Sunnyside Farms won in the Breakfast-at-Home category for its strategic sponsorship of the Great Reno Balloon Race, the largest free hot air ballooning event in the world. Over the three-day event, Sunnyside Farms generated 150,000 impressions for its milk and other breakfast products. Taking advantage of the event’s early start time at 5 a.m. each day, the Sunnyside team promoted the Breakfast-at-Home message utilizing a wide range of MilkPEP marketing materials including an “It’s Not Breakfast Without Milk” banner and thousands of MilkPEP novelty items. 

The team handed out free samples of milk along with cereal and fresh fruit to raise awareness of the importance of having milk with breakfast. Adding to the booth’s popularity was a fun game, the “Wheel of Opportunity” in which participants could spin the wheel for prizes. With its milk and by-products sold in over 40 stores in Reno and Northern Nevada, this event was an excellent opportunity to showcase the Sunnyside Farms milk to thousands of families and build brand loyalty.

The winner in the Refuel with Chocolate Milk category, the Borden Company of Florida, participated in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in St. Petersburg, FL through MilkPEP’s partnership with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series. Borden’s lowfat chocolate milk was billed as the “Official Refuel Beverage” of the marathon which drew 15,000 athletes and spectators. To further maximize its participation, Borden added a retail component by partnering with a local retailer, Hess stores.
Borden promoted the REFUEL message and its branded lowfat chocolate milk throughout the race weekend by distributing more than 1,000 coupons and flyers to encourage athletes to head to their local Hess store to receive a discount off Borden chocolate milk and a free REFUEL lanyard.

On Race Day, the Borden team gave away 4,000 samples to athletes as they crossed the finish line. The recovery benefits of lowfat chocolate milk were the focus of the team’s discussions with event attendees. The response was so positive that Borden had over 100 athletes submitting videos to join Team REFUEL, a group of athletes who serve as ambassadors for chocolate milk in their local markets.

“It is refreshing to see the creative ways processors promote their brands in their markets by taking advantage of MilkPEP’s resources,” said Melissa Malcolm, Field Marketing Manager for MilkPEP. “We are here to work closely with them to help build and reinforce brand loyalty and drive consumption.”
About the MilkPEP Awards

The awards program, now in its eighth year, showcases processors’ successes in implementing MilkPEP’s two occasion-based strategies, Breakfast at Home and Refuel with Chocolate Milk. Each quarter MilkPEP selects one winner in each category to receive an Apple iPad®. At the end of the year, an Annual Grand Prize Winner will be selected in each category from among the quarterly winners. In addition, there are specific event categories, including the Refuel with Chocolate Milk feature incentive program and the Halloween feature incentive program.

Processors can enter the MilkPEP Awards at MilkPEP.org as well as peruse the MilkPEP Awards section of the site to learn best practices in promoting Breakfast at Home and Refuel with Chocolate Milk.