How Milka Chocolate Has Conquered the Love of People in Germany

Kateryna Gults

LCC International University

Milka is a well-known chocolate with over 100 years of history, and it has successfully conquered millions of hearts in Europe. It is one of the brands of the Mondelez International food company, which produces a big range of snack-products. According to the information on the official website of Mondelez International, there are more than a billion bars of Milka produced annually in the world. However, Western Europe remains the greatest consumer of chocolate in the world, and thus has the largest chocolate market (KPMG International Cooperative, 2012). In Germany, Milka is perceived as "the sweetest temptation since chocolate began," and is preferred over other chocolate in its category due to thoughtful marketing strategies based on the principles of propaganda, persuasion, and influence. Most of the advertising strategies are based on the auxiliary responses, which help consumers to learn new response and follow the ad -power of involvement. The brand has a rich history of development and growth in the chocolate market. In Germany, Milka has gained huge popularity and love and has become a credible, authoritative, better chocolate among the others in its price category due to the good marketing strategies that involved many sources to promote the product.

1. History of the Brand

To have a full picture of the marketing strategies that led to the success of Milka, it is necessary to consider the history and origins of the brand. Milka is a billion-dollar brand of the former Kraft Foods Company, which produces packaged food and is the second largest company in the world. Kraft Foods was divided into two independent companies on October 1, 2012. One of them, Mondelez International, was focused on the snacks production, and another (the name remained - "Kraft Foods") focused on the production of basic food products in North America: pasta, cheese, meat, desserts, sauces, and beverages (Mondelez International, 2015). Later, in March 2015, Kraft Foods merged with the H.J. Heinz Company into a single company named The Kraft Heinz Company. Therefore, in the present time, Milka is a brand owned by Mondelez International. Since Milka is a brand of this company, it is influenced by the company's vision. The main mission of Mondelez International is to "create delicious moments of joy," which already evokes tasty pictures in a mind and presents Milka as the chocolate that brings pleasant emotions (Mondelez International, 2015).

Returning to the Milka brand origins, the chocolate itself first was made in 1825 in Serrieres by Philippe Suchard. However, the name "Milka" appeared only on March 19, 1901, which is a combination of the two German words "Milch" and "Kakao". The title itself has a persuasive appeal of the quality of the chocolate, because it suggests that the chocolate inside such packages consists of just two ingredients - milk and cocoa. Going further, the word "milk" is one of the first words children learn; there is tenderness and softness in pronouncing this word. These psychological associations help Milka to be easily recognizable, memorable, and to evoke pleasant feeling by association with childhood. Also, March 19, 1901 is the date when Milka's traditional lilac (purple) color started being used for packaging the chocolate, which has remained until today and probably will not change.

Since 1901, Milka chocolate appeared on German and Austrian markets. With the continuous growth and extension of the brand in 1913, the production of Milka increased by eighteen times since it appeared on the German market. Finally, in 1950 the traditional purple (lilac) background with the white "Milka" sign was designed; and in 1972, the main memorable and unique feature of Milka appeared - the purple cow (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, 2015). The purple cow played a crucial role in the promotion of Milka, which made the chocolate remarkable and outstanding. Another fact, which points to success of the Milka brand is that in 1965 Milka became the leader of the German market for the first time (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, 2015). From the perspective of persuasive techniques, due to the psychological principle of repetition, Milka's consistent lilac packaging with the handwritten title has become a well-known chocolate in Germany. In conclusion, the popularity and love of the product accompanied Milka chocolate from its beginning, which could be confirmed by the successful expansion of Milka in the chocolate market.

2. Milka's Package Analysis

The package of the Milka chocolate, involving the color, the logo, and the picture of the purple cow and Alps has significantly contributed to the brand's success. The way a product is presented has a crucial role in attracting consumer attention to the product and encouraging purchase decisions in favor of the product. This fact perfectly applies to the Milka package strategy. Despite the variety of tastes of Milka, all the chocolate bars are designed in its recognizable lilac package with the traditional purple-cow and handwritten title "Milka". The use of color in marketing reflects the meaning a company wants to give for its brand (Labrecque, L.I.; Milne, G.R., 2011). For instance, the lilac (purple, violet) color psychologically has a meaning and association with luxury, authenticity, truth, and quality, which positively affect the perception of Milka chocolate (Aslam, M.M, 2006).

