National Dairy Month has long been a time to celebrate the people, products, and promise of dairy. In June 2025, Dairy MAX partnered with 11 other dairy councils covering 31 states to take that celebration to new digital frontiers—reinforcing why dairy remains a relevant, trusted and essential part of gamers’ lives on social platforms where they’re already spending their time.
From gamified ad experiences to sales-driven e-commerce tie-ins, the month-long campaign combined education and activation in innovative ways. It’s the kind of next-gen outreach your checkoff investment makes possible—and here’s how it’s driving value back to your farm.
A Two-Pronged Strategy: Build Trust and Drive Sales
This gamer-focused campaign concentrated on two key objectives that align with long-term goals of strategic growth for Dairy MAX:
- Build trust among youth (ages 13–17) by highlighting modern cow care practices.
- Drive sales among young adult gamers (ages 18–28) through fun, dairy-themed mobile games and Instacart promotions.
Why these groups? Teens are forming their lifelong dietary and purchasing habits now, and young adults are often the decision-makers in their households when it comes to food. Both audiences are tech-savvy and often more difficult to reach through traditional marketing—so Dairy MAX and our partners brought dairy directly to their screens.
Reaching Gen Z and Gamers Through YouTube and Mobile Games
YouTube Ads: Turning Attention into Affinity
To connect with teens, the campaign ran engaging 30-second video ads on YouTube featuring messages around cow care and sustainability. These weren’t your typical commercials—they spoke Gen Z’s language, featuring modern dairy technology like:
- Fitness-tracking collars that monitor cows’ steps, sleep and well-being.
- Misters and back scratchers to keep cows cool, clean and comfortable.
- Automated feeding systems and robotic milking equipment to optimize cow health and milk quality.
The message was clear: dairy farmers are high-tech animal caretakers, and happy cows help create high-quality milk, cheese and yogurt. The goal? Create emotional resonance and familiarity with how much care goes into every gallon.
Gamified Ads: Education Through Interaction
But the campaign didn’t stop at just video ads. It also embedded interactive mini-games into popular mobile apps and games—tapping into a $100+ billion industry that engages billions of minutes of attention each day.
Here’s how:
- "Cow Care Quiz" Game: This educational ad challenged players to spot true and false statements about cow care. With each answer, players unlocked more facts—learning, for instance, that some dairy cows have their own “personal massagers” or that robot feed pushers help deliver their meals on some farms.
- "Boost Your Lunch" Game: Inspired by Flappy Bird, this game let players control an astronaut collecting dairy foods while avoiding junk food. It gamified the idea that dairy is a smart, nutritious choice—even during a snack break.
These games weren’t just fun—they were strategic. Every ad included a reward, a strong call-to-action and an opportunity to click out to a custom Dairy MAX Instacart storefront featuring a curated mix of their favorite dairy foods and beverages.
Sales in Real Time: Tying Promotion to Purchase
While building trust is essential for long-term relevance, generating sales is just as important. That’s why the campaign pushed viewers and players toward a Level Unlocked dairy landing page on Instacart—the grocery delivery platform used by more than 13 million active users.
The call-to-action was baked right into the sales-focused ads: “Unlock your next level with real dairy’s protein, three times a day.” From there, consumers could click directly to shop a range of dairy foods and beverages including milk, yogurt, cheese and more.
This approach gave the campaign immediate, measurable retail impact—converting ad impressions into purchases and helping secure dairy’s share of the digital shelf.
What This Means for Farmers
You’ve heard the question: “What’s checkoff doing for me?” This gamer-focused digital promotion offers a clear answer.
Here’s what your investment helped accomplish:
- Secured dairy’s relevance with youth and young adults at a time when plant-based alternatives are aggressively marketing themselves as modern, cool, or more ethical.
- Showcased dairy’s sustainability story by highlighting the tools and technologies you use every day to care for your cows and the planet.
- Drove measurable online sales via partnerships with Instacart and mobile game publishers, giving dairy more visibility at the point of purchase.
- Built brand lift and favorability through interactive brand studies embedded in the campaign. These asked users which products they had a positive opinion of and what they’d buy next—creating data insights to refine future efforts.
Tracking Success: Metrics That Matter
Campaign performance is being closely monitored with brand lift studies and in-game analytics that track:
- Engagement rates on games and video ads.
- Click-through rates to the Instacart landing page.
- User sentiment through survey questions on favorability and purchase intent.
- Education impact based on quiz responses and replay rates.
So far, the campaign has generated nearly 3.5 million impressions, 1.4 million plays or views (depending on ad type), and 1.4 million ad engagements. These metrics aren’t just feel-good figures—they help us prove ROI and secure a place for dairy in fast-evolving consumer landscapes.
The Road Ahead
This promotion is more than a one-off campaign—it’s part of a broader strategy to modernize dairy’s messaging and meet consumers where they are. That includes:
- Integrating gaming and e-commerce as ongoing marketing platforms.
- Scaling successful creative assets to support DMI’s national efforts.
- Continuing to tell the real story of dairy—not with nostalgia, but with innovation, honesty and a voice that resonates with today’s audience.
The dairy industry is evolving, and so are the ways we reach people. Thanks to your checkoff investment, Dairy MAX is helping lead that evolution—through smart, data-driven marketing that builds trust and delivers sales.
From robotic milking systems to virtual reality tours, today’s consumers are hungry for transparency, technology and purpose. This gaming-inspired digital campaign delivered all three—connecting a new generation of consumers with the passion and innovation behind every glass of milk.
Your work matters. And thanks to your support, Dairy MAX is making sure more people see that.
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Have questions about this campaign or other checkoff-funded initiatives? Reach out to your local Dairy MAX representative.
