Tillamook's Block Jams Vol 2: Slices of Summer is a 2023 food campaign by 72andSunny that transforms cheddar cheese slices into an original summer music
Tillamook Turns Cheddar Into a Summer Soundtrack With Block Jams Vol 2
Tillamook's "Block Jams" Volume Two is a 2023 food and drink campaign produced for the United States market that reframes cheddar cheese slices as the inspiration for an original summer music album, extending the brand's Block Jams platform first introduced in February of the same year.
Launched in May 2023 and created by agency 72andSunny with production handled by Lobo and Surreal Hotel Arts, Block Jams Vol 2 carries the subtitle "Slices of Summer" and builds directly on the momentum of Volume One, which served as Tillamook's first-ever Big Game advertisement, as reported by Perishable News. Where Volume One introduced the cheese album concept during winter, Volume Two leans into seasonal relevance, anchoring the campaign in sunshine, outdoor eating, and the kind of unhurried summer moments that make a cold slice of cheddar feel like a small luxury. The campaign's central conceit is disarmingly simple: Tillamook's slices are so good they inspired an album. The album, of course, is not sold in stores — but the cheese is.
The "Slices of Summer" release includes original songs such as "Waves of Flavor" and "Cheese By The Slice," produced in collaboration with a roster of musicians and social media personalities including Carter Vail, Joshua Williford — known as the Rapping Chef — and Grace Hayes, each of whom delivered personal music video previews as part of the campaign package. The campaign was directed by Oriol Barberà and published across film and digital channels, accumulating over 1.18 million views according to Clapboard's own tracking data. The campaign carries a Clapboard Score of 77 out of 100, reflecting strong creative distinctiveness and cultural fluency within the competitive United States food and drink category.
Tillamook builds its brand identity on a cooperative heritage and a consistent quality narrative that sets it apart from mass-market dairy competitors. The strategic logic behind Block Jams Vol 2 runs deeper than seasonal novelty. By framing cheddar slices as culturally generative — capable of inspiring actual music — Tillamook sidesteps the conventional grocery advertising playbook entirely, a space where competitors such as Kraft and Sargento have long competed on price, convenience, and recipe utility.
The campaign's summer orientation is deliberate and grounded in real consumer behaviour. In the United States, cheddar is the dominant cheese variety by consumption, and according to Allied Market Research, cheddar accounts for more than one-third of the global cheese market. The United States remains one of the world's largest cheese-consuming nations, and the domestic market continues to grow as consumers increasingly seek premium and artisan dairy options. Within that context, Tillamook's positioning as a quality-led cooperative — headquartered in Tillamook, Oregon — gives the brand a credible platform to pursue lifestyle and culture marketing rather than purely functional product messaging.
The choice to extend the Block Jams platform into a second volume also reflects a considered platform-building approach rather than a one-off stunt. Volume One, as reported by Perishable News, ran across connected TV, digital video, social, audio, and out-of-home media during the Big Game period in February 2023. Volume Two's arrival in May 2023 preserved the brand equity accumulated in winter and redirected it toward the high-consumption summer season, when cheese slices feature prominently in outdoor grilling, picnics, and casual entertaining across the United States. The influencer-musician hybrid casting — combining social reach with authentic creative output — amplifies organic discovery without relying solely on paid media placement.
Director Oriol Barberà leads the visual execution of Block Jams Vol 2, bringing a warm, sun-saturated aesthetic that mirrors the campaign's summer-of-cheese premise. Barberà's approach treats each musician's contribution as a genuine music video rather than a branded content fragment, lending the work a production credibility that elevates it beyond typical food advertising. The result is a campaign that feels native to the platforms where it lives — social, digital video, and streaming — without sacrificing the visual polish expected of a nationally distributed food and drink brand.
