Checkoff consumer research suggests that most consumers in the 10-state region trust dairy farmers and look to them to help understand on-farm sustainability and animal welfare practices. Midwest Dairy takes pride in connecting local farmers with partners who help do just that. Uplifting dairy farmer voices through retail partners’ promotions can showcase how dairy is produced responsibly and locally to consumers. The promotions promote dairy sales and give the consumer a better connection to local farmers.
Cub Foods
Midwest Dairy partnered with Cub Foods on a unique promotion designed to keep dairy products in front of their shoppers both in-store and online, featuring an expert’s voice. Cub Foods is a grocery chain based in Stillwater, Minnesota, with 106 retail locations in Minnesota and Illinois.
Together, checkoff and Cub wanted to build trust in dairy through a campaign utilizing a local farmer’s voice that could uniquely connect with shoppers. This unique voice was Kennedy Youngren, a dietitian, mom, and fourth-generation dairy farmer from central Minnesota. Besides being a proud Minnesota native herself, Kennedy’s unique background as both mom and dietitian, combined with her strong dairy farm roots, made her a highly credible source to represent the dairy industry and educate about nutrition. Cub understands the value of a local farmer’s voice and was eager to collaborate with Midwest Dairy on this new campaign that would eventually be called “Farmer of Cub.”
Beginning in August of 2023 and throughout the remainder of the year, Youngren was featured as the Farmer of Cub, offering fresh recipes, nutrition tips, and a behind-the-scenes view of a working dairy farm shared through in-store marketing, email marketing, and social media posts. These posts have reached over half a million consumers. Check out the Cub commercial also!
Runza
Another partner that highlighted the unique voice of local farmers was Runza National (Runza). This unique food service partnership featured the Thieles, a multi-generation dairy farm family from Clearwater, Nebraska, during a Dessert Time program. For this campaign, Runza produced customized in-store point-of-purchase materials, social media posts, and product shots that showcased the farm and family. Runza is an 88-unit quick-service restaurant operator with locations in Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri.
The campaign goal was to create more visibility of the role dairy farmers have in producing dairy products responsibly and locally to the customers. The Dessert Time program ran from July 1 to September 30 and featured items such as Runza Soft Serve Cones, Cups, Sundaes, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. The ad included the following verbiage: “Stay Cool… Treat yourself by enjoying an ice cream dessert. When you order, you’re supporting families like the Thiele’s across the Midwest. We think that’s pretty sweet. Runza makes it all better, and Midwest Dairy Farmers make us better.” This campaign resulted in the sale of approximately 111,096 incremental pounds of milk!