The fall brings its share of hallmark moments and traditions. Harvest is done – or nearly done – the leaves have changed and kids are making s’mores around the firepit.

Increased butter sales also are well in season.

Butter traditionally enjoys a strong showing in November and December. These two months account for 23% of annual volume, and we see a spike in growth during this period that is higher than during any other part of the year, as families and friends gather for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday meals.

There’s just something synonymous with the fall and baking, and as we all know – it’s always better with butter.

While people today may not flip through the pages of a cookbook from the kitchen shelf as much as they used to, cooks are still seeking culinary guidance. In fact, about 88% of consumers say they use recipes, according to the 2023 State of Online Recipes Report.

The report reveals other points of interest: Consumers today click through e-pages in search of the next great dish. The survey found that 80% say online recipes have inspired them to cook a new meal, and 75% say they have been encouraged to purchase an ingredient or product they had not previously bought.

This is why Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) has an in-depth online recipe strategy all year long, which is critical to keeping dairy top-of-mind with a diverse consumer audience, particularly those in the Gen Z range.

DMI is fortunate to have some talented and creative people on staff to do a lot of this work in-house. We have someone who does food photography, but she also creates delicious recipes. Another person has a health and wellness background who’s very good at coming up with hacks – or easy tips – to help people who want, for example, more fruit in their dairy smoothies.

Our strategies are based on consumer trends to see what people are searching for online. We work with an agency that has digital marketing expertise to get data on what is hot and what is trending. Not only are people searching for recipes online, but they’re searching for them in social media, so our team finds what’s popular on Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube.

We saw indicators, for example, at the beginning of the year that snacking was becoming more of a part of daily life. People were thinking less about three meals and were instead grazing throughout the day. So we adjusted our plans to accommodate snacking occasions.

We work with companies such as Dish Works, which masterfully creates content where dairy is the star of videos and recipes. We’re really leaning into video, and dairy has an advantage because it’s always camera-friendly. We produce at least four new recipes each month, featuring their videos on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube Shorts channels, the latter of which saw a boom in viewership this year.

Ten years ago, people turned to mobile, and we’re seeing the same shift with people turning to video for information. Dish Works and other creative partners help us make videos for our platforms that make dairy prominent on the screen to show its texture, versatility and how it can be part of so many culinary opportunities.

We also partner with social media influencers who create recipes featuring dairy that we share on our channels. This gives us more opportunity to target our audiences and gives us the ability to understand what people are looking for and get the right recipe in front of them.

Our strategy includes an e-commerce function called Chicory that allows people to purchase ingredients included in the recipe posted at Undeniably Dairy's website. We can see how many people click to have ingredients from their local stores delivered to them. We also can get a really good read of what’s popular on our website. For example, last fall we saw our creamy spaghetti carbonara recipe generate a lot of traffic, and that speaks to how important seasonality is and anticipating what people are going to want.

And that leads us to this fall, where we are gearing up for another exciting holiday season. Here are some ways the checkoff will be engaged:

• We’re ensuring more of our social media influencer recipes reach people on more platforms. DMI will showcase traditional international recipes made with butter, such as the Middle Eastern dessert knafeh, which recently gained fame on TikTok. 

• We will create “mashups,” where beloved flavors and dishes come together in new ways and feature butter to help ingredients harmonize, such as our caramel pumpkin whoopie pies and eggnog tres leches cake.

• And we’ll promote staple holiday comfort foods such as turkey pot pie and Parker rolls which all need butter, too.

Yes, it’s the fall and time again for butter to shine. But the checkoff’s recipe strategy ensures all dairy foods remain in season all year long.

 

This article was written by Monica LaBelle, who is director of digital ecosystem for Dairy Management Inc. To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit DMI's website or to reach us directly, send an email.