Playing With Your Food: Müller’s Way of Reinventing Yoghurt

Back in 1971, Theobald Alfons Müller took over his father’s dairy farm in Bavaria - originally established in 1896 - and all four of its employees at the time. Sixteen years later, and 100 years after its establishment in Germany, in 1987, Müller has expanded colossally beyond its humble beginnings and finally reached the UK market for the first time, wreaking havoc on what ‘yoghurt’ means for Brits. In comparison with its start as a dairy farm, as it stands, the Müller brand employs more than 32,000 people across 19 sites throughout Europe, with one purpose - “Add taste to life.”

Today, most European countries have their own understanding of what Müller stands for, but one thing’s for sure - the incredible product range that this family business (which started as one and still remains such) has allowed us all to find a place for it in some cosy nook of our daily lives, regardless of our age and background. In the UK, Müller sources milk from 1,300 farmers in the country to develop, manufacture and market its range to Brits.

And it shows. One mention of Müller in conversation is enough to plunge people into a heated discussion about superior flavours, ways of consumption (spooning the Corner or tipping it in?), texture favourites, and lots more. 

Markéta Kristlová, brand equity lead at Müller Yogurt & Desserts, believes that at the core of the brand is the simple mission to bring a smile to people’s faces. “This goes into everything we do as a company, as separate teams or as individuals, every time we start a new project,” she says. The question that leads all communication for the dairy brand is ‘Will this bring joy?’.

Joy, however, can be seen as both a universal feeling and a difficult task to hit if you’re aiming to bring it to a huge range of varying demographics. “You can look at it as a challenge but also as an opportunity, because ultimately, what we try to do is find that golden nugget which resonates with consumers regardless of their demographic,” explains Markéta.

She says that whenever the brand communicates with consumers in the search of this golden nugget, it is most often found in the ways in which they interact with the Müller products to make them their own.

“Everyone has their own personal ritual of how they enjoy our products - it’s something that connects people regardless of their age.”

This sentiment is nicely pictured in the ‘Love Every Bit’ campaign launched earlier this year in collaboration with VCCP and directed by Traktor through Stink. In a series of films, we see just a handful of the quirks that people attach to their favourite Müller products. ‘Teacher’ tells a story of a schoolteacher in the lunchroom, who is just about to lick the yoghurt from the Müller Corner lid, when she suddenly becomes unsure about what reaction this might provoke in her students. This is until she gets a confirming nod from one of them, who enjoys her Corner the same way!

In another spot from the same campaign, ‘Family Tradition’, we see how the brand bridges generational gaps through the story of a young boy who wants to break free from his family’s tradition of eating their Müller Rice cold and instead would love to try it warm. Something that surprisingly resonated with the oldest member of the family too, to create an entirely new tradition.

Müller products don’t only become special parts of people’s day-to-day lives and rituals - they are also an identity vessel. They are there to be made your own. “It really doesn’t matter what your age is, because everyone has their own way of enjoying them - those differences are what people connect over.”

Sarah Hilliar, senior brand manager at Müller UK & Ireland says that this all started when Müller broke into the UK market and “shook the yoghurt category.” She explains: “People used to think of yoghurt as a bit of a boring thing. It was more like a punishment, wasn’t it? I remember when I used to get yoghurt for dessert and it was a bit… ‘meh’. Müller came in and gave us permission to play with our food.”

The idea that one could do the mixing themselves was what tore the fabric of what dessert meant back then. And to Markéta’s point, it was what gave way for the joyous rituals related to Müller products. This remains true for the Corner, as much as for any other subcategory of the master brand. “People are actually very passionate about all parts of how they eat their Müller Corner - if they spoon the bits in or tip them in is something that’s been discussed through the years and still comes through in ethnographic research we do,” tells us Sarah.

It was through a few of their ethnographic researches that Müller actually visited consumers in their homes to discover that there was another universal human truth that connects them all - we’re all so busy! “Whenever you ask anybody how they are, the response is likely to include a note on how busy they are,” says Markéta. 

