Hello from Minneapolis and the North Central NAMA Chapter meeting. We’re in the cafeteria/meeting room at Colle+McVoy.
This is actually setup time. The tables being set up here are for our speed networking session which will follow my presentation on social networking. We’re going to get to know each other very well by the end of the evening.
I think we’ve got at least 40 people reserved so far. That’s great for a chapter meeting. As I understand it we’ll have students here too for the first time so that’s exciting too.
I’ll update you with more later on, but for now we’re going to finish getting ready.
You know I can never get enough NAMA so I’m looking forward to the North Central Chapter meeting tomorrow at Colle+McVoy offices. Here’s the details: Social Networking:
The next North Central NAMA chapter meeting will be held November 20, 4-6 p.m. at Colle+McVoy. It will include a presentation on social networking by Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm New Media LLC, as well as a group networking exercise.
Job/Intern Networking:
In addition, the North Central NAMA chapter will be hosting its first Intern Networking social along with the workshop. Area businesses looking to hire an intern are welcome to participate as potential intern candidates from over 10 local Universities have been invited to attend, including students majoring in Ag Business, Ag Marketing, Ag Economics, Finance, etc. HR Managers and Marketing individuals are encouraged to attend. Please bring business cards for this informal social networking opportunity.
WHEN:
November 20, 2008
4:00 pm - Registration
4:30 pm - Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm New Media - Social Networking
5:15 pm - Job and Internship Networking *Drinks and hors d’oeuvre served*
At the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference several professional agrimarketers were honored and once again this year, Paulsen AgriBranding captured comments from the honorees.
NAMA honored three members for professional development during its Wednesday luncheon. Honored in marketing communications was Paul Redhage, FMC Communications Manager; in Public Relations, Beth Anderson, Charleston Orwig; and in sales, Vernon Benes of Beck Ag. Below are video highlights of acceptance comments of those present.
You can learn more about the rural lifestyle survey that Susan Spaulding conducted courtesy of Paulsen AgriBranding.
Day two of NAMA’s Trends in Agriculture: Rural Lifestyle Marketing kicked off with a discussion of the impact of new media on rural lifestylers. Susan Spalding of Market Directions and Courtney Yuskis of the Country Living Association looked at the products and services that are gaining the interest of Rural Lifestylers.
The first session today at Trends in Agriculture was all about a national survey of rural lifestyle people conducted by Susan Spaulding, Market Directions. She worked with the Country Living Association on the survey and the presentation was made jointly by Susan and CLA Director, Courtney Yuskis (pictured).
One of the interesting things I heard was the high level of importance that rural lifestylers’ place on new media. Very interesting. I asked Courtney to tell us some of the things they found out besides this. She says that this group is being hit with a lot of messages from lots of different types of companies and that suggests to me that there may be some real opportunities for companies to do some co-promotions.
You can hear more about the survey in my interview with Courtney here:
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If you’d like to purchase the full survey, contact Susan at Market Directions.
Somehow this post got deleted so I’m not sure what I originally posted but let me get it fixed.
At the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference I learned about “Idyllic Lifestyle Seekers” from Dan Duffy, CEO, United Country Real Estate. He was on the program to talk about how they’re marketing to those you like to live a rural lifestyle. I’ve never heard them referred to as that but it works for me.
Dan says the term they use to describe this market came from research they conducted after he started working with the company.
He says that their job at United Country Real Estate is to help people make the transition to the rural lifestyle.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 195 (8 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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Paulsen AgriBranding spoke with the second speaker here at the Trends in Agriculture conference. He was very interesting and will be the interview in this week’s ZimmCast.
So where are rural lifestylers these days? Dan Duffy, CEO of United Country Real Estate, told the NAMA Trends in Agriculture: Rural Lifestyle Marketing conference how agrimarketers can reach this target and how it is holding its own against the recent economic downturn.
Speaking of Paulsen AgriBranding, here’s the first of their Trends in Agriculture video clips with our first speaker.
The NAMA Trends in Agriculture, Rural Lifestyle Marketing conference began with Frank Schuurmans of Decision Strategy International asking if your current strategy is “future proof.” He focused on future scenarios and asked attendees to test how their current strategy would fare.
The first speaker at the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference was Franck Schuurmans, Non-Profit Practices for Decision Strategies International. He really made us work our brains early by speaking about strategies. For one thing he challenged everyone to not be so confident in “knowing what you know” as in “knowing what you don’t know.”
You’ve got to think about that a minute.
Hear some more words of his wisdom in my interview with him here:
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In the picture Franck is being interviewed by Paulsen AgriBranding because they are once again sponsoring the NAMA Blog and doing short videos of the speakers here.
Once again this year, NAMA is offering some incentive for you to get a friend or co-worker to join. You’ve only got until November 5 so get those applications in. If you do, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a GPS unit.
Every NAMA member who recruits a new member between now and November 5 will be included in a drawing for a new GPS. The more new members you recruit – the better your chances. New members will have their names entered, too.
