• by Larissa Faw , May 20, 2016

Organic Valley is using one of its real-life dairy farmers Gerrit van Tol to illustrate how its creamers are "the secret to a great cup of coffee."

Developed with agency Humanaut, the concept chronicles van Tol’s journey from his farm in La Center, Washington to New York City as he shows his fish-out-of-water personality during a visit to a pop-up coffee shop in a trendy NYC neighborhood. 

This long-form web video is meant to spoof the artisanal maker videos that have become popular on the web. In this film, he expresses amazement at city life, drinks milk straight from a cow's udder, and discusses the various grass seeds his cows eat. The spot ends with the tagline that Organic Valley is the world's best coffee company, "we just don't make coffee."  

There are edited versions of the video that run on Hulu, A&E, CBS Online, NPR, as well as YouTube. The campaign also appears via banner ads on Organic Life and across social media, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.  

While the pop-up shop served as the background for the video, it also was an experiential event that hosted more than 600 guests during the weekend of April 16-17. Humanaut partnered with the Bindery and Pink Sparrow to execute the production and development of the retail space.  

“New York City is one of the cooperative’s strongest markets,” stated Tripp Hughes, director of brand management, Organic Valley. “So, New Yorkers appreciate the rich and delicious half & half that comes from our family farms and the organic cows that graze there on green pastures." 

Humanaut has worked with the Wisconsin-based co-op for a little more than a year. In March 2016, the agency was named AOR.