For those folks just getting back into the office this week after the holidays and playing the game of catch-up, the Agricultural Relations Council has some good news. The deadline for the 2011 Golden ARC awards has been extended to on or before Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at 5 p.m.
The annual competition will include nearly 40 categories for agricultural public relations activities conducted in full or partially in the year 2011. Re-instituted in 2009, the Golden ARC awards program began in 1990. The contest recognizes the stellar work created by professionals in the agricultural industry.
The format and requirements for the Golden ARC awards are similar to other leading PR awards programs, based on best practices for public relations and public affairs campaigns and tactics.
Categories fall into two divisions – Campaigns and Tactics. A student category is also available. The 36 categories reflect the broad scope of public relations and public affairs activities today, including campaigns and a range of tactics, from traditional media releases to social media.
The contest is open to both ARC and non-ARC members.
The entry fee for the first entry for non-ARC members is $300 (includes a membership fee). Additional entries are $125 each. More information is available at www.GoldenARCawards.com or at the ARC website, www.agrelationscouncil.org.
The Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) just announced that nominations are open for the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame, a new award program honoring agricultural public relations professionals who have made lifetime contributions to the industry.
The program, sponsored by the Agricultural Relations Council and Agri Marketing magazine, will recognize its first recipients at the March 2012 ARC annual meeting in Charleston, SC. Nominations will close Jan. 15, 2012.
Nominees must be current or past members of ARC to be considered. Inductees will be selected based on criteria including:
- Years of membership in ARC
- Service to ARC (president, board member, committee chair, etc.)
- Professional accomplishments/achievements in ag communications
- Awards/Recognition in service to ag communications within ARC and also outside of the organization
Three inductees will be chosen for 2012. In future years, one or two individuals will be inducted annually. Nominations will be reviewed and chosen by a committee of ARC members.
For additional questions, please call the ARC office at: 952/758-5811. Or review the nomination form on the ARC web site at: www.agrelationscouncil.org. E-mail ARC at arc@gardnerandgardnercommunications.com.
It’s time once again to get your entries in for the Golden ARC Awards, conducted by the Agricultural Relations Council. The deadline is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.
Welcome to the 2012 Golden ARC Awards Program. Since its inception in 1990, the Golden ARC Award has come to represent the pinnacle of success in agricultural public relations. Now in its third year since re-introduction, the Golden ARC prestige will undoubtedly wow clients, employers and colleagues.
The Golden ARC Awards Program consists of two divisions, the “Campaigns Division” and the “Tactics Division.” Within each division, individual categories exist. Check out the rest of the site for more information on how you can win in 2012.
Keep the ARC Annual Mtg. on your calendar. It’s scheduled for March 21-23 in North Charleston, SC.
The Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) is offering an opportunity for you career agricultural public relations professionals. ARC is one of only a few organizations that is approved to offer APR accreditation through the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). ARC member Ken Gordon of Ashland is coordinating preparation courses to help ensure your success in earning accreditation. If interested, contact him at kdgordon@ashland.com. Ken says ARC members can join him in weekly WebEx accreditation meetings.
The classes will use the APR study guide, which is downloadable from the Universal Accreditation Board website at http://www.praccreditation.org/Forms.html. Also on the website is the application form you will need to fill out once you feel you are ready to move forward with the readiness review and the exam. Participants do not need to fill out the application or pay any fees for the classes being provided by ARC.
The classes will be scheduled on Wednesdays for 10 weeks beginning Oct. 12 and ending Dec. 21, with Nov. 23 being skipped so participants can focus on Thanksgiving. After the new year, Ken will work individually with those who have completed the class and want help preparing for a local readiness review.
If you’re looking at things to put on your 2012 calendar then mark down March 21-21 for the Agricultural Relations Council spring meeting. It will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Charleston, SC.
