Harnessing the Power of Online Consumer Engagement for Wisconsin Cheese 
Virtual experiences and a sharp uptick in online shopping have boosted the popularity and success of the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin led Cheeselandia program. The program created an exciting new narrative about award-winning Wisconsin cheese when it launched in 2018. And, it continues to develop consumer ambassadors for the dairy industry today. 
 
What is Cheeselandia? It's an online community of cheese lovers celebrating the ingenuity and creativity of Wisconsin cheese and driving positive conversations for our products and our dairy farmers. Cheeselandia serves as a virtual forum where consumers can learn more about specialty cheeses, connect with Wisconsin cheesemakers and each other, attend fun, interactive online educational and social media experiences, find cheese board and recipe inspiration and much more.

For instance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin has capitalized on the opportunity to engage the Cheeselandia audience to safely "cheese at home," leading to fun virtual gatherings like June's World's Largest Online Cheese Party which landed us in Food and Wine magazine and on TV nationwide.
  
So far, fans in all 50 states, plus Canada and Mexico, have engaged with Cheeselandia's guided cheese-tasting parties and educational events. These experiences drive positive recommendations and word of mouth, generate organic content and drive sales. 
 
Suzanne Fanning
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin 
The Squeak Heard Across the Internet 
Cheese curds consistently top the list for Wisconsin’s most iconic foods. To celebrate this cult favorite “snack that squeaks” DFW brought together the world’s largest group of cheese lovers for National Cheese Curd Day with a live broadcast on Wisconsin Cheese and Culver's Facebook pages, generating over 25,000 video views and 2,400 comments.

We sent fresh Wisconsin cheese curds to 3,000 fans in all 50 states, courtesy of LaGrander's Hillside Dairy in Stanley, Wisconsin. The virtual event host, Luke Zahm, award-winning James Beard chef and host of Wisconsin Foodie, did a cooking demo to show fans how to fry cheese curds at home. Zahm also interviewed Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Ryan LaGrander of LaGrander’s Hillside Dairy, who supplies the cheese curds to Culver’s.

In the past year, Culver’s has served more than eight hundred million individual fried, melty cheese curds at over 770 restaurants in 25 states. The partnership with Culver's is just one of many restaurants and retailers around the country where checkoff helps connect cheese companies to these consumer partners to help move more Wisconsin cheese into the market.  
Open Mic Call With National Checkoff - October 23
To keep dairy farmers up to date on the fast-changing environment and the steps your checkoff is taking on a national level to keep dairy moving, please join DMI Chair Marilyn Hershey, DMI CEO Tom Gallagher and DMI President Barb O’Brien for the next live “Open Mic” conference call on Friday, October 23, at Noon CDT.  
 
They will once again spend a good portion of the time answering any questions you may have about the current state of dairy, and we encourage you to pass this invitation along to a few of your fellow farmers.  
In Case You Missed It

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin worked with local media across Wisconsin as part of its National Farmers Day outreach to educate and inspire consumers about the steps dairy farmers are taking to advance their farms’ environmental sustainability and their commitment to their communities. 
Upcoming Industry Events and Activations 
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