WISCONSIN CHEESE PROMOTION IS WHEELING INTO WIDER FOCUS

MINA WILLIAMS

MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board's Hello Wisconsin promotional campaign for cheese is growing substantially since its introduction last year.

The promotion combines a consumer-oriented sweepstakes and retail merchandising contest to draw attention to Wisconsin cheese in the stores, according to WMMB officials. It is running now and concludes at the end of the month.

The total Hello Wisconsin program has been expanded this year to include more key retailers, manufacturers, marketers, wholesalers and distributors, according to Bill Drew, vice president of marketing for WMMB here.

"Last year we had 88 retailers participating; this year we have 161," Drew said. "Last year we had 24 wholesalers and distributors participate; this year we have 50. Last year we had 36 Wisconsin manufacturers participate by placing stickers or Universal Product Codes on their products, this year we have 56."

Freestanding inserts were placed in late February. The full-page front-cover FSI had a circulation of more than three million. Radio supports the program in 15 select markets. In some areas 60-second spots are aired with 15-second retailer tags.

"Last year we had 500 retail merchandising contest entries. We are expecting more this year," Drew added.

For the sweepstakes portion of the campaign, special on-product stickers with official code numbers or UPCs are used to identify winners. Consumers purchase the specially marked cheese and call a toll free number to enter their product's number into the sweepstakes. WMMB expects more than 600,000 entries, Drew said.

The top cash prize is $10,000. There are also more than 5,000 instant winners of free half-hour long-distance telephone cards.