By Melissa Harris | Dean Foods, the nation’s largest dairy producer, has hired Chicago-based Leo Burnett to create a national branding campaign for its various milk labels.

Dean, based in Dallas, is an amalgam of many local and regional brands — from Garelick Farms in Vermont to Alta Dena in Los Angeles — and Leo Burnett USA CEO Rich Stoddart said those names
won’t change. It uses the Dean’s name in the Chicago area.

“Regional brand names will continue to exist because there’s a lot of
equity there, but we’re looking to create a common brand platform and
purpose that all of Dean’s brands can live under,” Stoddart said.

Leo Burnett expects to launch the campaign in print and on radio and television this summer.

Jennifer Martindale, the leader on the account, said she believes a
consumer study, which Leo Burnett’s inhouse research department pulled
off in less than two weeks, sealed the win. Martindale also said that
rather than unveil the agency’s ideas in a big “ta-da” presentation,
her team regularly bounced ideas off of executives at Dean.

“It was the anti-pitch,” Martindale said. “We shared everything along
the way, including ideas and research. They felt like they were part of
the solution, and we felt we didn’t have anything to lose.”

Stoddart declined to release the value of the account.