As previously mentioned, one of the components of Milka's traditional package is the purple cow, which was created in 1972 by Peter Schmidt from the Young & Rubicam advertising agency (International Business School IBS, 2015). It was truly a thoughtful design decision to put the purple cow and the Alps into the center of the package in order to focus attention on them. Such an arrangement allows customers to glimpse the purple cow first and memorize it as a symbol of Milka chocolate. The purple cow was truly a clever choice for the symbol of the Milka brand. Why the purple cow? Firstly, an image of a cow on the Milka package was depicted in the beginning of the twentieth century, but only in 1972 the Young & Rubicam marketing company put a bigger emphasis on the cow, which is called sometimes among people - the resurrection of the cow. Secondly, a cow evokes tender memories of childhood, and is directly connected with milk, which was examined above. However, after the animal was depicted as a symbol of Milka, cows started being associated also with Milka chocolate. The color is another important input in making the cow unique, which points to the originality of the chocolate. In addition, this marketing strategy is so strong and justifies all expectations and hopes for it, that Seth Godin, a famous American author on marketing, named one of the necessary characteristics of successful products "P" which stands for the purple cow. Also, according to the principles of propaganda, associations and attitudes of people could be used to lead them to action. The purple cow evokes only tender emotions and pleasant memories, which could work as a click-whirr if a person feels loneliness. Finally, the purple cow is probably a major component of the Milka's success, because it "became a star of TV and films" (International Business School IBS, 2015).

Also, the picture of Alps reminds customers again of another distinguishing feature of Milka chocolate - the use of Alpine milk. An emphasis on the Alpine milk is important since it is a mark of a high quality chocolate, developed by the brand. To summarize, the outstanding packaging of Milka chocolate with its noticeable purple symbol of a cow, plays a great role in the popularization of the chocolate. The final design of the Milka package gained lots of attention from the target audience by using the psychological techniques of composition and color (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, 2015). According to IBS, "Milka became an instant favorite with its tender taste and distinctive look" (International Business School IBS, 2015).

Exploring more the importance of packaging, scholars from the Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center have concluded that while choosing a chocolate, consumers pay attention not only to the brand but also to the labels of nutritional information (including calories and fat) (Kim, M.K., Lopetcharat, K., Drake, M.A., 2013). This factor may influence the final decision of consumers' preferences, especially if they are concerned with a healthy life style and healthy food. Milka's packages have all standard nutrition information on the backside in small font as well as other necessary information about the product, but also they have in the lower left corner on the front side both calories for 100 g and calories for 20 g. It is strategically and psychologically sound to persuade a consumer to buy Milka despite its high calories for 100 g (565 kcal), because "a piece" of the chocolate has only 133 kcal, which is only 6% of the required amount of calories per day. Also, all nutritional information about Milka's products is provided on the official German website for Milka. It is interesting that the information is posted after a delicious description of a particular product, so a webpage visitor will be less resistant to the "unhealthy nutrition facts," such as high calories, fat, and sugars (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, " Milka Wunsch-Stern 31g", 2015). To summarize, Milka's package fulfills all the standard requirements for packaging a product, such as including the content and nutritional information, and still the package attracts and persuades a consumer to buy the chocolate.

3. Milka is a Traditional Chocolate in Germany

Milka certainty established itself as a sweet tradition of Germany. The process of building a tradition of consuming Milka has already more than 100 years of history. Even the message of the Milka brand, developed by the Y&P agency, establishes a sense of what is a good, traditional chocolate through the following words, "Milka: the sweetest temptation since chocolate began." An emphasis on the usage of "Alpine milk" prepared ground for establishing Milka's credibility. The words "Alpine milk" stand for the milk received by cows that live in a peaceful nature in Alps, where there is fresh mountain air and green grass - perfect conditions for healthy cows. Information that a consumer should know is that cows in the Alps give better milk. Consumers should conclude that since Milka uses Alpine milk, it should be better quality chocolate. The information that Milka is good-quality and tender chocolate, because of the Alpine milk, appeals to both the hearts and minds of consumers. In addition, this conclusion could serve as guidance for consumers to determine the quality of chocolate. This logical thinking provides a satisfying consonance. It is a strategy of propaganda to prepare ground for the promotion of an idea by giving previous basic information, which is described by French author Ellul (Ellul, J., p.115, 1973).

The process of establishing Milka traditions in Germany continued in 1995 while designing the Milka chocolate, during which the Y&P campaign organized a painting contest. In this contest, 40,000 children had to paint the Milka cow on a liliac background (Young & Rubicam, 2010). From the perspective of propaganda and persuasion techniques, this event had a strong reciprocity rule, because Germans who took action in the contest made a commitment to the life of the Milka brand. The power also lies in the principle of commitment, which could lead to consistency. If propaganda has succeeded in plunging individuals into an action, it undoubtedly creates attitudes that determine further action. It is especially easier to attract people to participate if an action has a reward, which in the case of the Milka contest was a prize (Ellul, p. 208, 1973). The typical result of the painting contest should be the participant's continuation of buying Milka products; generally, the goal was to publicize and attract attention to the brand's name and image. In addition, if the result of an action brings satisfaction, psychologically there will be an unconscious desire to repeat it. Robert Cialdini would probably say that this strategy used a power of public commitment, which then influenced the behavior and attitudes of the participants (Cialdini R., 2008). In this way, a simple contest became a significant part of Milka's establishment as the "family chocolate brand" in Germany.

