were first-time marathoners, surpassing their goal to create an inclusive event tailored for beginners (14:00).

• Sales Impact: In 2024, MilkPEP reported a 0.8% increase in dairy milk sales—a significant achievement in a $5 billion category. Notably, sponsorships of female athletes generated 6.8 gallons of milk per dollar spent, doubling previous metrics (16:19; 19:18).

7. Expanding Audience Reach

While the primary focus was on women, MilkPEP's inclusive design also attracted male allies who participated in the marathon, enhancing the campaign's diversity and solidarity (17:51). This unexpected engagement underscored the universal appeal of the initiative and MilkPEP's commitment to fostering an inclusive community.

8. Future Growth and Industry Impact

Miranda expresses optimism about the continued growth of women's sports and its symbiotic relationship with milk marketing. She notes that MilkPEP's inaugural marathon inspired major brands like Nike and Lululemon to launch their own women's running events, indicating a broader industry shift towards supporting female athletes (19:48). Additionally, ad spending in women's sports more than doubled in 2024, bolstered by high-profile female athletes like Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles (20:52).

9. Talent Acquisition and Authentic Partnerships

Emphasizing authenticity, Miranda explains that MilkPEP prioritizes partnerships with genuine milk enthusiasts who incorporate dairy milk into their daily lives. This approach ensures that collaborations resonate authentically with audiences and enhance campaign credibility (21:47; 22:03).

10. Aligning with Consumer Values

In an era where consumer identity influences food and beverage choices, Miranda highlights MilkPEP's efforts to address values such as wellness and sustainability. By offering lactose-free and value-added milk options, MilkPEP caters to diverse dietary needs while maintaining its commitment to nutritional excellence (23:13).

11. Innovation and Future Marketing Strategies

Miranda discusses the importance of innovation in maintaining milk's relevance. She points to experiential marketing and community-building initiatives, particularly targeting Gen Z's desire for connection post-COVID-19. Collaborations with influencers and a significant presence in the gaming space—aiming to reach 70 million youth daily—are key components of MilkPEP's forward-thinking strategies (25:11; 27:03).

12. Breaking Marketing Norms and Industry Inspiration

When asked about marketing rules she'd like to break, Miranda emphasizes the balance between art and science, advocating for creative storytelling alongside data-driven strategies (27:20). She also cites Liquid Death as a source of inspiration, admiring their daring advertising tactics and brand personality (28:13).

13. Memorable Moments and Future Outlook

Miranda shares a favorite pop culture moment involving Nicole Kidman chugging milk during an award acceptance, highlighting the beverage's iconic status (29:38). Looking ahead, she foresees the milk category maintaining its foundational role while evolving through innovative marketing and sustained emphasis on its unparalleled nutritional benefits (30:21).

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Notable Quotes

• "Milk has been the original performance drink." — Miranda Abney (06:14)

• "Today's consumers, particularly the younger ones, make our jobs a little bit challenging. They are anti-advertising and pro-entertainment." — Miranda Abney (10:16)

• "Real change in perceptions around milk, especially with moms and women, translate into these women consuming more milk more often." — Miranda Abney (16:19)

• "The most important thing... if you start with someone who is a true fan of dairy milk and really uses it in their daily life, it makes everything else so much easier." — Miranda Abney (22:03)

• "Almond, oat, or whole milk in your coffee? Or do you just drink it straight? Oh, no, no. I'm a whole milk girl all the way." — Miranda Abney (31:42)

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Conclusion

Miranda Abney’s conversation on The Current Podcast underscores MilkPEP’s strategic pivot towards empowering women in sports, embracing modern marketing channels, and reinforcing milk's position as a nutrient-rich, performance-enhancing beverage. Through authentic partnerships, innovative campaigns, and a deep understanding of consumer behavior, MilkPEP is successfully reclaiming milk’s cool factor in today's dynamic market.

Transcript

[Damien Fowler]

Hi, I'm Damien Fowler.

[Ily Slefring]

And I'm Ily Slefring.

[Damien Fowler]

And welcome to this edition of the current podcast.

[Ily Slefring]

This week we're excited to sit down with Miranda Abney, vice president of consumer marketing at MilkPep, the organization behind some of the most iconic milk campaigns out there.

[Damien Fowler]

That's right. Milk Pep is the force behind Got Milk. I think everyone remembers that. And built with chocolate milk, two campaigns that have shaped how generations think about milk.

