National Potato Council Awards Scholarship

Chuck Zimmerman

The National Potato Council has awarded their 2010-11 NPC Academic Scholarship to Yu Chen.

Chen is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is conducting research towards controlling Potato Late Blight – a disease that affects potato production worldwide – while simultaneously reducing pesticide applications. NPC believes that her work will ultimately be a boon for the potato industry. Chen stood out in a field of qualified applicants, all of whom are helping to push the industry towards a strong future.

Every year, NPC awards a scholarship to one graduate-level student conducting research for the benefit of the potato industry to aid them in their studies. The winner is selected based on a number of criteria, including academic achievement and leadership ability. Thanks to all of the supporters who help fund the scholarship program, and to all of the applicants working for the betterment of the industry.

Ag Groups, Potato

Osborn & Barr Adds 21

Chuck Zimmerman

You know we like to post pictures here but sorry Osborn & Barr. 21 new employees?! Wow. Guess business is growing. If you’ve got photos of all of them we’ll link to your online photo album. LOL.

O&B, a leading marketing and communications firm serving agricultural and rural markets, announces the addition of 21 new employees to assist with growing business from long-term client Monsanto and AGCO, among others. The new hires will join O&B’s various practice groups as well as the media, public relations, production, creative services, digital and financial departments.

The O&B Cultivate Practice Group saw the largest expansions with six new hires. Jonathan Bloom, Rob Niccolai, Susan Luke, Eileen Jensen, Cassandra McCloud and Nicola Freeman bring varied backgrounds in advertising, brand management, brand planning and agriculture to the practice group.

The O&B Animal Practice Group also is expanding with the addition of Rebecca Terry in the Kansas City office, and Emily Dameron joins the O&B Equipment Practice Group to assist with the growing AGCO business.

O&B also saw new hires across a number of departments. Lauren Althoff, Susan Ratz and Rhonda Meier join the media department to assist with buys and placements. Erin Nash is a recent addition to the public relations team in the Kansas City office and Meghan Fullington joins the St. Louis public relations team. Members of the production department welcome Jamie Bedwell to their team. Mark Renusch, in the Kansas City office, and Alyson Carter, in the St. Louis office, have joined O&B’s creative services department. Jeremy Alms and Christine Birke are the newest additions to the O&B digital team. The O&B financial department expands with new hire Annette Shockley. Gina Skjerseth joins O&B as an executive assistant, and Jessica Swan is the new Kansas City office services manager.

Agencies

Reining Lesson Couresy of John Deere At WEG

Chuck Zimmerman

Visitors to The John Deere Place at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are treated to scheduled reining demonstrations each day. This week the media had their own opportunity that included being able to sign up to try it yourself. Although I do enjoy riding occasionally I stayed on the ground with my camera and took a picture of Sarah Jenkins, Horse & Hound magazine, getting a lesson from the experts.

Sarah says she had never ridden in a western saddle before and she was surprised at how easy it was. Part of that was being on a well trained horse too I’m sure. Sarah says she’s in “horse heaven” here at the WEG. You can listen to my interview with Sarah: Sarah Jenkins Interview

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by: john-deere

Audio, Horses, International, John Deere, Media

Full Line of John Deere Equipment on Display at WEG

Chuck Zimmerman

You might think that an equipment company exhibiting at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games would only display equipment to use on horse farms. You might think wrong. In fact, WEG sponsor, John Deere, is displaying their full line of equipment from consumer to ag to commercial.

Earlier this week I spoke with Barry Nelson, Manager, Media Relations, about what the company is displaying and why. He says “this is a branding effort” and therefore they wanted a full range of their equipment to show the extent of the brand. There are 40 pieces of equipment on display and 60 Gators “running around the grounds” as well as some other tractors and implements being used in the arenas. This is a very international crowd attending the grounds and the company has someone on location who is multi-lingual even though many of the visitors do speak English. You can listen to my interview with Barry: Barry Nelson Interview

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by: john-deere

Agribusiness, Audio, Horses, John Deere

NAMA and ARC and Public Relations Content

Chuck Zimmerman

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.

National Agri-Marketing Association“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.

ARC, NAMA

Outsourcing Social Media

Chuck Zimmerman

Hopefully the title grabbed some attention. I’ve been meaning to write a post about this for a while. But after seeing some examples this week, both good and bad, I thought it was time. So let’s get started.

There is nothing wrong with outsourcing the management of your social media channels. I’m speaking directly to agribusinesses and farm groups. I’ve seen some serious growth in this practice lately. This can be a good thing. However . . .

