Big M
| Company type | Brand |
|---|---|
| Industry | Dairy products |
| Founded | 1977 in Victoria, Australia |
| Founder | Victorian Dairy Industry Authority (VDIA) |
| Headquarters | Victoria , Australia |
Area served | Melbourne, regional Victoria, southern and western New South Wales Riverina, northern New South Wales, Queensland |
| Products | Flavored milk (strawberry, chocolate, banana, iced coffee, double choc) |
| Owner | Bega Cheese |
Big M is a flavored milk product that originated in Victoria, Australia, in 1977, established by the Victorian Dairy Industry Authority (VDIA), which succeeded the Victorian Milk Board. In November 2020, the Australian firm Bega Cheese acquired Big M along with other brands by purchasing Lion Dairy & Drinks from Japan’s Kirin Holdings. This acquisition followed an unsuccessful bid by Mengniu Dairy in 2019, which was blocked due to concerns raised by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
History
Victoria’s Agriculture Minister Ian Smith appointed Des Cooper as chairman and Brian Purtell as general manager of National Foods. Purtell then recruited Peter Granger as Marketing Manager, who crafted the VDIA’s marketing strategy to launch branded products including flavoured milk (Big M) and reduced-fat milk (Rev). Prior to this initiative, the market was dominated by small regional dairies with minimal flavoured milk sales except for Ducats dairy in Shepparton, which faced competition from Midland Dairies, encouraging innovation.
The zoning system had stifled dairy product development; an earlier reduced-fat milk introduced by the Victorian Milk Board failed due to opposition from processors, leading to its replacement by the VDIA. Despite initial resistance within the industry, Big M and Rev secured market acceptance through strategic advertising and growing consumer interest.
Granger spearheaded creative development while Cooper and Purtell oversaw the product launch amid skepticism from industry stakeholders. The advertising agency George Paterson was responsible for creating the Big M brand identity and engaged Paddington Films to produce successful surf-themed commercials. This government-backed product achieved significant commercial success.
Before its trademarks were sold in 2000 for close to $62 million, Big M recorded annual sales of 19 million litres alongside license fee revenues between $6 and $6.5 million. The brand's distribution primarily covers Melbourne, regional Victoria, and southern and western areas of New South Wales’ Riverina region, with recent growth into northern New South Wales and Queensland.
Big M initially gained traction through advertising campaigns centered on surf and beach lifestyle imagery. Later marketing efforts featured slogans such as Think Big, but not too big. The product is available in cartons, Tetra Brik packaging, and plastic bottles in both fresh and UHT formats. Additionally, a low-fat "light" chocolate variant containing 0.9% fat compared to the regular 3.3% is offered.
Flavours
The current Big M lineup consists of five core flavours:
- Strawberry
- Chocolate
- Banana
- Iced Coffee
- Double Choc
Previous or limited-edition flavours have included:
- Banana Split
- Blueberry
- Blue Heaven
- Caramel
- Choc Berry
- Chocanana
- Choc Pine
- Choc Lamington
- Choc Mint
- Choc-Orange Jaffa
- Egg Flip
- Fruity Mix
- Hokey Pokey
- Honeycomb
- Lime
- Mocha
- Pine Lime
- Splice
- Toffee Whip
- Vanilla
Flavours highlighted in bold were part of a 2010 'Flavour Flashback' campaign where consumers voted to bring back Egg Flip into regular production. Although it was discontinued again in early 2011, it was replaced temporarily by limited editions Honeycomb and later Choc Berry. Egg Flip returned once more in late 2012 and has since appeared several times as a limited release. Similarly, Blue Heaven has been reintroduced multiple times, with its 2021 relaunch surpassing sales of Big M’s best-selling Strawberry flavour.
See also
Notes