[Editor’s Note: It’s a calculated risk for companies to create campaigns that spoof. For example, our busy staff, late in the afternoon, wasn’t sure whether or not a release from Tillamook County Creamery, the Oregon-based dairy company, was serious. Our previous foray with Tillamook was all business: actor Eva Longoria raising awareness about farming. This new press release, announcing the Partnership for Creamier Ice Cream, seemed legit. The tagline, “Putting the cream back in Ice Cream,” should have tipped us.
Yet, doubt resurfaced with mention of a PSA (public service announcement) series. Another apparently serious facet: the release included text smacking of government regulation, rarely a laughing matter. Specifically, how much cream is required for a product to be called ice cream by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Those that fall short require a ‘frozen dairy dessert’ label.
A line in the material that read “Friends don’t let friends eat frozen dairy dessert” softened our cognition.
On the other hand, the Partnership even had a president and the release quoted an ice cream scientist, Anna Ingoglia. This had to be serious. Well, not exactly.
We were certain we’d been had when Partnership ‘President’ Baddie Winkle, 92-years young, 3.5 million followers on Instagram, was quoted in the release: "When you get to be my age, you earn the right to tell it like it is…I like my ice cream creamy-as-all get out…because you don't make it to 92 by eating a bunch of 'ice air'." The kicker, though, was that the release mentioned Tillamook and Baddie want “consumers [to] understand that cream is king queen when it comes to selecting an ice cream.”
Later, we were sure Tillamook was spoofing PSAs. To raise awareness about the amount of cream in its ice cream, Tillamook’s month-long, fully integrated campaign urged consumers to 'join the partnership.' They’d download partnership materials, such as posters and videos, and share them with friends on social. More than 50K joined; about half signed up for Tillamook’s email.
We had to know more. So, we gladly accepted three gallons of ice cream Tillamook offered. (PR pros know it’s important to ‘absorb’ as much information as possible before embarking on a project.)
And since president Winkle’s schedule was creamed, er, crammed with appointments all month, we asked her top advisors, Kate Boltin, Tillamook’s director, marketing strategy and brand communications, and Bridget Ryan, its influencer & PR lead, to explain how the brand chose Baddie and why it’s using satire for its storytelling.]
PRNEWS: How did you come up with the idea for a faux PSA and partnership?
Kate Boltin: It starts with a few questions: What are we trying to say? And how are we going to say it? There was a nugget of an idea: Who are the ice cream experts? Then we said, ‘Who’s unexpected but still true?’ And then the PSA approach came and we began all the research about what people think about when they think of ice cream.
PRN: Tell us more about the idea process. How long did it take, and was it done virtually, during COVID-19?
Boltin: Yes, all virtually. And we work on a six- to seven-month creative period.
I always like to tell the team that the creative process is very iterative. It takes left turns and right turns. It’s not build, build, build and all of a sudden, ‘Great, we have this amazing campaign.’ One domino falls and then another and another. And then Baddie came on board and that led to other ideas, like exploring Baddie’s world. You start with a kernel of an idea and you “yes and” it and you end up with something really amazing.
PRN: Of all the ways you could have raised awareness of the ice cream’s cream content, why Baddie? Why a PSA satire?
Boltin: Again, it starts with thinking about what is the story we’re trying to tell. What are we trying to tell the consumer? When they go to the grocery store and see a sea of ice cream on the shelf, what we want them to know about Tillamook is that we pack our ice cream with slightly more cream than is required by FDA standards in order to be considered ice cream. That’s the story we’re trying to tell.
PRN: And then?
Boltin: The question is, ‘What’s the most interesting and dynamic way to land that thought?’ How do we get people to realize ‘A lot of what you can get out there over-indexes on air?’ So, we said, ‘OK, who are the experts who can communicate this?’
If we, as a brand, are telling people [about cream], it might not be that interesting. So, we have to find someone who’s an 'expert' in this space and who also is engaging.
