Chobani Greek Yogurt has renewed its U.S. Olympic Committee sponsorship, making it the first USOC corporate patron to publicly extend its rights through the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Chobani CMO Peter McGuinness said the Olympic connection since 2012 has been effective in securing incremental retail presence, which has translated into more sales.
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Chobani Greek Yogurt has backed the USOC since 2012.
Photo by: CHOBANI |
“It’s been great for shopper marketing and in-store visibility,” he said. “It’s just one of those intuitive hookups. It’s a natural linkage to the athletes and we’re both made in the USA. … Obviously, we’re a growing brand, but we’re still just seven years young, so the
Olympics gave us stature.”
“Anything our athletes use when they’re in training is a great connection for us, and they [Chobani] have been really creative marketers,” said USOC Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Baird, noting that almost 200,000 cups of Chobani have been consumed by athletes at the three U.S. Olympic Training Centers since the commercial relationship began two years ago.
The deal includes sampling rights and exclusivity in the USOC’s “Road to Rio” experiential marketing campaign beginning next year, along with USOC digital assets and a presence within its USA House hospitality. Chobani handled the renewal itself, with McGuinness negotiating directly with Baird.
During the recent Sochi Winter Games, Chobani packaging featured winter sports icons with the tag line “Naturally Powering Team USA” on more than 350 million cups of yogurt.
Chobani will continue to carry the Team USA logo on packaging through the 2020 Games. Chobani also leveraged its Olympic rights by signing athletes, including snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis, skier Hannah Kearney and NHL player Zach Parise.
Greek yogurt now accounts for more than half the yogurt sold in the U.S., growing from less than 5 percent six years ago. With sales booming and Chobani locked in a tight market-share struggle with Dannon’s Oikos brand, category marketing has exploded. Both brands advertised during Super Bowl XLVIII, while Dannon signed an NFL league sponsorship this year and Chobani cut a deal making it the official Greek yogurt for many of the largest college programs represented by IMG College, including giants like Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and UCLA.
McGuinness noted the potential for further growth, based on the fact that Europeans eat three times as much yogurt per capita as Americans.
“We’re seeing additional ‘healthy’ products using sports and event marketing, as consumption has increased,” said Jeff Shifrin, Octagon president and COO. “Any product with a ‘good for you’ message can benefit from a sports association, so we’re seeing more of it, because it works.”
Chobani joins a number of food and beverage brands with USOC rights. The others are Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Smucker’s and McDonald’s.
“We continue to attract a lot of consumer packaged goods sponsors, because we genuinely have female fans,” Baird said.
