February 2013

Dairy farm familiesof the Southeast

Dairy Promotion News

Milk sales in schools soared across the Southeast during last fall’s milk

consumption contests.Nearly 750 schools participated in

contests to see which could consume the most milk. As a result, 21 percent more milk was sold throughout the contests periods.

The six-week long competition was a joint program sponsored by SUDIA, milk processors and four partner NFL teams across the region as part of the Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60) program.

The purpose of the contests was to pro-mote the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle among the region’s youth and to encourage students to choose healthier foods that include dairy as part of a well-balanced meal.

Schools with the highest percentage of milk consumption during the contests periods were awarded grand prizes to help support FUTP60 programs, which encourage dairy consumption and exer-cise in schools.

Milk sales in Southeast schools increase by 21 percent with consumption contests

Quaker takes on social media for heart health

Every day is a good day to take care of your heart, and February is a great

time to renew that focus. Quaker Oats and Dairy Management

Inc. have entered into a partnership to encourage consumers to use dairy when cooking with Quaker products. As part of that partnership, during the month of February - which is Ameri-can Heart Month - SUDIA and Quaker will team up to educate consumers and share ideas about how to make a heart-healthy diet with dairy and oats a part of consumers’ lifestyles.

On Tuesday, Feb. 12, SUDIA dieti-tians and Quaker hosted a live Tweet chat through the social media net-work Twitter where consumers and healthcare professionals joined in the conversation to share and learn more about the benefits of dairy and oats to heart health. Users logged on and sent questions online to dietitians and other health professionals, who answered in real-time, creating a virtual “chat.”

“We gave ideas, recipe suggestions and ways to take actionable steps to incorporate dairy and whole grains into your daily lifestyle,” said SUDIA staff member Mary Martin Nordness, SU-DIA’s director of nutrition affairs and a registered dietitian.

For more information, contact Mary Martin Nordness at mmnordness@sedairy.org or 1-800-343-4693.

Consumption continued on page 2

Students across the Southeast were winners as they increased milk consump-tion at schools by 21 percent. The six-week long competition was sponsored by SUDIA, milk processors and the NFL as part of the FUTP60 program.

MilkPEP promotes dairy consumption through active and healthy lifestyle events

Milk is fast becoming the go-to beverage

for an active and healthy lifestyle, and once again SUDIA and MilkPEP will be leading the way to promote milk as the best after-exercise recovery beverage.

Throughout the months of May and June, MilkPEP will ramp up promo-tional efforts to encourage consumers to participate in a number of running events and drink flavored milk after exercise with online, print and television

advertisements, as well as point of sale marketing pieces in retail outlets across the Southeast. The website, Igotchoco-latemilk.com, along with other social media tools will also be available during this time.

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DAIRY Promotion News DAIRY Promotion News

In the fall, milk will once again be highlighted as the drink of choice. For the eighth year, low-fat chocolate milk will be identified as The Official Drink of Halloween in retail outlets. The pro-motion will feature PEANUTS cartoon characters, which have been used for the past three years to spotlight choco-late milk during Halloween.

SUDIA recently partnered with Refuel Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Virginia. From left to right, Marva Maid representative Scott Garrett, SUDIA staffer Roseann Liberatore and PET Dairy representative Jim Bollman provided flavored milk to 12,000 runners during Virginia’s annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on Sept. 2 on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.

“We are very grateful to have such great partnerships with Mayfield, PET, Brown’s, Purity and Borden, as well as the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans,” said Bob Trombino, director of mar-keting and processor relations with SUDIA. “It is exciting to see so many students enthusi-astic about drinking milk and participating in healthy life-

styles.”For more information about the FUTP60 program, contact Molly Szy-

manski at mszymanski@sedairy.org or 800-343-4693.

News and information move as fast as it takes

to click a button on the computer and more people than ever use social media to communicate this informa-tion with each other. In order to keep track of the latest news and issues that can affect the dairy industry and protect consumers’ confidence in dairy, SUDIA has been working hard with Dairy Management Inc. to make our issues monitoring system even stronger.

“Keeping on top of all the evolving and changing issues that affect the dairy industry and consumers is important,” said Amanda Trice, director of communica-tions and public relations at SUDIA. “SUDIA covers over

26 major media markets, and from traditional media to social media, we want to make sure we have the best and most timely information so we can take proactive steps to respond, if needed.”

SUDIA uses media tracking compa-nies to comb the nine-state region for any issues that could impact consumers’ confidence in dairy, such as increases in retail milk prices or the release of undercover

videos from animal rights groups.

Specifically, SUDIA tracks news in print, radio, televi-sion and online formats that deals with the dairy industry, school nutrition, flavored

milk, lactose intolerance and other issues. SUDIA also follows social media activity within the Southeast region to see what consumers are saying about dairy that could impact sales.

