The folks responsible for the famed “got milk?” campaign have launched a new advertising crusade that features an interactive, 3-D online gaming site.

The “Get the Glass” campaign also includes seven TV commercials that immerse consumers in a dark, heavily fortressed fantasy world established to safegaurd the earth’s last glass of milk.

Can you imagine a life without milk? OK, not a fair question for the PETA folks. Nevertheless…

Developed by the California Milk Processor Board’s (CMPB) longtime advertising firm, San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, “Get the Glass” aims to reposition milk as a precious commodity not to be taken for granted. In this campaign, consumers get to see milk through the eyes of the ailing Adachi family desperate for milk and its healing powers. “We want people to imagine what it would be like if milk really was that scarce and how that would change the way we think about it,” says CMPB executive director Steve James.

The “Get the Glass” TV commercials launched last month in California and will run until December. They will also be offered to dairy boards for distribution across the country. In addition, a “Get the Glass” online board game can be found at www.gettheglass.com. This happy diversion closely resembles a traditional board game with virtual spaces and mouse-maneuvered dice. While the look and feel of the game hearkens back to a time when families played board games together around the fire, this game is decidedly contemporary employing complex flash-animation graphics.

When users agree to play, the cover of a retro-looking board game flies off and an incredibly detailed, multi-dimensional board unfolds. Game pieces then spring to life and assemble on the board, as a camera shifts from a bird’s-eye view to swoop down to place players at the beginning of the game.

Each step of the way, players have to overcome physical handicaps caused by the lack of milk — brittle bones, weak muscles, insomnia, PMS and broken nails. “Plus they have to avoid being sent to Milkatraz,” James says. “We’ve taken interactive advertising to a new level by imaginatively re-creating a world where milk is so scarce, it must be guarded and protected.”

Now in its 13th year, “got milk?” has helped sell millions of gallons of milk and become an American icon. The dairy industry spends $150 million annually to support “got milk?,” including the Milk Mustache ads. The CMPB was established in 1993 to make milk more competitive and increase milk consumption in California. It’s funded by California milk processors and administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.