This fall, Midwest Dairy partnered with Hy-Vee to put cheese front and center during tailgating season, connecting dairy to game-day favorites and driving strong results for Midwest dairy farmers. The campaign brought together leading cheese brands alongside complementary items like buns and meats, creating a full-store experience that made it easy for shoppers to build the perfect tailgate spread.
By linking dairy to football season and social gatherings, Midwest Dairy leveraged another key moment of the year to remind shoppers that real dairy belongs at every celebration.
Building a Game-Day Lineup Shoppers Couldn’t Miss
Hy-Vee selected a mix of national and regional cheese brands to anchor the promotion, pairing them with other tailgating staples throughout the store. This approach helped shoppers see cheese not just as an ingredient, but as a must-have part of the game-day experience—from the dairy case to the meat and bakery aisles.
Reaching Shoppers at Every Step
The campaign used a strong mix of digital and in-store tactics to meet shoppers wherever they planned their trip. These efforts included off-site and on-site digital ads, weekly email banners, shoppable recipes, and in-store signage, ensuring dairy stayed visible from online browsing to checkout.
Key highlights included:
- Offsite display ads reaching 1.75 million shoppers and delivering a $4.69 return on ad spend, exceeding benchmarks.
- Weekly email banners converting at 3.9%, well above the 2.8% benchmark, helping move shoppers from browsing to buying.
- On-site banner ads boosting both online and in-store sales by strengthening digital basket building.
Together, these tactics generated more than three million impressions and drove over $195,000 in incremental dairy sales.
Real Results for Dairy Farmers
The campaign delivered more than 551,000 incremental pounds of milk sold, turning digital engagement into real value for dairy farm families. Notably, 89% of conversions happened in-store, where dairy performs strongest, showing the power of pairing digital inspiration with physical retail presence.
Consumer insights confirmed the strategy worked. Shoppers responded to messaging focused on taste, value, freshness, healthfulness, and convenience, all key factors that keep dairy top of cart during busy seasons.
A Win for Tailgating and Dairy
From trusted brands to crowd-pleasing recipes, this tailgating campaign showed how strategic partnerships and seasonal moments can drive demand, celebrate dairy, and deliver measurable returns for farmers across the Midwest. Check out some of the featured recipes below!