What Do Cows Have to do with Marketing?

By Luke Weigel, lweigel@lessitermedia.com
Marketing Manager, Lessiter Medi

Given that we largely work in the agriculture space, it wasn't a complete shock to recently have a colleague forward me an article about cows. It was the hugging aspect that had me scratching my head.

Now, if you find yourself thinking, "Luke, what in the wild world of bovine are you talking about?" Don't worry, you're probably not alone, but let me explain. As I read through the article, it provided a fun look at a growing wellness trend with immense mental health benefits. That trend? You guessed it, hugging cows.

It turns out that a cow's warmer body temperature, slower heartbeat and mammoth size can make for an incredibly soothing and stress relieving embrace. And if ever there was a year when we could all use a little stress relief, it's 2020. With the holidays approaching, a never-ending election, worldwide pandemic, we've all got a lot on our plates.

"OK, but what does that have to do with marketing?" I'm glad you asked. Stress isn't relegated to just our personal lives. In fact, according to a study from Workfront, 71% of marketing professionals generally feel "burnt out" and a whopping 80% said they are seriously overloaded with work. In a separate study conducted by Paychex, a survey found that marketers spend an average of 3.84 workdays per week feeling stressed out — higher than the average for office workers in other positions.

For those of us that don't have a home office on a dairy farm, hugging a cow likely won't be the answer to de-stressing our work life. But that doesn't mean we have to spend our day tensed up and on edge. Below are four tips that can help you keep stress from becoming a defining characteristic of your job.

What other ways do you deal with stress at the office? And if you say your company provides an in-house hugger cow, consider me jealous!