Health Food Products: Dutch Lady's Nutribus

Wouldn't it be swell if we could just focus all our energies on nutrition, exercise, forget the toil of the weekday nine to five and just live it up? Dutch Lady, a brand 50 years in the making, could probably attest to one third of that dream. To be healthy, wealthy and wise is the idea, but they spend so much time worrying about nutrition they probably forgot to go for that closing time run at 5 o' clock.

All jokes aside, the latest endeavor, into what I am assured is the latest development with the Dutch Lady brand, comes in the form of a bus, a Nutribus! Customized to be a mobile nutrition education center that aims to reach out and provide a rewarding learning experience about nutrition to all Malaysians sounds just about right. The objective being, to reach out to as many Malaysians as possible, the nutribus is the product of Dutch Lady's ongoing philosophy.

It took the team at Dutch Lady about one year to bring NutriBus to life - from research, to conceptualising the idea, to purchasing a brand new bus and developing its content and road show programme (they plan to visit 120 towns all across Malaysia within the next 12 months).

Innovation has been the driving force behind the growth of Dutch Lady Malaysia for the past fifty years, and it will continue to be that way as they lead the team into the next generation of consumers. The Dairy products industry is not the most exciting of businesses, so constant innovation is essential if you are to safe guard your company from the hands of the commodity ogre. Aren't we glad then, the Nutribus fights for us, the consumers, and the Dutch Lady brand? Dutch Lady has certainly come a long way from producing condensed milk under the alias Dutch Baby!

Nutrition is a bus

The NutriBus was first developed as a means to connect with the Malaysian consumers, the goal being to share information about nutrition and healthy eating. The launch of a first-ever nutritional educational programme suggests commitment because it allows them to provide the best that Malaysians deserve and allow them to reach out to everyone across the country. Today, Dutch Lady is the country's leading dairy company, holding an overall 20% of market share with leader positions in both the Growing Up Milk category, and Ready-to-Drink segment.

The Internet is another key medium to not only promote the brand but to also engage with the customers. Just recently, Dutch Lady partnered with mummy bloggers to create a programme for Friso to reach out to urban-centric mothers, and create a specially built website for Shine (0% Fat Drinking & Eating Yoghurt) to interact with young women, adults based on the philosophy 'It Starts In Me'. Even the newest fruit-flavoured milk drink, has its own website, to champion children's right to play, so that school life is balanced for overall healthy development. At the same time, they have also invested heavily into growing their www.dutchlady.com.my website and are on the constant lookout to cultivate presence with online advertising mediums.

The first company in the world to market a Growing Up Milk powder specifically formulated for children up to six years old. Currently it is marketed in Malaysia as Dutch Lady 123 and Dutch Lady 456. The fact that Dutch Lady is part of Royal FrieslandCampina, one of the biggest dairy companies in the world, also gives us tremendous global resources and expertise to draw from. Complete with our 50-year know-how on Malaysian nutritional needs, they are in a prime position to deliver the best possible products for the well being of Malaysians.

NutriBus™ a global brand name

Branding is something that should be taken seriously because the food business is all about trust. Today's consumers have been pre-conditioned to perceive Dutch Lady as a trusted brand before buying their products. Therefore, it is safe to say Dutch Lady are very strict about making sure they live up to their promise and maintaining consistency in everything that they do.

"Innovation is also a vital part of our business growth. From developing new and improved quality dairy products, to identifying new target market opportunities, to the way in which we market and brand ourselves, we always ensure we bring something fresh to the table." Says Hans Laaraker, Managing Director.

Dutch Lady is fortunate enough to be part of the fabric of Malaysia, having grown with the country for half a century. Through the years, they have gained a wealth of valuable local insights, giving them the inside track, being one step ahead of others in terms of anticipating customers' needs.

"NutriBus™ is one of many ways that demonstrates how we have successfully applied our innovative streak to the strong local consumer insights. NutriBus™ is by no means a one-off programme as we realise that nutrition education is an on-going process that never ends. We are committed to seeing this through for the long term, ensuring that we reach out to all Malaysians, and equip them with the knowledge of good nutrition." Says the managing director.

All right this joke is getting old!

What's it all for?

Consumer insights is also one of the many factors behind the company's success, whereby today Dutch Lady is regarded as the preferred local brand in milk products, winning the Readers' Digest Super Brand Gold award for 11 consecutive years since 1999, and recognised as among the top 30 of Malaysia's Most Valuable Brands for two years since 2007.

Over the years, they have built a stable of dairy products that caters to Malaysians of all ages - infants, children and adults - because it is their belief that everyone deserves the fundamental nutrition that milk can provide for their physical and mental growth and agility, no matter what the age.

The target audience reaches everyone across-the-board throughout the whole of Malaysia. Therefore location, although important is not vital compared to fully understanding the needs of various age groups from infants right up to adults. As the needs of their customers evolve and change so do the strategy in reaching out to them and developing products to suit their lifestyle.

And where necessary, they will customise their marketing efforts according to the relevant target market touch points. An example would be the Friso campaign that was mentioned earlier. The marketing efforts were more Internet based since they were talking to mothers who work in city centres. For NutriBus™, it made sense to develop a bus as the primary mode of contact since they are speaking to the semi-urban and semi-rural communities, who are located throughout the whole of Malaysia.

Hans assures me they will continue to challenge themselves in ways in which they can enhance their current offerings, to stay relevant to their consumers' evolving needs.

And in everything that they do, Dutch Lady always seems to strives to build the brand consistently and persistently to ensure that it does not deviate from the values that it stands for.