In Germany, Milka chocolate has become especially favored by customers during the holidays. There is even a line of differently shaped packages for special occasions with letterings such as "Milka herzlichen Glückwünsche" ("Milka Congratulations") (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, "Sag es mit Milka", 2015). Since 1920, Milka Easter Bunnies and Santa Clauses have appeared, which has helped Milka lead among seasonal products. For instance, Milka's "spoonable eggs" are countrywide favorite products every year during Easter (Fernandez J., 2012). From the perspectives of influence techniques, once a customer buys a Milka product during the holidays that is surrounded by the Milka holiday advertisement, the customer will memorize and associate Milka with the ongoing events. In addition, Ciladini notices in his book "Influence" that people tend to decide what to do based on their previous personal experiences (Cialdini R., 2008). Consequently, if parents buy Milka for their children once during Easter, their children will probably expect to receive Milka the following year during Easter, and thus the parents are more likely to continue buying Milka chocolate. Based on the principles of commitment and consistency, the strategy of making Milka chocolate a symbol of great national holidays has strong persuasive influence and effective results.

Going further, many Germans associate Christmas with Milka products because they ate them during their childhood. The Milka brand continues designing special posters for Christmas. For instance, in 2000, art director J. Heinz and creative director K. Schuettken produced for the Milka brand a Christmas poster, which portrays on the background snow-capped Alps and a little cozy wooden house. In the front is the famous purple cow, located under the lettering "Milka wünscht allen ein frohes Fest" ("Milka wishes all Happy Holidays") (Mondelez International, Inc., Milka Chocolate: "The Fourth Sunday in Advent", Print Ad by Y&R Frankfurt). The cow seems to be friendly and kind from this advertisement because of the lettering, which evokes a desired emotion of tenderness. Another sign of the success of Milka as a traditional holiday chocolate in Germany could be the fact that a connection of pleasant memories with rich and delicious Milka products is used to promote and sell German Christmas chocolate abroad through the most popular websites like Amazon.com, Ebay.com, etc. One of the most popular Milka products on the vast Internet market is "Milka Santa Claus, Alpine Milk" (German Chocolate For Christmas, 2015). Since Milka products are not sold in the USA, they are even more desired because of the scarcity rule explicitly explained by Robert Cialdini (Cialdini R., 2008). Apparently, the Milka chocolate has become one of the symbols of holidays for children in Germany, and has also reached a high credibility abroad.

While asking about the Milka brand, Germans usually confirm the claims and suggestions presented above: Milka is a well known, loved, highly advertised, and popular chocolate in Germany (Lukas & Jacquie, 2015). Many of the commentaries on the webpages dedicated to Milka also confirm the attitude towards Milka as family loved chocolate. Germans themselves recognize their love to Milka, "Who doesnÕt know the lilac cow – an icon, a key image that has not only written success stories but also become a lively part of our everyday culture" (Young & Rubicam, 2010). To conclude, Milka has successfully rooted itself in the history of chocolate, in German culture, and abroad, which remains "The most tender temptation since chocolate exists" (International Business School IBS, 2012).

4. Milka's Leading Marketing Strategies in the Chocolate Market

As previously mentioned, Milka has a long history of growing popularity and establishing high credibility in the chocolate market. The immediate question is: how has the brand managed to satisfy customers and gain attention? There are two primary characteristics of Milka based on the needs of consumers for chocolate (Turazashvili, N. (2015). First, Milka chocolate initially established itself as a chocolate affordable for everybody, which significantly broadened its target audience. Generally, Germany holds high-income level and is considered to be among "the cheapest countries in Europe for supermarket goods" (Internal Market Directorate General, 2001). The price for a standard 100g Milka chocolate is 0.99 cents, while the average price for chocolate varies from 0.35 euro to 4.19 euro (Langen N. & Hartmann M., 2011). KPMG International, which is the world's leading professional network service to provide audit, tax, and advisory services, assumes that "a large proportion of consumers will continue to look for the cheapest option and discounts" (KPMG International Cooperative, 2012). Milka usually fulfills this need by holding average prices and periodically having attractive discounts. Being flexible in prices with frequent discounts positively affects the attitude of consumers toward the chocolate. People receive more satisfaction when they buy their favorite chocolate at a lower price. According to Robert Cialdini, if a customer is satisfied with his or her own decision or purchase, there is a high probability that he or she will buy the same item again (Cialdini R., 2008). Therefore, the brand has gained even more profit and preference over other brands by the use of frequent discounts and affordable average price.