The annual meeting, held in February the past several years, was moved to March by the ARC board of directors at its meeting in Fort Myers in February. “The board felt moving the meeting a month forward to late March would get us beyond most of the major mid-winter ag trade shows,” said Mace Thornton, ARC board president. “We are excited about Charleston and the move to March.”
Watch for more information from ARC on the program for the meeting. If you’re interested in serving on the program committee, please contact the ARC office at (952) 758-5811 and ask for Den or Barb.
The board of directors of the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) has approved creation of the first agricultural hall of fame for public relations to recognize individuals for lifetime achievement. Our friends at Agri Marketing magazine are the founding sponsor of the ARC Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame. The first awards will be presented next year to one or more deserving ag public relations professionals.
“This new hall of fame will very simply and properly recognize legends in ag public relations,” said Deron Johnson, immediate past president of the ARC board of directors and creator of the concept. “As ARC marks its 58th anniversary in 2011, it’s a perfect time to launch a formal program that honors those who have made important contributions to the execution and advancement of agricultural public relations.”
Mace Thornton, president of the board, says ARC is the right organization to found and present this award each year. “Our mission is to serve the unique needs of public relations professionals in agriculture, food, fiber and other related industries,” Thornton says. “We are eager to recognize those who came before us and paved the way for what we accomplish today for the ag industry.”
During the organization’s annual meeting in Fort Myers, Fla., in February, the ARC board began considering a re-branded recognition program that would fold the current Founders Award into a revamped award to be presented annually by the national organization. Thus, the hall of fame concept was born.
“We are thrilled to be part of this new program,” said Lynn Henderson, Agri Marketing magazine publisher and founding sponsor of the ARC Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame program. “This new award is long overdue and we are excited to publicize and promote this program throughout the ag communications industry.
Thornton said a committee will be formed soon to develop criteria. This announcement is another in a series of developments over the past two years that has brought the ARC back to prominence. The ARC also recognizes creative work with the Golden ARC Award Program, also recently re-instituted by the organization.
If you’d like to serve on the committee please contact ARC President Mace Thorton or ARC Executive Director Den Gardner.
Measuring the effectiveness of social media really is possible – if know what you want to measure and what tools to use.
At the Agricultural Relations Council annual meeting in Ft. Myers last week, we had a presentation from The Center for Public Issues Education – or simply the PIE Center – which is located at the University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (Go Gators!). The center is only a couple years old and was established with the mission “to enhance the understanding of agriculture, natural resources, and the environment by providing research-based solutions that address societal issues and raise public and policy maker awareness.” Increasingly, that has meant the use of social media, including blogs, Facebook and Twitter so they have gotten more interested in helping agricultural groups manage, monitor and measure the effectiveness of this new communications tool.
Dr. Tracy Irani (pictured) is Development Director for the PIE Center and she talked about the rapid adoption of social media and how agriculture has become part of the conversation, like it or not. She notes that social media actually has an advantage over traditional media when it comes to measurement. “We know that most of the traditional media metrics are based on the number of eyeballs or number of listeners,” she explains. “That’s where social media has an advantage because the return can be looked at on the basis of who’s in the network, who’s actively using, viewing, posting in a social media environment.” In other words, traditional media can tell you how many potential viewers or readers you might have, where social media can show how actively involved they are by retweets, comments, messages, etc.
PIE Center Media Specialist Kevin Kent got into some of the nuts and bolts of monitoring and managing social media. He gave a list of ten social media metrics to monitor, which include SM leads, engagement duration, membership increase, activity ratio, conversions, brand mentions, loyalty, virality, and blog interaction. Kevin also talked about being specific about what you want to measure, focusing more on quality than quantity and setting goals, and the use of social media Best Management Practices – like using social media with other communications tools, limiting posts to make them easier to monitor, and engaging in conversation channels.
Listen in my interview with Tracy and Kevin here: ZimmCast 294 - PIE Center
This week’s program ends with a song from Music Alley called “All You Can Tweet” by The FuMP.
