*2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 28, 1994
(Continued from Page A 1)
team received four-plus pounds of
milk. Jennifer Grimes, Pennsylva
nia dairy princess, and Jim Barnett,
Atlantic Dairy Association, calcu
lated the milk weights. Ivo Otto,
president of the MAMMA board,
threw out the first pitch.
Meanwhile, the scoreboard kept
flashing “Don’t forget to drink
your milk.” And the Phillic Phana
tic used crowd-pleasing antics to
pretend to drink a gallon of milk to
get strength to stomp on a Mcts
baseball hat.
Of course, the Middle Atlantic
Milk Marketing Association
(MAMMA) ahd its 5,000 dairy
Andy Stoltzfus does a little physical therapy to get
cow ready to “let her milk down” before the milking contest.
Ivo
first pitch.
Bovine Stars Bring Milk Message To Millions
farm family members sponsored
the event. Fans at the game
included more than 3,000 students
and their guests from the school
district of Philadelphia as a reward
for drinking their milk in school.
The students from kindergarten
through sixth grades were winners
in MAMMA’S "1 Love Milk at
Breakfast” contest conducted dur
ing March as part of the Associa
tion's new school milk program.
Sunday was MAMMA’S Dairy
Day with the Phillies, and growth
posters that featured Darren Daul
ton and the Phillie Phanatic were
given to 25,000 fans ages 14 and
under.
r Grimes prepare to
row ou
Cameras! Action! Now the world knows where milk comes from.
Back in March, MAMMA
launched a school milk initiative to
increase school milk sales in their
marketing area. The Philadelphia
school district was chosen for the
first massive school milk promo
tion effort because of the large
number of elementary students and
the great potential for increasing
milk consumption by expanding
the school breakfast program.
According to Dick Norton,
MAMMA general manager,
school age children are a major
target audience. “We want to gel
them into the habit of drinking milk
when they are young,” Norton said.
“We are taking our marketing
program into the schools not only
to build current sales, but we also
see this as an important step in sec
uring future milk sales.”
John Baldwin, president of Bal
ford Farms who supplies the milk
to the Philadelphia school district,
told iMncaster Farming that the
program was very successful. He
said milk sales increased noticeab
ly during the campaign.
More than 106,000 Philadelphia
elementary school students partici
pated in the month-long “Milk is
Phantaslic” campaign which fea
tured MAMMA’S new milk
spokesperson, the Phillie Phanatic.
Prior to the contest, the Phanatic
visited 30 schools and performed a
skit to excite and educate students
about the importance of drinking
milk and eating a nutritious break
fast every day. These schools were
selected for the Phanatic assemb
lies because of their low student
participation rate in the school
breakfast program. After the visits,
the number of students eating
school breakfast increased an aver
age of nearly 33 percent. In 127
other schools the numberof break
fasts served each day during the
contest week rose by nearly 18
percent.
While increases were expected,
the primary goal was to retain a
Hve percent increase or greater to
generate a permanent growth in
school milk sales. Measured one
week after the contest, of the 157
schools participating in the contest,
97 achieved or exceeded the five
percent goal of breakfast served
each day, and 71 of these schools
had at least a 10 percent increase.
The long-term increase could
mean as much as 1.6 million
pounds in additional milk sales
during the school year.
The school breakfast program is
a federally-subsidized program
created to assure that a nutritious
breakfast is available to all child
ren. The month-long promotion
culminated with the contest. Only
those students drinking milk and
eating breakfast everyday during
Shawn Boskle, No. 45, umpires the low pitch for milk.
the contest week were eligible to word puzzle on school breakfast on
win Phillies baseball tickets or the back. MAMMA plans to return
Darren Daulton/Phillie Phanatic to the Philadelphia school district
growth posters. for the 1994-1995 school year to
In addition to the prizes awarded reinforce the school milk initiative,
to the contest winners, all students By the time the last out was
received neon colored book covers made at the ball game and the lans
bearing a nutritional message, and headed for the exits, the cows were
all students received an oversize already off to the tunnel leading
baseball card of the Phanatic with a (Turn to Pag* A 23)
Jim Barnett check the milk weights.
yj&VA'S HEALTH KICK