The art of creating and maintaining a brand is big business in today’s food manufacturing world. And the act of associating a product or service with a brand has become a part of pop culture.

That said, most products have some kind of brand identity, from common table salt to yogurt to designer clothes. And a brand which is widely known in the marketplace acquires brand recognition, carrying with it a certain reputation of quality.

Specific to dairy, looking at the leading brands in various product categories for 2005, it appears those reputations are remaining consistent.

According to the online encyclopedia www.wikipedia.org, brands in the field of marketing originated in the 19th century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia into the wood of the shipping barrels.

These factories, generating mass-produced goods, needed to sell their products to a wider market, to a customer base familiar only with local goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap, for instance, had difficulty competing with familiar, local products. The packaged-goods manufacturers needed to convince the market that the public could place just as much trust in the non-local product.

Around 1900, James Walter Thompson published a house ad explaining trademark advertising. With the help of marketing, manufacturers quickly learned to associate other kinds of brand values — such as youthfulness, fun or luxury — with their products. This kickstarted the practice we now know as branding.

LEADING BRANDS BY CATEGORY
Whole Milk	Borden
Skim/Lowfat Milk	Lactaid 100
Flavored Milk/Eggnog/Buttermilk	Nestlé Nesquick
Natural Cheese	Kraft
Natural Shredded Cheese	Kraft
Cottage Cheese	Breakstone
Dip	T. Marzetti
Butter	Land O’Lakes
Sour Cream	Daisy
Yogurt/Yogurt Drinks (Vendor)	Yoplait
Pudding/Mousse/Gelatin/Parfait	Jell-O
Ice Cream/Sherbet	Breyers
Frozen Novelties	Klondike