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page
Warm and sunny Ft. Myers was a wonderful place to spend a few days last week for the 2011 Agricultural Relations Council annual meeting, especially since most of us were from places that have had too much cold and snow this winter. The weather was fabulous and the program was outstanding – a great combination.
The leadership of ARC is energetic and believes that public relations for agriculture is more important that ever. “Agriculture public relations is a different kind of an animal,” said Mace Thornton with the American Farm Bureau Federation, who is the new president of ARC. “This is the organization that really specializes in bringing PR people to the table in agriculture so we can talk about common challenges and discuss strategy and tactics.”
Mace says the organization is experiencing a resurgence in popularity and membership growth, after hitting a low about five years ago. ARC now has over 80 members – twice what it had about this time last year, and Mace credits the strong support of leaders like outgoing president Deron Johnson of Rhea and Kaiser. Mace and Deron are both pictured here during the Golden ARC award ceremony. That award program is also experiencing new interest after being revived last year.
We really enjoyed a great program during the meeting, starting with a panel discussion on Florida agriculture’s water and fertilizer issues. We also heard from the University of Florida’s Center for Public Issues Education on measuring the effectiveness of social media (more on that later) and from Gary Myers, former owner of Morgan and Myers, about Strategic Thinking on PR.
After a sunset dinner cruise on Thursday night, the business meeting was held Friday morning and followed by a great tour arranged by Gary Cooper of Southeast Agnet. The group visited Worden Farms, an 85-acre certified organic family farm in Southwest Florida, and Longino Ranch, a diversified citrus and cattle operation near Arcadia. There we enjoyed a Florida cracker cowboy meal of fresh venison appetizers, perfectly grilled steaks, homemade beans and can’t-get-it-anywhere-else boiled swamp cabbage. Just mmmm, mmmm GOOD!
The ranch was a great example of diversified agriculture and environmental stewardship. Not only do they produce cattle, citrus and timber on the operation, but they also maintain a preserve for endangered gopher tortoises.
Listen to my interview with Mace about the ARC meeting here: Mace Thornton Interview
2011 ARC Meeting Photo Album
Winners of the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) 2011 Golden ARC Awards Contest were announced at the association’s annual awards banquet in Ft. Myers on Friday night. A total of 24 Golden ARC winners and 19 Merit winners were recognized as the elite in agricultural public relations. The number of entries this year was twice what it was last year!
Agency Weber Shandwick led the prize winners with four Golden ARC Awards and three Merit awards for clients Syngenta Seeds and Dairy Management Inc. On the corporate side, Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health won three Golden ARC Awards and two Merit Awards.
Other organizations winning multiple awards included Osborn & Barr with three Golden ARC Awards and four Merit Awards; Syngenta Seeds with two Golden ARC Awards and three Merit Awards; CHS with two Golden ARC Awards and two Merit Awards; Charleston Orwig and Dairy Management Inc. with two Golden ARC Awards and one Merit; Egg Farmers of Ontario, David & Associates, Pfizer Animal Health and Bader Rutter & Associates each with two Golden ARC Awards; National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Rhea + Kaiser (Bayer CropScience) with one Golden ARC Award and two Merit Awards each; and Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition with one Golden ARC Award and one Merit Award.
The American Farm Bureau Federation won in the podcast category for their “FoodieCast Thanksgiving Special” and in the Blogs/Electronic Newsletters category, the winner was – ZimmComm New Media for the National Corn Growers Association Corn Commentary blog! Congrats to all!
Find out all the winners in all the categories here.
Here is my photo album from the event – 2011 ARC Meeting – not the best photos I have ever taken since I was just using my little “toy camera” (Canon Power Shot). We were getting our good cameras and lenses serviced and checked out for Commodity Classic next week. If any ARC members (like Janice or Amy who were using better cameras) would like to send me some, I will add them to the photo album.
This happy group of agricultural PR professionals are meeting in Ft. Myers, where the weather is in the 80s and gorgeous, while the Midwest is back in the cold and snow. We feel bad (not!).
