When you think “Muscle Milk,” you might think of scads of Schwarzeneggers pumping away in the weight room – and that image isn’t exactly undeserved. When the first Muscle Milk-branded product hit shelves in 2000, it arrived with a slogan that clearly identified it for its target audience: “Builds Muscle like a Mother.”
But Cytosport, Muscle Milk’s parent company, dropped that slogan after recognizing the potential for what had been a gym-centric product to grow out of tubs of powder into a ready-to-drink protein beverage with appeal for workout fanatics and little old ladies alike. And it’s happened. The brand has busted out of the gym and is rolling into convenience stores nationwide. It loses a little more of its meathead image with every case unloaded at 7-Eleven, and now its entering the shopping habits of “mainstream” consumers. Distributors think Muscle Milk has the uniqueness and smarts to carve off its own, permanent corner in convenience and grocery channels.
“It attracts consumers with its taste and the high amount of protein,” said Jerry Reda, Vice President of Sales for New York distributor Big Geyser. “What we thought we would sell in a month, we’re selling in a day now.”
While that transition might seem like a leap, the company’s confidence to wage a campaign on mainstream channels has grown out of its domination of its original arena. Muscle Milk’s brand identity and origins braid tightly with the rise of both nutrition stores and the health club industry; that growth itself is tied to the new American “get healthy” ethos. According to a 2007 report by Active Marketing Group, a consulting firm that helps companies connect with active consumers, the number of health clubs in the U.S. grew every year between 1998 and 2006. The nutritional products industry experienced similar growth. GNC, the standard-bearer for their industry, expanded its operation from 3,700 locations in 1998 to 5,000 locations in 2008, and the healthy living trend grew beyond specialty consumers. Not only have products like vitaminwater and Naked Juice’s protein smoothies popped up in mainstream channels, but GNC signed a deal with Rite Aid that put GNC-branded nutrition aisles in the chain’s pharmacies.
As exercise and nutritional supplements grew in popularity, Muscle Milk grew faster. Word of mouth spread, and the brand accumulated quiet credibility with athletes of all levels. In 2003 Cytosport added more powder flavors (they now have 23). In 2004, they introduced their first RTD in tetrapak.
Eight years after the brand’s debut, John Blair, Cytosport’s Executive Vice President of Sales for DSD, said it now regularly ranks as GNC’s top seller. It sells so well, he said, that a GNC clerk recently told him that the store couldn’t get customers to buy Muscle Milk out of the cooler. They were too busy buying it – warm – by the case.