Another important characteristic, which helps Milka remain popular in the market of sweets and chocolate, is the variety of Milka products that increases with the years. Since there is a diversity of flavors, Milka can satisfy every taste of every consumer. It is interesting that KPMG International, in their report on the market of chocolate, predicted that in Western Europe the demand for combinations of sweet and savory tastes in chocolate would increase (KPMG International Cooperative, 2012). Looking at the catalog of Milka, it is obvious that Milka knows and understands the needs of consumers, and therefore untiringly surprises them with interesting, new, and unusual chocolate combinations such as: Milka & Daim, Milka & Collage Himbeere, and Milka Brezel (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, 2015). There is a need for high-quality and affordable chocolate, tender feelings, as well as new tastes and combinations, which gave Milka an opportunity for successful propaganda. Since Milka established its chocolate as attainable, delicious, and with a wide variety of tastes, it has been able to satisfy the basic needs of consumers, and has become a solution for several of their decision-making problems.

In addition, one of the Milka brand's hidden strategies to conquer the chocolate market in Germany has been to study the country's demographic segmentation (Palm S., 2001). In order to determine and invest in the right target audience, it is important to divide the market into distinct groups and find out the most favorable audience for a particular product. After the demographic analysis of the chocolate market, it is easier to determine where it would be the most profitable to sell a particular Milka product. As the scientist and researcher in the marketing field, Kotler noticed that in order to create a demand for a product like chocolate items, it is necessary to have a unique advantage of the product to make it outstanding, distinctive, affordable, and superior in its category, which eventually will produce high profits. Going further, demographical segmentation leads to the next step of defining target groups - children, teenagers, middle age people, and middle class families with average income. (Kotler, P., 1998).

5. Milka's Television Commercials

One of the most explicit materials to examine the Milka advertising campaign is its TV commercials, which use a range of persuasive techniques. To begin with, in February 1998, Kraft Foods (in the present time - Mondelez International) released a Milka commercial named "Purple Cushion" made by Y&R Frankfurt Agency (Y&R Frankfurt, 1998). The commercial lasted 30 seconds and advertised the "Milka Tender" chocolate bar. It showed people of different age, gender, and color, from an old grandmother to a beautiful lady, who take a slow tasty bite of the Milka Tender chocolate bar. However, the final frame is focused on a young energetic smiling girl, which is a way to make viewers associate the Milka bar with youth, health, and beauty. In addition, the variety of actors works as a social proof, because no matter who is watching the commercial, each viewer will find someone similar to them eating Milka.

Another advertisement released in October 1999 called "Medical Student," appeals to people's desires, dreams, and feelings (Y&R Frankfurt, 1999). The ad presents a woman who is eating a Milka product and sees a line of naked males (the intimate zones are hidden) with an obvious expression of pleasure and enjoyment of the moment. The woman sees the line of physically attractive males only after she exaggeratedly takes the first tasty bite of the Milka bar; however, before and after she finishes the bar, the males are simple skeletons, which emphasizes the effect of eating the Milka Tender bar. Here are presented two more techniques to attract and capture a viewer until the advertisement's end. The first one is the pleasant musical background and the second is the final strong phrase "Milka Tender, the soft dreams" spoken by a low bass male voice. For the musical background, the famous song by Elvis Presley "Love me Tender" was chosen, which was a strategically beneficial decision because this musician was one of the most commercially successful and popular pop singers of the twentieth century. Perhaps the creators of the "Medical Student" advertisement intentionally used Elvis Presley's song to associate Milka with popularity, and to add more credibility to the chocolate as being favored by beloved Elvis. Undoubtedly, the Y&R Frankfurt Agency did thoughtful high quality marketing work in promoting the Milka brand with an associated value of innocence as well as feelings of youth, energy, and love in Germany through the TV commercials.

6. Use of the Internet to Promote Milka

Going further into an analysis of other possible means of propaganda today, it is important to include an analysis of the official Internet websites of the Milka chocolate brand that have a range of vivid persuasive techniques thoughtfully used on each page. For instance, the German website of Milka has on the main page attractive bright animation advertisement pictures, moving one after another. By the use of color and font variations, the ads focus a user on the new products, holiday special offers, recent events, etc. The website is memorable and easy to use, despite the splashy presence of the traditional lilac color. For example, one of the animation ads about special offers has a discount for a product in big bold letters to stand out from the other information on the ad. This advertisement uses the scarcity rule by emphasizing that the special collection is limited. Several ads portray a Milka product on the background of purple fir-trees, which immediately provides an association with the winter holidays. On another poster, there is a woman who is eating a tasty and delicious Milka cookie with closed eyes. Behind her, the lettering in translation to English reads: "Show us your moment of pleasure. Milka Cookies Sensations: Unforgettable delicious!" The vivid image and the words appeal to the stomachs and eyes of viewers.

Also, one of the main ads on the Milka German website has a photo of Anna Fenninger, an Austrian skier and Olympic champion in 2014. The message is that Anna Fenninger has joined Milka's annual sky event, which is an obvious promotion of the product through adding more credibility by association with a famous person. In this case, the brand receives association with a world Olympic champion, who is also beautiful and attractive (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, "Entdecke Milka", 2015).

