We will not stop until the world dreams in cheese: Redefining the Wisconsin cheese brand

Abstract

This paper analyses Wisconsin Cheese’s way out of the branding problem it had five years ago. It discusses how Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin decided to rebuild the brand from the ground up. Consumers’ perceptions used to revolve around big, boring blocks of factory cheddar instead of the reality of more than 600 varieties, types and styles of cheese that are made in Wisconsin. The hardest thing a brand can undertake is to go from mass to class. Wisconsin wins more awards for cheese than any other state or country. Needs were identified to build a strong and consistent brand, to be better storytellers to the world and to build authentic relationships with real cheese lovers. With a new logo, new websites, a more creative corporate culture, relationships with Food Fanatics who help drive the speciality cheese marketplace and increased media presence, Wisconsin announced itself, and proved itself, as the State of Cheese. Now, sales of Wisconsin speciality cheese outpace all others in that category, Wisconsin Cheese has more website visitors than ever before, they achieved over US$40m in national and local media mentions in the last year, they have brand ambassadors in all 50 states and are on page one for Google searches for ‘cheese’. This paper details how they did it.