The Ag Relations Council annual meeting enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Gulf of Mexico with near perfect weather – okay, it was perfect. We even got treated to a couple of friendly dolphins playing around the dock and the boat.
Today we are out touring fruit, vegetable, citrus and cattle operations in southwest Florida, courtesy of Gary Cooper with Southeast Agnet. Hope to upload photos later but the upload speed at the hotel is really not good. I am doing this post from our first tour stop – Worden Farm. More to come….
If you didn’t get your entries for the 2011 Golden ARC awards prepared because you were busy with the holiday last week, not to worry – you have a little more time now.
The Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) has extended the entry deadline for the 2011 Golden ARC awards. Entries for the competition are now due in by 5:00 pm (central time) on December 14.
“The original deadline for entries was so close to Thanksgiving, we had feedback from several companies regarding challenges they encountered due to the holidays,” said Amy McDonald, Golden ARC contest manager. “To make it easier for our entrants to submit all their best work, we chose to move the deadline back ten business days.”
The annual competition will include nearly 40 categories for agricultural public relations activities conducted in full or partially in the year 2010. Re-instituted this summer to recognize 18 Golden ARC winners and nine merit award winners for 2009 public relations activities, the Golden ARC awards program began in 1990. The contest recognizes the stellar work created by professionals in the agricultural industry.
ZimmComm New Media was proud to pick up two of those awards this year on behalf of work we did for our clients – the Renewable Fuels Association (podcast) and John Deere (blog).
Get details on categories and contest entry forms on-line at goldenarcawards.com.
The Agricultural Relations Council and the National Agri-Marketing Association just announced that they have entered into an informal partnership focused on developing enhanced public relations content for upcoming industry events. We’ll see the results of this at the Agri-Marketing Conference next April with the joint creation of PR-track content.
As part of the agreement, an ARC board member – Mike Opperman of Charleston|Orwig – will serve on the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference planning committee.
“We are continually looking for ways to strengthen the content of our conferences,” said Jenny Pickett, executive director of NAMA. “With this new partnership with ARC, we have a great opportunity to drive a more meaningful discussion about the role and utility of public relations in agri-marketing, and how our members can more effectively use PR to support their own business goals.” Pickett noted that the partnership between NAMA and ARC, each an independent organization, fits in with NAMA’s goal of forming alliances with industry organizations to help strengthen professional development.
Ultimately, ARC will contribute to developing two tracks of “ARC-approved” PR sessions that will take place during the 2011 conference, said Den Gardner, executive director of ARC. “This new partnership with NAMA gives ARC a bigger platform from which to promote the art and science of agricultural public relations,” Gardner said. “It also fits with our mission to give ARC members who attend allied meetings a great opportunity to stay connected to ARC’s timely and relevant PR programming throughout the year.
The Agricultural Relations Council, Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager is Amy McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications. She put together a really good contest and is already working on the next one.
I spoke with her about the awards program so we get a better understanding of what these awards are for, how they are judged and what to look for in the future. The contest began in 1990. This year there were 40 entries and there were 19 Golden ARC Award winners and 9 Golden ARC Merit Award winners. The judging was done by the Florida Chapter of PRSA so these were looked at from the standpoint of the “science of PR.” It’s a more objective judging strategy than other awards in the industry. Next year’s awards will be presented at the ARC annual meeting so the deadline for entries will be announced soon.
Amy McDonald Interview
2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
The revived Golden ARC Awards were presented today at the Ag Media Summit. The Agricultural Relations Council is very pleased with the participation and ZimmComm New Media is very happy with the judges (Florida PRSA Chapter).
ARC President Deron Johnson, Rhea & Kaiser and Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager, Amy Keith McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications, presented the awards. ZimmComm New Media won two awards in the Tactics Division. Working with BCS Communications for John Deere we won for the blog, DriveGreenTractors.com. Working with the Renewable Fuels Association we won for the podcast, The Ethanol Report. These are the first Golden ARC Awards we’ve ever won and Cindy and I are very excited about it.
