Denmark’s Annual Festival
November 27, 2019

Showing off their “Mooves”

The Challenge

Each year in April, organic cows around Denmark are let out of the barns where they are housed for the winter and put out to pasture for the summer months. The cows get so excited when they see grass that they jump and play, an activity which has been nicknamed the “Dancing Cow” phenomenon. In 2015, 247,000 people journeyed to 75 organic farms in the Danish countryside to witness this annual event, organized by Organic Denmark and sponsored by Arla Foods, a major dairy production company.

Last year, Arla recorded footage of the event on both a wireless camera that roamed the farm, and a point of view camera strapped to a cow’s back. After the event was over, they put the footage together into a video for their website.

This year, Arla had bigger dreams – they wanted to broadcast the event live to their website, but had a very small budget. Their goal was to generate PR pre-event and also for the event, to drive traffic to their website for people to watch the day of the event, and then to use recorded footage to create a training video for their other offices.

The event includes multiple activities taking place over a wide area of farmland. Arla had a very small budget to work with, and asked Minitech ApS if they could design a solution.

The Solution

Minitech reviewed the customer’s requirements and surveyed the location to develop a customized solution that worked within Arla’s budget. They recommended two L1700 wireless cameraback transmitters to allow videographers to roam throughout the grounds to broadcast the activities, capture attendee interviews and show the crowd’s excitement.

Arla once again wanted to have a point of view camera on the back of one of the cows. They choose a cow named Sally, and set up a twitter account in her name. Sally is the first tweeting cow in Denmark, and for a month prior to the event, she tweeted daily to generate excitement for the event.

To create a live transmission from the cow cam, Minitech utilized its knowledge of Vislink’s onboard solutions, and used an HPCU miniature transmitter attached to a point of view camera, with a tiny battery to power both items for the duration of the event. They also created a custom mount to ensure that the camera, transmitter, and battery were safely attached to the cow, without restricting her movement or impeding her dancing skills.

All video was transmitted to several antennas placed strategically on the grounds. The antennas were connected via fiber cable back to the OB truck.

They also deployed an L1500 wireless camera back at a farm 2km away for a second live broadcast. The second farm was within line of sight, so they were able to utilize a point-to-point link to transmit to the OB truck.

The Result

Arla was able to successfully transmit the event as a live feed on an extremely limited budget. The event received complimentary press nationwide. The number of visitors to their website to watch the live feeds beat their expectations, and they were able to take the recorded footage and make a highlight video for continued PR campaigns.

“This event was a test for Arla to see if they could generate interest and positive PR through social media, and drive traffic to their website to watch the live feed. They weren’t sure what to expect and were amazed at the results. Our recommendations and ability to create a customized solution that worked within their budget to provide the coverage they wanted, generated a result beyond their expectations. As a result, we have already been hired to cover this event again next year.”

Allan Juul Nielsen, Production Manager, Minitech ApS