People enjoy traditions, but today’s consumers also want and need more from their food products. Americans are more on-the-go, becoming more health conscious, looking for unique products, and want a great value. To capitalize on those opportunities, food manufacturers and restaurants must invest in new products, packaging, and campaigns. The goal of the innovation team and product researchers at Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) is to help motivate companies and the industry to invest in dairy.
This team has a playbook of messages they focus on to highlight the value of dairy, said Chris Cifelli, DMI senior vice president of nutrition research, at the Joint Annual Meeting of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, National Milk Producers Federation, and United Dairy Industry Association. Many of those messages are around dairy’s impact on growth and performance, a healthy heart and weight, gut health, and mental and emotional wellness. In addition to highlighting dairy’s 13 essential nutrients, these areas provide new ways to talk about dairy’s nutrition, Cifelli said.
While DMI does much work around supporting the science of dairy products, it is crucial to activate that information by speaking with food companies, doctors, and other individuals that will influence how people shop for their food. “If we just publish papers, it doesn’t do any good,” Cifelli noted. Getting messages out that resonate with the consumer fills gaps where they are looking for information to make better nutrition choices. He explained that consumers want positive messages — as opposed to “Don’t eat this” — and to feel like they are in control. Sharing dairy’s value in new products, packaging, on social media, among other ways, gives shoppers evidence that choosing dairy is good for them.
A wider audience
The messages we want to share about dairy are amplified by partnering with groups that have influence and connections with large groups of consumers, such as restaurants. These types of collaborations have been part of the checkoff’s strategy to grow sales for years, and helping our partners solve problems that make dairy easier to incorporate is a great way to make it more accessible for consumers.
It is all about understanding how we can equip partners with the tools they need to innovate with dairy and make it attractive for their customers, said Kristiana Alexander, DMI’s vice president of consumer insights and innovation. To understand a potential product’s recipe for success, they want to develop items that are distinctive, meet a consumer needs, and provide value. The food industry wants these ideas, Alexander encouraged.
DMI currently partners with food companies McDonald’s, Domino’s, Taco Bell, Raising Cane’s, and General Mills. These are companies we share goals and values with, such as a focus on new products. Anne Marie Splitstone, executive vice president of growth platforms and partnerships, discussed that the checkoff is also angling toward providing more precompetitive benefit to companies that simply want some help working on a specific project. DMI gives them the tools and research, and they run with that information, she said. This gets dairy’s message out to a broader audience.
Examples of success with partners are many. Taco Bell has been a great partner for introducing new and dairy-forward products, such as the grilled cheese burrito and freeze drinks that include a dairy-based creamer. Mike Ciresi, a DMI dairy scientist on the Taco Bell team, explained that they are working on testing a new product, the Churro Chiller, that will taste like a coffee milkshake. “This is an example of how we innovate within partnerships,” he said.
Dairy farmers produce an incredible versatile product that also happens to be unmatched nutritionally. Emil Nashed, another DMI scientist, emphasized that dairy not only provides macro- and micronutrition, but nanonutrition. Researching the molecules and benefits of every part of milk has already opened up new doors for dairy farmers over the years, from whey protein to drinkable yogurt. With continued research, more opportunities will become available that meet the desires of today’s consumers. “The opportunities are endless,” Nashed said.