[Ily Slefring]

And they've been making waves again recently with their you're gonna need milk for that platform which taps into the world of sports, gaming and fitness, including their.

[Damien Fowler]

Epic tie in with the Olympics and even partnerships in esports.

[Ily Slefring]

So today we're diving into how Miranda and her team are redefining Milk for modern audiences. Let's get into it.

[Miranda Abney]

Back in late 2022, we here at Team Milk, we really embarked on this multi year mission to support women in sport. And really with a focus on runners and marathon runners in particular, we sort of initially dipped our toe in the waters and we began by sponsoring the female athletes at the major US Marathons. In intent was really that we wanted to sponsor the women running the events and not the events themselves. And over 22 and 2023, we sponsored more than 30,000 women who were participating in these marathons and built this wonderful community of these amazing, strong women. And so when we were getting to the end of 2023 and looking for ways to build upon what we were doing, it just felt like the next natural step to build our own event where we could design it exactly how we wanted to and with the input of actual real women who enjoy running.

[Ily Slefring]

Tell us more about the documentary that was part of the campaign.

[Miranda Abney]

We just premiered a documentary on every woman's marathon. The documentary features five amazing women and the journeys that they went on to get to the start line in Savannah, Georgia last year. Their stories are so incredibly inspiring. Hiring I believe that people who come and watch the film will walk away thinking that they too can accomplish anything. But we decided to profile a few women who had extraordinary stories and, and had signed up to train and, and run in the marathon. And I don't want to give too much away, but it is an emotion evoking just, it's. You feel all the feels and then you feel them all again, just sharing the stories of these incredibly inspiring women. I mean, when you, after you watch the documentary, I hope people will walk away feeling like they can accomplish anything.

[Ily Slefring]

Why would women's sports be an important cause for Milk Pep?

[Miranda Abney]

Women have always been Extremely important to the milk industry moms in particular. And other women are often in the. In these caretaker roles. And, you know, even as our society has evolved and changed so much in modern years, women are typically still very much the caretakers in the home. And they are generally the ones who are doing the grocery shopping and bringing food and drinks into the house and either encouraging or discouraging consumption of different foods. So from that standpoint, they are our number one target audience. And then in terms of our marathon, and I mean, you can even the name itself, Every Woman's Marathon, our intent was to make or to design an event that was welcoming and inclusive and empowering for every woman, no matter their ability levels, no matter their. Their, you know, what kind of shape they're in. We wanted to create something that could bring all of these women together with one common goal and have the best experience possible. And we worked with some really incredibly inspiring women. I'll mention first, Amanda Gor. When we were coming up with our ethos for every woman's marathon, you know, we. We had some words and we, We. We definitely knew what we wanted to say, but, you know, we thought it would be amazing to partner with someone who. Who really has a, you know, a way with words. And Amanda was so lovely to work with because she allowed us to sort of give her, you know, our understanding of what we were trying to do and the ethos that we were trying to manifest. And then she really ran with it. And this beautiful poem that really was this amazing launch piece for every Woman's Marathon. And this, this went live back in January of 2024. And it was such a powerful piece. I can still hear it in my head today, like, echoing in my head all the time. It's just. It was so wonderful. And I think she was just. She presented this, like, call to action that was basically impossible to miss. And then from there, we partnered with a variety of amazing women with all kinds of different, I mean, women who are dealing with Ms. In their daily life but still chose to take on this marathon journey. Women who have, you know, been attacked out on. Out on runs, women who are, you know, facing discrimination. Just like, we wanted to really share all of these stories and bring all of these women together and show our sort of our strength in numbers.

[Damien Fowler]

That intersection, as it were, of culture and sports and milk seems, you know, extremely valuable. And, you know, was it, or was it an obvious choice to kind of champion women in sports?

[Miranda Abney]

So we know that milk and physicality have really always gone together. We've been Doing a lot of consumer research. As long as I've been around the last two decades, where we are tracking attitudes and perceptions and milk consumption and physical activity and all of these things, through 365 days a year, we're looking at this stuff. And one thing we see is that the more active you tend to be, the more milk you also tend to drink. It's, it's a really important marker for us. And so it's, it's kind of a natural place to lean in. And, you know, one of the things that has always inspired us is the fact that, you know, milk really, in a sense, was like the original performance drink. I mean, thousands of years ago, when the Greeks and the Romans were first putting on games that eventually became the Olympics, they were consuming milk.

