• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, February 14, 2014

Blue Diamond Snack Nuts is running a multichannel campaign around its U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) sponsorship, which designates it as the official snack nut of the U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing. 

Working with agency Harmelin Media, the brand planned a national and local presence leading up to -- as well as during -- the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Blue Diamond ran TV spots and in-program features during nationally televised USSA events on NBC in December and January, and it is running ads in spot markets across the U.S. on NBC TV stations throughout the 16 days of the Olympics broadcast.  

Not all of the spots feature USAA athletes. One currently viewable on YouTube highlights the USAA sponsorship at the end, but shows friends and families sharing and passing along the nuts during sports and other activities, with the theme "Get Your Good Going" ("Good is a contagious and magical feeling, and once it gets going, there's no stopping what you can do").

The brand also produced a series of vignettes featuring the USSA athlete’s journey to the Games, and USSA chef Allen Tran integrating Blue Diamond into recipes used in the athletes' nutritional plans, viewable on the NBC Olympics site.

A major component of the campaign is a Facebook-based promotion offering consumers the ability to send messages of encouragement to USAA athletes, and receive coupons (while supplies last) for a free can of Blue Diamond nuts each time a USSA athlete wins gold. As of Feb. 13, three of the athletes had won gold, and in each case, all of the available Blue Diamond coupons were quickly claimed. 

Blue Diamond's Facebook page currently shows nearly 534,000 "likes." The offer is also being promoted on other social media, including the brand's Twitter page (showing about 8,500 followers).

The campaign also includes sponsorship billboards, branded integration within NBC's "Olympic Zone" program, and digital exposure on NBC-owned station Web sites.