Over the past 30 years the nation?s per capita consumption of milk has declined, while at the same time soda?s consumption has doubled. Why? Milk?s lack of innovation and availability.

Despite the popularity of its most recent ad campaign, milk is just not sexy enough to compete with the bevy of beverages available to consumer. At least traditional milk isn?t. The flavored milk at the center of the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) latest marketing and ad campaign is a different story.

Yesterday afternoon, Tom Nagle of the International Dairy Foods Association assured a room full of industry reporters that flavored milk, which has moved far beyond traditional chocolate to tastes like cookies and cream and fruit flavors, can deliver the same sales and performance of any other ready-to-drink product, with the exception of fountain sales.

According to the IDFA, restaurants who promote their milk offerings can see an 42 percent average rise in milk sales. That translates into $300 to $500 million in annual incremental sales, said Nagle. "The results strongly suggest that milk is a beverage restaurant-goers will order if they are reminded that it an option?and this can often be done in very simple ways."