• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, November 11, 2013

Following its success with an ad campaign featuring some of the athletes participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics, MilkPEP (the Milk Processor Education Program) is launching a similar, new marketing program for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Russia.

Like the previous one, the new national ad campaign, "Built with Chocolate Milk," features Olympians and the messaging that these athletes drink low-fat chocolate milk after strenuous exercise to help them refuel and rebuild their bodies. (MilkPEP says studies have supported the beverage's benefits for this purpose.)

The campaign features USA Hockey star Zach Parise, plus Women’s Ski Jumping USA athletes Abby Hughes, Alissa Johnson, Jessica Jerome, Lindsey Van, Nita Englund, Nina Lussi and Sarah Hendrickson. 

The Women's Ski Jumping athletes will be competing alongside men for the first time in Olympics history. In 2010, Parise scored USA’s tying goal late in the final hockey game against Canada to send it to overtime. (The USA Hockey team went home as runners up, and are of course looking to win the gold this time.)

The ad campaign spans print, television, online and in-store promotions.

In addition, a Webisode series at www.gotchocolatemilk.com offers an exclusive look at how Parise and the ski jumping athletes are building up for the Olympics.

In 2012, MilkPEP -- better known as the national "Got Milk?" milk mustache campaign – partnered with USA Swimming to be the organization's "Official Refuel Beverage."

Members of the swim team were featured in a "Refuel/Got Chocolate Milk?" TV and print campaign, as well as in online Webisodes. 

MilkPEP also partnered with other athletes (including football MVP-turned endurance athlete Hines Ward, and two-time Ironman World Champion triathlete Mirinda Carfrae), and it struck deals to become the Official Refuel Beverage of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, Ironman, Life Time Fitness and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. 

The 2012 Olympics campaign was credited with driving significant increases in chocolate milk sales over that summer.

SymphonyIRI data showed the beverage's sales volume in grocery, drug, club, dollar and military outlets up 8.3% for the 13 weeks ended September 9, and U.S. Department of Agriculture stats had an 8.6% jump in flavored milk volume across all retail channels during July, reported HolsteinWorld.com.