There is a right and a wrong way to go about it. In my opinion the number one “right” way is with the T word = Transparency! Be open and honest about what you’re doing and who is doing it. Or, please don’t do it at all. I’m talking about you companies that outsource your Twitter account and Facebook page to an agency. Why won’t you let your customers or members know this? Afraid to? Why do I care? Because social media is about personal engagement and trust. If you want me to believe that you care enough to join the online conversation then please don’t pretend that what you’re “saying” is you when it’s not you. I would much rather know who I’m listening to. Take Monsanto as an example. They make good use of their Twitter bio to let you know who is tweeting. They are doing it internally but the bio could just as easily have said that the person tweeting worked for an agency. Are you aware of any ag companies who are transparent about this, especially when they outsource it? What is your opinion?

So is the reason companies aren’t open about who is doing their social media because they think it will negatively impact their credibility? If so, what do they think their credibility is like when customers find out it’s not them? And they will find out!

I believe social media is very different than traditional forms of marketing like advertising. When you see an advertisement you aren’t wondering who produced it and you’re not trying to interact with it. However, how many ads do you know where the producer/agency has been news themselves for their creativity? It’s not unheard of. Don’t consumers assume the company outsourced the creation of their advertising?

Enough for now. Coming up soon, I’ll try to move on to right and wrong ways to use your social media channels and how to pick a “social media expert.”

Advertising, Agencies, Social Networking

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Unveiled on the final day of the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) annual meeting in Chicago, PickMyFish.com is designed to end indecision by helping people find types of fish they’ll enjoy eating.
  • Nicholson Kovac, Inc., has announced promotions in its media and public relations departments, as well as six recent additions to the agency’s account service, social media and public relations groups.
  • Chevron’s brand of Delo lubricant has selected the finalists for its 2010 Delo Tractor Restoration Competition.
  • Broadhead + Co has expanded its creative staff by seven to keep pace with its growing and evolving business needs.
Zimfo Bytes

Alltech Café Citadelle Helping Haitians

Chuck Zimmerman

If you’re a coffee lover and want to support a good cause then consider Alltech Café Citadelle. I bought two pounds at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games where Carlos Ronchi was pouring for attendees.

Carlos says that a cooperative in Haiti is producing the coffee and they’re re-building after the devastating earthquake earlier this year. Attendees at the WEG like the coffee and the story behind it and are very happy to help. You can listen to my interview with Carlos: Carlos Ronchi Interview

Here’s what Alltech President, Dr. Pearse Lyons, says about this way to help the needy in Haiti.

We believed that buying Haitian coffee was one of the best ways that we could have an immediate impact. We decided to launch our own brand of Haitian coffee and to incorporate this coffee into existing Alltech products. After several trips to Haiti, we found the perfect partner: Cacgava is a 900 member coffee co-op located in Dondon, a small village in the mountains in northern Haiti. It is Haiti’s oldest coffee co-op and is fair-trade certified by FLO-CERT, an independent International Certification company. The coffee’s name was derived from the Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Americas, next to which Cacgava and its member farms are located. Alltech Café Citadelle is a high quality, mild, mountain-grown Arabica. It is naturally shade-grown and is fair-trade.

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by: john-deere

Alltech, Audio, Horses, International

Andre Pater and John Deere Support Race For Education

Chuck Zimmerman

Polish born artist Andre Pater was on hand at the John Deere media reception at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. He was signing prints of one of his four paintings that he produced for the Race For Education. You can purchase one of them online.

I spoke with him about his work and support for the Race For Education. He has lived in the Lexington area for over 20 years. He says it’s like living in Heaven. He loves the idea behind the Race For Education and was happy to help them by creating art work of the major competitions at the WEG: reining, dressage, jumping and driving. You can listen to my interview with Andre: Andre Pater Interview
The Race For Education (RFE) is a national 501(c)(3) scholarship organization, that enables young people of equine industry families as well as those who want to pursue an equine-related or agricultural career, both with significant financial need, to obtain a college degree by providing tuition support; financial literacy training to help students minimize their debt load; mentoring services to provide students with emotional support; and permanent jobs upon graduation.

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games
is sponsored by: john-deere

Audio, Education, Horses, John Deere

AdFarm Adds

Chuck Zimmerman

AdFarmAdFarm has expanded their public relations staff with the hiring of two new employees and an internal promotion. Congratulations guys.

Dan Kirkpatrick has been hired as a senior public relations strategist and business development lead, with a special focus in Iowa. A marketing practitioner with 25 years experience, Kirkpatrick’s industry expertise ranges from production agriculture to the rural lifestyle market to the green industry.

Neil Neumeyer has been hired as a public relations account executive. He has worked in multiple marketing communications agencies since 1998 and specializes in strategic public/media relations, cause marketing, event management and copywriting. For more than seven years he was the corporate communications manager at Bernstein-Rein.

Dan Danford has been promoted to strategic team lead. In this role, he leads the team for a group of client business — providing strategic counsel and direction to effectively achieve clients’ business objectives, as well as concentrating on account growth and new-business opportunities. He is a veteran media relations and marketing professional with a strong background in agri-marketing and public relations.

Agencies