Dairy West, a regional dairy promotion organization that works on behalf of Idaho and Utah dairy farm families to inspire trust in dairy farming and grow sales for dairy foods, is launching a new brand called Unbottled.

Serving as a consumer-facing brand for Dairy West, Unbottled is designed to appeal to people who are concerned about health and nutrition and making good food choices for themselves and their families.

According to Kristi Spence, Dairy West's senior vice president of marketing, it can be challenging for the organization to go to market with a singular message for its diverse group of audiences. She said Dairy West's vast constituency ranges from dairy farmers, processors, and supply chain partners to food manufacturers, foodservice operators, distributors, and retail grocers and from school officials and health professionals to athletes and other influencers in addition to a variety of consumers.

"We have the good fortune to work with a lot of people in a lot of different ways, and we want these relationships to be as clear and impactful as possible," Spence said. "Some in-depth brand soul-searching has led us to a two-brand approach -- one that will allow us to eliminate confusion about who we are and be more meaningful with our outreach."

She said moving forward, the Dairy West brand will be more focused and will serve as the brand for its industry-facing audiences. Dairy West's vision is to convene the entire dairy community and work together toward a positive future. Meanwhile, Unbottled will serve as a vehicle for messages Dairy West and its partners can share directly with consumers.

"The Unbottled brand captures how dairy foods can help unbottle everyone's inner greatness," Spence said. "No matter what someone wants to become, no matter their goals and ambitions, we want to be there to help them along that journey and demonstrate where dairy can play a role."

Spence and her colleagues at Dairy West are confident the new brand will resonate with people.

"One of the challenges in our contemporary society is that there's so much clutter -- especially with respect to nutrition," Spence, who is also a registered dietitian, said. "There is often confusion and guilt associated with certain food choices, and it can become hard for us to know what choices we should make for ourselves and our families to align with our values and meet our budget.

"Through clear and authentic information, we hope to close this gap and give people permission to become their best selves, make choices that feel right, and get people back to what's simple and real. We're hoping Unbottled becomes a trusted, uncomplicated voice in a sometimes confusing nutrition world."

Dairy West began unveiling the Unbottled brand the week before Thanksgiving. It produced a 30-second commercial that airs on TV and digitally within Idaho and Utah designed to introduce people to the brand. It will have an always-on presence where the messages and the type of media the organization uses changes based on the season and what's relevant.

Dairy West has also entered into a sponsorship agreement with Idaho Public Television and Utah Public Television and produced a 30-second, animated video that will soon air on those stations.

The new brand's website at Unbottled.com is currently a landing page, but by the end of the first quarter of 2020 Dairy West will build it into a robust destination. Visitors will be able to find details about everything from the nutritional benefits of dairy to what's going on at farms with respect to animal care, stewardship, and environmental sustainability.

"Right now at DairyWest.com we have ask-a-dietitian and ask-a-farmer segments that we post periodically," Spence said. "We're looking to broaden that on Unbottled.com to be more of a you-asked-we-answered concept about anything related to dairy, the farm, and nutrition and have a variety of people -- including third parties -- answer those questions. We know that people have questions about nutrition, about where their food comes from, and about what goes on at the farm. Our aim with Unbottled is to be transparent and talk about what really happens and why."

On social media, Dairy West has transitioned its Facebook and Instagram accounts to Unbottled and created a Twitter account for the new brand with #unbottleyourgreatness serving as the official hashtag. Dairy West will continue to maintain accounts on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Spence said the Unbottled brand works well with the "Undeniably Dairy" campaign the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy launched in 2017.

"Unbottled is a complement to the national Undeniably Dairy campaign," she said. "It's a great way to take important, national messages about dairy farming and dairy foods and collaborate with local partners to share those messages with our local community."

ABOUT DAIRY WEST

Dairy West is a regional dairy promotion organization established in 2017 to represent dairy farmers, processors, and supply chain partners in Idaho and Utah. The organization raises awareness of the importance of dairy farming, promotes the health and nutritional benefits of dairy foods, and encourages global demand for Idaho, Utah, and Western U.S. dairy foods through coordinated marketing and communications efforts, nutrition counseling, and research programs. Visit DairyWest.com and Unbottled.com for more information.