Published on Friday, October 12th, 2012 by Peter Giffen

The BC Dairy Association has invited British Columbians to try their hand at composing original music for milk-producing dairy cows. Developed by DDB Canada and its integrated groups Tribal DDB Vancouver, DDB Public Relations and OMD Vancouver, the online initiative entitled Music Makes More Milk  takes as its basic premise a common observation among dairy farmers that cows respond positively to music.

Music Makes More Milk contestants will use an online music composition tool to create original songs to play for the cows.  The tunes of semi-finalist contestants – determined through a public voting system – will have their compositions played directly to cows on a BC dairy farm.  Videos of the cows reacting to each shortlisted song will be shared online on November 7, 2012.  Ultimately, it is the cows that will serve as the final judges of the contest, identifying an overall winner based on the highest milk production achieved while listening to the five finalists’ compositions.  Music-related prizes will be awarded to 15 semi-finalist and five finalists, and the winning contestant will also receive a trip for four to the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

The online initiative is being supported with media relations, social media cultivation and a paid-media program with Global TV BC and Slice.ca.

In order to prime the cows for the contest, an accomplished quartet of classically trained musicians – led by Coast Symphony Orchestra conductor Edette Gagné– visited the Fraser Valley’s Valedoorn Farm recently and performed an “opening act” of Mozart numbers.

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