Seven ways dairy-free brands can respond if Trading Standard bans “mylk”, “sheese” and “y*ghurt” from packaging

Investigative reporting from The Times and Greenpeace has revealed that new Trading Standard guidelines have been drafted that could ban the use of dairy-related words to describe and market plant-based dairy products.

If the draft guidelines are put into force, then “obvious misspelling, homophonic words or [the] inserting [of] non-alphabet symbols” to refer to legally protected dairy terms would be prohibited.

This could affect all vegan dairy products, from milks to cheeses, butters and yoghurts, and could see brands banned from labelling their products as “mylk”, “m*lk”, “vegan cheese”, “plant-based yoghurt”, “cheddar-type” and a host of other descriptors that have historically been allowed in the market.

As plant-based pioneers that have launched or implemented PR, social media and influencer campaigns for multiple dairy-free trailblazers, from CO YO, to Plenish, Rebel Kitchen, Nutty Bruce, Nush and Freaks of Nature, our team at Palm have worked in this category since its inception. So, if you sell a mylk or a sheese or a dairy-free yog, how can you ensure that these changes don’t wreck sales and imperil a hard-fought customer base?

First of all, master the guidelines. As soon as the official details are published understand how they will impact your brand, your products, your marketing strategy, your packaging and, crucially, when. The Times has reported that “Names such as ‘mozzarella alternative’ would not be allowed, but language on packaging such as ‘use as an alternative to mozzarella’ would be.” Establish what you can and can’t do and when changes need to be made, using this information to shape your strategy and response.

Invest in building equity and name-recognition in your brand and establishing it as a category leader. These changes will naturally favour the market’s biggest players. For example, consumers will have no problem in asking for “a glass of Oatly” instead “a glass of oat milk”, in the same way that people talk of “Googling” instead of “using a search engine”.  To make sure your business isn’t left behind, you’ll need to make your brand as well-known as possible and associated with the category as a whole so that consumers can still pick out your wares if product labelling changes.