METHUEN, Mass. — The sales and marketing team for Agri-Mark's branded products is doing double duty these days, expanding the market presence of not only the cooperative's well-known Cabot cheese brand but also its newly-acquired McCadam Cheese brand.

On Feb. 1, Agri-Mark finalized the purchase of McCadam Cheese, based in Chateaugay, N.Y., from Finland-based Valio Ltd. For the past several months, the co-op has focused on integrating the business functions and relaunching the McCadam brand. Rich Stammer, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Agri-Mark, says that the two branded product lines can dovetail nicely. He says that a commitment has been made to make the marketing of the two as friendly as possible for trade partners, but that Agri-Mark also is focusing on maintaining two unique brand identities.

One of the first steps since finalizing the acquisition has been to concentrate efforts on increasing the McCadam presence, particularly in its home state of New York.

"We held focus groups right off the bat," says Stammer. "For a brand that's been around since 1876, there is plenty of room to improve brand recognition and that's one of our goals."

To improve brand recognition and to take advantage of the cheese's long history, the cooperative has given the McCadam label a face lift. The logo now features a picture of young cheesemaker and founder of the company, William McCadam, with an old-style map of the Upper Adirondacks and Chateaugay, N.Y., behind him.

To keep the logo recognizable to longtime consumers, Cabot maintained a swath of blue across the logo that features the word "McCadam." The company also updated the tagline "New York's Finest" and added the phrase "A tradition of quality cheese since 1876."

The new logo plays up the heritage of the cheese, something Agri-Mark considers to be one of the brand's strong assets.

The company will be playing up McCadam's New York presence, utilizing the state's "Pride of New York" food promotion program. A major component of the new marketing strategy is to take McCadam cheese products directly to consumers through sampling opportunities at fairs and other events across New York state this summer.

To increase the company's community involvement and at the same time improve the cheese's brand recognition in New York, the company has partnered with the Firemen's Association of the State of New York (FASNY), and is offering free cheese for fund-raising events for volunteer fire departments. P.K. Curtin, a McCadam shift supervisor and volunteer fire fighter, is featured on the recently revamped McCadam website at www.mccadamcheese.com. The website is linked to FASNY's site.

In addition, Stammer says the company will begin entering McCadam cheeses, which include Cheddar, Muenster, Havarti and others, in contests. While the Cabot brand is known for its award-winning Cheddar and has received numerous awards, he notes that McCadam's first major award was actually from the 1894 World's Fair in Chicago.

The McCadam line is far-reaching, and the company will be focusing on the marketing of core items, Stammer says, noting the company is still working on deciding what products may be eliminated. The company will be maintaining a number of the Colosse brand cheeses, McCadam's direct store delivery product line.

Short-term, Stammer doesn't anticipate there will be any new McCadam items in terms of new flavors or cheese but there will be some new sizes such as 24-ounce bars.

The company also plans to utilize the acquisition of the McCadam plant to begin offering Cabot-brand Muenster and Havarti later this summer and fall. Other opportunities for plant synergies will be considered in the future, Stammer says. The two brands' Cheddars have distinctive flavors due to some differences in make procedure as well as the fact that Cabot's milk generally comes from Vermont cows and McCadam's milk generally comes from New York cows.

While the company doesn't want to see a muddying of the waters between the two distinctive brands, it is utilizing the same sales force to take the brands into as many markets as it makes sense. Cabot is stronger in some markets and McCadam is stronger in others. In general, McCadam is stronger in the service deli than Cabot, Stammer adds.

In an effort to build its presence in the service deli, the company also will be introducing new Cabot brand cheeses for the service deli. In addition to the 5-pound mild white Cheddar that's currently available, the cooperative will be adding a mild yellow Cheddar loaf, sharp white and yellow Cheddar loaves, a Pepper Jack loaf and a Havarti loaf.

For the dairy case, Cabot also is introducing other new products. The company's Chipotle Cheddar, an addition to its flavored Cheddar lineup earlier this year, won the best new dairy product award at the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's annual convention in June. At the recent Fancy Food Show, the company unveiled its Taste of Tuscany Cheddar, which includes a collection of herbs and spices such as poppy seeds and rosemary.

The company continues to develop other new flavor ideas as well. While the Fancy Food Shows are often where the company introduces products, other new products are introduced throughout the year.

"We're always playing around on the flavored side," says Jed Davis, director of marketing for Cabot, noting that it takes a lot of experimentation to bring a flavored cheese from an idea to a marketable product.

"Even the switch from bench production (to full-scale production) can make a difference," he says.

In addition, the company also is expanding its shred line for the first time. Being added to its five core shreds of sharp Cheddar, 50% light Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella and Fancy Blend (a fancy-cut Cheddar and Mozzarella blend) are a Mexican shred made from Cabot Chipotle Cheddar, a Hunter's Cheddar shred featuring an extra sharp Cheddar, and Double Double Cheddar Cheddar, a white and yellow, mild and sharp Cheddar blend with a fancy cut. The Hunter's Cheddar shred will feature the same plaid graphic on the packaging as the Hunter's Cheddar chunk.

The company also introduced Creme Fraiche for foodservice earlier this year.

In addition to the new products, the Cabot brand continues its community involvement. One of the latest community efforts is a Cabot-commissioned play, an update of "Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing" called "Big Whoop About Zip." The play is available to any high school drama group interested in performing it. In exchange, each school pledges to credit the play's presentation to the dairy farmers that own Cabot Creamery and run a Cabot ad in the play's handbill.

"Cabot has a long history of supporting community activities, particularly for families," says Davis. "Through technology and the web, Cabot is able to take this investment made in one neighboring community and make it available to all the communities that sell our farmers' products."

Cabot also has been a big supporter of the dairy industry's 3-A-Day program. In October, as a warm-up to the 3-A-Day launch, Cabot worked with the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History to create the Cabot Calcium Crisis Challenge. Teenagers in the greater Washington, D.C. area were challenged to create a message about the importance of calcium nutrition that would influence their peers. Seventeen grand prize winners were selected from among the more than 300 entries received.

Cabot has been featuring the 3-A-Day stickers on its product packaging; McCadam has too. Both companies will gradually switch the packaging of its products to incorporate the 3-A-Day emblem on the packaging itself.

"Our farmers and their brands support the efforts of the dairy industry to address the calcium crisis, to offer the solution, and to deliver the solution as great tasting, nutritious cheeses and other dairy products," Stammer says.

CMN