Dairy Farmers of Canada has split its Christmas-season advertising campaign this year with half aimed at household preparations, the other half aimed at younger audiences using humour and social media.
“After missing out on the last holiday season with extended family and friends, we knew that Canadians will likely be gathering this year with loved ones to celebrate. We also knew that from holiday baking, to festive cheese plates, to that glass of milk for Santa, dairy is a key part of the season for so many of us,” said Pamela Nalewajek, vice president of marketing and business stakeholder relations with the DFC, in an interview with Damian Morais.
The “#ChooseCanadianDairy” is running nationally on TV, supported by retail, OOH and digital elements.
The “Happy Holi-Dairy” is a humorous effort from the recently launched Angry Butterfly that speaks directly to younger consumers in a bid to “counter all the misinformation that’s out there” about Canadian dairy products, said Nalewajek.
The campaign features a series of tongue-in-cheek spots that show young people back home for the holidays. When an uncomfortable question is asked of the protagonist by a friend or relative, a helpful dairy farmer appears with an interesting statistic they can use to redirect the conversation.
“There are many advertisers coveting this same audience, so you have to cut through with great creative and engaging tools,” said Nalewajek. In that spirit, the DFC developed a “Fact Generator” to extend the awkward-topic-deflecting dairy intel concept beyond the spot.
The campaigns launched Monday and will run until Jan. 2.
