Life After Recall: A Chobani Story

I love Chobani Greek yogurt. I mean, seriously, I do. From a quick morning grab-and-go breakfast to a simple (and healthy) late night snack, Chobani is my go-to. Not to my surprise, apparently I'm not alone. Chobani holds a 49.1% share of the fast-growing Greek yogurt market segment. However, what is surprising to me, is that according to the company, they still have a relatively low awareness score of 39%. Okay, enough about how much people (myself included) love Greek yogurt. This post is about Chobani's recent comeback from a isolated voluntary recall of yogurt manufactured at their facility in Idaho back in early September.

From an article on AdAge.com, I found that two months after issuing a recall of mold-tainted yogurt cups, Chobani is launching an aggressive advertising campaign touting the quality of its Greek yogurt. According to Chief Marketing Officer, Peter McGuinness, the new campaign is not a reaction to the recall but rather, a way to "prime the pump" for a larger campaign slated to debut next year.

I say, "yeah, right..." I believe we can look at Chobani as a prime example of quality and effective crisis management. Whereas the company denies this campaign to be a response, Chobani made another move that directly responds to the recall. Chobani's CEO and founder, Hamdi Ulukaya plans to mail letters to some 150,000 people that contacted the company during the recall. Ulukaya wants to thank them for "...sticking with us and standing by us." I believe this is a very appropriate and powerful move by Chobani and speaks directly to the integrity of the company holistically.

I know I will (and do) continue to purchase and enjoy Chobani Greek yogurt. However, will you?