From Football Field to Dairy Show Ring: Translating NFL Marketing Prowess into Tanbark Success

Discover how the dairy cattle show ring can adopt marketing strategies from the NFL. These proven tactics can boost your show’s visibility and engagement.

In many parts of the world, and especially in North America, the dairy cattle show ring—which for generations has served as a central hub for dairy farmers to showcase their herds—has started to witness a decline in interest. Despite its rich traditions and vibrant appeal, the dairy cattle show ring nowadays remains a niche environment, often overlooked by most dairy producers. Caught in a rapidly changing agribusiness landscape, the dairy cattle show ring faces the challenge of retaining its relevance and charm, a challenge that needs to be addressed urgently.

To attract new audiences, boost engagement, and elevate the prominence of dairy cattle shows, the industry can draw inspiration from an unlikely source—the National Football League (NFL). Renowned for transforming football into a cultural phenomenon in the United States, the NFL has not just mastered, but revolutionized the art of engaging broad audiences and fostering loyalty among its fanbase. With tailored strategies and methods, the dairy cattle show ring can adopt similar strategies to revitalize its profile and success, with the confidence that these strategies have been proven to work.

The NFL, with its powerful marketing and promotion strategies, can serve as a rich source of inspiration for the dairy cattle show ring. The aim is not just to mimic the NFL’s success, but to seize the opportunities that lie within its traditions and heritage and then boost engagement and visibility, just like the NFL has managed to do with football. By adopting these strategies, the dairy cattle show ring cannot only regain its lost glory but also open up new avenues for growth and success.

In this article, we will delve into six integral strategies that the NFL employs for its success—building a strong brand identity, engaging storytelling, high-quality production and presentation, fan engagement and merchandise, digital and social media strategy, community outreach and inclusion. We will examine each of these strategies in the context of the NFL, explore how they can be adapted for dairy cattle shows, and provide an actionable plan to bring about change.

1. Building a Strong Brand Identity

Within the NFL, the concept of brand identity is channeled through three essential entities – the individual teams, the league itself, and its players. Let’s break this down:

NFL Strategy

Team Branding
Every NFL team has a distinct identity, including a unique color scheme and logo. These are easily recognizable by fans and are often associated with specific values, images, and cultures. This clearly marked identity helps instill a sense of pride and belonging among the fans.
League Branding
The NFL has worked tirelessly to establish itself as a strong brand. It evokes excitement, symbolizes fierce competition, and is synonymous with high-quality entertainment. This branding strategy has helped the NFL resonate effectively with millions globally.
Development of Superstars
Superstars within a team can act as brand ambassadors, providing compelling stories for fans. The NFL uses this strategy by highlighting quarterbacks showcasing the team’s capabilities and reputation. Their fame can be used to promote initiatives like apparel lines, collaborations, and partnerships, enriching the overall marketing strategy.

Dairy Cattle Shows Application

The importance of branding is not unique to football or sports in general. Your dairy cattle business can take similar steps to ensure brand recognition and loyalty with directives for farms, breed associations, and shows.

Farm Branding
In addition to developing distinct logos, slogans, and color schemes that can help foster loyalty and recognition among buyers and fans, breeders could work at developing a user-friendly website or Facebook page that showcases your brand, animals, and services. Regularly sharing farm updates, events, and articles could also go a long way to building their brand.
Show Branding
Establish a consistent visual identity for each show, from the smallest county fair to the national championships. This consistency significantly helps in brand recognition, bringing a sense of familiarity and trust among the audience.
Develop Superstars
Transforming a dairy cow into a superstar isn’t an overnight task but a valuable effort. The likes of Shakira, Apple, and Veronica attest to the resonating impact this can have. The key to cultivating such superstars lies primarily in marketing and promotion. Tom Brady didn’t become a household name solely on his football skills; his brand was carefully shaped and promoted. Likewise, the dairy industry should work more rigorously to shine a light on stand-out dairy cows. These bovine superstars could have dedicated social media pages and feature in well-crafted, engaging narratives, video content, and even merchandise. This would galvanize existing enthusiasts and inspire the next generation of dairy consistency advocates, giving them icons to look up to and cultivate their passion in the show ring. It’s not just about making the cows famous; it’s about building an enduring legacy that continues to enrich the dairy show ring culture.

