Today's supplement user is less extreme and more mainstream. Now even amateurs are taking sports nutrition seriously.

Here at the Healthy Marketing Team we’ve been watching the mainstreaming of health for many years.

But when we start to see certain categories entering the accessible, the mainstream and the day-to-day, we know that something new is really happening.

Muscle Milk is the perfect example of this.

Until recently supplements were considered to extreme for many.

Until very recently, products for Muscle Development and Sports Performance had been the preserve of extreme sports enthusiasts and the few consumers on the very periphery of the mass market.  But now a growing number of brands - led by the likes of Optimum Nutrition and BSN in the USA and Maximuscle in the UK have begun the mainstreaming of sports nutrition.

One element of the exclusivity was the mega-sized tubs used to contain the Whey Protein and other formulations. However, in 2009 we see the rise of the Ready To Drink sub-category and the use of Tetra Pak Prisma packaging to make the sector not more accessible but also more normal.

Muscle Milk - sustained energy with mainstream messaging

Combine the new style packaging with the rightbrand and on pack imagery (non-extreme Men’s Health-style 6-packs, and trim waists), the right language (’MILK’ / sustained energy drink) the right ingredients (Whey Protein) and the right benefit claims (lactose free / high protein) and the product has brought the once extreme to a fridge near you and me.

Perhaps the most mass market element of all is the flavour: Chocolate. So how did it stand up to my taste test? Well I can’t say I’ll be rushing for another pack, but if you are committed to the performance results the product is promising you may be prepared to make some concessions on taste? It still tastes like a whey protein muscle drink to me - but I personally believe that this taste contributes to my belief in the effectiveness of a product like this.

Overall, the product is a very strong proposition - combining all of  Wennstrom’s FourFactors of Success to target the demanding and uncompromising, busy ‘Manager’ Segment.

In this video blog I show you the details of a 4-Pack I picked up in Tampa, Florida while I was visiting HealthFocus (providers of the leading global shopper health & nutrition survey) in St. Petersburg.