eFlicksMedia LAUNCHES MISSION-DRIVEN AD CAMPAIGNS FOR STONYFIELD FARM YOGURT AND THE COMPUTER BOWL.ORG.

Boston, MA—October 2000Stonyfield Farm has launched a national print and radio campaign that is out to change the world, through yogurt. Featuring celebrities who are “doers” in environmental activism, the caption in the ads read “I do.” The “I do” theme affirms the doer’s commitment to environmental issues and companies like Stonyfield Farm who care.

The ads are running in Martha Stewart Living, House and Garden, Cooking Light, Oprah Magazine, Parenting Magazine, Family Life, In Style, Self, Gourmet, Natural Health and Utne Reader.

The campaign was created by Boston-based eFlicksMedia that specializes in passion branding and pushing the limits of new media channels. “I think corporate America is the world’s most powerful tool for changing the attitude toward the environment, and other critical issues” said Martha Shaw, Creative Director and Founder of eFlicksMedia. “Ultimately consumer product selection is about casting our votes at the check-out register for the kind of world we want” Shaw added. “Research shows a strong, growing sector of the population who wants to purchase products from companies with corporate practices they feel good about.”

Another campaign just launched by eFlicksMedia is designed to break down the digital divide through TheComputerBowl.org, an initiative of The Museum of Science in Boston and The Computer Museum History Center in Silicon Valley. The ads for “the nerdiest philanthropy in the world” invite ‘nerds’, ‘geeks”, whiz kids and hi-tech billionaires everywhere to compete in The Computer Bowl’s eBrainGame of techno-trivia, or to enter The Business Plan Competition.

“Show the world why you weren’t dating in high school.” reads the ad inviting nerds to prove their techno-smarts by competing in the online techno-trivia game. “They used to call you a nerd. Now they call you for capital.” invites entrepreneurs to take a chance at having their pre-IPO Business Plans given serious consideration by The Computer Bowl’s Entrepreneurial Advisory Board comprised of luminary venture capital firms.

Ads are running pro-bono in Fortune Magazine, PC Magazine, Computer World, CIO, Yahoo Internet Life, Interactive Week, Network World, Internet Week, Information Week, Internet Week, Network Computing, InfoWorld, Smart Business, Technology Review, and Business 2.0. In addition, AOL will run 40 million impressions of the ads.

“It’s a remarkable team effort” said Bruce McKinnon, Project Manager of The Computer Bowl at The Museum of Science. “Internet-rich professionals are embracing the cause. Everybody’s been lending a hand, from content to media to sponsorship. You never know who the next internet genius will be. It’s leveling the playing field.” Martha Shaw added, “Philanthropy has to go hi-tech. Taking The Computer Bowl online was a perfect place to exercise the muscle of new media.”

Other key projects include PovertyFighters.com, a campaign to support a website dedicated to sending short-term micro-loans to could-be entrepreneurs in starving countries, who are helping their communities climb out of poverty.

eFlicksMedia is a dedicated group of creative and new media professionals committed to influencing people’s purchasing decisions that make a difference. eFlicksMedia.com collabora-tions include profit and non-profit organizations, and includes other advertising agencies.

Contact list:

Mary Jo Viederman, Living Out Loud 603-228-2836

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September 6, 2000, Wednesday Business/Financial Desk

THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Stonyfield Farm tries to changethe world and sell some yogurt.

By Courtney Kane

PROTECTING the rain forest. Ending child labor. Preserving a healthy planet. They all sound like political promises made bycandidates. But they are also subjects touched upon in the first national campaign for Stonyfield Farm Inc. Yes, that's right, thecompany that sells yogurt.

In this print campaign, there will be no beauty shots of delectable yogurt dripping off a spoon or any boasting about the brand'stasty flavors. Instead, the campaign takes on a more serious tone and centers on celebrities who are advocates of environmentalcauses or other projects, using them as the link between commendable causes and Stonyfield's own goal to change the world.

Since the company was started 17 years ago, its dual mission has been to sell organic yogurt, while at the same time promotingsocial and environmental causes.

''I have become confident that we're able to communicate our dual message,'' said Gary Hirshberg, the president and chiefexecutive of Stonyfield Farm, based in Londonderry, N.H. ''When you put your personality out there through the medium ofadvertising, it can work.''

Stonyfield Farm and other companies like Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc. and Body Shop International P.L.C. have beenembracing environmental themes or offering to help organizations in a tactic known as cause-related marketing, which allowsthem to sell their products while enhancing their appeal to consumers.

