A series of educational seminars are offered to participants each year at World Dairy Expo, and one of the first seminars offered this year dove into the success seen by many recent investments made using dairy checkoff dollars. The seminar, hosted by Tom Gallagher, CEO of Dairy Management Inc, looked at the different ways that effective advertising and marketing of food products have shifted over the past decade from TV based advertisements in favor of product-development based partnerships with companies like Dominos, McDonalds, and Taco Bell.
“We’ve moved away from traditional TV advertising and retail promotion and more in favor of working with partners, and getting them to invest, and doing things with their money to improve product innovation and brand marketing.” Said Gallagher in an interview following the seminar. “The product development-based partnerships that we have keep dairy front and center in the mind of those companies, and without us there they might not completely understand how those dairy products interact with other products and how they perform, so having our people right there, we’re really able to impact the products they put in front of people.”
Gallagher also explained that the future of dairy industry marketing faces challenges related to consumer trust, and he emphasized the necessity of creating a cohesive, universal strategy for companies to communicate with consumers on issues related to social responsibility and sustainability.
“As consumers have gotten away from agriculture, they don’t understand the value of the farmer, and that’s something we’re going to work on over the next year.” Said Gallagher.
Listen to Lizzy’s full interview with Tom here:
Interview with Tom Gallagher, DMI
View and download photos from the event here: 2016 World Dairy Expo Photo Album