We tend to focus on what’s coming next - Friday, or the holidays, or summer - and we gradually remove ourselves from the importance of the little moments left unappreciated. “This is where Müller also makes a difference to its consumers. As we mentioned, our products are tightly related to rituals and people making them their own.”

This January, the brand carried out ethnographic qualitative video research for the Müller master brand, which was what informed the ‘Love Every Bit’ campaign and drove its emotional resonance with consumers.

One of the key findings was that Müller is seen as both physically and mentally fuelling, and has comforting qualities, be it connected to the way it’s consumed or the nostalgia that comes with it. There was a big onus on the effort that people put in to enjoy every last bit - “The yoghurt on the lid and around the edges is very much part of the experience. Consumers spend time scraping the pots clean, ensuring nothing goes to waste.”

Markéta explains that something the brand is keen on doing is diving in its own lore of communication and products of the past; both to perpetually honour its own heritage and stay in touch with its roots. “If you look at Müller’s voice since it entered the UK, it ultimately became famous for the joy and humour in its ads,” she says. “What we want to do is keep that momentum, because at the end of the day it’s what the brand does right that we want to build on. So, whenever we do a fresh execution it still is linked to our effort to put a smile on the nation’s face.”

It is this reflection on the past that made way for the new Corners design from this year and excites both Markéta and Sarah when it comes to future communications. In November, the brand built on the ‘Magic Eye’ posters from earlier this year to create a pop-up event in Soho for two returning Müller Corner Originals flavours.

Corners have been in the UK for 30 years now and the love Brits have for them has proven to be unwavering, but what really changed the game recently was listening to the consumers and discovering that a lot of that love is rooted in nostalgia.

“When we started listening to the public, we heard a lot of ‘I used to love Müller Corner in my packed lunchbox’, or ‘This was my favourite flavour as a kid’, or ‘I used to have this at my grandma’s house’. There’s so many emotional connections there, because it’s been part of the nation for so long,” tells us Sarah. The only right thing to do was to pick up on that passion and in particular for the two returning ‘90s flavours - Strawberry & Choc Orange Balls from 1994 and Mississippi Mud Pie from 1997.

“We actually found that there are petitions out there about these flavours and entire Facebook groups. And we thought ‘You know what, it would be amazing to listen to our consumers and respond to that’?”

Tapping into this insight opened a whole new realm of possibilities and, essentially, the door to a reimagined past. “Right now ‘90s culture is very ‘in’,” explains Sarah “so this is not entirely about looking back, but rather taking a closer look at popular culture at the moment. It’s a fact that the ‘90s have had a resurgence. We’re perfectly placed to leverage this connection, because we were there as a brand the first time the ‘90s happened.”

And today, it’s both those that were there and those that weren’t that are avid fans of ‘90s fashion and culture. The launch of the ‘Magic Eye’ was the first step to reminding (or introducing) the public of this iconic mode of entertainment from back in the day. “From that, things spiralled,” says Sarah. So for the pop-up event in Soho, it was important to hand pick everything that could immerse consumers in ‘90s culture.

This all ties back to the idea of allowing people to enjoy Müller and relating the brand to laughter and happiness - no matter if you’re a child or an adult, the ‘90s was a decade of pure fun. So that’s what Ogilvy, Müller’s partner on the pop-up, and the brand aimed to bring to London. 

“A lot of brains went into deciding what that decade means for us. Inherently linked with music, tech developments, amazing fashion and gaming machines, we knew all this needed to be part of the experience,” explains Sarah. 

“We had so much fun bringing to life all these aspects together. We also wanted to make sure it showed the history of Corner too, and how much it has been a part of the fabric of the nation during that period and beyond. We had to bring back to life the two products, so we obviously had our Mississippi Mud Pie and Strawberry & Choc Orange ball pit. That made everybody feel like a kid again.” 

Müller’s core corner range is still very much there, and the classics are still loved by everybody. But Originals have proven a platform the brand is most  excited to support going forward. “We think it has longevity,” says Sarah. “We have a huge archive of a lot of products that we can access and hopefully we continue to drive that in our engagements, which is where it all started from. We hope to find out what else our customers want to bring back!”