This Is Maple Hill: How This Family Owned Dairy Brand Is Taking 100% Grass-Fed To The Next Level

Maple Hill Creamery's new packaging is making its way on store shelves this month, along with a brand-new website and a ThisIsMapleHill social media campaign to provide deeper education on the benefits of 100% grass-fed dairy, highlighting the dedicated farmers who are the backbone of Maple Hill Creamery's success.

Maple Hill Creamery started out in 2009 as a small New York State dairy selling their 100% grass-fed, organic yogurt from a tiny storefront less than a half-mile from founding farmer Tim Joseph's farm. Tim began making yogurt for his family on his kitchen stove from milk from his own 100% grass-fed herd, and knew he'd created a unique product: an organic, 100% grass-fed whole milk, cream on top style yogurt with little added sugar, no artificial flavors, coloring, gums, or thickeners.

Fast forward to 2016, and the Maple Hill Milkshed has grown to include over 70 New York State family farms, added Greek, Kefir and Drinkable Yogurts, as well as Raw Milk Cheeses to the product lineup in addition to the original Cream On Top style yogurt, and can be found nationwide in over in over 6,000 retailers, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Walmart, Safeway, Sprouts, and Stop & Shop.

While this growth is impressive, the dairy category is competitive. The original, handcrafted-looking original packaging didn't resonate with conventional yogurt consumers at shelf. In fact, based on the packaging, shoppers said they thought the yogurt would taste "boring", "plain" or, "taste like grass." However, after these same people tasted Maple Hill Creamery yogurt, their opinions changed to, "oh, that's really good", "it tastes fresh, creamy, not too sweet" and "I love it."

"We quickly realized we did not have a product issue, but we did have a packaging emergency," said founding farmer and CEOTim Joseph. "We also learned that as a company we have to continually do more to educate people on what 100% grass-fed dairy means, and why it is better for the cows, consumers, the farmers and the land."

#ThisIsMapleHill
Maple Hill Creamery's new packaging is making its way on store shelves this month, along with a brand-new website and a ThisIsMapleHill social media campaign to provide deeper education on the benefits of 100% grass-fed dairy, highlighting the dedicated farmers who are the backbone of Maple Hill Creamery's success.

Maple Hill Creamery's new look elevates the 100% grass-fed message, while creating appetite appeal and stronger shelf presence, so the packaging more closely aligns with the artisanal quality and distinctiveness of the product line.

"When we launched Maple Hill Creamery in 2009, we knew we had an incredibly fresh and distinctive product that was different from any other yogurt, and in just a few years we became one of the fastest-growing dairy brands in the natural channel," saidTim Joseph. "Our mission now is to bring 100% grass-fed dairy to a broader market of consumers. As we grow our presence at retailers both in the natural and conventional channels, we needed to evolve our packaging to be competitive on-shelf, yet remain true to our heritage and mission."

Some distinctive changes on the new packaging include:

• A simplified and cleaner company logo. The original Maple Hill Tree still appears on the container, but not as prominently.
• Bolder 100% grass-fed and product messaging (e.g., no added color, thickeners or gums, excess sugar or 'natural' flavor, just 100% real ingredients.)
• Original flavor icon artwork. For example, Wild Blueberry products will depict a fresh blueberry nesting into a bed of meadow grasses, with the flavor name and other copy highlights in blue type. Maple flavor features a maple leaf and syrup nesting in grass with accents of maple colored text.

"The current packaging did not do justice to the quality of the product inside the cup. Our goal with the redesign was to change consumers' whole perception of the brand, and to be bold in our 100% grass-fed dairy differentiation," said Josh White, Principal, OffWhite Co., Maple Hill's design and branding agency.

Source: Maple Hill Creamery

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