It can be seen that not only did TV commercials bring a wave of attention to the Milka brand, but so did other available means of present propaganda such as modern technologies and the Internet. The Milka brand has gained such strong authority and love from consumers, that another brand decided to use its credibility to enhance its own popularity. In Germany during May 2013, Philadelphia cream cheese created and released an interactive "Touch and Play" ad to present its new product - Milka cream cheese. Through such a connection to Milka, the Philadelphia company increased curiosity and awareness of its brand. The Philadelphia advertising company not only used the established credibility of Milka as tasty desired food to associate with its product, but also it used modern people's addiction and excessive use of technologies. Nowadays many Europeans use a barcode as a product; in Germany there are two million users of the barcode system. Therefore, the decision of Philadelphia to design a "Touch and Play" ad, which becomes activated through scanning the barcode, promised good popularity of the ad. First, a consumer sees a competitor's product information page (Milka chocolate), then there appears a game where the user uses his/her finger as a knife to put the Philadelphia Milka cheese on bread, which leads to the Philadelphia product informational page. The results were impressive and definitely reached the expectations of the company. 80,000 times the barcode of the competitorÕs product was scanned, which then led consumers to the ÒTouch and PlayÓ ad (YOC Mobile Advertising GmbH, 2015). This campaign showed a brilliant usage of the association technique in influence. Moreover, the use of the element of surprise, personal appeal, and technologies as a source of distributing information and attracting audience is directly connected with the rules of successful propaganda, according to the Ellul (Ellul J., 1973).

7. Use of Other Sources to Promote Milka

Mondelez International does a professional job in creating advertisements and modern ways to popularize Milka chocolate, which is an important external characteristic of total propaganda (Ellul J., p.18, 1973). It has developed a range of additional merchandizing solutions to enhance sales and promote Milka, which include: "Milka Cow Display," "Milka Wall Bay," "Milka Gondola End," "Milka Mobile Display - Single and Double Sided," "Milka Promo Display," "Milka Dumpling," and "Milka Tablets Shelf" (Mondelez International and/or its affiliate(s), "Milka Merchandizing", 2015). They all are eye-catching, and promote strong brand visibility. Again, the company emphasizes its tender concern and care of Milka on its official webpage by presenting merchandizing solutions through the following phrase: "Use the standard or personalized units to bring the Milka Alpine world into your shops!" (Mondelez International and/or its affiliate(s), "Milka Merchandizing", 2015). These kinds of merchandizing solutions bring the unique Alpine world to shops, and are often seen in Germany (for example the "Milka World in Munich"). Bringing a consumer into the world of Milka is more than a game. It is an effective marketing strategy that uses the principle of commitment by having a person step into the "Milka World." It also creates an immediate impression and feeling of delight by displaying outstanding, creative, considerable Milka figures and an excessive purple color that surrounds consumers. This especially includes children who cannot easily forget the vivid image and feelings of excitement they experience by appearing in the center of the Milka World.

Referring to the use of other promotion sources besides TV commercials, there is a great emphasis on one of the main distinguishing features of Milka chocolate. It is noticed during the Kraft Foods World Travel Retail (KFWTR) event dedicated to the celebration of the 111th anniversary of their "much-loved" chocolate brand Milka (Kraft Foods World Travel Retail, 2012). The official website of the KFWTR uses bright and emotional language to praise Milka as the "family chocolate" (Mondelez International and/or its affiliate(s), 2015). On the page dedicated to the Milka brand, there are posted items of the Milka products with delicious inscriptions such as: "Enjoy the Alpine Goodness," "New Taste & Texture," " New and Unique Product," which work as a click-whirr to audiences' receptors. Words are important, and repetition of them results in a powerful instrument of gaining popularity among consumers, and becoming known and memorable. The image of perfect hills with green-mountain pastures, where everything is peaceful and calm, has a positive impact on the perception of Milka chocolate, because people enjoy rest and look for peace. Finally, the word "new" in the inscriptions works as a click-whirr because, in the present time, the world is constantly looking for the latest creations, innovations, and newest products.

Mondelez International, the owner company of the Milka brand (formerly known as Kraft Foods), constantly claims its special attitude toward the family chocolate brand. This reflects the well-known idea that propagandists are required to promote a certain belief or ideology. The company emphasizes its tenderness toward Milka, which is reflected in the way the company writes and speaks about it. On the official webpages of Milka there is a main topic of tenderness and unique Alpine milk, which is mentioned as often as possible in different ways: advertisements, websites, public events, contests, etc. For example, at the Frankfurt Airport the KFWTR team decorated stores with the well-known purple cow, cow-bells, Alpine milk churns, an expanse of Alpine grass, and a wooden milk wagon (Mondelez International and/or its affiliate(s), 2015). It is likely that this strategy was developed with an intent to popularize Milka around the globe because at the airport, people from different countries are able to take a photo in front of the attractive Milka decorations and post these images on global networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Such an approach could be seen as an additional means of propaganda, which requires using all possible sources (Ellul J., 1973). Moreover, the company needed only to establish decorations, but the actual promotion was done by Germans and other airport visitors. The strategy is very thoughtful, because with minimum effort and expense, there is a maximum promotional effect.

