BRAND VALUE:

Chobani is an American yogurt manufacturer. Its story began in a small dairy community in Upstate New York that it helped revive from near collapse. Ten years later, it continues to prioritize sustainable communities, sustainable manufacturing practices, and sustainable lifestyles.

CHALLENGE

How can a yogurt company help save the dairy farm industry?

OBJECTIVES

Generate a solution of deep impact that can save dairy farming in America by modernizing it by addressing these issues:

- Dairy farming’s environmental sustainability

- Financial sustainability of dairy farms

- Health and longevity of dairy communities

In the United States, dairy farming is dying. Every year, milk prices sink to new record lows. America has lost five dairy farms every day for the past 10 years—almost 19,700 dairy farms in total. Dairy farm bankruptcies are at an all time high which, in turn, is decimating local dairy-based economies. Concerns about the industry’s environmental sustainability, worker wellbeing, and animal welfare practices grow, as well. Under the extreme stresses and pressures of keeping their farms afloat, farmers are committing suicide in record numbers.

Unless something changes:

Dairy manufacturers will have to reckon with a major supply chain crisis

Dairy farming’s $628 billion of yearly economic impact will collapse

Create “Milk Matters”—the first holistic, industry certification program helps dairy farmers achieve economic, environmental, animal, and worker wellbeing.

AUDIENCE: Dairy Industry

Who: Dairy farmers and dairy manufacturers

Why: These would be the people directly affected by the solution

INSIGHT: The dairy farm industry needed a holistic, farm-level solution that consumers could understand.

For a year, Chobani listened to farmers, farmworkers, elected officials, experts, and consumers.

On the industry side, we learned that existing solutions are scattershot and address singular issues. There is no solution that holistically addresses the knot of issues or goes far enough to provide real relief. What is more troubling, many popular consumer facing programs—such as the Non-GMO Project, Organic certifications—mislead consumers or are financially devastating for farmers.1, 2

On the consumer side, consumers ask simple questions that require complex answers.3 How was the environment considered? How well are farmer workers treated? Is dairy unhealthy? Isn’t organic milk good for farmers? Aren’t GMOs bad? How are the cows cared for?

DESIGNING THE PROGRAM

The pillars of the Milk Matters program address the farmers most challenging issues:

1. Environmental Stewardship

2. Worker Wellbeing

3. Animal Care

4. Farm Investment

5. Economic Opportunity

LAUNCH

To ensure topicality, we chose to launch during Dairy Month.

To announce Milk Matters, we secured in-depth coverage from Michael Corkery at The New York Times.

To make it tangible to consumers, we launch a specially designed Milk Matters yogurt product—the proceeds from which went towards investments in the farms and farming communities.

To sustain the story in the industry after the announcement news cycle ended, Chobani CEO and Fair Trade USA CEO Paul Rice spoke about Milk Matters at high-profile industry events.

- Earned covered from major, in-depth coverage in The New York Times, CNN, FastCompany, INC

- 142 pickups from our press release; 59 individual stories in trade publications (FoodNavigator-USA, Dairy Foods Magazine, Just-Food, Food & Beverage Magazine, Food Business News, and BevNet Magazine, among many others)

- 329M earned media impressions

- Reached 495M people

- 39k online mentions

- Owned channels reached 166M people

- 100% of Idaho suppliers and 33% of New York suppliers have achieved compliance to the program’s environmental and animal care standards

- Several companies within the dairy industry and other major US food industries have reached out supporting our cause—hoping to either sign on with our Fair Trade USA dairy certification or work with Fair Trade USA to develop similar models within their industries.