Mother Nature Gets a Network

Chuck Zimmerman

Mother Nature NetworkIt looks like Mother Nature needed a network and found two guys to start one for her. Chuck Leavell pointed me to this story which pretty much explains what they have in mind.

Joel Babbit, 54, a longtime Atlanta ad executive, and Chuck Leavell, 56, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, are creating a new online company — the Mother Nature Network.

They envision it as an environmental news and information service geared toward the average Joe. The Web site, which will launch in October, also could redefine both men’s legacies.

Babbit and Leavell said that it was clear to them the idea’s time had come when in record time — 24 hours to be exact — they raised millions of dollars in startup capital from four prominent Atlanta businessmen: Tom Bell, chairman and CEO of Cousins Properties; Pete Correll, former chairman and CEO of Georgia-Pacific and current chairman of Atlanta Equity; Gerry Benjamin, co-managing partner of Atlanta Equity; and Doug Hertz, president and CEO of United Distributors. With Babbit and Leavell also personally invested in the new company, the six will be the Mother Nature Network’s board of directors.

You can sign up to receive news alerts on the Mother Nature Network website.

Media

September ZimmNews

Chuck Zimmerman

September ZimmNewsThe latest edition of ZimmNews has now been delivered to in-boxes everywhere.

In case you didn’t get it or just want to look at it online then you can find it here: September ZimmNews

Some highlights include:

I hope you enjoy it and thank you for reading.

ZimmNews

Picture Gadgets

Chuck Zimmerman

Picture ViewersHello photo enthusiasts.

If you like pictures and especially if you like taking them then you’re probably wondering what to do with all of them in this digital world. So I thought I’d give you a few ideas. Of course you can print them but if you travel around a lot then what? Well, you can keep them on your computer’s hard drive and display them on the monitor. That works. You can get a nice digital picture frame for a shelf.

But what if you’re like me and have 133 GB of photos (over 40,000 and counting)? Kind of fills up your hard drive. So, I’ve been looking into options and decided I wanted some kind of gadget to carry them around with so I can show them to people wherever I am. With all the event photography we do here at ZimmComm, this is really helpful.

I took a picture of 3 different viewer options we have. The top one is my iPod Touch (16GB), the middle one is Cindy’s HP df300a3 digital picture frame (sd card) and the bottom one is my new Archos 5 (250GB) Internet Media Tablet.

I opted to carry my whole photo library around with me. It serves as an extra backup since I’ve got the full files on the device and I can view any photo, anytime. Additionally, this gadget connects to wifi so I can go online with a full brower and it plays video and audio. I’m mainly looking at it as a glorified picture viewer with a lot of other capabilities. With a 250 GB hard drive in it, I won’t be filling up the memory any time soon! It is larger and heavier than the others but still fits in my pocket.

Cindy’s picture frame has a very tiny internal memory but will accept an sd card filled with photos. It’s the smallest and lightest of all of these and very easy to use.

My iPod Touch is also a functional media “tablet” but with 16 GB of memory I can’t fit all my photos on it, even if I scale them down. At least I haven’t tried to. If they would all fit, it would be nice but then I wouldn’t have the originals with me, which is a bonus of the Archos 5.

What are your favorite ways to deal with digital photos?

Equipment

Woodward Has Two Rivers

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-189 - Woodward Has Two RiversThis week’s ZimmCast is being sponsored by DTN and The Progressive Farmer. “DTN and The Progressive Farmer deliver the right content to the right audience across multiple media platforms—it all adds up to you moving the needle with producers now.”

Woodward CommunicationsIn this week’s program we’ll learn about the Woodward Communications acquisition of Two Rivers Marketing. I spoke with Greg Ehm, Two Rivers Marketing, who shares some thoughts on the purchase. It appears that the deal was in the works for quite some time. One of the key factors was that both companies are employee owned which makes for a good cultural fit.

Two Rivers MarketingGreg says there are no changes planned as a result of the acquisition. However, he says it brings a lot more resources to the Des Moine-based agency.

The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This one is called “Nine Rivers” from Sundown Caffeine. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 189 (18 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Greg Ehm - ZimmCast 189

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

Agencies, Audio, Media, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

Zimfo Bytes

  • Monsanto Company was named a 100 Best Company 2008 today by Working Mother magazine for its commitment to making the lives of working parents easier by offering family-friendly benefits and compensation. Monsanto is the only St. Louis-area company to receive the award.
  • The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2008 awards. The awards were presented during the APS Awards & Honors Ceremony at the APS Centennial Meeting held in Minneapolis, Minn. Full descriptions of each of the awardees are available here.
  • Kansas City metro-based SFP has been named one of the fastest growing companies in America by Inc. magazine. The magazine also ranked SFP No. 8 in its list of 100 fastest-growing manufacturing U.S. companies.
  • Representatives of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican Presidential candidate John McCain will discuss the candidates’ agriculture, food and rural policy platforms at the Farm Foundation Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 7. The Forum will be 9 to 11 a.m. at the National Press Club, Washington D.C. Please RSVP by noon CDT, Friday, Oct. 3, to Mary Thompson at mary@farmfoundation.org.
Zimfo Bytes

Getting Ready For World Dairy Expo

Chuck Zimmerman

wde2008It’s time to look forward to World Dairy Expo. This year’s theme is “Building Bridges – Making Connections.”

