Through the lens of a National Geographic photographer, the small family farms in the Organic Valley co-op look like national parks teeming with flora and fauna—honey bees, songbirds, rolling hills and native trees among them. And, of course, there’s an abundance of free-roaming cows.
So why is one land mass protected, while the other isn’t?
The question is at the heart of Organic Valley’s new campaign, which debuts alongside the brand’s first sponsorship of the currently running Climate Week NYC, an annual gathering of world leaders, business moguls, scientists and activists.
In one of its most significant marketing pushes to date, the grocery store staple introduces the new tagline “Protecting Where Your Food Comes From,” with video ads from longtime agency Humanaut that mimic wildlife documentaries, complete with British-accented narrator.
The spots are part of a broader effort that includes a two-day pop-up at Rockefeller Center—which brings the farm to urbanites—subway takeovers, outdoor ads and hand-painted murals, retail sampling and in-store programs.
The brand aims to encourage consumers to help preserve these small businesses—100,000 family farms have disappeared in the past decade alone, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with only 2,500 organic farmers remaining—and show the ripple effect of their loss.
“We want to reignite people’s interest in small family farms in America,” Jaclyn Cardin, chief brand officer at Organic Valley, told Adweek. “If we don’t band together, there will be a lot more industrial farms and a lot less farms that are protecting biodiversity.”
There’s an added incentive to promote the premium brand at a time when consumers say they want ethically-sourced products, but they’re price sensitive because of ongoing inflation.
Small farm, big city
While consumers increasingly say they want to know where their food originates, most have never set foot onto a farm of any type, per a recent Harris Poll. With that research in mind, Organic Valley decided to bring a version of an organic farmstead to the heart of New York.
