The Dairy Farmers of Canada’s Elementary School Milk Program (ESMP), which provides fresh milk to almost one million students a day, has launched a multi-platform campaign reminding Canadians of the importance of providing children with milk in schools.

The campaign urges parents to take advantage of the reduced cost of milk (in the Maritimes) and the ability to pre-order milk (in Ontario) so that their children can have their daily glass when they break from school.

With the help of Due North Communications, the organization launched the campaign with creative that plays on the ability of milk being able to “really keep kids going.”  M2 Universal handled the media buy with Twist Image spearheading the digital planning of the campaign.

“Kids aren’t getting enough milk and they need it to be healthy, alert and ready to learn,” Karen Howe, senior VP, creative director, Due North Communications, tells MiC.

Advertisements with images of a girl holding a pile of books and another with a soccer ball on the ground, both with what appears to be a smiling face, have been placed on websites such as the Weather Network and Météo Média.

There are also print ads in local newspapers in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as in Canadian Family and What’s Up magazine in the Maritimes and Professionally Speaking in Ontario. Additionally, radio spots will air across stations in the Maritimes.

“[The creative] really focuses on the kids and their energy, there is a really playful quality to it. We’ve really captured that kids have so much energy, thanks to milk, that they’re wearing out their equipment,” she adds.