Focussed by nature.
Our specialization pays off above all for our customers. These enjoy the extra portion of Food Passion and draw on an exceptional selection of tools when they repackage their products with us. The toughest award jury in Germany also sensed this and presented it with a Gold Award in the “Focussed” category.
This is a very special thing for us. Because this recognition of our positioning by Germany’s top brandeteers is a confirmation of our specialization in food & design. This is not just about one project, it’s about everything for us. We were considered as a whole, critiqued and awarded. For this we would like to thank the jury here!
And we would like to call on all specialists out there: Take part in the Best Agency Awards in the categories “Top Tool” or “Focussed” and show why you create real added value for your customers through your industry and/or service focus.
Our specialization pays off.
To understand our journey, you have to go back to the beginning. How it all began? The stable smell of the food industry sticks to our founder – Andreas, who made his first steps in the food industry in 1987 (see photo “pig meadow”). Over the years, Andreas develops his own perspective on the industry, rather than following his parents, uncles, and grandparents into the trades or retail food business. Starting a food agency opened up the opportunity for him to stay in the industry but consult on how to promote change.
To this day, we at MILK try to maintain a moderate pressure for change. Our up-close experience with conventional meat production (certainly a particularly highly regarded and heavily criticized industry) has taught us how the world works today, and the necessary practicality is within us. Still, there are many things we need to do better as an industry. And so MILK set out, bold and hungry for change.
We started with our own launch of the Dynamite Chili meat sausage. So back then, it wasn’t about organic, vegan, CleanLabel or other benefits. We entered the industry with a bang, so to speak: Dynamite – Don’t get bent was written over our manifesto. It was a cheeky response to the traditional meat sausage offering from the point of view of a young marketeer who is allowed to let off steam. Unfortunately, the brand has not managed to establish itself beyond test listings in food retail. And we had to end the startup again. But with the birth of the Dynamite the agency or the idea of a creative service provider was born and 1.5 female employees wanted to know how to proceed. From today’s point of view, this is how one can determine the time of MILK’s foundation.
Our specialization was, in a way, laid in our cradle.
In the following 10 years (2010-2020) we have tried out a lot, learned a lot and constantly developed. The food industry is extremely dynamic and so we too have had to refocus our lived focus point every year. In the process, we were able to create a new image for major brands via the packaging strategy, design retail brands in the price entry and introduce new sales concepts at the B2B level. It would be impossible here to mention all the projects that deserve it. Therefore, here is a small selection, representative of over 1,o00 design projects in the first 10 years (2010-2020).
And when you think you’ve mastered your craft after a few years of specialization, it’s time for further development. We’ve added more depth to our value proposition through our Idea-To-Market process, while positioning ourselves even more clearly as food nerds among design agencies. The creation of the Innovation Lab as a second pillar was the decisive step towards a more holistic design function and enables us to create greater added value.
Since 2010, we have matured into one of the leading design studios for food packaging design.
In 2020 – ten years after our founding – we have begun to take the future of nutrition into our own hands. Since then, we no longer “just” design the exterior, the packaging, but create our own products based on Insight and and develop selected concepts into our own prototypes – on behalf and for our own account.
We then package these new foods using our expertise on more sustainable packaging and design the brand image. In this way, we uniquely connect the inside with the outside. Holistic design for new age food becomes a reality.
+ Packaging Design Performance
+ Food Passion
+ Innovation Playground.
Thus, we are not only innovating through a new type of vertical integration in our specialization, but we are experimenting with a new business model for agencies: evolution from hourly wage to distributor of ready-made concepts and design-for-eqiuty to our own food startup as a spin-off. In addition, the establishment of our Innovation Lab as a second pillar is actively driving us forward on the path of our mission. Read more at: www.milk-food.de/nachhaltigkeit.