TOP 10 SKIM/LOWFAT MILK BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$6,749.8	0.27%	100.00	2,733.0	-0.54%	100.00
Private Label	4,226.7	-0.03	62.62	1,754.1	0.19	64.18
Lactaid 100	208.6	9.79	3.09	62.4	4.54	2.28
Horizon Organic	122.5	23.69	1.81	33.3	17.12	1.22
Kemps	88.5	-4.13	1.31	34.1	-6.87	1.25
Dean’s	83.1	6.40	1.23	38.6	2.78	1.41
Garelick Farms	71.5	-0.55	1.06	30.7	-1.95	1.12
Prairie Farms	66.6	-8.02	0.99	29.4	-6.69	1.08
Hood	65.8	-5.23	0.97	25.3	-5.38	0.93
Mayfield	65.6	5.64	0.97	19.0	1.16	0.70
Organic Valley	59.1	7.64	0.88	16.6	2.77	0.61
*Total sales of all forms of skim/lowfat milk brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 WHOLE MILK BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$3,154.9	-4.40%	100.00	1,203.6	-5.22%	100.00
Private Label	2,008.4	-5.95	63.66	767.7	-6.03	63.79
Borden	49.8	5.33	1.58	17.6	5.03	1.46
Horizon Organic	43.6	24.64	1.38	11.5	18.88	0.96
Tuscan Farms	31.9	5.61	1.01	13.0	3.70	1.08
Garelick Farms	31.2	-2.86	0.99	13.9	-4.59	1.15
Lactaid 100	31.2	2.39	0.99	8.8	0.15	0.73
Pet	29.9	3.40	0.95	11.0	1.48	0.92
Prairie Farms	28.2	-6.33	0.89	11.7	-4.98	0.97
Mayfield	27.1	-0.83	0.86	8.0	-5.66	0.67
Dean’s	25.9	-3.94	0.82	11.5	-6.81	0.96
*Total sales of all forms of whole milk brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 FROZEN NOVELTY BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$2,400.8	-0.99%	100.00	818.4	0.34%	100.00
Private Label	326.6	-2.15	13.61	138.5	-2.95	16.92
Klondike	132.0	7.41	5.50	46.2	12.09	5.64
Nestlé Drumstick	130.7	1.65	5.44	39.5	3.65	4.82
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Whole Fruit	103.9	12.95	4.33	35.1	13.62	4.29
Popsicle	101.4	14.13	4.22	39.4	16.70	4.82
Carvel	88.0	6.08	3.66	5.8	3.79	0.71
Weight Watchers	79.8	6,659.57	3.32	18.6	6,683.52	2.27
Silhoutte	73.0	-18.98	3.04	17.5	-11.69	2.13
Häagen-Dazs	57.6	3.62	2.40	18.7	1.28	2.29
Fudgesicle	48.4	8.66	2.02	17.7	10.87	2.16
*Total sales of all forms of frozen novelty brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 FLAVORED MILK/EGGNOG/BUTTERMILK BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$714.3	-0.46%	100.00	383.3	-3.58%	100.00
Private Label	214.0	5.09	29.96	115.7	2.35	30.18
Nestlé Nesquick	99.2	-4.05	13.88	56.8	-5.84	14.83
Dean’s	29.5	-0.72	4.12	16.4	-5.03	4.27
Kemps	16.5	-2.33	2.31	8.6	-4.05	2.23
Mayfield	13.0	1.46	1.82	6.0	-2.41	1.57
Prairie Farms	12.9	12.58	1.80	7.2	9.48	1.89
Hershey’s-Morningstar	12.2	-34.00	1.71	5.9	-38.87	1.55
Garelick Farms	11.4	0.94	1.60	5.5	-6.69	1.43
Land O’Lakes	10.9	4.14	1.53	5.5	3.17	1.44
Borden	10.9	-7.93	1.52	4.9	-10.17	1.28
*Total sales of all forms of flavored milk/eggnog/buttermilk brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 ICE CREAM/SHERBET BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$4,367.6	-0.46%	100.00	1,369.0	1.14%	100.00
Private Label	818.5	-2.70	18.74	283.3	-3.30	20.69
Breyers	579.9	9.34	13.28	175.2	14.48	12.80
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand	443.0	4.78	10.14	137.1	9.02	10.01
Häagen-Dazs	253.6	19.67	5.81	77.5	21.60	5.66
Blue Bell	245.1	-0.47	5.61	73.9	-2.45	5.40
Ben & Jerry’s	191.9	6.54	4.39	62.3	8.84	4.55
Dreyer’s/Edy’s Grand Light	126.7	-2.50	2.90	35.2	-2.52	2.57
Wells’ Blue Bunny	106.2	2.85	2.43	29.4	4.86	2.15
Turkey Hill	101.7	8.65	2.33	36.5	10.67	2.66
Dreyer’s/Edy’s	91.8	17.02	2.10	25.6	19.63	1.87
*Total sales of all forms of ice cream/sherbet brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 PUDDING/MOUSSE/GELATIN/PARFAIT BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$571.6	-0.55%	100.00	263.1	0.28%	100.00
Jell-O	186.7	6.83	32.67	66.6	6.54	25.32
Kozy Shack	96.8	15.87	16.93	39.1	13.39	14.87
Jell-O Gelatin Snacks	52.4	-7.90	9.18	18.5	-7.97	7.01
Jell-O Free	50.2	-11.20	8.78	17.6	-11.41	6.70
Private Label	44.9	18.64	7.85	22.1	11.27	8.40
Swiss Miss	41.3	-14.54	7.22	16.1	-14.85	6.12
Jell-O Sundae Toppers	20.3	0.00	3.56	7.1	0.00	2.71
Señor Rico	10.2	11.38	1.79	28.4	-0.76	10.80
Jell-O Smoothie	9.1	-60.09	1.60	3.2	-59.41	1.23
Jell-O Extreme	6.3	-58.26	1.10	2.3	-57.64	0.88
*Total sales of all forms of pudding/mousse/gelatin/parfait brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 YOGURT/YOGURT DRINK VENDORS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$2,981.1	6.31%	100.0	3,427.5	7.58%	100.00
Yoplait	1,049.3	9.93	35.21	1,302.3	14.36	38.00
Dannon	883.2	1.30	29.63	699.1	-1.08	20.40
Private Label	369.4	11.18	12.39	654.0	11.28	19.08
Stonyfield Farm	190.4	28.22	6.39	123.5	31.24	3.60
Kraft	95.7	-15.56	3.21	146.7	-10.22	4.28
YoFarm	49.6	0.81	1.66	67.1	-1.15	1.96
Colombo	45.0	-10.97	1.51	56.1	-13.01	1.64
