The History of OvaltineOvaltine, registered trademark of Novartis Nutrition Corporation is a brand of milk flavoring product made with sugar, malt extract, cocoa and whey by Wander AG, a subsidiary of Novartis Consumer Goods.
It was developed on Switzerland, where it is known by its original name Ovomaltine (from ovum, Latin for “egg”, and malt, originally its main ingredients.)
The person credited with its original formulation is Dr. Albert Wander, son of the company’s founder Dr. Georg Wander.
Both Drs, Wander spent their lives working with malted barley extracts as nutritious food supplements.
Ovaltine was first registered as a trademark Dr Albert Wander in 1906. Its popular took off after the First World War based on a dual appeal as a nourishing food and a soothing bed time drink.
The Wander Company pushed hard for Ovaltine. It attempted to woo coffee drinkers. From April 1931 to January 1940, Ovaltine sponsored Little Orphan Annie on the NBC radio network.
For nine years Ovaltine sponsored the red-hared heroine they were flooded with requests for the various premium that could be had for a handful of labels and maybe a dime (roughly $1.50 in contemporary dollars).
Seldom, in advertising have a product and a fictional character meshed so well. Today, the Ovaltine premium have become expensive collectibles.
Ovaltine in the United Kingdom, in contrast to many other countries elsewhere in the world is a product which had traditionally been associated with bedtime drinking.
Much of the advertising of the previous years – if not decades of both Ovaltine and its competitors had created the bed time market.
In 1970 a deliberate attempt was made, through the Cool-ova campaign to create a new market – “Ovaltine”, drunk in cold instead of warm milk, an “anytime” beverage.
The History of Ovaltine