[Damien Fowler]

I like that phrase, the original performance drink. That's very, very clever. And then, you know, in more recent times, we've got these brilliant campaigns like Got Milk? Which no one can forget. Probably one of the most famous and iconic taglines of any, of any campaign I've heard. So why is it important to keep marketing milk? I guess.

[Miranda Abney]

Yeah. So I, as a marketer, I feel incredibly lucky to work for milk. It's something that I think I, I can truly feel good about promoting. And I've always been a little bit of a science and nutrition nerd. And, you know, the, the amount of scientific research about the benefits of milk is, is really just unparalleled in, in many other food groups. And I think that, you know, the real challenge that milk has been facing for the last few decades is, is really a. An issue of relevance. You know, the beverage category has been incredibly exciting because there's always a proliferation of new drinks. I mean, if. Just look at the energy category alone, there are so many new energy drinks all of the time. And in the milk category, that was happening in as well. And especially like in the last, you know, 2010s, the oat milks were just coming out of everywhere. You know, first it was soy, and then soy almost disappeared. And then we had, you know, almond oat pea. Like, there are just endless things that, that seem to get milked. So what we set out to do is really to bring dairy milk back and remind people, hey, we're here. We're the original milk and the original deal, and we are the product that all of these alternatives are, are actually sort of trying to duplicate in terms of both nutrition and taste, enjoyability, all of those things. And so we've been really working to sort of take milk from Being like almost wallpaper and keeping it relevant in modern consumers lives. And I think our, our whole performance platform has really been our way into getting people to reconsider dairy milk.

[Ily Slefring]

I'm curious, was there pressure to reinvent or reintroduce milk to today's younger generations?

[Miranda Abney]

Yes, definitely. I think especially in the very crowded beverage space. You know, one of, I think the really fun things about growing up a little bit when you're young is, you know, you start to be able to make some of your own choices in the household and you know, maybe you're going to make your own snack or choose your breakfast. And we want kids, you know, tweens, teens, all of them, to at least consider milk. You know, it's, it's probably a long shot to think that kids will ever like, say milk is their, you know, most favorite drink. But we try really hard to make milk feel like it belongs in their lifestyle, if that makes sense.

[Ily Slefring]

Yeah. How do you strike that balance between that inspiration that you were talking about and then education?

[Miranda Abney]

Today's consumers, particularly the younger ones, make, you know, they make our jobs a little bit challenging. They are, you know, they're anti advertising and they're pro entertainment. So we really try to strike a balance and we often refer to it as edutainment where you know, preferably what they're, what they're taking in, they're entertained by and if we do our jobs right, they're also educated a bit and you know, either walk away with a message or feeling or you know, a new reason to, to drink more milk. And that's, that's sort of the line that we walk. I think even when I started in advertising a couple decades ago, we were much more like in their face. You know, we were like pushing the product front and center all the time. Where's the milk? We need more, more milk. More milk, More time on milk. And it's, it's, it's quite different today. I think younger consumers have, have just gotten so smart about, you know, what is an ad and they, they try to avoid them. And there's so many options for content to watch. And so I think if you can grab their attention, you really have to keep them entertained and just try to slide that education in where you can.

[Ily Slefring]

How do you decide like where to show up?

[Miranda Abney]

I mean it, it changes a bit year to year. I love, it's one of the things I love about our job is just how dynamic everything is and there's always new opportunities. In 2024, we, we engaged our Audiences across, you know, various digital platforms. Meta, YouTube, TikTok is a big one, particularly with the younger generation. YouTube just continues to be a place where we will need to invest more with kids and then, you know, depending. Moms and youth are our two target audiences. And so we really just always try to be consumer first and we go to where they are, try to make it as seamless as possible for their experience.

[Damien Fowler]

And what about other channels, new channels? You know, kids are watching things on Disney, which has an ad tier, or Netflix, which has an ad tier. I'm wondering if those. That sort of surge of supply, if you like, is an opportunity for you.

[Miranda Abney]

Oh, absolutely. We actually were just looking at what our top performing tactics were for youth in 2024. And it's all, I mean, all they watch is video. That's all they want. So a lot of the connected tv, so Disney, Netflix, Max, we've done some stuff with Max in the last year. So yes, there are endless places to reach your audience, depending on who your priorities are.

