Gen Z: Filtered by Milk

Understanding a generation is a big challenge, especially when you’re trying to reach an elusive target: the 16–24 age group known as Generation Z. Since Gen Z will outnumber Baby Boomers by 2032, we saw this as a glass half-full for Les Producteurs de lait du Québec (PLQ). However, we needed to rethink the traditional advertising approach to filter into the consumption habits of this generation of digital natives. 

Gen Z values authenticity and experience, so reaching them had to be on their terms. The challenge was to interest them in milk, a dietary staple for so many generations before them. Since Gen Z’s media consumption and product relationship demand a different approach, LG2 took the iconic wholesome glass of milk and literally placed it in the hands of Generation Z.

Three-quarters of 16- to 24-year-olds feel that advertising is intrusive¹, so to make milk stand out from other beverages, we cleverly milked a trend: Gen Z’s love for all things late 1990s and early 2000s. Although they weren’t born then, Gen Zers are nostalgic for turn-of-the-century aesthetics. So the campaign’s art direction took a vintage approach.

The iconic fisheye, a visual effect long associated with skateboarding and hip-hop culture, was reimagined as the “Milkeye,” a digital filter that filters the world through a classic glass of milk.

Gen Z’s food choices often reflect their identity² and are swayed by the energy of cultural influencers. The Milkeye filter, available on social media apps, puts Gen Zers at the centre of a campaign made real by their desires and in-the-moment experiences. Filtered by Milk is not just a tagline, it’s the eye of an entire dynamic ecosystem.

For Gen Z to identify with the product and its communications, the campaign had to show that milk, as they would say, “Hits different.” The 16–24 age group has grown up in a world where influencers are central to their communities, so well-known personalities who reflect their tastes and aspirations are culturally relevant to them.

Since each content creator is a brand in their own right, with their own community, purpose and aesthetic, LG2 decided to showcase eight well-known personalities. Their reputation and individuality, paired with milk, created authentic content and made the product real. 

Accompanying the out-of-home (OOH) posters, the campaign includes eight videos in the style of an unscripted documentary, showing behind-the-scenes footage of the photo shoot. Each video features one of the influential personalities sharing their unfiltered feelings about milk—keeping authenticity in the spotlight. 

The eight personalities chosen represent young Quebecers from all walks of life and cover a wide range of interests: music, film, video games, sports, humour and content creation.

The campaign made an even greater impact by becoming part of Gen Zers everyday lives.

Experiential activations were deployed so the general public could share their feelings about milk like the influencers in the OOH creative. Photo booths in a bus shelter and in a giant glass of milk (!), were placed in strategic locations: at Quartier des Spectacles and ÎLESONIQ in Montreal and the Fono Festival in Quebec City. Passers-by and festival-goers could stop in and snap their portraitFiltered by Milk-style, and capture the moment through a fun glass-of-milk prism.

To wrap up the campaign on a totally nostalgic note, PLQ, in partnership with Bell Media, revived MusiquePlus – the iconic music video channel of the late 1990s – for a special episode. The announcement of the channel’s reboot created a stir in the media and showed that Gen Z wasn’t the only generation waiting for its return.

In the end, the glass was overflowing: Gen Zers could groove to MusiquePlus 2.0, and PLQ anchored the brand in a new way of seeing advertising, creating a fresh new link with consumers.

Les Producteurs de lait du Québec, affiliated with the UPA, represents Quebec’s 4, 333 dairy farms, which deliver roughly 3.5 billion litres of milk, for a total of over $3.38 billion in farm receipts. Milk production and processing create around 66,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs in Quebec and contribute as much as $6.1 billion to the gross domestic product. Ultimately, they generate over $1 billion in tax receipts. The dairy sector's impacts are critical because they play a role in land occupancy and maintenance of the social fabric across the province. Through its sponsorship and milk donation program, Les Producteurs de lait du Québec not only supports key events in Quebec society, but also helps eliminate hunger and ensure food security. Because they care about sustainable development in its sector, dairy producers invested $813 million in 2023 in machinery, equipment and buildings, specifically to improve their practices and the comfort of their animals.

¹ Vividata, Automne 2023, Jeunes 16-24 ans, Province de Québec

² Lichtenstein, M. (2019) “Younger People Want to Do it Themselves” - Self-Actualization, Commitment, and the Reinvention of Community. Qualitative Sociology Journal. 181–203
Deutsch, N. L., & Theodorou, E. (2010). Aspiring, Consuming, Becoming: Youth Identity in a Culture of Consumption. Youth & Society, 42(2), 229-254.)