BREWSTER, Ohio — Brewster Cheese, the nation's largest Swiss cheese manufacturer, has undertaken a new marketing campaign to spread the word not only about Brewster Cheese's award-winning cheese in particular, but also the flavor profile and benefits of Swiss in general.

"Swiss cheese is one of the smaller cheese categories. If we can grow the category, everyone who makes Swiss wins," says Jeff McMahan of Innis Maggiore Group, the Canton, Ohio, agency that Brewster Cheese has hired to develop a comprehensive marketing program for Brewster's Swiss cheese.

"A lot of consumers really haven't tried Swiss," McMahan adds, noting that he believes the cheese is often "misunderstood."

For some consumers, the misunderstanding comes from thinking that all Swiss cheese has a strong flavor. Because many U.S. consumers tend to like a milder flavor than their European counterparts, these consumers believe they don't like Swiss until they try Brewster's Swiss and Baby Swiss, McMahan says. Brewster has a smoother, more mild flavor than a lot of Swiss cheese, which particularly appeals to children, he says.

Another benefit that many people don't know about Swiss cheese is that it is lactose-free, something on which Brewster Cheese is beginning to capitalize through its new marketing campaign dubbed "Make it Swiss." The company hopes to reach consumers who aren't eating dairy products because of lactose intolerance with the message that they can get calcium and other nutrients they need via Swiss.

"We've been trying to get that message out, so we're going to tie it together with this campaign," Straughn says, noting that at some point packaging will include this information as well.

"Make it Swiss" will address a number of segments of consumers and will use a variety of marketing tools. In general, though, it aims to divulge the secrets about Swiss cheese — including who one of its makers is.

"Brewster Cheese is one of the best kept secrets here in Ohio," says McMahan.

Brewster intends to change that by generating local publicity as well as national publicity for its cheese marketed nationwide.

The company participates in local events as many cheese companies do, but the company also plans to take its name on the road — literally — with a fleet of eight specially-painted trucks featuring the "Make it Swiss" theme and pictures of chunks of Swiss. Two cabs are even being painted to look like Swiss cheese. The trucks will be hitting the road within the next couple of months, Straughn says. The trucks will travel nationally and the drivers also will be equipped with Swiss cheese information and promotional giveaways. The company hopes they will become national symbols for Swiss cheese like other famous mobiles have for other foods.

"Make it Swiss" is going to be the company's rallying cry, McMahan says, adding that another part of the marketing campaign will be a public relations effort in which story ideas about Swiss will be pitched to newspapers, magazines and television shows. Information about Swiss cheese's lactose-free status as well as information about how Swiss cheese gets its holes would be of interest to a number of audiences, children and adults alike, he says.

"We have a bag full of marketing tactics we're going to use," McMahan says. "We see a lot of opportunities."

The company will be developing a website, www.makeitswiss.com, that promotes Swiss cheese and features nutritional and health facts about Swiss.

The "Make it Swiss" marketing campaign also will feature point-of-sale materials such as static clings and recipe cards for the deli. In an effort to reach children, the promotion will feature a Swiss cheese cartoon character named "Fritzy" after company president and CEO Fritz Leeman. The point-of-sale materials will make their debut early in 2002.

In the future, the character also will adorn cheese packaging, which already is seeing some changes due to an effort to streamline the company's products under the "Amish Classics" brand name in retail deli market. The line, which also features the Brewster name on the label, not only sports new labeling, it also has been expanded to include more cheese styles and packaging options, Straughn says.

The line includes Brewster's Swiss and Baby Swiss as well as Select Swiss, Amish Lace, Mozzarella, Provolone, American, Cheddar, Colby, Monterey Jack, Colby Jack, Jalepeno Jack, Brick, Yogurt, Farmer and Muenster. Packaging configurations include zip-lock shingle slices, mini long horns, natural and processed loaves, cubes, stack pack slices and chunks.

"The Amish Classics brand connects with consumers," Straughn says. "It conveys an image of quality and natural goodness that has been a hallmark of Brewster Cheese for 35 years."

By focusing the retail deli market on the Amish Classics brand label, it streamlines marketing efforts, Straughn says. However, the Brewster name alone remains on the company's flagship products in the deli case because it is particularly well-known in some markets.

As it undertakes all of these efforts on the marketing front, Brewster Cheese also has undertaken a large expansion and improvement project to meet the demands of current customers as well as the new customer base it expects with this new marketing campaign.

"We're building a brand new plant inside the old," Straughn says of the company's Brewster, Ohio, facility. The company also operates a Swiss cheese plant in Stockton, Ill.

The $10 million project is a total overhaul of the plant from its intake system to its brining system, Straughn says, and will increase annual capacity by 30-35 percent when it is finished in February or March of 2002.

State-of-the-art equipment being added to the plant not only will increase capacity but also will give customers the assurance that the product is of the highest and most consistent quality, Straughn says.

That's not to say, though, that the company won't continue to define and redefine its cheese to best meet the needs of consumers. Straughn says the company has continued to experiment with its cheese and that the cheese the company made 10 years ago isn't the same cheese it makes today. However, the company also is careful not to experiment too much with its award winning creation. Brewster's Baby Swiss placed first in its class and scored less than half a point behind the overall champion in the final round in the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest this spring, earning it the title of first runner-up. In addition, the company also took first and third places in the Swiss category and third in the reduced-fat cheese class.

Once the plant renovation is complete, Brewster Cheese hopes to wrap the story of the plant into its marketing campaign as well. "Make it Swiss" also will see a second phase to be launched next fall, for which radio and television advertising is being considered. Product line expansions also are being considered, Straughn says.

CMN