The motivation for the new campaign came from a concept created by Mr. Hirshberg that he calls ad-tivism, which combinesadvertising and activism. An ad formula was born and was then developed by eFlicksMedia in Boston into a campaign knownas ''I do.''

''What excited me was this possibility of being activists, but using advertising media and also taking advantage of the power ofcelebrity, which as we know, is sort of a dominant force in our culture,'' Mr. Hirshberg said.

At a minimum, the use of celebrities could ''stop people from turning the page,'' Mr. Hirshberg said. But it could ''potentially doa lot more than that,'' demonstrating, for example, ''that the folks whom we admire and revere in fact have other sides and in factuse their power and their fame to do good,'' he said.

One of the five print advertisements features Trudie Styler, an actress who is the wife of the musician Sting. A head shot of Ms.Styler is the main display set against a background of a rain forest. The ''I do'' headline is prominent, accompanied bydescriptions of what she is ''committed to'' like: ''Protecting the rain forest and the people who live there. A sustainableenvironment. Healthy living through mind, body and soul. Organic gardening. Organic Luscious Lemon Yogurt. My family.Businesses run by people who care.''

Another ad features Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, who is described as an author and activist. Her commitments are listed as:''Human rights defenders. Stopping child labor. People who speak truth to power. A healthy planet for all children. YoSqueezeyogurts for kids. Companies that take a stand.''

The three other ads in the campaign feature Ken Burns, the filmmaker and historian; Rick Bayless, a restaurateur; and Mr.Hirshberg himself. In each of the ads, the product is placed strategically at the bottom of the ad accompanied by the tagline,''Stonyfield Farm. Yogurt on a mission.'' The small print on the bottom states that no fee was paid to the subjects and that acontribution was made to their nonprofit environmental causes.

''One of the things that immediately caused these activists to jump on board is that Stonyfield Farm was not paying them,'' Mr.Hirshberg said. ''Our proposition to the talent has been, 'How would you like to use your name, your activism and yourpositions to help put some money into causes you and we believe in?' So, frankly a number of nonprofits have already seen thisas an opportunity to solicit their folks.''

The campaign, with billings estimated at $2 million, began running in the September issues of magazines including CookingLight, Gourmet, House & Garden, Parenting, Martha Stewart Living and Utne Reader. The ads will run until the holidays andresume later with another batch of celebrities. As the campaign grows, the target audience will also broaden. Mr. Hirshberg saidthat the company was also thinking about radio ads.

Selling yogurt with a cause has proved to be profitable. Over the last two and a half years, Stonyfield Farm has grown frombeing a regional brand to a national player, ranking No. 5, with 3.1 percent of the $1.95 billion national yogurt market.Stonyfield, with sales at $60.7 million, competes with major brands like Yoplait, the leader, which has 31.5 percent of themarket, with sales of $614.2 million; Dannon, with 27.7 percent of the market and sales at $540 million; Breyers, with 8.2percent and $159 million; and Colombo, with 4.1 percent and $80.4 million in sales.

Just to get to that point, the company has relied greatly on word-of-mouth guerrilla marketing tactics that include passing out

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yogurt to consumers and asking pediatricians to spread the word on the product's nutritional benefits.

The company has made inroads in luring both new customers and those of its rivals through efforts like its yogurt lidcampaign, which carries ''call to action'' messages for everything from organic farming to gun control. Its charitable donations,which are 10 percent of its profits, go to groups like Share Our Strength, the antipoverty and hunger organization, and the JaneGoodall Institute, which promotes wildlife research and preservation.

''When you feel good about choosing a product that is actually advancing the environment, then you develop a stronger loyaltythan you'd ever develop from a company that's just saying, 'Hey, we just got a new flavor,' '' said Martha Shaw, the president andcreative director at eFlicks.

The national campaign is not the first advertising effort for the company. A year ago, it started a conventional product andbrand-building effort in some regions created by Lynch Jarvis Jones in Minneapolis.

''I would have to say the results were mixed at best,'' Mr. Hirshberg said. ''We did not see that spike that one likes to see, and soas an advertising skeptic, I just felt that added more fuel to my fire that your message has to be perfect and your medium has tobe perfect, and I don't think we got either right.''

''If I hadn't come up the ad-tivism idea, I doubt we would be doing a national campaign,'' Mr. Hirshberg added. ''My hope is thatthe ad-tivism campaign will have legs. I feel it absolutely represents us, whether it sells more yogurt is the question.''

Organizations mentioned in this article:Stonyfield Farms Inc

Related Terms:Dairy Products; Yogurt; Environment

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