[Damien Fowler]

If you look back, what was surprising to you about how the campaign was received? What kind of feedback or engagement kind of stood out to you?

[Miranda Abney]

Sure. You know, one of the very first things that was a surprise and an absolute delight was the. There was this, a creation. So after the marathon launched back in January of last year, very quickly and completely organically, a Facebook group for every woman's marathon surfaced and there were thousands of women joining it. And I'm not sure exactly who, who started it, but it was this place where these women from all around the country and actually 12 other countries were coming together to talk about their journey to get to Savannah and to, you know, finish that 26.2 mile distance. And so it was, it was just amazing. And I, you know, I, it was like, I felt a little bit like I was spying on these women, but it was so cool for me to like go into this Facebook group and just see them all talking about the journey and their excitement and their concerns and just sharing their experience along the way. So that, that was just so cool and organic to see. I think another amazing finding was that 42% of the women who joined us in Savannah, so of the 7042% were first time marathoners. And that to me was such a metric for success because we set out to create a marathon experience that was perfect for first timers, perfect for women who maybe thought they would never be able to run a marathon. And so to have 42% of our registration be from first timers was just incredible.

[Ily Slefring]

That's amazing. Yeah. How many women ended up running?

[Miranda Abney]

It was around 4,500, which was another learning for us. And honestly, it was super helpful for me to go on the marathon journey as a first timer myself. It wasn't just me. We created this series. We chose six women who were first timers to really document and share their journey on social and when we called it the rookie route. And so when the rookie route content started launching, and I was watching these videos of these women, and they were. We were all struggling with similar things, and it made me feel like, okay, this is normal. You're going to make it. This is just, you know, a bump in the road. You can do it. You've got this. And so just having that sort of shared journey with these women was so incredible, and I learned so much from it this year. I'm really excited to not train, but it was great for the first year.

[Ily Slefring]

I know those obviously were hard metrics, but were there any softer metrics that you looked for in terms of, like, sales lift for this campaign was like, how did you go about, like, measuring that, like, cultural relevance part of it?

[Miranda Abney]

Absolutely. So we've really just sort of wrapped up our 2024 measurement, and the momentum that we're seeing among moms is something that we have not seen in at least the last two decades with milk. We are driving, like, real change in perceptions around milk, especially with moms and women. And we have seen those improved perceptions translate into these women consuming more milk more often. And what we know just from research and experience is that when mom is drinking milk in the household, her children will often mirror that behavior. So it's really kind of a win win for the whole household. So we've definitely seen impact sort of down the funnel. You know, with sales, it's a little bit challenging for us because we don't have a proper brand. We are, you know, we are trying to move a category forward. But I am thrilled to report that in 2024, dairy milk sales were up 0.8%, which, you know, 0.8. It might not sound like much, but when you think about a $5 billion category, that's a lot of milk, and it's amazing, and we're just thrilled with it.

[Damien Fowler]

I've got one more question about, you know, the campaign takeaways. Were there any unexpected, I guess, audience segments? Who you found engaged with the campaign?

[Miranda Abney]

Well, we had. I mean, we had quite a few men sign up actually for the. For the marathon and joined us on the journey. And, you know, it was Surprising. But I think we, we built the event and the journey to the event to be inclusive. And, you know, we were, we were happy to have men participate. We, we asked that they, you know, showed up in an ally sense. But, you know, it was, it was great to have these male allies out on the course running along with the women. It was, it was really cool to see.

[Ily Slefring]

Now, I remember about maybe two years ago at Cannes lion when your CEO spoke on a panel about why it's important to invest in women's sports. And at the time, Milk Pep said sponsoring female athletes increased the number of incremental gallons of milk driven by the dollar. So your CEO Ian Woonrani, said that Milk Pep drove 3 gallons per dollar with its sponsorship of female athletes. Where are you guys at today? Are you seeing the same type of investment back in your sponsorship of female athletes?

[Miranda Abney]

So just this morning we looked at these numbers together as a team. And in 2024, our work around female athletes drove 6.8 gallons for every dollar we spent.

[Ily Slefring]

Looking back now at like the big picture of that, based off those results, how do you predict this area of women's sports? Will it continue to grow in the future and do you hope, I guess, to still see as much profit from it?

