Organic Valley Launches New ‘Crazy’ Ad Campaign to Highlight Transparency
Organic Valley has launched a new marketing campaign to highlight all of the work that goes into its organic dairy products. The campaign, which is running under the tagline, “Call us crazy, but it’s working,” is comprised of several spots that point to Organic Valley’s position as pioneer of truly organic, humane dairy production.
The videos in the campaign each have different premises: in one, farmers put fitness trackers on their grazing cows to show that the cattle take more steps a day than most people. Another highlights the contributions of Amish and other plain communities to Organic Valley’s milk supply. Still another explains why organic food costs more than conventional, highlighting the additional work that goes into Organic Valley products as compared to other dairy products.
The campaign was produced by agency Humanaut. The work is intended to portray Organic Valley as a “very different kind of food company,” David Littlejohn, chief creative director, tells Ad Week. “This meant not being afraid to point out the things that make this farmer-owned organic cooperative unusual, weird and rough around the edges.”
It also juxtaposes Organic Valley’s methods with those of other brands who are greenwashing their products to jump on the sustainable food trend.
“These days every brand is trying to seem more authentic, natural and farm-fresh, like they’re making the world a better place, even if they’re not,” says Tripp Hughes, Organic Valley’s director of brand management. “It makes things very confusing for customers trying to make better decisions about their food.”
The campaign will run on television, digital, and social media.
This is not the first time Organic Valley has turned to video content to reinforce its brand philosophy. Last year, after a peer-reviewed study showed that butter was not the health hazard the media would have had us believe, Organic Valley celebrated with an ad campaign produced in the style of a mockumentary, charting the “war on butter” that began in the 1950s and the subversive Organic Valley dairy farmers who never stopped working toward a “butter” future.
Organic Valley is a farmer-owned cooperative based in Wisconsin. The cooperative, which was founded in 1988, now counts 2,000 farmer-owners and $1.1 billion in revenue. Last year, the cooperative became the largest producer of grass-fed organic dairy products in the United States.
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Organic Valley Just Became the Largest Grass-Fed Organic Dairy Producer in the U.S.
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