Deutsch's 'Happy Cows' Keep CMAB Content

LOS ANGELES Deutsch/LA is set to bow a new round of its "happy cows" campaign for the California Milk Advisory Board as the state verges on leading the nation in cheese production for the first time.Four television spots break in Western spot markets Aug. 18 and expand to Dallas, a new market, Sept. 15. The CMAB, which represents 2,200 dairy farmers, plans to spend $40 million this year on advertising, up to $25 million of that for cheese, said Michael Freeman, the board's vice president of advertising services.Deutsch, Marina del Rey, Calif., created the cows for the CMAB three years ago. This year's effort retains the tag, "Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California," and sticks with breezy comedy. One spot revises the shower-stall scene steam of Porky's. Cows are dishing about what attracts them to the male animal—"flaring nostrils," a "nice tail" and "wide-set horns"—while two bulls jockey for the barn's peephole.Another spot has a cow named Sadie deciding to migrate to California across a frozen plain. A subtle parody lies in the cow's Wisconsin accent. A 60-second spot shows envious sheep following their Scottish warlord, massing for an attack on a pair of nonplussed cows for a Braveheart-style battle. The intervention of the boss border collie causes a sheepish retreat."The restriction we put on the cows, character-wise, is that they have to be human, not doing things cows wouldn't do—like riding surf boards—but with human thoughts, as in Gary Larson," said Karen Costello, svp and associate creative director at Deutsch. "The bulls are recurring characters. They're the dudes who drive Camaros and want to hook up with the cows."CMAB's advertising is credited with stimulating overall cheese sales in markets it enters. When it started advertising in Denver in 1999, sales rose 7.1 percent over the national average; Phoenix in 2000 ( up 6 percent); and Salt Lake City (3.9 percent above the nation's rate).Even the nation's top cheesemaker, Wisconsin, agreed that efforts like California's help everyone."When there is a focused advertising effort, it doubles exposure and interest," said Dana Tanyeri, director of national production communications at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. "When that happens, it's in both our interests."Tanyeri said the WMMB's marketing efforts, with creative from Lindsay, Stone & Briggs in Madison, Wis., have more to do with "aligning it with retail" than competing with California. The media placement of its campaign, stressing the state's cheesemaking heritage and pride, is "not reactionary," she said. "We're already known nationally," she said."When we go into a market and Wisconsin does, too, in response, the total-category sales go up," Freeman said. "A sleepy category awakens." California is projected to overtake Wisconsin in cheese production within a few years. In 2002, California, with 20 percent of the total national cheese output, was second to Wisconsin's 26 percent. But Freeman said California's record 1.7 billion pounds last year represents double the state's output only a decade ago. CMAB's projection for 2010 is 2.4 billion pounds.

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Deutsch's 'Happy Cows' Keep CMAB Content

Gregory Solman

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