Starting today and continuing through Thursday, those attending Climate Week NYC events and members of the public can tour the brand-themed green space at Rock Center’s Channel Gardens. The experiential stunt, from HangarFour Creative, includes hands-on activities, photo ops and product sampling.
Attendees can sit on a tractor, strike up a conversation with an organic farmer, look at life-sized animal topiaries and learn to milk a cow via a specially-designed prop. (Organic Valley’s animals don’t travel for their own welfare).
While visiting the red barn, duck pond and other areas, consumers can buy sustainably-made merchandise and learn about organic farming techniques that produce 24% less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional dairy farms, per the brand.
“What we often see is a one-sided view presented of animal agriculture, and people think they have to cut out meat and dairy entirely to lessen their environmental impact,” Cardin said. “We want to pull back the curtain and show what organically sourced dairy looks like—because not all dairy is created equal.”
Stewards of the land
Additional elements of the campaign that Cardin dubbed “non-fiction marketing” include radio and podcast spots, along with paid social and digital outreach, and a subway takeover in Midtown Manhattan that recreates a farm scene.
Out-of-home ads and murals, as well as bus wraps, will expand beyond New York in the coming weeks to Boston, Atlanta and Denver. The four key markets also have programs at Whole Foods that will sample products and give away swag via secret shoppers.
At the same time, the brand has given its packaging a makeover, with illustrated milk cartons being the first to hit retailers. The new look will roll out across the product line over the next six months, Cardin said.
A 90-second hero ad, along with cutdowns, will air on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Hulu and Amazon. Its creative takes a swipe at industrial agriculture and intends to “bust through a lot of greenwashing claims” by highlighting farmers and their “stewardship of the land and animals” with an assist from a Nat Geo photojournalist, Cardin said.
Farmers in the 35-year-old co-op work 400,000 acres of pesticide-free pastures, with the Humanaut team focusing on the “life, beauty and valuable resources” found there, per Bethany Maxfield, the agency’s creative director. “We’re making land that would otherwise be overlooked into something heroic.”