United Dairymen

Since the early 1970s, dairy consumption in America has been steadily declining. Farms have been shutting down, selling their land or filing for bankruptcy and the industry as a whole has seen consolidation across the board. Even though the Southwest hasn’t been immune to these challenges, United Dairymen of Arizona saw it as an opportunity. With state-of-the-art processing facilities operated under industry-leading certification standards, they knew their co-op was positioned to weather the storm and thrive in an ever-changing global marketplace.

The UDA co-op was a budding industry leader operating under the good old-fashioned modesty you’d expect from a group of family farmers. But for an organization looking to build industry thought leadership and significantly grow their global distribution, their modesty was a big problem. We were tasked with helping UDA define their company values, find their brand’s personality, and create a multi-layered visual identity that would tell the organization’s authentic story. We also had to give them guidelines for creating first-rate content, and set them up for unprecedented future growth.

The rebrand centered on UDA’s chief value of “quality” which guided their entire operation. From their values, traits and brand story, the tagline “united in excellence” was born. This connected their farms, processing plant, and products while tying into their name and rich history. It also set the stage for a strong new visual identity that was crafted from UDA’s rich history, geographical footprint, and unwavering dedication to producing the highest-quality products possible. Their new look is unmistakably Arizona while centered on the core of everything they do: milk.

Early research conducted amongst employees, member farms, and customers showed an overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic view of the brand’s new identity. The rebrand gave the company principles that guided their selection of key new team members, including hiring just the fifth CEO in six decades. It sets the stage for their future plans of producing, packaging, and distributing proprietary dairy products across the planet and solidifying their place as leaders in the dairy industry.