I’ll be on location again this year starting mid week posting mostly on World Dairy Diary. It looks like we’re in for a cool down in the midwest so I’m going to remember to bring a jacket. Nothing like getting to a farm show and wishing you had your boots, umbrella or coat.

I’ll be doing some interview work with WestphaliaSurge and BASF Plant Science as we kick start our Milking Parlor Podcast.

World Dairy Expo

Bill 17 Forces Colonies to Change their Business Plan in Manitoba

Harry Siemens

Karl Kynoch - Chair Manitoba Pork Council The Hutterite colonies in Manitoba produce close to half of the hogs in the province whether in farrow to finish operations, breeding stock, and finished hogs. It provides a good percentage of their economic livelihood, but also provides good employment for their young people.

So when the Manitoba government came up with the anti-farm Bill 17, the colonies for the first time became active in trying to convince the government not to implement the hog moratorium in two-thirds of agriculture Manitoba.

James Hofer is the barn manager at the Starlite Colony near Starbuck and a director on the Manitoba Pork council. 

“This is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” said Hofer after witnessing the government pass Bill 17 in the Manitoba Legislature. “They don’t believe the farmer, the scientist, they don’t believe anybody!”

However, he said very few things are so bad, that something positive can’t come from it. In this case, it also holds true.  

“If there is anything positive about this, we pushed the NDP government so long, we pushed them to the point where they exposed themselves,” said Hofer. “We were trying to expose them. They started talking and they verified it, exactly what we were saying all along. It has nothing to do with science but only politics. Would you believe in the end we wore them down to the point where they actually admitted it and said it.”

Read More

International

Stephanie Gable Joins Novus International

Chuck Zimmerman

Stephanie GablePast NAMA President, Stephanie Gable, has a new job. She’s now working for Novus International as Ruminant Marketing Manager. That means she’ll be responsible for developing global marketing plans for Novus’s dairy and beef programs and products. Stephanie is pictured participating in a NAMA Executive Committee Meeting last year.

Ms. Gable joins Novus from Fort Dodge Animal Health in Kansas City where she was the Companion Animal Pharmaceutical Product Manager. While with Fort Dodge, Ms. Gable re-launched a canine heartworm product. Additionally, she worked as the Strategic Initiative Product Manager and initiated livestock, equine and companion animal programs and rebates.

“Stephanie brings a wide background of agriculture related marketing to Novus. She is a welcome addition to our team,” stated Scott Fleetwood, Executive Director, Markets and Products.

Ms. Gable also worked for Bayer CropScience, the Missouri Soybean Association and Colle & McVoy Marketing Communications. Additionally, she has been active in the University of Missouri Alumni Association and the National AgriMarketing Association (NAMA) where she served as National President.

Congratulations Stephanie. We look forward to working with you!

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Novus International

Small Company Formed

Chuck Zimmerman

You’ve know Sylvia Small as the VP, Communications for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the International Poultry Expo. Well she has formed Sylvia Small Communications & Marketing.

She will provide a full range of communications and marketing services to companies, organizations and associations. For larger clients and projects, she will partner with other senior level professionals to provide a virtual agency of independent public relations professionals who have been selected specifically to meet the client’s needs.

Small has developed and executed award-winning marketing communications programs in a variety of industries for more than 25 years. She has experience in writing, editing, marketing, public relations, special events, media relations, advertising, publicity, photography, Web development, electronic communications and print production. Her freelance writing and photography have been included in such publications as Southern Homes, Photo District News, Grit and the Alabama Alumni News.

“We are reaching out to prospective clients who would like to supplement their current communications efforts, who may not currently require a fulltime person on staff or who are seeking specialized expertise for specific projects,” Sylvia Small said.

For more information on the new company, call (404) 245-8416 or e-mail SylviaSmallComm@aol.com.

Agencies

Two Rivers Marketing Acquired By Woodward Communications

Chuck Zimmerman

Woodward CommunicationsTwo Rivers Marketing has been acquired by multi-media company, Woodward Communications. That’s very interesting. We’re certainly living in a different world today when it comes to media and marketing.

Woodward Communications, Inc. (WCI), a Dubuque-based employee-owned multimedia company operating in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, has acquired Two Rivers Marketing, a well-known Des Moines marketing firm specializing in business-to-business communications.

Two Rivers MarketingIn October, Two Rivers Marketing will become a wholly owned subsidiary of WCI, allowing Two Rivers Marketing to continue operating independently with the same organizational structure and business practices that have made the firm successful, according to Tom Yunt, WCI president and CEO.

WCI currently has nearly 600 employee owners across six operating divisions: daily newspapers, including the Dubuque Telegraph Herald; weekly publications; radio broadcasting; commercial printing; niche magazines; and Mission Creative, a full-service advertising agency based in Dubuque. The Woodward family through four generations has been involved in the organization since 1898, but the company traces its heritage back to 1836 and the founding of Iowa’s first newspaper — the Dubuque Visitor — which became the Telegraph Herald in 1901.

Two Rivers Marketing employs 75 associates and was founded in 2000. The agency provides advertising, public relations, media and interactive services for business-to-business clients in the construction and mining, agricultural, industrial, environmental, and financial services industries.

WCI has developed a long-term growth and diversification strategy and will be actively looking for companies to acquire and invest in for several years. Marketing services companies are one of the potential growth and diversification sectors identified by WCI, and Two Rivers Marketing falls into this area of WCI’s strategic plan.

Agencies, Media