On this month’s edition of “Conversations with Dairy Checkoff,” we’re joined by Dwyer Williams, CEO of United Dairy Industry of Michigan. She just celebrated her one-year anniversary leading the organization.
MAT: Dwyer, after being able to evaluate things for a year now, what’s on the horizon for the UDIM team and the Michigan dairy community?
Dwyer: I have a phrase that I say all the time, so much so that somebody made me a piece of jewelry that has the phrase on it. And the phrase is, “what if?” I think there’s so much opportunity for Michigan dairy farmers and how we get to tell their stories to consumers and really be the voice of farmers and do that in modern and unique ways.
We focus specifically on sales and trust. In the sales camp, there is a world of opportunity to grow dairy sales through e-commerce. We did a program this year with Spartan Nash that did show an increase and a lift in fluid milk when we ran the event through that e-commerce site. We want to expand that and incorporate e-commerce into our digital advertising. We’re on track to make that happen and launch a campaign this summer, which the team has worked really hard on, and I’m excited to see that come to fruition.
The other area is influencers. It is undeniable, the influence that influencers have on what we buy and the behaviors that we have around food and so many other things. So we will continue to work with influencers to help shape and share our message to millennial moms and to our Gen Z audience.
In talking with consumers on behalf of dairy farmers, what trends have you recently seen?
I don’t think I’ve been in a meeting where artificial intelligence as a topic hasn’t been discussed. Artificial intelligence, in particular ChatGPT, has a lot of possibility. What it means for dairy farmers, I’m not sure just yet.
Basically, what ChatGPT does is many things. One example is if you put in “Michigan dairy farmers,” within seconds, you’ll get a narrative of three paragraphs that talks about Michigan dairy farmers, how many farms there are, how many cows are in Michigan, what the production levels are. It’s pulling that information from every source in the internet.
That is a baseline and what I just saw recently is a ChatGPT extension called Norm. Norm is an AI advisor for farmers. What Norm promises to do is address parts of the farm to maximize ROI, in particular, agronomy, crop health, and even animal health. This artificial intelligence could help farmers make faster decisions on the farm. So I’m excited to see where Norm goes.
What are consumers focused on, and how is UDIM reaching them right now?
As it relates to food, consumers want one product that serves every possible need, and we call that benefit stacking. So, it’s functional solutions to address multiple wellness needs at once. Protein boost, lower sugar, immune boost, how to help them sleep. They want one product to do everything, and milk is a great example of a product that can do everything for them. If they’re an athlete, it can help with their recovery.
Milk really is a superpower. And so, within this trend of benefit stacking, I think milk has a really, really good role to play.
What are some trends that you’re seeing across the dairy industry that you’re keeping an eye on?
There are a few trends in dairy that we’ve seen this year that have made its way through the cultural zeitgeist.
The first is butter boards. Butter boards are a fantastically creative way to share foods with others. The other is cottage cheese. I’m a huge cottage cheese fan, and there’s so many different recipes that influencers have shared on what to do with cottage cheese, from dips to pairings, to a variety of other things, and I’m really pleased to see that two big dairy products have been in these cultural conversations this year.
Thanks to Dwyer Williams, CEO of United Dairy Industry of Michigan, for talking with us in this edition of “Conversations with Dairy Checkoff.” Hear the full conversation below, and learn more about UDIM at milkmeansmore.org.
