Yeo Valley (company)

Yeo Valley headquarters in Blagdon

Yeo Valley founders Roger and Mary Mead began making yogurt using milk from their dairy herd in 1974, selling it from the gate of their farm and to local shops.[1] The present owner is their son, Tim Mead, who took over in 1990 when Roger Mead died in a farming accident.[1]

Yeo Valley production facility at Lag Farm in Blagdon

Production of organic yogurt was started in 1993, as local farmers who were producing organic milk had difficulty finding a consistent demand for it.[1] Yeo Valley encouraged more local farmers to become organic and form a co-operative, guaranteeing to buy their produce to cope with growing demand.[1] Yeo Valley has won awards for product quality and innovation, and a Queen's Award for Enterprise presented in 2001 for the revolutionary way it worked with its farming suppliers, encouraging them to turn organic and giving them long-term ‘fair trade’ contracts.[2] The firm won another Queen's Award for Enterprise, for sustainable development, in 2006 for its "Approach to management with continuing support for sustainable UK organic farming thereby minimising environmental impact".[3]

In 2010, they launched a £5 million advertising campaign, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, featuring the Yeo Valley Rap, using commercial breaks in The X Factor finals, which went viral.[4] Their follow-up campaign which featured a spoof boy band, The Churned,[5] launched during the first X Factor live show on 8 October 2011. They subsequently released the single "Forever" on iTunes and are running a karaoke-style competition on their Facebook page where the winner will appear on their final ad during the X Factor final.

In March 2012, the business was re-branded as "Yeo Valley Family Farm" by Perry Haydn Taylor's agency Big Fish who redesigned their entire range of over 145 products, relaunched their digital communications and introduced a sales promotion plan.[6] Their new brand identity changed from a droplet of milk to a heart with the words "Yeo Valley Family Farm" and the strapline "Supporting British Family Farms" beneath it.

In 2010, Yeo Valley Group invested in fields to grow 'Elephant Grass', which the company describes as "brilliant stuff [which] regrows every year, absorbing lots of CO2 as it grows." During the winter months, Yeo Valley's headquarters are powered by the bio-fuel.

In 2018, the subsidiary Yeo Valley Dairies Ltd was purchased by Arla Foods UK, transferring production of milk, butter, spreads, and cheese under the Yeo Valley brand to Arla.[7] Production of Yeo Valley yogurt, ice cream, cream and desserts remained with Yeo Valley Group Ltd.

Yeo Valley is the largest organic dairy company in the UK, producing over 2,000 tonnes of yogurt, butter, milk and ice cream each week.[8] The Yeo Valley brand continues to grow and the range now includes: Yeogurt (fruity, low fat and Greek style varieties), milk, children's products (First Yeos, Little Yeos, Yeotubes and Smoothies), butter, cream, Frozen Yeogurt, ice cream, compote and rice pudding. Yeo Valley also sells non-organic yogurt under the more recently created Ubley brand, which was designed to take on big brands such as Müller and Danone.[9]

Notes

Sources

• Yeo Valley website