Standing at more than two metres, Jan Pieter Tanis is exactly the sort of person to be marketing milk. “It does help you grow,” laughs the marketing director of Friesland Campina, the company that owns Malaysia’s milk giant Dutch Lady.
He’s only half joking - one of the dairy brand’s recent achievements in its marketing has been to inspire more Malaysians to drink milk by selling its nutritional value. A month-long TV and retail campaign through Leo Burnett has managed to promote the entire category and increase milk consumption in a country which drinks only 30 litres of the stuff per person per year. In part thanks to his efforts, the milk category rose 10 per cent in 2008.
This kind of savvy marketing is one reason why the 50-year-old brand has sustained its position as the largest dairy operator in Malaysia. It has a 20 per cent share of the overall dairy market in Malaysia and is a market leader in UHT and sterilised milk segment with a market share of 55 per cent. In the growing-up milk category it has a 30 per cent share. Even in this time of economic downturn Dutch Lady expects to see as much as 15 per cent growth in sales for 2009.
Tanis, who is Dutch himself, has been working in Asia since 2001, when his desire to try something outside Europe led him to Vietnam. Ahead of the posting he attended a series of cultural assimilation courses. Not all of it stuck - he decided to ignore the advice on not raising one’s voice when he saw his Vietnamese boss yelling abuse at his subordinates - but his adaptation to the region has been swiift. An executive at one of Dutch Lady’s agencies comments: “Even though he is a foreigner he has assimilated very well into Malaysian culture. He has acquired the marketing dynamics of the country and completely understands the way consumers react.”
Friendly but to-the-point, he is known as a team player. “As a marketer he is very open to new ideas and values creative agencies. He has a style that promotes participation,” the source adds.
Tanis says the company will not change its advertising and marketing strategy drastically in tough economic times since the company is focused on achieving growth. Food and drink, he argues, is relatively insulated from the recession “since people need to eat”. It wants to become number one in two categories: infant and toddler, and family nutrition. To this end it plans to continue investing in these areas.
That is good news for Universal McCann, which recently ousted ZenithOptimedia as Dutch Lady’s media agency. “If you want to grow your market share then you have to sustain your spend and more importantly do things more effectively. That is the reason we switched agencies,” he says. “I think with Universal McCann we have the tools in place which can better measure the effectiveness of our campaigns.”
That said, he is not afraid to tell agencies how they could be doing better. “One area is strategic planning. The other is that in every relationship you need to challenge each other. I have seen clients challenge the agencies a lot but the other way round is not happening.”
Although Dutch Lady’s biggest businesses in UHT and sterilised milk have not been impacted by the downturn, the company plans to tweak its media mix by adding tactical promotions, such as the introduction of smaller packs for lower income groups.
A category that might be in for a major strategy revamp is heath and wellness, which the company has ventured into quite recently and which has been witnessing a steep decline. Like many clients, Dutch Lady’s media mix and strategy have been moving toward digital - Tanis says it has been “trying out the medium for the past four years”. Overall, the company’s spend on digital is still low, in the range of five to seven per cent, though the recent launch of yoghurt brand Shine saw 20 per cent of the budget going online.
The challenge it faces, especially in the current climate, is to prove that there can be added value in a staple like milk. “A brand does not have much value in the market if it has to compete in price. That is why we are constantly reinventing ourselves, changing flavours, introducing healthier products, adding [omega-3 acid] DHA to differentiate the brand. That will encourage consumers to pay extra dollars to buy our brand,” he argues.
“Dutch Lady is an old lady, but there is a lot she can do.”
Jan Pieter Tanis’ CV
2007 Marketing director, Friesland Campina, Malaysia
2004 Lead country marketing manager, Friesland Campina, Malaysia
2001 New business development manager, Friesland Campina, Vietnam
1998 Management trainee, Friesland Campina, Netherlands
