Popeye Says “Milk is Real Good” in Anchor’s Latest Campaign

Dairy brand Anchor wanted to create an impactful campaign with the aim to elevate milk as a daily beverage over plant-based alternatives. For the OOH campaign, titled ‘Milk is Good. Real Good.’, Anchor’s agency TBWA Auckland wanted to include an iconic character to help deliver the message. After exploring different options, Born Licensing assisted the agency by facilitating the partnership with King Features’ Popeye.

Anchor’s agency TBWA Auckland reached out to Born Licensing to look at the feasibility of utilising entertainment properties for their OOH campaign, given the appeal that characters have on various segments of the public. The licensing fees also needed to be within budget, and the team at Born Licensing had to ensure the characters’ Rights Holders would be comfortable with the level of endorsement and interaction with the product the agency had envisioned.

With years of experience working with Rights Holders on similar campaigns, Born Licensing managed to quickly point the agency towards feasible options based on their budget and creative vision. Born Licensing knew that the level of product interaction the agency envisioned would’ve been impossible with some Rights Holders, so they ensured that they weren’t wasting any time and immediately guided them towards realistic options. After landing on Popeye, Born Licensing took the creative idea to King Features to scope out the feasibility of the project and the team secured the rights for TBWA to feature the character in their campaign.

An impactful way to deliver a campaign’s message is by leveraging the power of characters.

The campaign launched at the end of September, with huge billboards featuring Popeye across Auckland and other major cities in New Zealand. The OOH execution sees Popeye holding a glass of milk and the campaign’s super. Given Popeye’s iconic anchor tattoo on his arm, the character worked very well for the campaign - and the Rights Holders were flexible enough to allow the agency to replace his can of spinach with a glass of milk. The execution received exciting reviews in the press, and looked incredibly impactful when blown up to billboard size.