PRN: OK, so Baddie Winkle.
Boltin: She has a pretty robust following, despite her age. As avid followers of everything on social, we knew that she’s bold, shoots from the hip, speaks her mind and makes really fun content. She aligns well with Tillamook. We’re a brand that’s been around for more than 110 years and we’re starting to settle into ourselves. So, being bold, being honest, these were things we want to be known for as well.
Bridget Ryan: She’s done other brand partnerships with beverage brands and some makeup brands. Everything she’s done has played into her colorful and bold personality. A lot of the time those are the sorts of brands that have been attracted to her as well.
PRN: So, what qualifies Baddie?
Boltin: One interesting thing we learned about Baddie is that she grew up in Kentucky making ice cream with her family. So, there’s this bold, amazing woman who made ice cream as a kid. We felt, who better to pontificate about the benefits of creamy ice cream than Baddie Winkle?
PRN: How did you find out about Baddie’s ice cream history?
Boltin: It was one of the first things she told us when we got on the phone with her. That put us over the edge with her.
Ryan: As someone who’s made ice cream, she knows what’s supposed to be there and what's not supposed to be there. So, she was very excited about our positioning.
PRN: When you vet an influencer, what do you look at? Were you concerned that she might have been associated with another ice cream brand?
Boltin: Yes, we look at [influencers’] backgrounds. Baddie hadn’t done anything with ice cream previously. And she’s not one of those influencers who’s oversaturated with sponsorships. She works with products that meet her values. So, once she joined us we felt, ‘OK, Baddie Winkle is giving us her seal of approval, we must be doing something right.’
PRN: About that, how does it work between influencers and brands? Is it like the beginning of a boxing match, when each side is feeling out the other?
Boltin: Yes. We’re a growing brand, not yet a household name. So, we have to go in and tell our story. And remind people that we have this very longstanding equity of doing right by our food. So, shorthand, if there’s something that will make things better for the consumer, we’re going to do it. Even if it’s hard and lowers our margins a bit. We’re a farmer-owned co-op, so that value comes through.
When we approach people to work with us, we lead with that story, because we want people to understand that we are led by our values and we hope that aligns with their values.
PRN: When so many influencers are teens or young people, was there pushback on having a 92-year-old influencer represent you? It’s an ageist thing to say, and we apologize, but she’s almost as old as Tillamook (110 years old).
Boltin: What’s funny is that [her age] was not a question that came up. We, like many businesses, are on a journey, trying to make sure we’re partnering with diverse voices. And, as you said, age should not make a difference. We felt there was authenticity in her message and that was the most important thing to us.
PRN: And this partnership includes people of all ages, right?
Boltin: Yes. Though Baddie is the face of the partnership, we brought in [and paid] many micro-influencers. We gave them the partnership materials and asked how they’d get out the message. There were some on TikTok and other platforms that were very creative and their messaging was on point.
PRN: Tillamook worked a bit ago with Eva Longoria, a macro-influencer. Is it fair to say Baddie is on the other end of the spectrum?
Boltin: Yes. There are different reasons to work with different influencers, depending on what we’re trying to achieve. Authenticity of message is most important. And remember, Eva had an authentic connection to the message we worked with her on. So, authentic connections are what we lead with because we think consumers expect from brands transparency and authenticity. Consumers are savvy. They know when they’re being sold to. The moment we diverge from that, and do something that doesn’t feel real, we know we’ll be called out. So, that’s why we emphasize a genuine connection to the message.
PRN: Eva Longoria’s campaign was serious. This one, as you said, is humorous and dry. Is humor the way to go or will Tillamook perhaps use both at different times?
Boltin: Yes, it’s a mix of serious and fun. We feel our brand is dynamic and there are a lot of ways we can go. We are very intentional in trying to be diverse in the way we show up. And because we’re values-driven, we can tell stories in both serious and humorous ways.