Most recently, SUDIA fol-lowed the significant media coverage throughout the last week of December of the “dairy cliff” and prepared a number of spokespersons to respond to requests from

local media for interviews on the subject. As a result, over 10 dairy farmers and scien-tific advisors within SUDIA’s nine-state region were inter-viewed and asked to respond to questions within a 24-hour period about rising retail milk prices.

For more information about SUDIA’s issues monitoring, please contact Amanda Trice at 800-343-4693 or by email at atrice@sedairy.org.

SUDIA increases online presence through media monitoring services; communicating important information to consumers

SUDIA is expanding its online presence with media monitoring services, making it easier to reach a broader base of consumers while continuing to educate them about the benefits of dairy.

“Keeping on top of all the evolving and chang-ing issues that affect the dairy industry and con-sumers is important.We want to make sure we have the best and most timely information so we can take proactive

steps to respond, if needed.”

Amanda TriceSUDIA’s director of

communications andpublic relations

3

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Athletes everywhere will be con-suming flavored milk during the Refuel: Got Chocolate Milk, Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series 2013 tour and the Ironman and Iron Girl events that will take place across the Southeast over the next several months:

Refuel Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series sponsored by MilkPEP and SUDIA:

Date LocationFeb. 24 New OrleansMarch 30 Lexington, Ky.April 27 Nashville, Tenn.Aug. 25 Louisville, Ky.Sept. 1 Virginia Beach, Va.TBD Savannah, Ga.

Ironman and Iron Girl events sponsored by Southeast dairy processors who wish to partner with MilkPEP:

Date Event LocationMay 9-12 Grand Prix Charlotte, N.C.June 2 Iron Girl Atlanta AtlantaJune 2 Ironman 70.3 Raleigh, N.C.Sept. 29 ESI Ironman 70.3 Augusta, Ga.

The weather is an im-portant variable for all

farmers. While it’s impossible to predict, using information from previous years and fore-casts for upcoming months can be vital for a viable busi-ness plan. AgroClimate.org is an interactive website that provides climate, agriculture and forestry information that can help farmers evaluate business options under dif-ferent climate conditions and ultimately manage their farms more efficiently.

The site is still under development, but currently

includes background climate information and a climate tool that allows producers to compare climate variability under different conditions along with crop information and links to other sources of relevant information.

AgroClimate will soon offer a wider range of assessment tools for a variety of crops and livestock, the value of irriga-tion water, information to determine the value of crop insurance, and a county-level database of agriculture and climate.

New website helps farmers understand weather patterns

Refueling with chocolate milk just became easier for students at Auburn University. SUDIA will place one glass-door milk cooler and three barrel coolers in various

training facilities and weight rooms throughout the university. Borden Dairy Company of Alabama will provide the milk for the coolers. Scott Sehnert, the sports dietician at Auburn University, said the coolers will be a great way to promote chocolate milk as a refuel beverage.

Auburn University athletes fuel up with flavored milk after workouts

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This year’s milk consumption contests winners are:

Contest Sponsor School CityRise Up, Fuel Up SUDIA, Mayfield, Atlanta Falcons Hollydale Elementary School Marietta, Ga.Fuel Up Like A Pro SUDIA, PET, Carolina Panthers First Ward Elementary School Charlotte, N.C.Black & Gold SUDIA, Brown’s, New Orleans Saints Stella Worley Middle School Westwega, La.Titans of Taste SUDIA, Purity, Tennessee Titans North Coffee Elementary School Coffee, Tenn.Gwinnett County SUDIA, Borden, Gwinnett County Lanier High School Sugar Hill, Ga. Public Schools

Nearly 750 schools par-ticipated in school milk consumption contest,

increase milk sales by 21 percent throughout the consumption test time

period!

When ordering materials, please

allow 2 weeks for delivery.

Southeast United Dairy Industry Association, Inc.5340 West Fayetteville RoadAtlanta, GA 30349-5416

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Love is in the air and soon will be online too! Be sure to check out this month’s campaign, “For the Love of Dairy,” on SUDIA’s Dedicated to Dairy website, www.

dedicatedtodairy.com.SUDIA is compiling a video that highlights dairy farmers from across the Southeast as they explain to consumers why they love dairy and dairy farming. The video will be promoted through SUDIA’s online media campaign titled “For the Love of Dairy” and highlighted on its Facebook and Twitter pages through the month of February. Dairy farmers can participate on Twitter by using the #4theLuvofDairy hastag or by visiting the Dedicated to Dairy Facebook page.

SUDIA reaches nearly 3,000 people through Dedicated to Dairy’s Facebook and Twitter pages. This campaign provides an even greater opportunity to highlight milk and other dairy products.

Dairy farmers do it for the love of dairy

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