Don’t know who MrBeast is? Ask a 12-year-old. Or better yet, search for yourself. Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is one of the most subscribed-to YouTube personalities who has more subscribers than Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran combined. Recently, MrBeast had a video view count surpassing the total number of Netflix subscribers.
Timely, National Dairy Checkoff announced that they will continue their partnership with the YouTube icon. A video launched earlier this month, on National Farmer’s Day, challenged a group of video gamers in a custom Minecraft gaming competition featuring a dairy-dedicated level with a chance to win cash. In the video, MrBeast delivered key messages of dairy sustainability and nutrition and an overall appreciation to America’s dairy farmers.
In 2019, Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) began working with MrBeast in its “Undeniably Dairy” campaign. To help reach the Gen Z audience, the checkoff began working with influential gamers as a way of showing up in unexpected places to reach that target audience (ages 9 to 24). The statistics show that 90% or more of Gen Z’ers are gaming. The National Dairy Checkoff worked with MrBeast, who participated in virtual dairy farm tours that millions of his viewers saw.
Recently, MrBeast visited a dairy farm in his North Carolina hometown to see firsthand the efforts geared towards animals and the environment. A MrBeast TikTok video highlights dairy facts and challenges viewers to have a photo shoot on a dairy farm.
DMI President and CEO, Barb O’Brien, says that these are bold, innovative steps the checkoff is taking to drive broad awareness of our farmers.
“We are proud to do this in partnership with MrBeast, who is one of the world’s most recognized influencers,” she says. “Gen Z looks for authenticity, humor and voices they can relate to, and we know MrBeast will be effective in portraying how dairy remains a health and wellness solution and is produced in a way that is environmentally friendly.”
In less than 24 hours of the video going live, it became the No. 1 trending video on all of YouTube, proving the collaboration between the National Dairy Checkoff and MrBeast is already building awareness for dairy.
Marilyn Hershey, DMI board chair and Pennsylvania dairy farmer, says that her generation didn’t grow up gaming, but her kids and grandchildren did.
“It’s great to see how much excitement they have over MrBeast working with our industry,” she says. “These are the consumers we need to be reaching and this is the platform we need to be on to effectively do it. The checkoff is bringing the dairy story to where they are and delivering it through one of the most recognizable names possible.”
