It’s hard to stand out in today’s media. Consumers have thousands of different messages streaming to them at any given time. That’s especially true now as the global pandemic has sent consumers online in new ways.

So how can we break through with our own message? Turns out, all you need is some real ingredients, real information and real personality!

Last year, we worked alongside our checkoff partners MilkPEP to secure a partnership with a chef.

Our partner, Chef Jason Alley, is a well-known Richmond, Virginia restaurateur behind some of Richmond’s most popular spots.

We asked Jason to create a pair of delicious recipes for us with Maola Milk as the cornerstone. He didn’t disappoint. If you haven’t tried them yet, we’ve included them at the bottom of this post.

We also knew we needed to show consumers why milk is one of the purest items on their grocery shelves. And there was no better way to do that than to visit a member. Luckily, we found a member farm willing to host Chef Jason: J-Team Dairy in Culpeper, Virginia.

When we first reached out to the farm’s herdsperson – Molly McWilliams – the first thing she said was “I can’t cook!” But little did she know, that was – excuse the pun – a perfect recipe to educate our consumers. We knew we’d be able to show both Molly and Jason as they learned about each other’s work. And that turned out to be the key: to see real people learning about how real ingredients land on our tables. And then how to use them in real good dishes.

Not only was the food delicious, but so were the results. The series of social media posts in the week leading up to Christmas were had close to 13,000 impressions. They were some of the biggest posts in the history of the Maola social media channels.

We know consumers get mixed messaging sometimes. But special projects like these helps show the truth of what happens on our farms. Things like family, fun and good food. Consumers can trust our member-owners are doing the right thing every day to get quality milk to them and their own families. And that will always be what’s real.