Gen Z is quickly becoming one of the most important consumer groups, and reaching them requires content that feels natural, engaging and relevant to their daily lives. For Dairy MAX, that means stepping into spaces where younger audiences already spend time.
Dairy MAX is focused on ensuring your checkoff investment reaches the next generation of consumers in ways that are meaningful and measurable. As media habits continue to shift, younger audiences are spending less time with traditional advertising and more time in digital and interactive environments.
With billions of hours spent in immersive digital worlds each year, gaming platforms offer a powerful opportunity to connect with the next generation in a way that builds familiarity, trust and long-term demand for dairy. Through our Level Unlocked strategy, Dairy MAX integrates dairy into gameplay experiences and extends those moments through targeted social media channels.
Why Gaming Matters for Dairy Marketing
Gen Z and Gen Alpha are spending more time in digital spaces that blend entertainment, creativity and social interaction. Gaming platforms like Fortnite have become a central part of how younger audiences connect and spend time together.
The scale of gaming makes it an important space for dairy to show up:
- 85% of U.S. teens play video games
- Fortnite has more than 230 million active monthly players
- Gen Z gamers average more than seven hours of gameplay per week
These numbers highlight how deeply gaming is embedded in youth culture. For dairy, that creates an opportunity to be present in moments that influence preferences and, over time, purchasing decisions.
Traditional advertising often doesn’t resonate in these spaces, because, well, they’re just that—ads, and they don’t feel authentic to this audience. Instead, brands must become part of the experience.
That is the strategy behind Level Unlocked: embedding dairy naturally into gameplay so it becomes part of how players experience the game, not something interrupting it.
This approach helps Dairy MAX build positive associations with dairy in a way that feels authentic and memorable, helping dairy feel relevant with younger consumers and supporting long-term demand.
How Dairy MAX Uses Fortnite to Reach Gen Z
Dairy MAX entered gaming through Farm Tycoon, a custom Fortnite world designed to introduce players to the farm and the role dairy plays in food production.
Players plant, harvest and manage resources while interacting with educational dairy content in a way that feels natural to gameplay. This experience creates a connection between agriculture and everyday life that resonates with younger audiences.
Building on that success, Dairy MAX launched a second Fortnite world in July 2025: Diner Tycoon.
This expansion brings the dairy story full circle. After learning where food comes from on the farm, players move into a diner setting where they prepare meals and see how dairy shows up in everyday food experiences. Dairy is woven throughout gameplay, from menu items to in-game orders, reinforcing its role in daily life.
By using Fortnite as a platform, Dairy MAX meets Gen Z and Gen Alpha in a space they already enjoy, using an experience that is entertaining first while still building awareness and relevance for dairy.
Diner Tycoon Results and Impact
Results from Diner Tycoon in 2025 demonstrate the strength of this approach, with engagement continuing to grow over time:
- Total plays: 725,700
- Total impressions: 85.2 million
- In-game orders served with dairy: 34 million
- Total minutes played: 13.5 million
- Dairy fact engagement: 516,000
The experience also gained immediate traction, showcasing just how well the game resonated with our target audience:
- No. 1 top-rated in the U.S. during launch weekend
- No. 1 top-rated globally during launch weekend
- Recognized with a Shorty Impact Award for gamification — Farm to Fork
These results show both reach and meaningful engagement. Players are not just seeing dairy, they are interacting with it, making choices around it and experiencing it as part of gameplay.
That level of interaction builds familiarity and positive perception over time, supporting future demand.
Fortnite Challenges & Extended Reach
To extend impact beyond the game, Dairy MAX partnered with groups like FCHQ and Dilly Media to bring Farm Tycoon and Diner Tycoon into the broader Fortnite creator ecosystem.
These partnerships encouraged creators to feature the game, build custom challenges and drive continued participation through incentives.
This keeps players coming back, increases repeat gameplay and reinforces dairy’s presence over time. Instead of a one-time interaction, dairy becomes part of an ongoing experience — showing up repeatedly as players engage and share content.
Always-On Digital Strategy
While the Fortnite creates immersive experiences, Dairy MAX’s strategy continues beyond gameplay.
To stay connected with younger audiences, Level Unlocked launched TikTok and YouTube in July 2025. These platforms provide a consistent way to build community, share content and maintain momentum.
Since launching, these channels have delivered:
- 18.7 million total views
- 1.3 million engagements (i.e., likes, comments, shares)
Engagement continues to grow as new posts and gameplay moments are added, keeping dairy visible in spaces where young audiences already spend time.
Dairy MAX also partners with influencers and popular Fortnite streamers, like ExtraEmily, Frodan, HeadShotChick to expand reach and build authenticity. Collaborations with Fortnite streamers and social creators help bring fresh energy to the brand and connect with audiences in a relatable way.
These influencers share custom content and promote their favorite dairy foods and beverages through personal Instacart links. Players and viewers can click through to Instacart to shop for real dairy foods like milk, cheese and yogurt featured in livestreams of influencers playing the game, allowing us to uniquely tie both long-term trust and short-term sales together.
Why This Matters for Dairy Farmers
For dairy farmers, this work is about more than impressions, gameplay or social media views. It is about building demand for the future.
Younger consumers are forming habits right now — deciding what they eat, what they value and what products they choose. If dairy is not part of those decisions early, it becomes harder to earn a place later.
Through gaming and digital engagement, Dairy MAX is:
- Keeping dairy visible in modern culture
- Building positive associations with younger audiences
- Creating familiarity that can influence future purchasing decisions
This is long-term demand building.
As Dairy MAX continues to evolve its approach, gaming and digital engagement will remain key tools for reaching the next generation. By combining immersive experiences, social content and strategic partnerships, this work creates multiple touchpoints that keep dairy relevant in a rapidly changing media landscape.
It ensures your investment is not only reaching today’s consumers but helping shape the future of dairy demand.
Quick Links & Resources
- Play the Fortnite Games →
- Diner Tycoon Map Code: 9763-5334-4753
- Farm Tycoon Map Code: 1246-7765-8191
- Shop the Instacart Collection → Instacart Dairy Page
- Follow Us Online → @LevelUnlockedgg on TikTok and YouTube