The production was handled by Lobo, a company with a strong track record in animation and hybrid live-action work, alongside Surreal Hotel Arts in a post-production and additional production capacity. Director of photography Tristan Sheridan is credited on the production, as documented by shots.net and presskitchen.com, contributing the warm, lifestyle-driven imagery that runs through the campaign's visual identity. On the agency side, Group Creative Director Tim Wolfe and Creative Director Ryan Dols shaped the campaign's conceptual framework at 72andSunny's Playa Vista operation, according to presskitchen.com. Creative team members Isabella Caruso and Sydnie Johnson contributed to the work, with agency Executive Producer Jennifer Cursio and Producer Carina Reimers overseeing production logistics, as credited by presskitchen.com. Live-action Executive Producer Paul Amorese and Line Producer Tina Nakane are also credited on the production.
The original songs themselves — "Waves of Flavor," "Cheese By The Slice," and additional tracks — function simultaneously as branded content and standalone entertainment. Carter Vail, the Rapping Chef, and Grace Hayes each bring distinct musical identities to the project, ensuring the album concept holds together as a coherent creative object rather than a loose collection of product references. As reported by shots.net, the campaign was described upon its May 2023 release as a return of the Block Jams concept, confirming that the platform had earned sufficient cultural recognition to warrant a sequel within the same calendar year.
No verified sales lift, incremental revenue, market-share change, or ROI data for the Block Jams Vol 2 campaign is publicly available. No awards entries or recognitions from Cannes Lions, the Effie Awards, the One Show, D&AD, the Clio Awards, the Webby Awards, or WARC databases have been documented for this campaign. What the public record does confirm is meaningful audience engagement at scale: the campaign's primary film asset accumulated approximately 1,181,031 views according to Clapboard's tracking data.
That figure, considered in the context of a food and drink campaign competing for attention in the United States digital video environment, speaks to the concept's inherent shareability. The cheese album framing is an inherently talkable idea — a brand giving its product the full album-release treatment, complete with original music, music video aesthetics, and artist collaborations — and the audience response reflects that structural advantage.
Structurally, the campaign demonstrates strong platform discipline. By launching Volume Two in May 2023 to follow Volume One's February Big Game debut, Tillamook demonstrated commitment to Block Jams as a recurring brand property rather than an isolated creative experiment. The seasonal sequencing — winter launch, summer follow-up — maps the platform onto the two highest-relevance food consumption windows in the United States calendar year. The Clapboard Score of 77 out of 100 reflects this strategic coherence alongside the campaign's creative originality, recognising a food and drink execution that earns cultural attention without relying on spectacle or media weight alone.
Block Jams Vol 2 is a May 2023 food campaign by Tillamook created with agency 72andSunny for the United States market. It presents cheddar cheese slices as the inspiration for an original summer music album, featuring songs like "Waves of Flavor" and "Cheese By The Slice" performed by musicians and influencers in individual music video formats.
Oriol Barberà directed the Block Jams Vol 2 campaign. Production was handled by Lobo and Surreal Hotel Arts, with 72andSunny's Tim Wolfe and Ryan Dols serving as group creative director and creative director respectively, as credited by presskitchen.com. Director of photography Tristan Sheridan also contributed to the visual execution.
Block Jams Vol 2 featured Carter Vail, Joshua Williford known as the Rapping Chef, and Grace Hayes. Each artist contributed original songs and individual music video previews as part of the summer album concept, combining social media reach with genuine musical output to give the campaign authentic cultural credibility across digital platforms in the United States.
The Block Jams Vol 2 campaign film accumulated approximately 1,181,031 views according to Clapboard's tracking data. No verified sales lift or ROI figures are publicly available for the campaign. The view count reflects strong organic reach for a food and drink branded content execution in the competitive United States digital video environment.
Tillamook's Block Jams Vol 2 received a Clapboard Score of 77 out of 100. The score reflects the campaign's creative originality, strategic coherence as the second instalment of an established platform, and its ability to generate cultural attention within the United States food and drink advertising category without relying on large-scale media spend alone.
Block Jams Volume One launched in February 2023 as Tillamook's first-ever Big Game advertisement, running across connected TV, digital, social, audio, and out-of-home media in the United States, as reported by Perishable News. Volume Two followed in May 2023, extending the cheese album concept into the summer season and reinforcing Block Jams as a recurring brand platform.
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