Olpers is a snazzy brand of pasteurized milk here in Pakistan. It is as good as a 3.5% fat standardized milk could be, like the rest of ‘em.

They have used red all over their brand. The problem is, they have not owned it. Just like UFONE has owned the color orange by their sometimes overkill on everything orange. I recently realized that I have been passing in front of a billboard, advertising some media agency and thinking all along that it was some UFONE ad. Why? The color orange. That’s called owning a color. Olpers have not done that. Why would they want to?

Because GoodMilk is red too.

Good Milk (some creative name, no?) is yet another brand of milk, that has used red, and have failed to own it. Like Mobilink’s indigo. I can go on here, in hope that you see that smart marketing companies are ‘owning’ colors.

Instead of solidfying their brand, Olpers came out with Olwell, a skimmed variety. That doesn’t enhance the brand as such, it diversifies it. And that is good as well. But not as important as enhancing the ‘brand image’. Olpers doesnt own anything. Quick, name the safest car in the world. How many thought of Volvo? The fastest car? (If you do it quickly, you probably have not thought of anything other than a Porsche or a Ferrari, no?). That is the kind of ownership I am talking about that I think can be done with Olpers, given its premium positioning and the willingness of the management to spend.

And then Olpers also fails to deliver on completeness; given the supposedly massive image the brand has built, there is no website. I mean, c’mon guys, we may be living in a third world country, but if someone like me can think of making a living by designing, marketing and selling websites then there must be something to it, no? Get on the old, battered down bandwagon that we call the Internet already. Everyone has even taken and booked your name to sell it to you guys at a premium price when you finally do realize the subtle yet significant importance of a website in this part of the world. Olpers.com, gone. Olpers.pk, gone. And if you are planning to host on Geocities.com/olpers, then forget it.

Other than that, oh, the milk is white and tastes like milk. That is a good start. But in business (and marketing), if you don’t differentiate often, you die quick. Wake up.

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