In addition to the use of all possible sources to promote Milka, the brand became a sport sponsor in 1995 when the brand agreed to join the organization of the World Ski Championships (FIS Alpine Cup) happening in Lienz. Therefore, since 1995 until the present time, Milka has been also associated with the winter ski sport, and has even created an additional webpage named "Milka Ski Stars" (www.milkaskistars.com). As the manager Int. Sponsoring Milka, Dieter Heger, said, ÒSkiing is an ideal platform for us to bring the brand to life in its original environment and make it ÔtangibleÕ" (Brand Activation Manager Milka Ski Sponsoring, "Happy Anniversary: 20 Years of Milka Ski Sponsoring"). All of these ads are vivid and use a range of persuasive propaganda techniques: emotional appeal, social proof, principle of scarcity, principle of authority, association, repetition, etc.

Conclusion

To summarize, Milka has more than 100 years of history and still remains a popular chocolate brand in Europe and is well-known abroad. Even the fact that the brand has survived one century works as a social proof for Milka and gives it credibility. The majority of Milka's advertising solutions and ideas used a variety of persuasive propaganda techniques to gain attention, interest, and popularity in Germany. It is interesting to notice that the major opinion among Germans, and even abroad, is that Milka chocolate is one of the most successful and loved brand in Europe, and particularly in Germany, with its reputation of "family chocolate." Germany remains the main production site with the biggest sales among the 22 countries where Milka is available (Petre J. & Rees A., 2010). Germany is especially successful in converting people to Milka fans through its excellent use of persuasion and propaganda tactics in its promotion.

The Milka brand's key association, which was developed and promoted by the Y&P agency, is that Milka is a delicious, smooth, tender chocolate made from 100% Alpine milk, which "dare(s) to be tender". Due to the constant advertising and repetition, the idea is well known throughout the country (Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co, "Milka Kuchen", 2015). The company of the brand, Mondelez International, is constantly emphasizing the ideology of "unique taste of the tender Alpine milk chocolate" and "dare to be tender" (Kraft Foods World Travel Retail, 2012). The famous Milka slogans, "Milka" title, and the purple cow have rooted in German culture and are strongly associated with its traditions, especially holidays. Going further, the additional merchandized solutions and events, supported and organized by the brand owner company, work as a tool to increase the number of consumers and add more positive characteristics to Milka chocolate. The German advertisement campaign succeeded in provoking tender feelings, pleasant emotions, and a delicious perception toward Milka.

Finally, it seems as a sign of total propaganda that Milka advertisements surround a German almost everywhere: in grocery shops, in airplanes, at home on TV, on the streets in the form of posters, etc. The continuity and duration of promotion, appeal to feelings, consistent impulses, development of new products, and the combination of all available technological tools can be viewed as an external characteristic of successful propaganda (Ellul J., p. 18, 1973). Moreover, in order to bring into the play all possible the means of propaganda, Milka organizes events and special discounts during national holidays, participates in sponsorships (Winter Ski Sports), and develops more and more creative merchandize solutions. To conclude, the presented thoughtful marketing strategies, supported by the owner companies (former) Kraft Foods and (current) Mondelez International, have helped Milka to become loved and preferred in Germany. As a result, everyone who loves the tender taste of good chocolate loves Milka.

References

Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. (2015). German chocolate for Christmas. Retrieved from http://germangirlinamerica.com/german-christmas/german-chocolate-christmas/ I have used this world known website of Amazon, the world's largest American company of the Internet selling, in order to show an example of Milka's offers. There are many products of Milka brand being selling on Amazon, that Americans are able to buy despite the absence of official sale of Milka in USA.

Aslam, M.M (2006). "Are You Selling the Right Colour? A Cross-cultural Review of Colour as a Marketing Cue". Journal of Marketing Communications 12 (1): 15–30. doi:10.1080/13527260500247827. Available from http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2092&context=commpapers This is a work from the Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong, which analyses the psychological effects of colors and how they could be used in marketing. It was helpful in explanation the influence of lilac color of Milka.

Robert C. (2009). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

The book is one of the two class text-books about influence and persuasion, which contain the basic six principles of influence. These principles helped me to analyze the hidden reasons of marketing strategies that were used to promote the Milka brand and to explain its success.

Ellul J. (1973). Propaganda: The Formation of MenÕs Attitudes. New York, NY: Vintage Book Edition.

