Wisconsin Cheese Mart featured in national Super Bowl ad

A Milwaukee-based cheese store will be in the national spotlight on Sunday during one of the many Super Bowl ads.

Wisconsin Cheese Mart was featured by Google as part of an ad campaign promoting their Gemini AI tool. The campaign highlights one small business from each of the 50 states to show off how AI can help with communications and managing data.

Ken McNulty, owner of Wisconsin Cheese Mart, said this isn’t their first time being featured by Google. His company was in a 2018 ad talking about how they used Google’s products to grow their online sales. 

He’s expecting at least a small bump in online sales after the new ad runs during Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

“We should be able to handle anything that this ad throws at us,” McNulty said. “This time of year, we’re pretty slow. Obviously, it’s right after the holidays, so not a lot of online sales.”

When McNulty took over the business in 2003, he said online sales only represented about 5 percent of their business. Today, he sells around 90 percent of his cheese online, with many sales coming from customers who first visited their second location in Madison.

McNulty sees AI-powered tools as the next progression for growing his small business. He said Gemini can quickly generate website descriptions and marketing content. He also credits Google’s marketing products with helping him connect with customers looking for unique cheeses like Limburger online.

“People don’t carry Limburger anymore in cheese stores,” he said. “So it continues to grow because we’re able to find those Limburger customers wherever they are.”

As AI becomes more commonplace, the tools have faced criticism for generating false responses, often called “hallucinations.” Google’s original ad about Wisconsin Cheese Mart was called out on social media platform X for appearing to contain one of these inaccuracies. The ad’s example of an AI-generated description for gouda claimed that the Dutch-style cheese accounted for “50 to 60 percent of the world’s cheese consumption.”

McNulty said the statistic was not made-up by Gemini as the tweet claimed but was pulled from another website. He asked Google to change the ad after hearing about the mistake. 

But McNulty stands by Gemini and other AI tools, saying any website or online tool requires the same amount of factchecking.

“It’s pretty darn good for a tool,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but don’t let perfection get away with progress, because it is progress.”

While he’s preparing for his moment in the spotlight, McNulty said he is also keeping busy filling orders for people preparing to host Super Bowl watch parties. And he has a few opinions about the perfect cheeses to pair with beer and football.

For Chiefs fans, he recommends a spicy cheese like Mango Fire, a cheddar with mango and habanero peppers made by Henning’s Creamery in Kiel.

For those rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles, McNulty suggests a Colby cheese that will be perfect for melting over any cheesesteak-inspired foods.