We took a next generation approach to creativity, refreshing an iconic advertising campaign from the past to make it new again. As the next generation of milk for the next generation of milk drinkers, we were inspired by Gen Z’s infinitely remixable, nothing-is-sacred interpretation of creativity in building our campaign.

To us, this campaign represents a new point of view on boundary-pushing work for contemporary times. By refreshing something iconic, we created something completely new.

Plant-based milks are now a widely accepted alternative to dairy milk. One thing they have not been able to claim is a similar taste, texture, and emotional connection that Americans have with dairy milk. Silk Nextmilk’s taste—which mimics the taste and texture of dairy milk—has changed that. For the first time, a plant-based milk could claim that even though it’s “made from plants,” it also “tastes like milk.”

Our assignment was to announce to the world, as loudly as possible, that Nextmilk—with its creamy taste and texture— could take the place of dairy milk in the refrigerator. The goal was to increase both awareness of the product, and to shift the perception that a plant-based milk could satisfy fans of dairy, while also positioning our product as a future-facing alternative for the next generation of milk drinkers.

We refreshed one of the most iconic dairy milk campaigns into something relevant for 2023— turning the dairy milk mustache into a plant-based “Silk‘stache.” We recruited the children of celebrities from the original campaign to be featured in ours, updated the still portraits with motion, and brought the campaign to life on TikTok—allowing everyone to wear a digital version of the Silk‘stache.

By refreshing the campaign in the creative vernacular of Gen Z, and assimilating their modes of reinterpretation, we opened the door, industry-wide, to a broad reassessment of what a “new idea” truly is.

We made a strategic choice to court a new generation of milk drinkers, a generation more open to plant-based milk alternatives. And to do it, we learned from Gen Z’s own playbook: their belief that creativity is iterative and infinitely remixable. To them, nothing is sacred: every original idea can be reinterpreted to become something new. So for us, nothing was sacred, not even the memorable milk mustache or its equally nostalgic advertising campaign.

We took an iconic milk campaign from the 90’s and we made it our own. That’s how a plant-based milk became the milk of the next generation.

Using the original campaign’s still portraiture as our creative springboard, we rebuilt and recontextualized its components for a younger audience. Instead of TV, we prioritized digital motion assets for OOH, social media, and media partnerships.

Our dynamic, moving portraits of Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, Ella Bleu Travolta, Sailor Brinkley Cook, Myles O’Neal and the rest of the O’Neal family came to life at tremendous scale in massive out-of-home placements in high-traffic areas of NYC, LA, and Las Vegas, incorporating more contemporary, sculptural posing and wardrobe. Additionally, humorous late-night TV integration with Jimmy Kimmel, and bespoke celebrity social amplification on TikTok—including a Silk‘Stache filter for digital lips— further reinforced that our next-generation celebrities had a next-generation take on what this classic dairy milk campaign should be in 2023.

Boldly challenging dairy by making their iconic campaign our own caught people’s attention, but who we chose helped to strike a cultural nerve. This helped achieve the goal of awareness by making big noise in culture.

Raising awareness means spreading the good word, and this campaign did just that. Thus far it has generated more than 5.4 billion impressions to date, including more than 181 million impressions and 552K engagements so far on social media.

The first 48 hours of the launch alone garnered 208 pieces of earned media coverage across trades, TV coverage, unpaid celebrity advocates, the news, and even press in the UK. The swell of interest and attention was beyond anything the clients could have imagined and has set a new benchmark for the organization for creative excellence.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s the dairy industry ran ads that featured celebrities wearing milk mustaches. This is a widely known campaign, and an iconic part of American culture. Recontextualizing this campaign for a plant-based generation helped create a swell of attention for a target audience with a special nostalgia for the 90s and fascination with the “Nepo Babies” phenomenon.