The Save Dairy Logo

Daisy Testifies at Her Press Conference

Showing Support at Ag Rally

Dairy Farmers Celebrate Bill Passage

Governor Jodi Rell Signs Bill Into Law

Daisy Goes to DC

Bringing Home the Milk Money
When the Connecticut Farm Bureau was looking to help Connecticut dairy farmers get legislation passed to support the industry during a historically low wholesale pricing time, they turned to Precision Marketing for help.

The Problem
The wholesale price of milk is set at a federal level and doesn't take into account regional pricing differences. Dairy farmers in Connecticut were losing nearly $1 for every gallon of milk they produced and were looking to the state legislature for help. The challenge was Connecticut, like the rest of the country, was mired in a recession and facing a huge budget deficit.

The Solution
Because the dairy farmers did not have a large marketing budget, Precision Marketing suggested a mix of on-line, public relations, and grass roots efforts to get their message to the legislators.

The first step was to get information framed in a way that the public and legislators could understand. Dairy farmers sell milk in "hundred weight" which needed to be converted into gallons. Once we did this we were able to say that farmers were losing about $1 for each gallon they produced. We also utilized a study by the Department of Community and Economic Development that showed Connecticut's Dairy Industry contributed over $1 billion yearly to the state's economy through jobs, product and open space preservation.

The campaign was branded "Save Dairy" and a mascot named Daisy was drawn up and used for t-shirts, stickers and buttons. A website (www.ctmilk.org) was created that became the central repository for information about the plight facing the dairy farmers and a resource for all of the news stories written about the campaign. The website also featured a section where visitors could fill out an online form to email their legislators to urge them to support the Connecticut dairy industry. A Facebook page was also created for Daisy, as a way to spread the message about the campaign and keep friends aware of various rally events.

Utilizing a Pay-per-click campaign on Google media placements, we were able to have ads run on newspapers and other media sites across Connecticut. The PPC ads drove over 1,000 visitors to the site and nearly 27% of those visitors signed the petition!

On the PR front, a release was crafted explaining the problem and a press conference was held at the State Capitol, complete with "testimony" from Daisy herself. The photo-op was well attended by nearly every major news venue in the state, giving the campaign significant exposure. Daisy made another appearance at the Capitol two weeks later for the annual Agriculture Day rally. Editorial boards were solicited to write in favor of the dairy farmers, resulting in a number of key endorsements. Over the period of three months, the campaign received coverage in over 55 media outlets.

Results
The results for the campaign were the quintessential home run. In a year that saw the state budget get slashed and state agencies reducing their workforce, the legislature voted to fund $16 million in aid for the state dairy farmers in the form of an emergency aid payment and the creation of a two year safety net program that would support the farmers until action could be taken to adjust the federally mandated milk price.

Additionally Daisy found herself moving (or should we say moo-ving?) to Washington where the Congressional Dairy Caucus was revived and Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney used the Save Dairy logo to support federal efforts on the milk pricing issue.