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Winning with Tradition: The Strategy Behind Oakfield Artisanal Cheeses
Oakfield Artisanal is a new brand within a well-established family business. Inspired by farm workers seeking authentic Mexican cheeses, Oakfield Corners Dairy began testing recipes for cheeses made using Oakfield Corners milk. Despite its relatively recent beginnings, the brand has won recognition in the Northeastern Dairy Product Innovation Competition and also won 3rd place in the Hispanic & Portuguese Style Cheeses – Cooking Hispanic Cheeses at the American Cheese Society.
The Challenge:
Oakfield Corners Dairy knew they had a good product, even before they began winning competitions and funding to develop their product and bring it to market.
They’d worked with their Hispanic team members to develop three types of authentic Mexican cheese:
Queso Fresco
A snack cheese, Queso Fresco is mild, creamy and slightly salty with a fresh authentic flavor. It is often eaten with crackers, on salad, or sprinkled on tacos.
Oaxaca
This hand-crafted cheese is wrapped in a ball and tied with a string. It is a labor-intensive endeavor that requires skill and experience. Oaxaca has a buttery, mild flavor that is similar to but richer than mozzarella. When fresh, the cheese squeaks when eaten, similar to a curd.
Chihuahua
A soft, pale yellow Mexican cheese often used in dishes like quesadillas or melted in casseroles. Chihuahua cheese is known for its smooth texture and mild, buttery flavor and is celebrated for its excellent melting qualities.
With these award-winning recipes in hand, Oakfield Corners Dairy approached Agency 29 to prepare to bring their cheese to market. We helped set the groundwork for marketplace adoption with a brand strategy, naming, and visual development of the brand.
How we did it:
We began with a kickoff meeting to align on the immediate and long-term goals. From here, we determined that “Oakfield Artisanal” would come under the umbrella of Lamb Farms, Inc., as a sister brand to Oakfield Corners Dairy. The former focused on the breeding and genetics of Holsteins, while the latter focused on fluid milk processing. Oakfield Artisanal could therefore focus its identity on premium cheese and dairy product development.
The Agency 29 team gathered inspiration from top brand examples and identified opportunities for the Oakfield brand. We analyzed the competitive positioning to refine the brand’s strategic position, and clearly define the audience and the benefits they sought.
Next, we established the essence of the Oakfield Artisanal brand, identifying its personality and the benefits to consumers. This was distilled into a concise brand document. Finally, we crafted a comprehensive messaging strategy to ensure consistent communication across all channels, from digital to print, ensuring the brand’s voice was clear and impactful in every interaction.
From there, the Agency 29 creative wunderkind designed the logo for Oakfield Artisanal and the packaging for the cheese flavors. Each required label statements to appear both in English and in Spanish, complete with product name, description, sizing, and all claims and statements.
Our operations team continued to liaise with Oakfield Corners Dairy to ensure packaging compliance and readiness to launch the cheese brand.
About the Client:
Oakfield Artisanal is made by Oakfield Corners Dairy, a 12th-generation farm family business and division of Lamb Farms, Inc. Milking at four New York dairies and 1 Ohio dairy with a herd of 10,500 cows strong, Oakfield Corners Dairy is widely recognized and renowned for their Holstein breeding program.
Agency 29 listened to our desires for our business.
The exploratory phase was intriguing and they stayed true to our mission statement. We have enjoyed having high quality work, creativity, and multiple options of branding to choose from. It has been a pleasure working with the Agency 29 team! Molly Moffett, Cheese Operations Manager, Oakfield Corners Dairy
