With a Pennsylvania team (the Philadelphia Eagles) competing in the big game, the American Dairy Association North East wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to promote our local dairy industry.

We often get asked why Dairy Checkoff doesn’t place ads during the Super Bowl since there are almost 128 million viewers, and watching the commercials is just as important as the game to some people. But the going rate for a 30-second commercial in the Superbowl is nearly $8 million – and that’s just for airtime. Add on the cost of producing the ad, it’s out of the checkoff’s league.

So, we recruited Lolly Lesher of Way-Har Farms in Bernville, Pa., the chair of Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program, which is managed by American Dairy Association North East, for our own local media campaign.

We worked with the Leshers to outfit a “roster” of calves in green custom calf jackets with the Eagles logo on them to tie in an animal care message (keeping calves warm in the winter months). A special No. 26 calf jacket was a tribute to the Leshers’ fellow Penn State alum and Eagles running back, Saquon Barkley.

The on-farm market at Way-Har Farms creamery was temporarily rebranded as "Swoop’s Scoops" in honor of the Eagles’ mascot. We tweaked the names of some of the Way-Har ice cream flavors, made with milk produced on the farm, helping to make the connection of how dairy products are made with fresh, local milk.

Inspired by coach and team members’ names, flavors included: Mint Bark-Ley for Saquon Barkley; A.J. Brownie Sundae for A.J. Brown; Cookies & DeJean for Cooper DeJean; Birth-Slay Cake for Darius Slay, Jr.; Mint Blanken-Chip for Reed Blankenship; Root Berriani Float for Coach Nick Sirianni, and Tush Push-stachio for the play where the players push the quarterback across the goal line.

Our staff recorded video at the farm and market, edited and packaged it, and sent it to media outlets across the state. This resulted in 31 news placements on traditional and social media, which racked up 1.2 million impressions and was worth $82,000 in publicity value (if we had paid for the placements).

As a result of the media pitch, Lesher has done multiple interviews about the calves and the ice cream flavors, including with Philadelphia Inquirer, among others across the state. KYW-TV in Philadelphia shared the clip on the news and then on its social media channels that made headway across the country. Click here to watch the KYW clip.

“We jumped at the chance to tell our dairy story in such a fun, timely way,” Lesher added. “This far-reaching campaign shines a positive light on Pennsylvania’s hardworking dairy farmers and encourages consumers to enjoy dairy products.”

While our dairy checkoff video may not have made the ads during the big game, it was still a winner, just like the Philadelphia Eagles!