Mighty Milk
- The makers of Muscle Milk wanted to create a protein rich, lactose free beverage formulated especially for growing children. The new Mighty Milk brandmark carries a close family resemblance, extending the brand’s extreme athleticism to active kids through energetic, larger-than-life, colorful role models dubbed The Mighties.
BRAND IDENTITY, PACKAGING DESIGN, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, STORY CREATION - Although the color and excitement of the individual packs are specifically aimed at kids, the in-store 3-pack has to appeal to concerned moms looking for healthy alternatives to juices and sodas. The pack also introduced a broader complement of characters, indicating more flavors of course, but also that there were more stories to be heard and a larger world to explore.
- Mighty Milk’s cast of characters are designed to provide active role models with stories told through web-based comic books. The most challenging aspects of character development are gender and ethnicity, but we felt that strong characters would help kids see themselves in the stories rather than any differences or divisions. Shown here, left to right, are Jake the technophile, Alexis the hard rocker, Zack the skater dude, and Mira the team sports athlete.
- Each of The Mighties has an adventure where good nutrition helps them meet their goals. For Zack, it was the massive wooden half-pipe at the skate park where the big kids wouldn’t give him a chance. Finally, at the end of one frustrating day, Zack sucks down a Mighty Milk to get his energy flowing and literally throws himself down the huge ramp — and straight up the other side! A wild ride! The crowd cheers, he wipes out at the bottom, but gets back up ready to try again another day.
- Good nutrition helps with good focus, too, as Alexis learns when she tries out for the school talent show. She had a big test that day, so her energies are depleted to the point where she doesn’t even want to attend try-outs, a disappointment to her classmates who know how much she loves to rock. Finally, she pulls a Mighty Milk from her backpack and hits the stage with a high energy, note perfect solo that brings down the house!
- Rather than build a web site with nutritional information and calorie counts that only appeal to boring old moms, McLean Design felt this was the perfect opportunity to reinforce the concept that good nutrition leads to active lifestyles by providing games, puzzles, animated shorts, digital comic books, reading adventures, competitions, and more. Plus, of course, a small section for parents to confirm the products’ goodness.
- The Mighty Milk brand mark was influenced by its pre-existing elder siblings, but injected with fun and energy for a younger audience. Creating a tight-knit, visually related family also helps moms give age-appropriate Mighty Milk to kids whose older siblings may be beefing up on Mighty Milk for high-school or college sports.