Taking Dorothy Lynch to the Next Level

If you’re from Nebraska, you know how proud we are of our people and locally-made products. With these viral posts, we did a little throwback with a photo of Dorothy Lynch herself. She was a real-life Midwesterner who made it big, and our campaign allowed people to share their own memories of Dorothy.

The Challenge

Dorothy Lynch wanted a way to honor their roots and recognize the importance of its company culture, dating back to its beginnings in the 1940s. As such a long-standing brand, people have forgotten that Dorothy Lynch was a real-life Midwesterner who lived in St. Paul, Nebraska. She and her husband ran the restaurants at the local Legion Club, which is where the legend of Dorothy Lynch began to grow.

Our mission was clear: to engage our Dorothy Lynch followers with content that deeply resonated with the avid Dorothy audience, drawing them to learn more about their statewide favorite dressing and condiment.

Strategy

Our approach for this post wasn’t just about engaging followers; we wanted to show how Dorothy Lynch was the genuine article.

We traced Dorothy Lynch’s history to a news article in the Howard County Herald about the small bottling plant in her basement. We located captivating photos of her in the community that couldn’t get enough of the tasty topping she’d serve at the Legion Club. By reminding these loyal social followers of Dorothy’s legendary life, we invited them to celebrate the rich history of Dorothy Lynch on Facebook and Instagram.

Results

In Dorothy’s time, they say the St. Paul locals brought their own bottles to the Legion Club so they could fill up with “that delicious Dorothy Lynch salad dressing.” We suppose that’s the equivalent of going viral in the 1940s; we did Dorothy justice with our own viral post. In 2023, Meta reach for this campaign was nearly two million, generating over 15,400 likes and 3,100 comments. And it was shared 2,400 times. Meta ranked the campaign’s engagement at over 91,000.