Simply tell your recruit to join on-line at http://www.nama.org/join.html and include your name in the “Referred by” box or have them call the NAMA office at 913-491-6500 to join and remind them to say they were referred by you! Be sure to tell them they’ll be included in the drawing.
When will the drawing take place? During Trends in Agriculture, which takes place November 11 and 12 at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City. We’d love to have you there, but you don’t have to be present to win.
The Badger NAMA chapter must have won a lot of awards to have this many leaves on their “tree.”
The Badger National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Chapter recently donated $500 to the building of the University of Wisconsin-Madison NAMA Awards Tree, a display that recognizes the accomplishments of the student chapter over the past 30 years.
“Since its accreditation in 1978, the UW-Madison Student NAMA Chapter, its marketing team and its advisors have been recognized by the national professional chapter with numerous awards,” says Sarah Botham, UW-Madison NAMA Advisor. “We appreciate Badger NAMA’s donation to help make our awards tree a reality.”
In 2008, this vast collection of trophies and plaques was replaced with a three-dimensional wall of recognition, featuring a unique design which will provide space for an infinite number of future awards.
The bronze sculpture takes the form of a tree, with each leaf representing one award. The awards are divided by categories and the categories identified by large acorns. Each category is represented in one section of the tree and can be updated annually, growing with the success and legacy of this renowned student organization.
Social networking? What’s that? Find out with the next NAMA Webinar is coming up very soon.
The Confluence of Social Networking and Mobile Marketing: The Value Proposition for Agribusiness
Join John Gilbert with Bader Rutter for NAMA’s second webinar on Thursday, October 9 at 1:00 p.m. (CENTRAL TIME). Cost for the webinar is only $35.
Social networking refers to a broad class of web sites and services that allow people to connect in innovative and meaningful ways with friends, family, and business colleagues, as well as collaborate with people who have similar interests.
Social networking has become a global phenomenon, and going mobile with it is the next big thing. We’re now seeing millions of users of LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook and other social networks interacting with their virtual spaces while they’re on the move.
We’ll spend an hour examining the place where social networking meets mobile marketing, and understand the possibilities for marketers in the agribusiness space.
Those fine folks at Truffle Media Networks have worked with NAMA to make some of the Boot Camp sessions available for you to listen to and/or download.
Podcast sessions include:
Producer Panel
Food & Fuel
Text Book Marketing and Real World Examples
Creative In Agriculture
Client/Agency Panel
The recent surge in profitability within the agriculture sector is giving farmers and ag companies a bit of room to breath. But, Monsanto says, just a bit. Michael Doane, Monsanto’s Sustainability Team Lead says that with profitability comes responsibility: a responsibility for the agricultural climate of the future. There are big questions, Michael says, that begged to be asked, and, hopefully, answered. How do we meet the growing demand? How do farmers fit into the growing needs of the recent future? What will the world look like for our children? Will it be a world, Michael asked, that has a lot of pressure on its resource base?
“We’re going to have to produce more food on the same acres between now and 2050 then we’ve produced in the last 10,000 years combined,” Michael said. “That’s pretty substantial. That’s going to get us to twice the level of annual food production in 2050 versus today.”
Michael says responding to such demands is a responsibility that must be shared throughout the ag sector. But, he says, Monsanto is eagerly doing it’s part to help.
“This conversation about sustainability kind of hit us right between the eyes,” Michael said. “We went out and started talking to a lot of people about agriculture; and what doing more with less would look like; what would be important there.”
Ultimately, Michael says, Monsanto’s goal is to make farmers more productive and, consequently, more financially successful.
“Our goal is to make every farmer we serve better off the next year than they were the previous year,” Michael said.
And, Michael says, that goal is meant to benefit farmers all over the world.
“In developing countries we think we also need to do that,” Michael said. “So, we’ve committed to helping 5 million resource-poor farmers, who are simply trying to feed their families, do that.”
But, as much as Monsanto recognizes its role in securing the future of farming and the future of feeding the world, the Michael says finding long-term, sustainable solutions will be a team effort.
“It’s going to be the ‘we’ collectively that does this,” Michael said.
You can download and listen to Michael Doane’s entire speech at the 2008 Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA here:
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At this year’s NAMA Boot Camp, attendees got to hear from a panel of producers. One of them was Hal Swaney, Platte City, MO. Hal has a very diversified family farm with corn, soybeans, cattle and burley tobacco.
I asked him what his primary sources of information are for making buying decisions. He says that he’s very “local” minded. He buys all of his products locally and consistently from the same individuals and dealers. He says almost 100% is from personal contact. He’s a big supporter of the University Extension system and does admit to going out of state to the University of Kentucky for tobacco information.
When it comes to media here’s what he says. “I don’t use the internet whatsoever.” He says he reads the local morning paper but not for ag information. He gets plenty of farm magazines but says he reads them on an “as needed” basis and he doesn’t read all of them. He rarely ever looks at direct mail pieces.
When I asked him about his mobile phone he says that he gets an in-frequent market update.
