Nordics food company Arla has appointed Accenture Song in the UK, to lead its creative transformation across Europe. The appointment extends Accenture Song’s relationship with Arla, which also selected it to help roll out two new brands across the continent in 2022. 

Arla CMO Patrik Hansson commented, “In a world that has partly lost its relationship with nutritious, natural food and will have to feed 10 billion people, the need for sustainably produced, high-nutrition dairy products will be more important than ever. I’m excited to be partnering with Accenture Song to use the superpower of creativity to better connect consumers to sustainable products, and ultimately enable them to play a vital role in the future of food.”

One of the largest dairy companies in the world, with 8,500 farmers across seven countries in Northern Europe, Arla Foods is a Danish-Swedish multinational cooperative based in Viby, Denmark. Arla’s established brands include anchor and Lurpak and numerous cheese and yogurt products – and has been working with Accenture Song since 2019 as its agency of choice.

As the firm planned for the launch of two new sub-brands across Europe, this relationship led to Arla appointing Accenture Song to supply creative support for the roll-out. This latest contract win sees the relationship expand further, growing Accenture Song’s scope of work deeper into Europe.

After prevailing in what Arla says was a competitive tender process, Accenture Song’s work will introduce a new approach that covers every aspect of the Arla brand experience—focusing on creative acts, not just ads— to reflect Arla’s sustainability commitments. As Arla seeks to evolve its creative output and thinking across its business to drive growth, the consulting firm will drive a strategy to will underpin the transformation of the Arla Masterbrand, and its portfolio of sub-brands.

Emissions from the food system alone will drive the world past 1.5C of global heating, unless high-methane foods are tackled. Research from Columbia University in the US suggests that 75% of food-related climate heating was driven by foods that are high sources of methane, which come from ruminant livestock such as cattle, and rice paddy fields. At the same time, the scientists contended that the temperature rise could be cut by 55% by cutting meat consumption in rich countries to medically recommended levels.

Will Hodge, co-chief of Accenture Song’s creative business in the UK, said, “It’s no secret that the future of food is in desperate need of change and Arla’s industry-leading sustainability commitments are a credit to the organisation. The scale of Arla’s ambition speaks to the overwhelming potential of creativity and the role it can play for health and sustainability when brands are willing to give it a seat at the top table. Together, we are helping Arla shape the next iteration of what its business looks like by driving growth through creativity.” 

In this context, the dairy industry and its livestock are coming under intense scrutiny, in relation to their climate impact. As the firm looks to be seen it do its part in that regard, Arla Foods’ farmer owners recently decided to change how they pay themselves for the milk across their cooperative, with up to €500 million now earmarked to reward and motivate farmers to participate in “more climate activities”. The more they do, the more they are paid for their milk based on their activities to drive sustainable farming practise, and to learn and experiment with new ways of farming for the future.