[Miranda Abney]

Absolutely, I think it's going to continue to grow. I think it's been a long time coming. And, you know, I think we were well timed and got in just as things were really kind of picking up. And one very rewarding thing that came out of, of 2024 in the inaugural year of our marathon was that years ago, Nike had a series of marathons for women. And I think they did it for five years and then they moved on and they have not had them for, you know, several years. And that was one of the things we saw. There was this white space in that there was not a single marathon for, you know, four women in the country. And so we set out to create this marathon, you know, with the input of real women. And coming out of our inaugural event, we saw almost immediately Nike announced a series of women's only running events. And then Lululemon quickly followed with an announcement of some women's running events. And I mean, at least internally we talked about this and you know, we were hopeful that the work that we were doing was, was really sparking these announcements from these two incredible brands. So I'd like to think that, that we have a bigger impact on the industry at large. And you know, just, just this morning I was looking at some of the numbers around spending on Women's Sports. And in 2024, ad spending more than doubled in women's sport, which is incredible. And I think, you know, it has a lot to do with some of the incredible women out there in the spotlight. Caitlin Clark, you know, just our, all of the women. Simone Biles, like, just, we've just had so many incredible women in the spotlight in the last couple of years. And I think, like I said, it's just been a long time coming and I'm so glad that I get to really live it.

[Damien Fowler]

I wanted to ask you about that actually. How do you kind of cultivate and approach, how do you approach talent and partnerships like, like the, you know, the women you just mentioned. When you're looking for cultural, I, I, when you're looking for cultural icons, how do you go about that?

[Miranda Abney]

Well, you know, I learned the hard way early on that the most important thing and you know, I, I'm speaking specifically to milk, but I, it, it probably applies across the board. If you start with someone who is a true fan of dairy milk and really uses it in their daily life, it makes everything else so much easier and whatever output that much stronger. So we really do start with authentic milk drinkers. At the core of it, you have to be, you have to really be engaged with dairy milk to be part of our campaigns. And that's, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

[Damien Fowler]

Yeah. So you ask them off the bat, hey, do you drink milk?

[Miranda Abney]

Yes. And you know, it's funny that the answers you get and a lot of people tend to say yes, you know, really quickly. And so we, we do dig in a little bit on it. You know, we've, the follow up questions are, well, what's your favorite type of milk? How do you, how do you consume it? So we really do dig in on that.

[Ily Slefring]

Yeah. On that note, consumer identity is playing a big role today in food and beverage choices. How do you tap into values like wellness, sustainability without alienating different audiences? Is there basically such a thing as milk for everyone or as you say, people have, have such different preferences these days?

[Miranda Abney]

Yeah, I think that is one of the great things about milk. I think, you know, they're, they're, I know there's a small percentage of the population who is like, you know, actually allergic to milk and dairy products. And for them, they should definitely not consume dairy. But for other folks, particularly in, in these more modern times, there are some great options. A lot of our milk companies have developed lactose free and value added milks that, you know, they, they don't have the lactose that can cause sensitivity and tummy issues. A lot of them are adding protein, calcium, other things to, to just increase the, the nutrient package even more. So I, I truly think there is a milk for everyone. And, and we really try to communicate that by delivering tailored messages to the right audience because, you know, our, we, we are focused on the USA and there are, you know, many segments with many diverse interests in this country and we want to recognize and respect that. But we think, you know, milk has these 13 essential nutrients and I mean, really unparalleled functional benefits compared to almost any other food or beverage. So it's, you know, we, milk gives us a lot to work with.

[Damien Fowler]

Speaking of looking to the future, you know, in terms of innovation, which we talk about a lot in marketing, how do you think about it in a category as established as milk?

