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Emerald Bowl Draws Record-Setting Audience for Diamond Foods Brands

^{Published on 2008-12-30 07:07:50, Last Modified on 2008-12-30 07:08:23 - Market Wire}
 

SAN FRANCISCO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--[ Diamond Foods ], Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) today announced that the seventh annual [ Emerald Bowl ] attracted 42,268 spectators to San Francisco's AT&T Park on December 27, 2008. This turnout represents the largest live audience and fastest sell out in the game's seven year history. The Emerald Bowl was broadcast nationally on ESPN in prime time on Saturday night and featured a match up between the University of Miami Hurricanes and University of California Golden Bears. Initial overnight figures indicate a television rating of 4.16., the second highest in Emerald Bowl history.

"When the Emerald Bowl was conceived in 2002, we hoped for a close match up between two teams with national appeal," said Andrew Burke, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Diamond Foods. "We were pleased to have Miami and Cal help us fill the stadium full of enthusiastic fans and draw millions of television viewers. Emerald Bowl attendees were exposed to both the Emerald and Pop Secret brands throughout game day with product sampling, marketing activation inside and outside AT&T Park and in-game contests and advertising. Television viewers saw Emerald, Pop Secret and Diamond advertisements during the Emerald Bowl and other ESPN bowl games on Saturday."

The Emerald Bowl is the only NCAA bowl game featuring a match up between the ACC and Pac-10 conferences. This year's closely-contested game ended in a 24-17 victory for The University of California.

Diamond Foods has been the title sponsor of the Emerald Bowl since its inception in 2002. The Emerald snack line features innovative, great tasting snack nut products and is distributed nationally in a variety of retail outlets.

For more details about the Emerald Bowl, visit [ www.EmeraldBowl.org ].

About Diamond Foods

Diamond is a leading branded food company specializing in processing, marketing and distributing culinary nuts and snack products under the Diamond®, Emerald® and Pop Secret® brands.

Corporate Web Site: [ www.diamondfoods.com ]

Consumer Web Sites: [ www.emeraldnuts.com ], [ www.diamondnuts.com ], and [ www.popsecret.com ]