Cheddar and mozzarella get all the glory, while cottage cheese – lumpy, runny – gets no respect. At the same time, its position as a source of healthy nutrition has been steadily usurped by yogurt over the past decade or so.
Now, Gay Lea Foods is attempting to change consumer perception of cottage cheese from a good-for-you food to a good-with-anything food in a new out-of-home and print campaign for its category-leading Nordica brand.
Created by Toronto’s Agency 59, the six-week “Anything Goes” campaign is the agency’s first for Gay Lea – a cooperative comprised of more than 1,200 Ontario dairy farmers established in 1958 – since winning the account earlier this year.
The billboard ads show Nordica cottage cheese being used as everything from a condiment on hamburgers to cake icing and even covered with chocolate sauce, all accompanied by a product shot and the “Anything Goes” tag.
A series of poster ads, meanwhile, are intended to speak to females who are either approaching 40 or in their early 40s, and are comfortable with their place in life. Dubbed as “healthy wanna-bes,” the target has reached a point where they want to eat healthier food, but on their own terms, said Tina Fernandez, vice-president, director of strategy for Agency 59.
“The one who told you you couldn’t write ate his words,” reads one poster ad. “The one who reminded you about the glass ceiling ate crow. The one who said you couldn’t keep up ate your dust. We’re sure as hell not going to tell you how to eat this.”
According to the Canadian Dairy Information Centre, Canada produced 26,020 kilograms of cottage cheese in 2010, down from the 29,887 kilograms produced in 2007. Production had risen steadily between 2003 and 2007.
“When we were first presented with cottage cheese we just kind of sat around for a couple of days thinking ‘Wow, what do you do with that?’ said Fernandez. “When we dove into it, [we found] that it really is polarizing: you love it or you hate it.
“What started to get us excited was the idea of redefining cottage cheese.”
Previous campaigns in the category have traditionally focused on the health and nutritional benefits offered by cottage cheese, but Agency 59’s research indicated that non-users of cottage cheese already have strong opinions about which products offer those benefits and no campaign was likely to change their mind.
“We thought ‘If we can’t move in that way, there’s got to be something bigger in order to create that connection with the target,’” said Fernandez. “It was nice to learn that there is opportunity if we serve it up differently.”
The media mix, said Fernandez, is intended to give the Nordica brand “instant awareness.” Media for the campaign was handled by Toronto-based Bang Media.