Action Plan

How can you make this happen? Start by developing branding guidelines for farms and associations. This ensures consistency while offering space for individuality. Then, provide marketing support for farms to build their brand identities under these guidelines. Lastly, standardize logos, color schemes, and promotional materials for shows, reinforcing their unique identities while maintaining a professional look and feel.

2. Engaging Storytelling

NFL Strategy

Player Narratives: You’re probably familiar with how the NFL serves up engaging content. It’s not just about the sport itself, they weave compelling narratives about the players. They delve into their backgrounds, celebrate their triumphs, and even share their challenges. It’s about humanizing the athletes and making them relatable to the fans.
Rivalries and Matchups: In addition to personal stories, the NFL also emphasizes historic rivalries and high-stakes matchups. This strategy works like a charm to increase viewer interest because it gives fans more things to discuss and anticipate in the game build-up.

Dairy Cattle Shows Application

Farmer Profiles: Like the NFL, dairy cattle shows can use engaging storytelling to capture their potential audience’s attention. This can be done by sharing compelling stories of dairy farmers–their journey to the show ring, their passion for cultivating quality dairy cattle, and the blood, sweat, and tears that go into their craft.
Breeding Success Stories: Highlight the success stories behind prize-winning cattle and the breeding programs that produced them. Moreover, they can highlight successful breeding stories, for instance, showing how great care, informed selection, and thorough grooming can produce prize-winning cattle. Showcasing these narratives spotlights the expertise that goes into cattle breeding, making it more engaging to the viewers.
Show Rivalries: Here’s another thing dairy shows can learn from the NFL: emphasizing rivalries. Just like how viewer interest spikes at the hint of a clash between two rival football teams, interest in cattle shows can be stoked by highlighting historical and emerging rivalries between farms or associations.

Action Plan

Now, what can you do to bring all these strategies to life? Consider creating video profiles and articles about individual farmers and their cattle. Develop pre-show content that showcases matchups between rival farms. And don’t forget to introduce commentators to provide engaging narratives before and after shows. All these can create a sense of connection and anticipation, classically serving up engaging storytelling to resonate with your audience.

3. High-Quality Production and Presentation

In professional sports, great emphasis is placed on presentation value. Let’s examine how the NFL does this and then discuss how dairy cattle shows could potentially adopt similar strategies.

NFL Strategy

Professional broadcasts are a cornerstone of the NFL’s marketing and promotional efforts. The NFL doesn’t hold back when it comes to investing in high-quality broadcasts. They employ expert commentary teams to bring games to life, multiple camera angles to catch all the action, and instant replays so fans won’t miss a thing.

Fans attending the games in person are treated to an equally engaging atmosphere. The in-stadium experience is enhanced with live commentary, large video screens to catch the on-field action, and various fan engagement activities.

Dairy Cattle Shows Application

If we think about ways to apply this in the dairy cattle show world, there are certainly avenues to explore. One consideration could be to further leverage commentators for show ring events. While the Bullvine was the first to offer live commentators during a whole show, a lot more could be done.

Moreover, similar to the NFL, dairy cattle shows could invest in professional live streaming. Being able to broadcast shows with high-quality video from multiple angles, with replays of key moments and expert commentary, could truly enhance the experience for those watching from afar.

Lastly, audience engagement is critical. Dairy cattle shows could utilize digital displays and interactive activities to engage on-site audiences. These could lead to a more immersive, memorable experience.

Action Plan

Areas to consider for the dairy cattle show world include recruiting and training knowledgeable commentators who are able to bring each show alive with insightful and engaging dialogue. Partnering with professional production teams to envisage and produce high-quality broadcast experiences is also a promising direction. Finally, through the installation of video screens directly in show rings, live commentary, and instant replay can be brought to the on-site audience.

4. Fan Engagement and Merchandise

NFL Strategy

Fan engagement is at the heart of the NFL’s marketing strategy. The league extensively uses fan clubs, dedicated zones where die-hard fans of a particular team can meet, engage, and share their love for their team. It’s a two-way street that strengthens the organization’s and its followers’ bond. Furthermore, the NFL’s revenue was significantly boosted by team-branded merchandise sales. From clothing to home decor, fans enthusiastically purchase items that signify affiliation to their favorite team.

