Marketers wheel out cheese events galore

2007 is shaping up to be the summer of cheese, with fromage-related media happenings and marketing tie-ins curdling faster than a tub of Breakstone’s left in the sun. Vermont’s Cheese Trail was just the beginning. Disney and Pixar are planning a “Big Cheese Tour” promoting Ratatouille that will include a mobile kitchen with videogame demos and a “cheese-wedge slide” for kids. (I’ve slid across my kitchen after spilling cottage cheese, but this sounds more fun.) Then there’s Beemster, a Dutch cheese company, which is hosting an all-day cheese bash today in NYC’s Grand Central Station, featuring “the world’s biggest wheel of cheese” (over 1,300 pounds!). I’m sure weary commuters are thrilled to see that wedge blocking the platform. Finally, no cheesy roundup would be complete without a visit to cheddarvision.tv, a Web site offering a live broadcast of a slab of cheddar from the U.K. And this is no disco-dancing, fire-breathing Pixar wedge. It’s just a hunk of cheese doing what comes naturally: maturing. The site claims it’s had 1.2 million hits since its December launch. CNN quotes one ardent fan thusly: “Actually seeing the real thing in its glory, from start to finish, watching it, live, in real time, growing and growing its molds and getting darker and literally, slowly aging is a phenomenon.” And she’s not talking about Tony Blair. Photo by Vidiot.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

May 16, 2007 | Permalink