This is another class text-book, which presents a core theory of propaganda. I have used the material and ideas from the Ellul's book to provide parallels with the way the Milka brand has been establishing itself as the sweetest tradition and family chocolate in Germany.

Feil, L. J., Voth. (2015). Interview. Personal communication. It was a good opportunity for me to ask directly German students who are now studying at LCC about attitudes of Germans to Milka. They confirm again all the commentaries in the Internet about the German love to Milka and associates of childhood with this chocolate.

Fernandez, J. (2012, March 29). Kraft foods chocolate treats make Easter especially delicious. Mondelēz International. Retrieved from http://www.mondelezinternational.com/Newsroom/Multimedia-Releases/Kraft-Foods-Chocolate-Treats-Make-Easter-Especially-Delicious

The article belongs to the official website of Mondelez International, which constitutes the facts about increasing consumptions of special Milka's offer during Easter in Germany.

Mondelez International, I., Milka (Producer), & Heinz, J. (Director). (2000, August). "The fourth Sunday in advent". [Video/DVD] Germany: Y&R Frankfurt. Retrieved from http://ru.advertolog.com/milka/ïå÷àòíàß-ðåêëàìà/the-fourth-sunday-in-advent-2454705/ Available from http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/milka-chocolate-the-fourth-sunday-in-advent-2454705/

The information about the Milka poster is presented on the one of the world's largest advertising archives "Advertolog". I have studied the website and found it credible; in addition, to see images and videos a visitor of the website has to pay, but almost all readable information is for free, therefore the website was useful for my analysis of the Milka's advertisements.

IBS. International Business School. (2015). Milka's success. Retrieved from http://www.ibs-b.hu/v/milkas-success/

I have used the article form this website because it is a credible Internet database of the International Business School, which goals are to analyze business strategies and structure. The article about the Milka's success presents clear and direct facts about the historical achievements of the Milka brand.

Internal Market Directorate General. (8 May, 2001). Price differences for supermarket goods in Europe. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/economic-reports/docs/2002-05-price_en.pdf

This work belongs to the Internal Market Directorate General, and examines thoughtfully the price market in Europe through the careful comparison of the different price dispersion which is measured by the co-efficient of variation. The conclusions and diagrams form this analysis provide me with the necessary information about the prices for food in Germany in compare to the other EU countries, which I used while explaining the price politics of Milka chocolate.

Kim, M. K., Lopetcharat, K., & Drake, M. A. (2013, May). Influence of packaging information on consumer liking of chocolate milk. Journal of Dairy Science, 96(8), 4843-4856. Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2012-6399

I have used the analysis of the labels of chocolate, thoroughly described in this Journal article, in order to emphasize a clever approach of the Milka brand to give the nutrition information about its chocolate products. The article is credible, because it is published and reviewed by the American Dairy Science Association.

KPMG International Cooperative. (2012). The global chocolate market remains robustly defiant, and is predicted to grow over the next five years. Retrieved from http://www.kpmg.com/by/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/press-releases/pages/global-chocolate-market.aspx

The article published on the official website of KPMG International Cooperative, the worldÕs leading professional services network, presents an overview of studies about a possible future of the chocolate market in Europe. I have found the information useful because I could examine how the situation of the chocolate market influences Milka brand, whether the prices of the chocolate rises or remain stable despite the rise in price of cocoa.

Kraft Foods World Travel Retail. (2012, September 25). Milka celebrates 111th birthday. Zurich, Germany: KFWTR. Available from http://www.mwtr.com/~/media/Mwtr/com/PDF/e-news/eNews_September_2012_2.pdf

This is official report on the Kraft Foods World Travel Retail event, which I used to introduce the ways Milka brand is promoted and to cite as an example of a tender attitude to the Milka brand shown by Kraft Foods.

Labrecque, L.I.; Milne, G.R. (2011). "Exciting red and competent blue: the importance of color in marketing". Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 40. Available from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11747-010-0245-y#/page-1

This article explains the importance of color in marketing, which I have used in examining the main color for the Milka's packaging. It is an original empirical research published by the

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

Mondelez Europe Services GmbH and Mondelez Europe Services GmbH – Zweigniederlassung Oesterreich,. (2015). Milka Sky Stars. Retrieved from http://www.milkaskistars.com

This is an official website of the current owner company of the Mika brand. It is a rich source of information about the Milka, because it has all necessary information about the product needed for a consumer, beginning from the history of the brand to the catalog of the brand's products.

