In today’s DairyLine broadcast, Julia Kadison, CEO of the Milk Processor Education Program, explains how milk is helping to fuel Team USA on its Road to Rio.

“Milk has been helping Team USA athletes get to the Olympic Games for decades, and now it’s official! This year, Milk Life kicked off a five-year partnership with the United States Olympic Committee and Team USA. This partnership is a true game-changer for the industry, putting milk in the spotlight alongside some of the nation’s top brands and companies, supporting U.S. athletes as they train and compete. This powerful partnership, which is specific to white milk, provides a national platform to build consumer relevance and trust in milk and supports Team USA athletes who exemplify what it means to Milk Life.

“As Team USA gears up for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, MilkPEP and the nation’s milk companies have launched a national campaign reinforcing how a lifetime of hard work – and milk –builds champions, establishing an authentic and emotional connection with consumers.

“We’ve been busy at MilkPEP gearing up for the summer games in Rio. We validated milk’s role in building U.S. Olympians, confirming that nine out of 10 of them grew up drinking milk, via a proprietary athlete survey conducted with the U.S. Olympic Committee[1].  This is a powerful claim that is being used across communications.

“We selected a team of athletes from multiple high-profile sports – swimmer and team captain Elizabeth Beisel, rugby powerhouse Perry Baker and others – who are featured in a fully integrated marketing campaign that includes high-impact advertising, engaging consumer promotions, in-store messaging and compelling social and digital content.

“Most exciting is how milk brands across the country are leveraging Team Milk and the partnership to engage consumers like never before – with new milk packaging that includes the Team USA marks, consumer promotions featuring Team Milk athletes, custom content and more – all driving excitement in the milk case and among consumers.

The milk industry is proud to support Team USA athletes with simple, wholesome and nutrient-rich milk; it’s just such a natural and authentic fit. And the partnership doesn’t end after Rio. I encourage the milk industry to take advantage of this invaluable opportunity for the milk category over the next five years. Visit the Dairy Management Inc. Dairy Hub, or contact us at info@milkpep.org to learn more.”

[1] 9 out of 10 finding based on 675 responses received from survey invitations sent to U.S. Olympians. KRC Research conducted an online survey among retired, current, and hopeful U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes on behalf of MilkPEP between February 23 and March 7, 2016. The U.S. Olympic Committee and its National Governing Bodies distributed e-mail invitations with a link to the survey to its retired, current, and hopeful athletes inviting them to participate. In total, across Olympic and Paralympic sports, 1,113 completed the ten-minute survey (675 Olympians, 93 Paralympians and 345 hopefuls in training).