Milk. The drink of the professional footballer
An industry-wide milk promotion fronted by high profile Southampton footballer player, James Beattie, kicks off next week with the support of Arla.
The dairy industry has teamed up the Professional Footballer Association (PFA) and has the strapline: Milk. The drink of the professional footballer. It aims to raise the profile of milk as a healthy drink and give it a 'cool' image that will appeal to youngsters.
"Dairy companies such as Arla, Wiseman's and Dairy Crest are all backing the promotion, along with the Milk Development Council," explained Tracey Wilson, channel marketing manager.
"While we will be focusing heavily on school milk, we are also getting the major retailers on board as well as doorstep and middle ground customers. The campaign has snowballed since it was first conceived and over the coming weeks there'll be lots of activity happening," Tracey added.
The promotion will run for at least 12 months and will cover the reminder of this football season, Euro 2004 and the start of the 2004/05 football season.
James Beattie will be appearing on posters and promotional kit merchandise and the PFA logo and campaign strapline will be used on milk packaging.
"Schools will receive a PFA promotion kit and we're hoping to increase sales of milk at secondary school milk bars though the football tie-in," said Tracey.
Arla Foods UK plc is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor. Processing approximately two billion litres of milk a year Arla continues to be one of the UK’s leading dairy companies and a supplier of fresh liquid milk and cream to the top seven retailers.
Over 2,500 daily deliveries are made directly to stores nationwide and Arla brands can be found across the dairy category. As well as the leader of the butter, spreads and margarine sector, and a major supplier of other added value products including flavoured milk and cheese, Arla continues to build working relationships with Arla Foods Milk Partnership, a unique group of dairy farmers, which supplies around 90 per cent of Arla's total milk requirements.
Behind this leading business is a team of circa 2,800 people across the UK located at our dairies, distribution centres and head office.