Mondelez International and/or its affiliate(s). (2015). "Milka". Retrieved from http://www.mwtr.com/brands/milka

Mondelez International and/or its affiliate(s). (2015). Milka Merchandising. Retrieved from http://www.mwtr.com/brands/milka/merchandising

Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co. "Entdecke die milka produktfielfalt!"; "Milka KUH-munity". Retrieved from https://www.milka.de/produkte

Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co. "Über 100 jahre milka geschichte". Retrieved from https://www.milka.de/marke/geschichte

Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co. (2015). "Milka wunsch-stern 31g". Retrieved from https://www.milka.de/produkte/Spezialitäten%20und%20Geschenke/Milka%20Wunsch-Stern%2031g?p=4256&provider={D193998A-4A6D-4EA5-BAA8-209357B27A09}&categoryId=3556

Mondelez International Services GmbH & Co. (2015). "Sag es mit milka". Retrieved from https://www.milka.de//Produkte/Sag-es-mit-Milka?categoryId=175

Mondelez International. (2012). "Superbrands. Analysis of the milka brand". Available from http://www.superbrands.com/turkeysb/trcopy/files/milkaing_3904.pdf

Mondelez International, Inc., Product: Milka Tender (Producer), & Y&R Frankfurt (Director). (1998, February). Purple cushion. [Video/DVD] Germany: Y&R Frankfurt. Retrieved from http://www.advertolog.com/milka/adverts/purple-cushion-566005/

Available from http://www.tvspots.tv/video/1584/kraft--purple-cushion

Mondelez International, I. (Producer), & Y&R Frankfurt (Director). (1999, October). "Medical student". [Video/DVD] Germany: Y&R Frankfurt. Retrieved from: http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/tv-commercials/milka-medical-student-1739805/

Available from http://www.adforum.com/creative-work/ad/player/1743

Langen N. & Hartmann M., (2011). Chocolate BrandsÕ Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility in Germany. University of Bonn, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Department of Agricultural and Food Market Research. Available from https://www.google.ru/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEcQFjAFahUKEwjsx7HGz4vJAhVHwBQKHZOzAx4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcentmapress.ilb.uni-bonn.de%2Fojs%2Findex.php%2Fproceedings%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F267%2F249&usg=AFQjCNG1QGjTjBedXmDr0cQ0TLN2sepkqA&bvm=bv.107467506,bs.2,d.bGg&cad=rjt

I have used this source, because it is food market research on chocolate brands in Germany, approved by the Institute of Food and Resource Economics, which directly relates to my examination of the Milka brand, its success and position in the German chocolate market, and the way it is perceived by consumers.

Palm, S. (2001). Milka lilac pause in the German market of chocolate bars - how to develop a new position. 2001, Archive No. V104917, Business economics - Business Management, Catholic University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück. ISBN 978-3-640-03218-1. Available from http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/104917/milka-lila-pause-in-the-german-market-of-chocolate-bars-how-to-develop

It is another source related to the topic of Business economics and management approved by the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, which I found helpful to understand a business view of the Milka brand development. Sandra Palm explicitly analyzes how Milka has developed its current position with the support of numerous helpful graphics and diagrams.

Petre, J., & Rees, A. (2010, May 9). New Cadbury owner plugs 'inferior' Milka bar and chocolate lovers say it's a crafty move to sideline dairy milk. Mail Online News Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1275526/Cadbury-owner-plugs-inferior-Milka-bar-chocolate-lovers-say-Krafty-sideline-Dairy-Milk.html#ixzz3qpAaqRtV

This article has all necessary information about the author, date of publishing, and etc. It contained several interesting and valuable pieces of information about the Milka brand.

Turazashvili, N. (2015). Patchi : How marketing made ordinary chocolate luxury? Milka's marketing strategy (Unpublished Department of Commerce). Available from http://www.turiba.lv/f/StudZinKonf_Nikoloz_Turazashvili.pdf

This study is clearly written and contains useful information for the analysis of the success of the Milka brand. The author does not pursue selfish goals or aim to influence a reader to make a certain purchase decision. Also, he presents an accurate information with the cited references, which in sum gives credibility to this source.

YOC Mobile Advertising GmbH. (2015). Kraft Germany ÒTouch and playÓ ad: Philadelphia with Milka (ÔTouch and PlayÕ Ad: Philadelphia with MilkaÓ). Germany: Mobile Marketing Association. Retrieved from: http://www.mmaglobal.com/case-study-hub/upload/pdfs/mma-2013-606.pdf

The case study published by the Mobile Marketing Association explicitly and fully describes one of the recent Kraft Germany " ÒTouch and PlayÓ advertisement, sponsored by the Philadelphia and Milka. The report summarizes the results and effectiveness of the campaign, which I have used as an example of a good modern promotion of a product in Germany.

Young & Rubicam. (2010). Facts. Young & Rubicam Germany. Retrieved from http://young-rubicam.de/yr-deutschland/fakten/?lang=en

This is an official website of the Young & Rubicam, which is a group of specialists in modern brand management and communication, who developed the majority of the Milka advertisements and has done the biggest input to the brand. The website contains information about the agency's achievements, including the Milka project, which was useful information for this paper.