From the Farm to the Fridge – MILK!

June 16, 2010 in Advertising, Agriculture, Des Moines, Iowa, Marketing, Social Media Capital of the World, Traditional Media
Tags: ag, Anderson Erickson, Blue Bunny, california milk processor board, canada, canada film, cmpb, dairy farmers of ontario, dairy producer, Des Moines, got milk?, hoard's dairyman, iowa state fair, le mars, lely, lely robots, meredith viera, milk, ontario milk, robotic milking system

In following tradition, I wanted to spotlight the dairy industry as June is DAIRY month.  Dairy producers began celebrating the annual tradition in the 1930′s and for some of us, we benefit daily from their hard work.  So let’s raise our milk-filled-glasses to the dairy industry and take a look at these facts.

“Got milk?”  Well over 15 years ago, the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB) launched the campaign “Got Milk?” to defend milk’s share of beverage consumption in California and nationally. Rarely does a campaign last this long and get licensed to multiply parties as it has.  The success of this campaign is every marketers dream.  The “Got Milk?” campaign was so successful business schools across the country use it in case studies and in books.  If you haven’t seen it a (or are just too young to remember), the print campaign featured a full gamut of celebrities from sports icons, to fictional characters, to entertainers with milk mustaches on their faces.

Whether or not you drink milk, eat yogurt, ice cream or sour cream, you probably eat more cheese than any other dairy product.  Just think about all the pizza Americans eat each day!  And speaking of ice cream, Iowa hosts two great brands – Blue Bunny in Le Mars, Iowa and Anderson Erickson in Des Moines, Iowa.

While it’s still all about the “teets,” the evolution of milking is long past the days of a milking stool.  Today we have robotic milking systems (no joke).  Innovators in the Netherlands designed a milking system so that dairymen no longer have to fight employee turn over or performance issues and can free up their time for social activities.  Since cattle are creatures of habit, smart and adaptable the Lely robotic milking system launched in 1992 and today is world renowned.   Watch it in action here.

Quick dairy facts:

*8.33 million dairy cows in the 23 major U.S. states

*On average one cow produces 1,823 pounds of milk per month

*The 23 states for which the USDA reports milk production are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

*24 cows/day are milked at the Iowa State Fair Milk Parlor (on average)

*LeMars, Iowa is the ice cream capital of the world

(Facts sourced at: Hoard’s Dairyman, Iowa State Fair, Blue Bunny)

And to sum it all up, take a look at this video, SERIOUSLY, you have to take the :60 seconds of your life and be amused by this clever, humorous and fun rap video promoting milk.

Note to readers: I spent more time than I’d like to admit trying to find information about this video. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many things have been over-looked in terms of tagging this video to find the story behind the story. If you know the history of this video, please contact Admavericks.com, we want to give credit where credit is due AND help you in your social media marketing. Special thanks to Carlie Baxter at Canada Film for your help.  Dairy Farmers of Ontario were contacted but no comment was provided at time of writing.

Author: Bellana Putz
www.lessingflynn.com

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