A&A Farm Fresh Milk: Milking the lawn trend

Cows show models how to work the fabric.

LAHORE:

A&A Farm Fresh Milk has let their fashionably dressed cows loose on the streets of Lahore. These cows are now making frequent appearances in Sunday Times, making the posing aunties run for their lawn. Yes, as summer rolls in, with the season offering around 185 brands of lawn in the market, all the kitty aunties are trying to one up each other by sporting the best lawn.

Pursed lips painted to perfection, chin up straight, nose high up in the air, a new handbag very delicately stowed away on the nape of the elbow and the dupatta flying high in the air as the breeze ripples across the silk fabric. The heel of the stiletto kicks lightly into the ground and the model gives the camera a luring pose, entices the audience and we all go running. You would easily think this is the description of any commercial shoot for clothing. Well, you are wrong. This is the description of the latest sensation that has hit Lahore. Now you’re probably thinking “Oh God, no, not another lawn campaign”, but wrong again. This is the ad campaign for A&A Farm Fresh Milk which has taken a very humorous and intelligent take on this craze for lawn. It seems as if the only way to get through to housewives is lawn and therefore even milk companies have started dressing up their cows in lawn in order to attract customers.

“We wanted something different with this campaign, we wanted to grab the attention of the public,” says Ali Khan Tareen, CEO JK Dairies. “Every week, I would cross Main Boulevard and there would be a new campaign for lawn and these generic streamers eventually turned into a kaleidoscopic blur. That is when I thought how funny it would be to take a twisted take on this lawn craze to make a statement.” Eventually Tareen pitched his idea to the advertising agency Publicis, who in turn loved the idea and set out to work on it.

“Our team was extremely enthusiastic about this campaign because it was something different and we knew that if executed properly it would be a great success,” says Faarya Niaz, Business Executive Publicis.“However, getting the animation downright was the hardest challenge we had to face. The cow had to be very ladylike and pretty. The task was harder than we thought but eventually we made perfectly.”

A&A Farm Fresh Milk started off in 2007 but it was never officially launched in the market. When Ali Khan Tareen returned from college, he took greater interest in this venture and wanted to launch the product with a bang in the market. “Usually you see generic campaigns for milk that revolve around a mother and her child,” continues Tareen. “We wanted it to be different and because this campaign was to introduce the product formally, the humour element really worked. I have seen cars slowing down and everyone looking at the streamers and taking pictures. That, for me, is a successful campaign.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2012.