Dairy Cattle Shows Application

A similar approach could be rewarding for the Dairy Cattle Show industry. Establishing fan clubs for different cattle breeds and major shows could ignite the love of fans for the dairy world, creating vibrant communities of enthusiasts. But the opportunity doesn’t end there. The industry could also consider offering merchandise with the branding of popular breeds, renowned farms, or major shows. Just like NFL fans, dairy cattle enthusiasts would undoubtedly appreciate opportunities to showcase their passion through merchandise.

Action Plan

The first step could be to collaborate with breed associations and major shows to develop a unique line of merchandise. The product line could range from clothing to accessories and home decor. The industry could also take lessons from the NFL by introducing loyalty programs or discounts for the fan club members. In addition, fan clubs could benefit from creating exclusive digital content or newsletters to deepen their engagement with the members. Such strategies foster loyalty and increase the sense of community amongst members, effectively turning them into brand ambassadors.

5. Digital and Social Media Strategy

NFL Strategy

The NFL has harnessed the power of digital and social media strategies to captivate and engage its diverse fans. Social media campaigns significantly influence the league’s marketing approach, offering a platform to spotlight players, promote teams, and hype upcoming games. Further, NFL’s Fantasy Football allows fans to stay interactively engaged throughout the season, forming their own virtual league and making the game even more interesting.

Dairy Cattle Shows Application

Similarly, Dairy Cattle Shows can adopt effective utilization of social media to elevate its marketing potential. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can be utilized to disseminate regular updates and stories directly from the show. Also, promotional content can be shared to increase visibility and spur conversations around the event. Besides social media, a leap to digital, for instance, through online competitions or fantasy-style breed ranking games, first introduced by the Bullvine over 10 years ago, could be further leveraged to add a new dimension to the show, attracting a broader audience base.

Action Plan

As the first step towards implementing this strategy, each show and association needs to develop a comprehensive social media marketing plan. This plan should include the best methods to share engaging content, encourage participation, and generate conversations around the show. Furthermore, it’s crucial to invite breeders and exhibitors to share their experiences and journey on social media platforms. For the digital aspect, creating online competitions or ranking games not only increases audience engagement but also offers a seamless digital experience.

6. Community Outreach and Inclusion

NFL Strategy

The NFL truly knows the importance of community engagement. Through impactful grassroots initiatives, the league runs a plethora of youth programs, coaching clinics, and community upliftment schemes. These actions not only promote the sport, but also foster a stronger bond with the audience. Moreover, the NFL emphasizes on creating a diverse and inclusive environment within the sport. Special programs are rolled out to make football more inclusive and accessible to everyone, regardless of their background.

Dairy Cattle Shows Application

Similarly, the dairy cattle show ring can learn a lot from this. One can further engage the youth by integrating and strengthening 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America) programs, fostering a renewed interest in agriculture and dairy cattle shows. It’s about bridging the gap and ensuring future generations continue to appreciate this unique aspect of rural culture. Furthermore, diversity and inclusion initiatives within dairy farming communities can go a long way in creating a more vibrant, inclusive, and welcoming environment for potential new exhibitors.

Action Plan

Time to take action: Partnering with local schools and youth organizations is an excellent step to promote dairy cattle showing and nurture a new generation of enthusiasts and potential exhibitors. Sponsoring scholarships and grants for underrepresented groups and proposing mentorship programs that connect experienced farmers with new passionate exhibitors can be an effective way to infuse a new life into Dairy Farming. Also, promoting diversity within the dairy farming community strengthens the sport and makes events more engaging and communal.

The Bottom Line

By assimilating valuable lessons from the NFL, it is possible for dairy cattle show promoters to amplify their events’ recognition, engagement, and revenue substantially. The aforementioned facets – robust branding, engaging storytelling, superior production quality, participant engagement, digital ventures, and involvement with local communities, can vastly widen the scope and diversity of the audience drawn toward dairy cattle shows. This, in turn, can transform these events into anticipated spectacles for both veterans and neophytes in the field. Hence, adopting a mindset open to learning from the NFL can trigger a transformative revolution in dairy cattle show marketing, leaving the show ring ablaze with anticipation, vigor, and success.