Strengthening the family bond
DUTCH Lady is all about making families stronger and bringing them closer.
This World Milk Day, the brand is sharing stories from some of those families.
Celebrated June 1 every year since 2001, World Milk Day was established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to celebrate the important contributions of the dairy sector to sustainability, economic development, livelihoods and nutrition.
Dutch Lady, a brand that champions the goodness of milk, has consistently been leading Malaysia in World Milk Day celebrations since 2007. However, the brand’s purpose actually goes beyond that.
With over 140 years of Dutch dairy heritage, the company is committed to building strong families, both physically and emotionally.
This World Milk Day, and in conjunction with its 55-year Malaysian journey, Dutch Lady reached out to consumers to hear their “Building Strong Families” stories.
Photos of the selected 55 respondents with their families and friends are featured in major newspapers today, along with their 10 best stories.
According to marketing director consumer dairy Ramjeet Kaur Virik, every Malaysian probably has a memorable story to share as the brand has been such a prominent fixture of the nation.
Also, giving families a platform to share their stories is an opportunity for Dutch Lady to celebrate the goodness of milk with consumers and appreciate them for their support throughout the years.
As 35-year-old mother Jennifer Chang shared: “When my kids were younger, they would host mock tea parties and would frequently insist that I join in. So, I would be seated on the floor and in a circle, next to dolls and teddy bears as I sipped Dutch Lady milk out of tiny toy cups.”
For Seema Kapadia, 32, her story was: “My six-year-old daughter was very impressed when I told her I had set a Malaysian record. Actually, I was only referring to Dutch Lady’s 2010 World Milk Day celebration where people gathered at Pavilion for the Largest Milk Drinking Event.”
As some of these stories highlighted, over the years, Dutch Lady’s commitment to building strong families has manifested in ways other than just making their milk reliable and widely available.
In 2014, a South-East Asian Nutrition Survey (Seanuts) revealed that children in the region lacked vitamin D, which can be obtained via exposure to sunlight.
Directly responding to this, Dutch Lady launched its “Drink. Move. Be. Strong.” campaign, encouraging families to exercise outdoors for at least an hour a day.
Seanuts also indicated that one in every two Malaysian children suffer from calcium insufficiency and the Malaysian Adults Nutritional Survey 2014 revealed that calcium consumption among adults were below daily requirements.
This is an area for concern as calcium is essential for the healthy development and maintenance of teeth and bones.
However, as Dutch Lady emphasises every World Milk Day, there is a simple solution – milk.
In fact, the Malaysian Health Ministry encourages both adults and children to drink two to three servings of dairy a day.
Milk is also a good source of high-quality protein, which is essential to building and repairing cells, allowing tissues and organs to work well, and helping us stay active throughout the day.
A glass of milk gives both adults and children more than 50% of the protein they need at breakfast.
Dutch Lady PureFarm milk is packed with vitamin A (essential for functioning of the eyes), vitamin B2 (needed for release of energy from carbohydrates, fats and proteins) and vitamin D3 (helps in absorption and utilisation of calcium and phosphorus).
To help Malaysians incorporate milk into their busy schedules, Dutch Lady has also been a huge proponent of breakfast as the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast paired with a glass of milk helps in meeting 20% to 25% of daily nutrients needed for an adult or a child.
For the day’s second or third serving, Dutch Lady believes its delicious, nutritious milk makes a perfect snack for anyone to keep them active, healthy and happy.
Throughout the year, Dutch Lady runs multiple campaigns in partnership with the education and health ministries, schools, as well as local farmers to build and cultivate the consumption of milk.
Managing director Tarang Gupta shared that Dutch Lady will continue spearheading its quest on spreading the goodness of milk by scaling up its programmes.
“I think the importance is not about doing new things but doing it bigger and better,” he said.
The company is already in discussion with relevant parties to keep building on expanding its reach across the country.
In line with this, apart from driving awareness and education, Ramjeet shared that Dutch Lady also aims to improve its distribution to ensure wider availability of milk.
“Dutch Lady will be introducing more limited edition flavours to create excitement in terms of recipe and packaging. This helps to continuously create interest and hype, as well as a reason to talk to consumers and say, ‘Hey, remember to drink milk today’,” she added.
Dutch Lady wishes Malaysians a Happy World Milk Day and asks that everyone raise their milk glasses to good health.
■ For details, look out for the advertisement in this StarSpecial.