The Value of Chocolate Milk and Dairy for Athletes

Our WIAA tournament sponsorship allows DFW to lead the way in creating an ESPN-like experience for athletes and fans – all while showcasing the nutritional value of chocolate milk, speaking to dairy farming practices and reinforcing Wisconsinite's pride in local dairy. Through a diverse array of efforts to reach coaches, athletes and fans, DFW is establishing chocolate milk as a mainstay in their nutritional plans through the sport season and beyond.

Millennial parents and Gen Z are looking for foods that help keep them healthy, enhance their physical wellbeing, and create moments of comfort and happiness. DFW localized MilkPEP's Built with Chocolate Milk national campaign to be as efficient as possible with farmer dollars while encouraging consumption of chocolate milk and building trust in dairy.

Due to gathering restrictions, DFW has focused on promotion activities that can be experienced through a screen - whether it be TV, computer or phone - so be sure to watch for chocolate milk messaging throughout the tournaments. We will also be airing a series of dairy and cheese commercials during the events.

While tournaments this year will look and feel a bit different, chocolate milk will be available to the teams following their competitions will remain the same. Athletes and coaches for boys and girls basketball, as well as hockey, will have chocolate milk to support their refuel and recovery.

The state tournaments give DFW a platform to showcase chocolate milk as the true leader in recovery to the athletes that, like Wisconsin’s dairy farmers, work daily to perfect their skills and achieve success.

Steve Sternweis

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin District 8 representative of Marathon County

Executive Committee & Communications Committee

WIAA Basketball TV Coverage

We will be airing a series of dairy and cheese commercials during the WIAA State Basketball tournaments. Be sure to check them out:

Chocolate Milk the official beverage at WIAA

Studies confirm drinking low-fat chocolate milk post-workout help athletes boost power and improve training times in their next bout of exercise. For decades, DFW has made chocolate milk as the official beverage of the WIAA. Today, this means chocolate milk advertisements appear in all state tournament programs, on their website, in communications to coaches and at tournaments where a digital screen is present.

The first-ever social media tournament sponsorship in 2019 proved to resonate with Wisconsinites, and drove conversations about Wisconsin dairy farmers and chocolate milk. During the games WIAA and DFW garnered more than 145,500 twitter impressions, Facebook and Instagram both reached 10,000 impressions. This year we continue to use several social avenues to reach athletes, coaches and fans this season.

New in 2020, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin proudly sponsored the Spirit of Sport award, which is given to an individual or group that exemplifies the ideals and spirit of sport at the core of education-based athletics. The award demonstrates the connection dairy farmers have to communities and the shared values with athletes (hard working, perseverance)

DFW is proud to be a part of some of the biggest sports moments across the state and promote the importance of chocolate milk to athletes and fans.

GoodSport – Dairy’s Beverage Innovation

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts no longer have to choose between sports drink efficacy and natural ingredients because GoodSport provides both.

A Chicago-based start-up has launched GoodSport, a sports drink that is 97 percent dairy and aims to compete nationally against leading brands such as Gatorade. This first-of-its-kind natural sports drink made from the goodness of milk and backed by science will be available this month at www.amazon.com and www.goodsport.com.

The product launched with support from the dairy checkoff and other industry groups.

GoodSport Nutrition Founder & CEO Michelle McBride conceived the concept after being frustrated with the sports drink category options. To bring her idea to life, McBride worked with the checkoff-funded Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The GoodSport Nutrition team learned how ultrafiltration could harness milk’s electrolytes, vitamins and carbohydrates and remove its protein to create a clear, light beverage with a mouthfeel that consumers expect from a sports drink. GoodSport comes in four flavors in 16.9-ounce bottles: lemon lime, fruit punch, wild berry and citrus.

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