Executive summary

The U.S. dairy industry was facing negative conversations and misinformation about its product on social media. Dairy Management, Inc. (DMI), the farmer-funded marketing arm for the U.S. dairy industry, sought to counter harmful messaging, unite the dairy industry with a consistent voice, and engage consumers in a positive way about the benefits of dairy. To help reach their goals, they partnered with the global communications firm, Edelman, and onboarded Khoros Marketing and Khoros Care.

DMI knew they would have to take back control of the dairy narrative if they hoped to counter harmful misinformation. To ensure their positive messaging reached consumers, DMI established an on-site newsroom that created content based on conversations and topics important to consumers and built stronger connections with their audience. Before they partnered with Khoros, surfacing the topics that mattered to the DMI audience was taxing and imprecise. DMI leveraged Khoros Marketing to gain real-time insight into trending topics and conversations, ensuring DMI’s content was timely and relevant. DMI also onboarded Khoros Care to build deeper connections through meaningful conversations with their audience and the broader social community.

DMI’s partnership with Khoros paid off: they were able to identify The Onion as a key media partner, and DMI reached more than 24 million people through a partnership with the satirical media brand. Khoros also helped DMI and 65 dairy partners amplify their Udder Truth campaign, which was created to debunk dairy myths that had previously dominated the conversation about dairy. With Khoros, DMI and the dairy industry as a whole has been able to shift the narrative about dairy back into their favor, winning back former customers and creating new, lasting relationships.

“Khoros helped us gain control of the dairy narrative. Now we can offer consumers the facts they’re looking for, which helps build lasting trust with them.”

— Mark Biegansk
VP of Digital, Edelman