USA Swimming Welcomes Blue Diamond as Official Snack Nut

USA Swimminghas added another new member to its partnership team, the world's largest almond processing company, Blue Diamond. Joining as USA Swimming's Official Snack Nut, Blue Diamond 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.

"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."

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.

"Digital storytelling is a perfect way to activate a partnership between two organizations that represent healthy lifestyles," said Matt Farrell, USA Swimming Chief Marketing Officer. "This is a great example of a partnership that makes the sport better, with a focus on active, healthy living and getting families involved in swimming."

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.

"Nutrition is a key component to the success of National Team and age group athletes, so we want our partnerships to reflect that approach," said Geri Woessner, USA Swimming Manager of Business Development.

Through the partnership with USA Swimming, Blue Diamondreceives assets such as advertisements in Splash Magazine (a 275,000 circulation bi-monthly publication sent direct to USA Swimming members), entitlement of a digital content series, the right to use USA Swimming marks, event activation at USA Swimming sanctioned meets to provide sampling and signage, involvement in the Aqua Zone fan experience at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials and tickets for the annual Golden Goggle Awards.

Becoming the latest on USA Swimming's elite roster of non-swimming corporate partners, Blue Diamond joins AT&T, BMW, CeraVe, Marriott, Mutual of Omaha, OMEGA and Phillips 66, alongside swimwear leaders Arena, Speedo and TYR and top pool manufacturer Myrtha Pools. For more information, please visit www.usaswimming.org.

About USA Swimming:

As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 400,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education. Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games, and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success. For more information, visit www.usaswimming.org.

About Blue Diamond
Blue Diamond Growers is the world's largest almond marketer and processor. It created the almond industry in 1910 and opened world markets over 100 years ago when Spain and Italy were the major producers of almonds. While the U.S. market is the largest single market for almonds, over 70 percent of them are exported to 95 countries worldwide. Almonds are California's largest food export and they rank among the top ten food exports in America. California produces over 80 percent of the world's supply. For more information, visit www.bluediamond.com.

SOURCE Blue Diamond