177. Brand Stories: DARIGOLD MILK (1953-1976)

“Gusto ko ng gatas na DARIGOLD,

DARIGOLD, DARIGOLD!

Gusto ko ng gatas nA DARIGOLD,

DARIGOLD ang inyong bilhin!”

The most preferred and the largest-selling milk in the late 1950s was DARIGOLD Evaporated Filled Milk.  It was a staple milk product that one could readily find in Filipino homes, used in almost everything—for drinking, creaming, cooking and enriching halo-halo, leche flan and other dreamy desserts.

It became available in the Philippines through Consolidated Dairy Products Co. Inc., a giant and established dairy company based in Seattle, Washington. The DARIGOLD brand was appended to their milk products, including homogenized and pasteurized milk in bottles, milk powder and ice cream.

The first DARIGOLD ads appeared in the Philippines 1953, small black and white illustrated ads  featured in weekly magazines. In 1956, the Consolidated Dairy Products Co. formed a joint venture with Santiago Syjuco, Inc. to manufacture and  sell DARIGOLD in the country, hence the Consolidated Philippines, Inc. was established in Parañaque.

SO RICH AND SO GOOD. DARIGOLD, 1953

The Philippine company thus began producing the local tinned milk—DARIGOLD Evaporated Filled Milk—with the familiar 2 red-banded label with a blue diamond in the center representing the “seal of Darigold quality”.

LET YOUR CHILD DRINK DARIGOLD EVERY DAY, 1957

DARIGOLD Evaporated Milk was positioned as a family milk drink, enriched with usual Vitamins A&D and essential fats. Its marketing and promotions were uniquely engaging and distinctive.

MISS UNIVERSE, ARMI KUUSELA WITH CHILD, Darigold  Endorser from 1958-1961

DARIGOLD also had a long-running campaign that ran for over  3 years, thanks to to the pulling power of the celebrity mother the brand chose as its endorser-ambassador—Armi Kuusela-Hilario, Miss Universe of 1953, no less! She appeared along with her family, in a series of colored ads that saw print in leading publications from 1958 to 1961.

PHOTO ://www.pressreader.com/philippines/the-philippine-star

The brand’s most successful media initiative was the sponsorship of  "Jamboree", a segment within Student Canteen on Channel 9. The variety program,  hosted by Leila Benitez, Eddie Ilarde, and Bobby Ledesma, was already a certified hit when DARIGOLD sponsored the 30 minute game-and-contest segment that aired at 1:00 A.M., on weekdays. DARIGOLD JAMBOREE, as it was now known,  became a nationwide  sensation among the the growing TV audience beginning in 1961.

ACTRESS SHIRLEY GOROSPE for Darigold, 1959

DARIGOLD JAMBOREE went on a road tour, staging musical contests.  An alumnus of one such show in Naga produced a winner in the person of  future superstar Nora Aunor, with her rendition of “You and The Night and The Music”, a Sinatra standard. These provincial shows were also aired on local radio, thus expanding the reach of the popularity of the milk brand.

MOST PREFERRED...LARGEST SELLING...DARIGOLD. 1960

MORE, MORE, MORE..DARIGOLD GIVES YOU MORE! A popular jingle in the 60s

 Field promotions was also key to drive DARIGOLD growth. There were school promotions that were offered to students like wrapper redemptions, where one could exchange 5 paper labels of DARIGOLD for one specially-marked pencil. DARIGOLD’s arch rival, Liberty Milk, would spur the leading brand to further increase consumer satisfaction.

DARIGOLD CONDENSADA LAUNCH PRINT AD, 1966

In 1966, Dairy Export Company (Dexco), a subsidiary of Consolidated Dairy Products Co. Inc. of Seattle, got a license to do business in the country. It was from Dexco that  Consolidated Phils. purchased its sweetened condensed milk that was belatedly introduced in 1967 as DARIGOLD CONDENSADA. It was meant to fight off the advances made by Liberty Milk which had cornered the sweetened milk market category with their Liberty Condensed Milk brand.

WOW, DARIGOLD! 1964

But in January 1972, the Consolidated Dairy Products Co. Inc. of Seattle, informed Consolidated Phils. that Dexco, its subsidiary, would now be in charge of the control and licensing of the DARIGOLD trademark in Asia. Two years later, the American mother company offered Syjuco, Inc. to sell to them the interest of Consolidated Dairy products, Inc. in Consolidated Philippines. At that time, DARIGOLD was being run by 3 companies—Consolidated Phils., Standard Can Co., and Dexco—a set-up that the mother company alleged,  could jeopardize the Philippine business. The Syjucos refused the offer.

FOR DRINKING, FOR CREAMING, FOR COOKING & BAKING. 1966

Later in the year, Dexco pressured Syjuco Inc. by canceling its license to the use of  the DARIGOLD name, which was met with protest.  With bankruptcy imminent, Syjuco, Inc. chose to sell its 49% equity in Consolidated Phils. to the mother company in Seattle. Dexco took over the marketing of DARIGOLD even before Consolidated Phils. could be dissolved.

DARIGOLD IS BETTER FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY, 1966

However, the problem did not end there. The 1959 contract with Standard Can Co.--which stipulated that it would supply Consolidated Phils. with cans until 1981 – was cancelled in 1976. This prompted Standard  to demand reimbursement from Dexco and Consolidated Phils. for the separation pay of its employees affected due to the operation stoppage.

THE MILK TO RECOMMEND IS DARIGOLD, 1967

 Dexco said that it was not a party to the contract, while Consolidated Phils. claimed that its dissolution eliminated its obligation under the can supply contract. After claims and counterclaims, the Court of Appeals ruled and ordered Consolidated Dairy Products Company of Seattle and/or its alter ego Dexco, as well as Consolidated Philippines. Inc. to pay Standard. The decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court only in 1992.

After a long, and bitter legal battle, DARIGOLD's golden run came to a halt. Production was discontinued permanently in 1976, and Liberty filled the gap it created. Today, the once-favorite brand is but a footnote in the country’s dairy industry, remembered mostly because of its jingle that once rang loud and clear in all four corners of the Philippines—“Gusto ang gatas na DARIGOLD…DARIGOLD..DARIGOLD!”

SOURCES:

Pe, Roger. “What Happened To  Some Favorite Milk Brands?”, retrieved Oct. 20, 2011. http://business.inquirer.net/25973/what-happened-to-some-favorite-milk-brands

CONSOLIDATED DAIRY PRODUCTS CO., JESUS B. BITO and FEDERICO B. GUILAS, as Acting Trustees of CONSOLIDATED PHILIPPINES, INC. and DAIRY EXPORT CO., INC., petitioners, vs. THE COURT OF APPEALS and STANDARD INVESTMENT CORPORATION,

https://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1992/aug1992/gr_100401_1992.html

THE 1ST MISS UNIVERSE, ARMI KUUSELA- HILARIO, for DARIGOLD MILK, http://isamunangpatalastas.blogspot.com/2017/01/93-1st-miss-universe-armi-kuusela.html