[Miranda Abney]

Yeah, I think it's been interesting. I think there's a bit of a return to some of the experiential stuff. We were talking this morning about this idea of third places. And I think especially when it comes to Gen Z, they are often feeling a bit isolated, especially after, you know, Covid and living through that. And oftentimes they're seeking this kind of third place where they can sort of establish a community and be surrounded by their peers. And so I think that's a really interesting place to play nowadays. I think all of the storytelling mediums, I mean the, the TikToks, the YouTubes, there's just so many ways to, to get your, your story out there now. You know, influencers are incredibly powerful for us, particularly with those younger generations. I think we saw that it's, Gen Z typically trusts information they hear from an influencer they follow more than any like true news outlet or doctors or other sort of health practitioners. So the, the power of, of the right influencer is, is amazing. In our youth efforts, we have, we have a big footprint in the gaming space. You know, we're, we're trying to reach 70 million youth every day and that is not an easy task, especially with a declining budget. And gaming is a space where you can reach like 98% of youth, girls and boys equally. And of course it is, you know, somewhat disparate in this, in the actual gaming space. But I think finding that commonality across, you know, kids as young as 9 and as old as 17 is, is a really great end for marketers.

[Ily Slefring]

So what's one marketing rule you would love to break?

[Miranda Abney]

Oh, I break it all the time. I, I think it's, it's a Little bit of that. Like sort of leading with efficiency only or taking measurement to an extreme. You know, I think there is. I think truly good marketing is a balance of art and science. And, you know, I believe a good marketer has to trust their own gut to some degree. And I think it's. It's that. Yeah, it's that balance of, like, directionally, I know how these different things are performing, but the art of it is like, how can I make it that much more impactful through the creative storytelling or the casting or whatever it may be.

[Ily Slefring]

What brand outside of Derry do you admire right now and why?

[Miranda Abney]

I look to Liquid Death for a lot of inspiration. I think they are so interesting in everything they do. And even just their. Their sort of initial insight that, you know, these sort of rock stars or, you know, a list athletes who are holding whatever can of whatever soda or energy drink, those people are not actually consuming those drinks because they, you know, they have to take care of. Of their bodies. And I think that, like, creating this vessel for water that sort of mimics like a beer or an energy drink, but it's actually just water, I think is so brilliant. And I think the way that they really push the envelope with their advertising is. Is really inspiring. I read once that they. They look for sort of a 50, 50 split in response to anything that they put out into the market. So their. Their goal is to have kind of like 50% of people actually, like, really love it, and then like 50% of people to be completely offended or pissed off about it. And I just. I don't know. I. I just think there's so much sort of freedom in that, and I. I just. I think their work is just genius.

[Damien Fowler]

Really. Yeah, they're unafraid. Next question. What's your favorite milk moment in pop culture?

[Miranda Abney]

Oh, my gosh. So a recent one, Nicole Kidman was accepting an award for Baby Girl. I can't remember exactly which award it was, but she. When she came up to the podium, she had a glass of milk with her and she chugged it right there on the spot. And it got picked up by a million different news sources. And, you know, everybody was texting me, is this you? Did you do this? And it was just so iconic. So that was definitely a favorite recent incident.

[Damien Fowler]

Amazing. And what do you think the dairy category will look like in, say, 10 years?

[Miranda Abney]

Well, you know, it's an interesting question. I think it hasn't changed much. At least the milk category has not changed much in. In the 18 years that I've been working on it. I think it's part of the challenge that. That we have taken on is really reinventing something that has sort of stayed the same. But it, you know, again, it kind of goes back to that, like, OG performance drink. Like, this drink has been around forever, and it's so powerful and it's nutrient content. And imagine if milk was. Imagine milk didn't exist, and then suddenly it was invented. Like, everybody would be going crazy for this, you know, nutrient packed 13 nutrient drink. So that's sort of the approach that we've taken, is really just getting people to take that, take a new look at it. But I, you know, the milk category may look kind of the same in 10 years.

[Ily Slefring]

Wait, are you. Are you sure you had nothing to do with the Nicole Kidman moments?

[Miranda Abney]

Honestly, no. I wish I could take credit for it. I w. I wish I could. That was all her as far as I know.

[Ily Slefring]

Okay, finally, one more question for you. Almond oat or whole milk in your coffee? Or do you just drink it straight?

[Miranda Abney]

Oh, no, no. I'm a whole milk girl all the way.

[Damien Fowler]

And that's it for this edition of the current podcast.

[Ily Slefring]

This series is produced by Molten Heart. The current podcast theme is by Love and Caliber. The current team includes Cat Fessy and Sydney Cairns.

[Miranda Abney]

And remember, preferably what they're taking in, they're entertained by. And if we do our jobs right, they're also educated a bit.

[Damien Fowler]

I'm Damien.

[Ily Slefring]

And I'm Eilese. And we'll see you next time.