One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has showcased is the resiliency of dairy farmers, who work tirelessly to produce healthy, delicious product each and every day, providing the nutrition needed to “Nourish What’s Next” in everyone’s daily lives.
To recognize farmers and celebrate the ways dairy brings a sense of familiarity and comfort to our homes, Midwest Dairy launched a multi-faceted influencer and retail campaign to share stories of farmers’ resiliency and extend dairy’s message to a wide base of consumers who are looking to learn more about their food, where it’s coming from and who’s producing it. The campaign included:
- Partnering with six social media influencers in Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City to launch a #NourishingWhatsNext campaign online as a way to share stories of farmer resilience and provide real-world examples of how dairy can fit into a nutritious diet and enhance consumers’ overall well-being. Each influencer that was chosen has beliefs that align with the values of dairy, and the influencers – and their audiences – have interests that include food, family, nutrition and fitness. As a result of this campaign, the collective group posted 18 pieces of content the week of June 22-June 29 on Facebook and Instagram, reaching a potential audience of more than 4.2 million people and receiving more than 9,000 consumer engagements. Midwest Dairy also amplified three of the best performing posts on its social media accounts, furthering the reach and extending the story of dairy.
- Collaborating with Team USA sprinter and 2016 Gold Olympian Morolake Akinosun and Minnesota dairy farmer Sarah Ahlgren, Midwest Dairy created a 30-second video that shared their parallel stories of resilience and commitment to consuming and producing nutritious dairy. Morolake Akinosun shared the video on her social media channels, and Midwest Dairy supported the partnership with paid social media amplification on Instagram and Facebook for two weeks. This effort resulted in more than 2.2 million consumer impressions—exceeding Midwest Dairy’s goal by 43%—and more than 790,000 consumer views, which also exceeded the goal by 164%.
- Chicago retailer Jewel-Osco supported these efforts with a “Nourishing What’s Next” in-store campaign across 188 store locations. Akinosun’s story of resilience and the role dairy plays in it was featured on in-store signage and across Jewel-Osco and Akinosun’s social media channels. These posts were further amplified on Midwest Dairy’s social channels. Additionally, the retail chain held a dairy display contest for dairy managers, rewarding the store with the highest increase in dairy sales with a recorded message from Akinosun, congratulating the store and honoring the essential role grocery retail personnel have played during the pandemic. This campaign drove dairy sales in August, generating more than 600,000 incremental pounds of milk sold.
The “Nourishing What’s Next” campaign was a great way to reach consumers to share dairy’s story of resilience while inspiring trust in dairy. To hear more about dairy and the power of resiliency, listen to a recent Your Dairy Checkoff podcast discussion with Akinosun here.