COWS NEED A BRAND.

• Author: LEWIS, PETE
• Position: Product brand marketing

SEPTEMBER WAS BACK-TO-SCHOOL MONTH AND Horizon Organic Dairy invited kids to "Go to the herd of the class." By answering five simple questions on the side of Horizon's milk cartons, any kid in America could win his or her very own Happy Cow T-shirt. To make things easier, they also could click on Horizon's Web site, find the correct answers, then take the quiz online.

What do quizzes and T-shirts have to do with organic milk?

It's not about milk, stupid. It's about branding. Boulder-based Horizon is on a mission to become the world's most recognized brand of organic dairy products, and, for a company peddling milk, going through kids might just be the most direct route to accomplishing its goal.

"They're on the right track appealing to kids," said Shultz Hartgrove, president of Brand Management Inc., a Denver-based sales and marketing firm that specializes in new-product launches and re-launches. "If the kids say 'I want the happy cow, the parent will give it a try."

Branding moves a particular product from the mere impulse buy to a lifestyle choice, Hartgrove said. It's that shift that gives a brand longevity.

"Your brand is who you are in the mind of the customer," said Monique Reece, vice president of corporate development for Tactical Marketing Ventures in Denver. "It includes everything from your name, your logo, your advertisements, the appearance of your building, to how your employees answer the phone."

Horizon wants its brand name to stand for great-tasting organic food products.

"Building a brand is a way to position a business in the consumer's mind so that it is not a new learning experience every time they encounter that business," said Chuck Marcy, Horizon's president and CEO. "It's important that your brand be associated with a positive experience. People may try new products, but they'll return to products they associate with a positive experience."

Horizon targets its upbeat, positive, and sometimes whimsical message to health-conscious families who are concerned about the environment. It does so for a reason, Marcy said.

"Many organic food products have started from a position of ear, he said. "We've come at it from the positive. Our slogan is Pure From the Beginning.' Rather than talk about how bad non-organic is, we talk about how good organic is for our health and for our environment."

The most common pitfall for any branding strategy is to try to be all things to all people, said Jeff Tripician, president of...