'Flashdance' but with milk: How one Iowa dairy is making milk sexy again
Hansen’s Dairy is trying to make milk sexy again.
And what better way than with a send-up of the iconic water-splashing dance scene from “Flashdance”?
The Iowa dairy recently posted a video announcing its new 2% offering by re-creating the famous movie moment — but with milk.
“This is the first new product we’ve had in quite a while, and so we wanted to literally make a splash with the announcement,” says Marketing Director Jordan Hansen, whose husband, Blake, owns the creamery with his three brothers.
The video shows Blake standing in the cows’ pen mimicking some of the film’s classic leaps and poses, including the chair-dancing sequence and the seminal close-up of quick stomping feet — but with the movie’s bare feet and dancer’s toe tape replaced by Blake’s work boots and gray duct tape.
To imitate the well-known water-splashing, Blake rigged a 5-gallon bucket to a skid loader and connected a piece of twine that he pulled to release the cascading milk.
“It worked out really well considering we’d never done anything like that before,” Hansen says. “And we were lucky because it only took one take.”
We're SO excited to share this HUGE announcement! 🥳🎉 🥁Drum roll, please ....🥁⭐️Hansen's Dairy 2% Milk⭐️ makes its debut today at our Cedar Falls and Waterloo stores!🥛 Look for the jug with the blue cap!#whatafeeling #milk #Iowa #dairy #farmerblake #2percent #announcement #milkissexy #milkfat #goodforyou
Posted by Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy on Wednesday, April 12, 2023
While Blake is all smiles in the final cut, he did need a bit of convincing before film rolled, Hansen says.
“At first he’s like, no, I do not dance with chairs,” she says. “He’s not super willing to make a fool of himself all the time, but, with these, he’s a good sport.”
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The “Flashdance” video built on another silly video the dairy posted in November showing Blake dressed as Cousin Eddie from “Christmas Vacation” cleaning out the cows’ manure pit.
“That really opened our eyes to the reach we could get from doing videos of the farm and educating about farm life in a funny way,” Hansen says. “That was also the start of Blake being willing to do something ridiculous.”
It’s contest day, and we’re highlighting one of our favorite Christmas🎄 movies with a video featuring Farmer Blake that's currently going viral on TikTok.If you're a fan of the classic holiday comedy "Christmas Vacation," you'll recognize our recreation of a scene in which Cousin Eddie (played hilariously by Randy Quaid) famously declares the "sh*tter was full" while smoking a cigar and drinking a beer.Herd Manager Blake Hansen had some fun spoofing that iconic movie scene at the farm's manure pit. On our farm, manure is seen as liquid gold. We save it for future use, knowing it'll come in handy — and save us tons of moo-lah in fertilizer costs. Twice a year, we agitate the manure in the pit (seen here), then pump it out to inject below the surface of our 400 acres of farm land. You see, manure contains properties that enrich the soil for growing crops. Every spring we plant corn, which is harvested in the fall and becomes silage. Silage is what our cows eat.For this week’s contest, tell us: What’s your favorite Christmas movie?One entry per person, please. All other entries will be disqualified. We will randomly pick one lucky winner for a free gallon of milk 🥛at 2 p.m. Dec. 2.
Posted by Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy on Tuesday, November 29, 2022
How Hansen’s Dairy came up with the videos
An Iowa Heritage Farm, a designation given to farms owned by the same family for 150 years or more, Hansen’s Dairy has been diversifying its products and portfolio since the early 2000s, when the four Hansen brothers decided they all wanted to move back to the farm and raise families.
But for the farm to support four growing families, they had to expand the traditional dairy farm model of selling milk to a co-op. So in 2004, they opened their own creamery, where they produce milk, cream, cheese curds, butter and ice cream that they sell in their two retail store locations and distribute throughout eastern Iowa.
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They also raise Wagyu-Holstein cows for beef and have opened up their farm to agritourism, welcoming about 9,000 visitors a year to learn about the work that goes into the milk in their cereal bowl and to pet the farm’s six kangaroos, the dairy’s mascots, which Blake picked up after a trip to Australia.
Today, all four brothers, their families and another 40 employees work for Hansen’s Dairy. And everyone gets in on the fun when the marketing department is thinking up new video ideas, Hansen says.
Most of their concepts come from someone just saying a funny movie line and the others bouncing it around until they come up with a skit, she says. In addition to “Flashdance” and “Christmas Vacation,” they’ve spoofed “Jerry McGuire” and are working on something based on “Napoleon Dynamite.”
But all laughs aside, the dairy is also trying to reach a younger generation with its videos in an effort to stem the decline of milk consumption, which has been "trending downward for more than 70 years," according to the USDA.
“It does kind of feel like we’ve lost a generation of milk drinkers, whether that’s because of the rise of plant milks or just that there are a lot of other beverage choices on the shelf,” Hansen says.
“There’s this idea that milk is not sexy anymore, which is why we’re being funny about it,” she adds. “We just want to drive home the point that milk is nutritious, natural, good for you, affordable and readily available in order to get people to remember to put dairy back in their diet.”
Follow Hansen's Dairy on its eponymous Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok as well as on its YouTube Channel, HansensLegendairy.
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Courtney Crowder, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Her favorite ice cream flavors are cookie dough and peppermint. Reach her at ccrowder@dmreg.com or 515-284-8360. Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hansen's Dairy is making milk sexy again with 'Flashdance'-style video