You can listen to my interview with Hal here:
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I’m seeing new media presentations on more and more programs these days and last week’s NAMA Boot Camp was no exception. Erin Holt, Media Supervisor, Martin Williams, was on the program with a presentation titled, “Cool Interactive Ideas.” So I sat down with her to learn about her ideas when it comes to using new media for her clients.
Erin talked about new media, including blogging, podcasting, social networking, widgets and video. Her theme was “being in surprising places” and “talking to your customers in a new way that’s going to be memorable for them.” Words like Twitter are dear to her heart.
I asked her for an example of how they’ve used new media for a client and she used Pfizer Animal Health, equine division. The agency developed a desktop widget for customers called the “Frame Your Horse” widget. This was for a fly control product with parameters tied to weather and location. So those information pieces were incorporated into the widget since they’re items people want on a regular basis. Essentially, the customer can download the widget, customize it with a picture of their horse and get information they want that is mixed with a product message. They’ve had about 4,000 downloads in just over 2 months.
Getting demographic data on users is a challenge with new media. Erin says they were able to collect some data and that they view this campaign as a test case. She recommends doing some up front testing with the target group to help build confidence in the campaign direction and specific new media tool.
I asked her about client acceptance of new media and she says it’s all over the board. Some clients base judgments on their own personal media use so she says it’s the job of the agency to educate them and show the value of new communication technologies. I like her way of handling the fact that new media mechanisms usually reach fewer people than traditional media. She says the numbers are smaller but the composition is higher. You’re, “talking to fewer people, but the right people.” The number one question she gets from clients is are they getting value for their investment.
The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. Since I just attended a swine health seminar you get to listen to “Pearls and Swine” from Drunken Prayer. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 183 (14 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
According to NAMA Boot Camp committee chairman, Matt Coniglio, Fastline, this year’s event has the highest attendance since it was started 5 years ago. He says there are quite a few non-members and the attendees are with a very diverse group of companies and organizations. I know I spoke with several last night who are getting their first look at NAMA.
This year’s program features a producer panel which is kind of a mainstay element of the program. It’s taking place right now and I’ll have an interview with one of them posted later.
Matt says the committee that put this program together has for the most part been the same members for a couple of years now. He says they make a great team and that it’s a real team effort putting this event together. Matt would like to see the program be a great learning experience for more than just newcomers to agricultural marketing.
You can listen to the conversation I had with Matt over coffee this morning here:
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NAMA Boot Campers got connected tonight during the opening Speed Networking session. After a few remarks it was time to get things moving. Networking with other people in agrimarketing is probably one of the greatest benefits of belonging to NAMA in my opinion. So, what we had people do was talk to each other and see how much they could learn in 3 minutes before switching to another table.
Let’s just say this was a livelier and noisier session than listening to some old agriblogger talk with a bunch of slides. If you’d like to see what it was like then here you go:
Guess how many photos we've got in our archives that are tagged "farm." Let's just say, it's a lot..
Twittering Farmer
Farmers are twittering and then there's The Twittering Farmer.
He's Steve Tucker and my interview in this week's program. Steve and I discuss the story that featured him on CNN today and the feedback he's received which has been kind of overwhelming. He's a great advocate for agriculture who now has more Twitter followers than there are residents in his home town.
Hello from Minneapolis and the North Central NAMA Chapter meeting. We’re in the cafeteria/meeting room at Colle+McVoy.
You know I can never get enough NAMA so I’m looking forward to the 
The first session today at Trends in Agriculture was all about a national survey of rural lifestyle people conducted by Susan Spaulding, 
Somehow this post got deleted so I’m not sure what I originally posted but let me get it fixed.
Dan says the term they use to describe this market came from research they conducted after he started working with the company.
The first speaker at the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference was Franck Schuurmans, 
I would have had more posted from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference last night but we had major web server work being done. That’s my excuse. 
Once again this year, NAMA is offering some incentive for you to get a friend or co-worker to join. You’ve only got until November 5 so get those applications in. If you do, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a GPS unit.
The 
Social networking? What’s that? Find out with the next 
The recent surge in profitability within the agriculture sector is giving farmers and ag companies a bit of room to breath. But, 
and 
At this year’s NAMA Boot Camp, attendees got to hear from a panel of producers. One of them was Hal Swaney, Platte City, MO. Hal has a very diversified family farm with corn, soybeans, cattle and burley tobacco. 
I asked her for an example of how they’ve used new media for a client and she used Pfizer Animal Health, equine division. The agency developed a desktop widget for customers called the 
According to NAMA Boot Camp committee chairman, Matt Coniglio, 
NAMA Boot Campers got connected tonight during the opening Speed Networking session. After a few remarks it was time to get things moving. Networking with other people in agrimarketing is probably one of the greatest benefits of belonging to NAMA in my opinion. So, what we had people do was talk to each other and see how much they could learn in 3 minutes before switching to another table.
Farmers are twittering and then there's The Twittering Farmer.