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Guest Columnist
Some
Lessons Learned Over 20 Years
by Nancy Fletcher
Nancy Fletcher is the Vice President of Communications for the
California Milk Advisory Board
Like most in our industry, we keep a close eye on the horizon.
But it can useful to look back and examine the decisions that got us
where we are.
The CMAB recently had the opportunity to review the past two decades
of our industry’s growth through the eyes of a knowledgeable
outsider when Michelle Greenwald, a professor at Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Business, developed a teaching case study about
the success of the Real California Cheese campaign since its inception
in 1984.
It is certainly flattering that one of the country’s top 10 business
schools believes our campaign is a “success” and worthy
of teaching to tomorrow’s business leaders.
But more important, we gained a better understanding of how the decisions
our industry made over 20 years have shaped the role that California
now plays in the US dairy and cheese industries. Out of her thoughtful
analysis of our efforts over two decades, several themes emerged that
are useful to keep in mind as we move ahead.
In terms of promotion, the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.
One of the first things that impressed her, she noted, was that the
CMAB had managed to create and implement a truly integrated promotional
program, one that “implemented the Real California Cheese positioning
across a wide range of channels.”
The Real California Cheese campaign began, in the early 1980s, by enlisting
a broad range of promotional tools – advertising, PR, retail
and foodservice promotion – which grew and expanded over the
years. For example, increased emphasis has been placed on the Internet
for consumer and professional communications in recent years.
What made it all work as a comprehensive and coordinated program, according
to the study, was the use of a certification mark – the Real
California Cheese seal – that gave promotional communications
a focal point and a distinct and compelling identity both in the industry
and the marketplace.
While the individual elements are strong, each in its own right, the
sum of their efforts is greatly amplified by their close relationship
to the Real California Cheese Seal. The seal also allows the CMAB to
promote the many styles and varieties of cheese offered by California
cheese makers who qualify for, and use it, on their packaging.
It’s important to have a strategic vision, but it’s even
more important to hold onto it over the long-term. Granted, 20 years
isn’t really that long unless you’re a cheese.
But in terms of business strategies and promotional programs, it is
a very long time. It is not uncommon in today’s business environment
for companies and organizations to switch promotional programs and
even strategies every few years.
The fact that the CMAB developed a clear vision of what it wanted to
accomplish – build the California dairy industry through a strong
emphasis on natural cheese production – was not nearly so noteworthy
as that the industry stuck to this vision for two decades. And is still
following it today.
Part of the reason is that the vision was not embraced lightly. The
CMAB involved Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to conduct an in-depth
industry analysis. SRI took nearly a year to develop a 200-page report
that laid out the direction our industry needed to follow, and also
noted the pitfalls we might encounter.
The SRI analysis concluded cheese was the dairy industry segment that
offered the greatest profit and growth potential for the state’s
dairy farmers. Our industry adopted this vision and, to its great credit,
has stuck with it ever since. Today, just over 80 percent of the CMAB’s
budget goes to the Real California Cheese program.
People don’t have to like you to buy your products, but it helps.
One area where our thinking evolved as time went on is advertising.
Around 1995, it became increasingly clear that we weren’t just
promoting cheese, but creating a relationship with our consumer. The
case study gives us high marks for our advertising since 1995 because
it is so distinctively simple and memorable.
According to the case study, “The role of advertising was to
create a somewhat emotional bond or fondness and distinct affection
for California cheese. The tone and manner of the advertising was designed
to be human, intelligent and humorous. Counter to common advertising
tradition, the copy strategy specified that the advertising should
not make rational, tangible cheese superiority claims. Rather, it wanted
consumers’ affinity to the product to be more emotionally based.
It was felt that since there was ‘no supportable, rational reason
to believe’ the superiority claim, the CMAB would provide an ‘irrational
reason to believe.’”
That “irrational reason to believe” led first to the successful “It’s
The Cheese” campaign that made the tongue-in-cheek observation
that the real reason people come to California is for the cheese. And
then, five years later, to the even more successful “Happy Cows” campaign
that claims our cheese is so great because our cows are happy: Great
cheese comes from Happy Cows. Happy Cows come from California.
Both campaigns have been a hit with consumers as well as retailers,
and the research shows they continue to build both awareness for Real
California Cheese and a high degree of affection for California cheese
that has translated into growing sales.
Broadly speaking, it is a direct result of this strategic vision that
California was able to double its cheese production in the past decade,
as well as produce nearly half of the 1.8 billion-pound increase in
US cheese consumption between 1994 and 2003.
As we look at the next 20 years, these success factors – adherence
to a long-term strategic vision; integration of diverse program elements
under a unifying element such as the Real California Cheese seal; and
advertising that engages the consumer on an emotional level – are
lessons that will continue to shape our thinking as we move ahead. •
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