he battleground for leadership in the cheese industry sets Coasties against Sconnies in a contest of cash cows—literally. If current trends continue, the title as No. 1 cheese producing state will move to the greener pastures of California by 2008. With a $20.6 billion Wisconsin dairy industry on the line, the economic livelihood of dairyland depends on defending its title.
According to Real California Cheese advertisements, Great cheese comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California.\ The happy cows campaign slams the northern tundra, glorifies green pastures and boasted a $23 million advertising budget in 2005. Wisconsin's $27.1 million budget for both advertising and research grants for the whole industry paled in comparison.
The happy cow campaign has garnered such positive results that a synopsized case study of its success will appear in 70 percent of marketing text books for business graduate schools nationwide. This means that up to 900 students in the UW business school may spend their state quarters (engraved with a block of cheese) to essentially bolster the success of the happy cows!
California not only parades happy cows, but flaunts the title as the leading milk producer, robbed from the dairy state in 1993. Despite governmental incentives to purchase more cows, Wisconsin's efforts to reclaim the title have advanced slowly.
Tax credits, low-interest loans and farm modernization grants contributed to a 3.5 percent rise in milk production in 2005, surpassing California's three percent increase. However, U.S. Department of Agriculture data indicate that increased output bumped production up to only 22.9 billion pounds in Wisconsin, while California rose to 37.5 billion pounds.
For Cheeseheads, the pride of their nickname took a more daunting hit: Wisconsin recorded a 1.7 percent increase in cheese production, trailing California's seven percent leap. In case the competition seems trivial, consider this: A single cow in Wisconsin contributes $15,000 to $17,000 to the state economy annually and produces $515 in state and local taxes, according to university estimates in 2004. The dairy industry is more crucial to the state economy than citrus in Florida or potatoes in Idaho.
If California becomes America's dairyland, it will mean more than a cheesehead identity crisis and redesign of quarters and license plates—it will mean an uphill battle for Wisconsin's dairy industry to secure investment and distributors. Governmental incentives support industry growth, but not enough. A new approach to advertising authentic dairyland cheese is mandatory.
Jim Robson, CEO of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board stands by its current advertising campaign that promotes the quality and variety of Wisconsin cheeses. Budget constraints preclude a Wisconsin campaign on the happy cow caliber, but the current marketing strategy misses the mark. Sixty-two percent of state cheese production goes toward Mozzarella and Cheddar alone, meaning that cheese diversity is not a feature that the majority of consumers and distributors seek.
WMMB should seek new advertising avenues and angles. They should consider pitching a project to the UW School of Journalism to offer students—hundreds of whom sit in classrooms and develop fake campaigns, marketing strategies and advertisements every day—the opportunity to work on a real campaign to which they feel intensely bound as Wisconsin residents.
Students would benefit from the opportunity and motivation to actually work for a purpose. WMMB would lose nothing if they felt dissatisfied with the students' work. If WMMB uses the students' work, the money saved from developing the project could then go toward promoting and placing it.
Cheese is integral to Wisconsin identity and belongs to the heartland. WMMB needs to fight tooth and nail to get the happy cows to come home.
Jill Klosterman is a sophomore majoring in journalism. Her column runs every Thursday. Send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com\