Johanna Foods	38.4	1.20	1.29	76.2	2.23	2.22
Wells’ Dairy	36.3	1.45	1.22	61.6	3.67	1.80
Meadow Gold	33.8	7.01	1.14	13.9	0.56	0.40
*Total sales of all forms of yogurt/yogurt drinks by vendor in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 SOUR CREAM BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$681.7	0.94%	100.00	439.7	-0.04%	100.00
Private Label	196.0	-0.21	28.76	150.4	0.60	34.20
Daisy	130.4	12.05	19.12	73.4	11.84	16.69
Breakstone	103.2	0.30	15.14	69.1	-0.14	15.72
Knudsen Hampshire	51.5	2.24	7.56	23.2	4.73	5.27
Friendship	13.3	-1.27	1.95	11.0	-1.40	2.50
Cacique	12.1	12.68	1.78	3.4	8.49	0.77
Knudsen	11.2	6.35	1.64	5.5	8.21	1.26
Dean’s	9.5	-0.62	1.40	6.3	-5.47	1.43
Tillamook	8.3	-8.27	1.22	4.8	-10.55	1.10
Prairie Farms	7.7	4.67	1.13	5.4	3.53	1.24
*Total sales of all forms of sour cream brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 DIP BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	Unit share
Total Category	$411.0	3.34%	100.00	190.1	-0.75%	100.00
T. Marzetti	80.9	6.32	19.69	26.7	4.83	14.03
Private Label	75.5	8.48	18.37	40.5	-1.09	21.31
Dean’s	46.4	-4.44	11.30	26.9	-4.46	14.13
Heluva Good	29.9	3.19	7.29	15.9	2.86	8.35
Kraft	25.8	-9.33	6.29	16.4	-6.77	8.64
Classic Guacamole	17.1	0.81	4.16	4.4	-0.58	2.30
Litehouse	11.2	49.25	2.71	4.0	44.95	2.09
Salads of the Sea	5.1	11.79	1.24	1.6	10.05	0.83
Bison	4.4	-1.73	1.08	2.7	-2.58	1.43
Calavo	4.0	9.80	0.97	1.0	10.81	0.53
*Total sales of all forms of dip brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 BUTTER BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	unit share
Total Category	$1,272.9	-0.56%	100.00	448.8	1.43%	100.00
Private Label	589.0	1.48	46.27	230.9	4.79	51.45
Land O’Lakes	363.2	-4.52	28.53	110.1	-4.61	24.52
Challenge	63.7	0.32	5.00	18.9	0.82	4.21
Breakstone	36.1	11.53	2.84	15.0	11.69	3.34
Tillamook	26.6	-8.77	2.09	8.2	-9.88	1.84
Kellers	22.1	12.99	1.74	7.7	12.85	1.72
Crystal Farms	22.0	-8.18	1.73	8.5	-7.30	1.89
Hotel Bar	18.5	14.49	1.45	6.2	5.68	1.37
Cabot	16.5	8.91	1.30	5.5	21.24	1.22
Horizon Organic	11.2	26.80	0.88	2.1	23.00	0.47
*Total sales of all forms of butter brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 NATURAL CHEESE BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	unit share
Total Category	$5,945.2	1.76%	100.00	2,180.0	0.75%	100.00
Kraft (Chunks)	225.6	-2.91	3.79	98.0	-5.09	4.50
Private Label (Shreds)	870.5	3.08	14.64	369.1	4.93	16.93
Private Label (Chunks)	802.0	-4.04	13.49	286.7	-3.48	13.15
Kraft (Shreds)	565.8	2.14	9.52	226.8	2.33	10.40
Sargento (Shreds)	212.9	-5.12	3.58	83.8	-1.54	3.84
Private Label (Slices)	176.2	10.27	2.96	70.4	8.27	3.23
Tillamook (Chunks)	154.6	3.89	2.60	32.9	3.40	1.51
Kraft (Grated)	138.0	2.27	2.32	43.8	0.25	2.01
Kraft Cracker Barrel (Chunks)	96.5	-4.62	1.62	83.1	-9.75	3.81
Private Label (String)	96.5	-4.62	1.62	83.1	-9.75	3.81
*Total sales of all forms of natural cheese brands in supermarkets, drug stores and massmerchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 COTTAGE CHEESE BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	unit share
Total Category	$860.7	-0.88%	100.00	414.2	-0.29%	100.00
Private Label	306.5	-1.54	35.61	159.4	-0.42	38.48
Breakstone	85.4	2.24	9.93	32.9	2.17	7.96
Knudsen	75.8	0.04	8.81	28.4	-0.21	6.85
Breakstone Cottage Doubles	31.2	14.59	3.63	28.7	15.97	6.93
Dean’s	28.6	6.92	3.33	12.6	3.53	3.05
Friendship	27.8	2.02	3.23	13.7	2.99	3.30
Hood	22.5	-0.72	2.62	10.1	-4.20	2.44
Prairie Farms	19.5	6.11	2.27	9.1	2.91	2.21
Light N Lively	17.0	-8.23	1.98	6.6	-8.67	1.58
Hiland	13.0	-10.03	1.51	6.6	-10.50	1.60
*Total sales of all forms of cottage cheese brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.

TOP 10 NATURAL SHREDDED CHEESE BRANDS*
	$ Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	$ share	Unit Sales (In Millions)	% Change vs. Year Ago	unit share
Total Category	$2,003.1	1.04%	100.00	814.5	2.31%	100.00
Private Label	870.5	3.08	43.46	369.1	4.93	45.31
Kraft	565.8	2.14	28.24	226.8	2.33	27.84
Sargento	212.9	-5.12	10.63	83.8	-1.54	10.29
Crystal Farms	79.8	1.46	3.98	30.8	1.25	3.79
Borden	55.1	-9.77	2.75	26.3	-11.70	3.22
Kraft Free	29.9	-2.10	1.49	11.0	-0.96	1.36
Kraft Classic Melts	26.3	-18.69	1.31	11.1	-17.68	1.36
DiGiorno	22.7	-5.55	1.13	6.3	-9.78	0.77
Sargento Bistro Blends	15.8	1,176.04	0.79	6.9	1,160.15	0.84
Stella	14.1	14.31	0.70	4.3	10.05	0.53
*Total sales of all forms of natural shredded cheese brands in supermarkets, drug stores and mass merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart) in the 52-week period ending December 25, 2005. SOURCE: Information Resources Inc.