I interviewed Amy about the awards program and will post that for you soon. Photos of all the winners are in the AMS photo album. Thanks to Mike Opperman for taking my photo!
2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
A great way to support the Ag Media Summit and Agricultural Relations Council is to get your bid in on the silent auction. There are some great items.
I spoke with Mark Ingbritson who is keeping an eye on the auction area. He says the proceeds are split between ARC and AMS to help out students.
Mark Ingbritson Interview
2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
Here’s just one more reason to want to attend this year’s Agricultural Media Summit.
The re-birth of ARC continues with the re-introduction of the 2010 Golden ARC awards presentation set for July 27 at the Ag Media Summit in St. Paul. The awards will be given out as part of the Tuesday PR block workshop, from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
First, attendees at the PR Workshop “Characteristics of a winning public relations program” will be treated to a dissection of one of the campaign winners from the 2010 contest. Following that seminar, the winners and merit selectees from about 20 categories will be announced by Contest Manager Amy McDonald of McDonald Marketing Communications and ARC Board President Deron Johnson of Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications.
Here’s your reminder that your Golden ARC Awards entry is due by this Saturday at 5 p.m.
That means you have just a few more days to review the 38 available categories at www.GoldenARCawards.com; repurpose previous entries or create new ones, and mail to the Contest headquarters in Texas. Enter the Contest that began 20 years ago, and is specifically for agricultural public relations entries!
Think back to work you conducted (at least partially) in 2009. Are you proud of any campaigns or tactics you worked on? Whether it’s a complete campaign or an important tactic that you implemented or worked on in 2009, why don’t you enter it and see how it stacks up against other good work?
Unlike other competitions in agricultural marketing communications, our competition will be judged by public relations professionals with no ties to agriculture … we are stepping outside the common judging pool and having North Florida Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) members judge our contest.
Contact contest manager Amy McDonald if you have any questions.
The Agricultural Relations Council’s new website is up and running so check it out. It’s a Ning site so you can create your own profile. Here’s mine.
The Agricultural Relations Council is the only association dedicated to serving the unique needs of public relations professionals working in agriculture, food, fiber and other related industries. ARC is a conduit for problem-solving, idea-sharing and collaboration among members, who share a passion for excellence in public relations.
If you’re a regular AgWired fan then consider ARC because you definitely fit the description.
Do you remember the Golden ARC Awards? I do. And they’re back.
Are you one of the best in agricultural public relations? Do you contribute valuable professional communications to your position? Are you proud of your work?
Since its inception in 1990, the Golden ARC Award came to represent the pinnacle of success in agricultural public relations. Now reintroduced after a multi-year absence, the Golden ARC esteem will undoubtedly wow clients, bosses and colleagues.
Now is the time to submit your best work to the prestigious 2010 Golden ARC Awards. The deadline is Saturday, May 1, 2010.
The Golden ARC Awards Program consists of two divisions, the “Campaigns Division” and the “Tactics Division.” Within each portion, individual categories exist. Check out the rest of the site for more information on how you can win in 2010.
Download entry form here (pdf). Get the FAQ’s here.
The first presentation at the Agricultural Relations Council annual meeting in Memphis was on consumer messaging. Our presenter was John Charles Wilson, Agricenter International.
Agricenter International is a self-sustaining, non profit that provides economic development by facilitating agricultural research, educational programs, environmental conservation, natural area preservation and recreational opportunities.
John’s presentation focused on their efforts to better inform and educate consumers on the importance of agribusiness to the U.S. economy and the impact of ag exports to the world. He also gave us an overview of the status of what is considered to be the world’s largest urban farm and research test facility.
His presentation will give you another idea of what you miss when you don’t attend an ARC meeting. Think about putting it on your calendar next year!
Photos are already available in the Agricultural Relations Council Meeting Photo Album.
You can listen to the presentation below.
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In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
