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BLUE DIAMOND, OFFICIAL PARTNER OF THE USA SWIMMING AND VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL TEAM
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LUE DIAMOND, a global almond marketer and processor, will provide a better-for-you snacking alternative to USA Swimming’s 400,000 members and will take part in a new digital content series. As part of this alliance, Blue Diamond will be the first featured sponsor of USA Swimming’s new digital content production arm. The brand will be featured in a series of sponsored web episodes throughout the year, especially throughout the summer. “We are thrilled to be partnering with USA Swimming for 2016” said Maya Erwin, Senior Marketing Manager at Blue Diamond. “This is a natural fit for Blue Diamond, given the immense team spirit and community built around the games. The USA Swimming National Team is working so hard to bring home gold and we are honored to fuel their success through our flavor-packed snack almonds.”
USA Swimming athletes, coaches, volunteers, families and fans will enjoy on-site sampling at top USA Swimming sanctioned championships events, with an anticipated attendance of nearly 250,000 people. Besides this agreement, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze and USA Volleyball have partnered for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, making Almond Breeze the organization’s Official almond milk. Blue Diamond, the world’s largest almond processing company, will be providing Almond Breeze to USA Volleyball team members, coaches, trainers, chefs and nutritionists as a good alternative to dairy beverages. “USA Volleyball welcomes Blue Diamond Almond Breeze to our growing list of valued partners,” USA Volleyball Secretary General Kerry Klostermann said. “By partnering with Almond Breeze, a beverage that offers consumers and athletes a healthy lifestyle option, we can provide added value to our National Team athletes and support staff to promote greater success in training and competition. Our athletes serve as healthy, strong and courageous role models for our hundreds of thousands of junior athletes, and this partnership helps connect the two groups with better-foryou choices.” Blue Diamond Almond Breeze will not only help fuel Team USA Volleyball athletes, but will have a presence at select USA Volleyball events, including the USA Junior Beach Tour and Tour Championships, 2016 USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships, 2016 USA Volleyball Boys’ Junior National Championships and the USA Volleyball Open National Championships.
ALDI INTRODUCES HEALTHIER CHECKOUT AREAS WITH NUTS AND DRIED FRUITS © Aldi
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LDI, a German discount retailer, has introduced healthier checkout areas stocked with single serve nuts, trail mixes, dried fruit and granola bars instead of chocolate and candies. Aldi plans to roll out the programe to its nearly 1,500 locations in USA stores by the end of 2016. Checkout areas are a notorious source of unhealthy impulse buys. To cut out that temptation and allow shoppers to end their grocery trips on a healthy note, Aldi has decided to undertake this initiative and apply it in select stores this year. “By introducing healthier checkout areas and through a number of other initiatives, we are doing our part to remove temptation at checkout
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March 2016 | NUTFRUIT
and stocking stores with even more nutritious options,” said Jason Hart, CEO, Aldi. “At Aldi, we truly care about our customers, and we’re responding with guilt-free checkout zones and increased food options they can feel good about.” These changes aren’t just taking place at checkout. Aldi exclusive food brands, which comprise more than 90 percent of products sold in stores, are now free of certified synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) and added MSG. Aldi recently found that more than half of Americans believe items without artificial ingredients are more expensive and harder to find, and this is just another way the company continues to respond to customers’ priorities, all at the lowest prices possible.