Jeff Simmons After Qualifying

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff SimmonsIt’s the end of the day for me here at Kansas Speedway. The Indy car qualifying is over now and Jeff Simmons got through it okay. His qualifying time is 210.994 MPH. That ethanol fuel definitely has a kick.

After they qualify the drivers all come by the IRL Bull Pen for pics and interviews. Of course I interviewed Jeff. He’s our ethanol champion out there and we’re definitely rooting for him tomorrow.

Jeff wishes he had done a little better in qualifying but says the car races better than it qualifies. I guess we’ll see tomorrow.

Here’s my interview with Jeff:

kansas-city-07-jeff.mp3

2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol

Final Race Car Tune Ups

Chuck Zimmerman

Rahal-Letterman Pit AreaIt looks like we’ll get a little rain out here at Kansas Speedway. But it’s going to clear up by tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a busy weekend here as we get ready for IRL and 100% ethanol fuel action on Sunday.

This is what’s going on today. Tweaking the cars. The drivers get 2 practice sessions tomorrow prior to qualifying in mid afternoon. This is the Rahal-Letterman garage where they’re working on the #17 Team Ethanol car.

2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album

Ethanol

Bader Rutter Brings Home The Bells

Chuck Zimmerman

Bader RutterBader Rutter & Associates cleaned up recently at the Business Marketing Association’s Bell Awards.

The BMA Bell Awards recognize and honor outstanding work in business-to-business marketing communications. Among the awards, Bader Rutter received two Bell Awards, the highest honor in a category, and garnered nine Awards of Excellence in a variety of disciplines. The agency received Bell Awards in the business-to-business campaign category for its Merial Recombitek Horse campaign and in the Newsletters/External division for its Dow AgroSciences Vistas magazine.

Agencies

Multi-media Ethanol Promotion Day

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff Simmons Pumping GasAnother day, another chance to promote ethanol. Most of my morning was working with Team Ethanol on a pump promotion in Kansas City. We braved the cold temperatures to bring some joy and information into the lives of consumers who came out to get some reduced price gas containing ethanol.

Team Ethanol car driver Jeff Simmons was on hand to help out too. Here he is pumping gas along with the rest of the crew. Jeff also signed autographs and even gave away a few tickets to the race.

I’ll be here in Kansas City all weekend working with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council in various ways. I’ll be posting content onto AgWired and Domestic Fuel. In addition, I’m the still photographer and doing audio interviews like the one I’ve got for you here with Jeff Simmons. We’ll use the audio in the EPIC podcast, “Fill Up Feel Good.” I’m also shooting video and did one-on-one interviews with consumers and people like Jeff. You could definitely say it’s been a multi-media kind of day. I’m uploading all my photos to an online photo album which you can find here: 2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album.

Jeff says he got good questions from consumers as he was pumping gas for them. He also says that he and his fellow drivers are extremely happy with the performance so far this year of their cars running on 100% ethanol.

Here’s my interview with Jeff:

kansas-city-07-simmons.mp3
Audio, Ethanol

Top Producer Tops NAAJ Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

Top Producer MagazineThe North American Agricultural Journalists annual meeting is over and some awards were presented. It looks like a big winner is Top Producer magazine.

TOP PRODUCER magazine, the leading business magazine for commercial farmers, recently took both first and second place in the North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ) annual writing contest in the “Series” category with its editorial coverage of two major agricultural industry issues – biofuels and transportation. Awards were presented at the NAAJ annual meeting held in Washington, D.C.

“Titans of Biofuels” earned first place honors for its series of stories profiling major biofuel manufacturers. The series, featured in fall 2006 issues of TOP PRODUCER, included the stories “Move Over Main Street,” October; “The Little Co-Op That Could,” October; “Over a Barrel,” November; and “Commander of the Fleet,” December.

Placing second was the TOP PRODUCER multi-story package on transportation issues in agriculture collectively titled “Freight Gridlock.” The series ran in the September 2006 issue of the magazine and included the articles “Rush Hour on the Rails” by Marcia Taylor, “No Budge on Barge Rates” by Jeanne Bernick and “Smooth Sailing on the Seas” by Linda H. Smith.

Publication

Learfield is Living The Country Life

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-116 - Living The Country LifeIt looks like Living The Country Life is getting a big boost now that Meredith has teamed up with Learfield Communications. I recorded a conversation with Learfield’s Stan Koenigsfeld, who describes the whole project and what they are planning for those people who have an above average annual household income and live on 3 or more acres. Pictured here are Stan Koenigsfeld, President of Learfield’s News Division, Betsy Freese, Editor-in-Chief of Living the Country Life LLC, Tom Davis, Group Publisher and Doug Olson, VP Publishing, Successful Farming/WOOD/Living the Country Life and Operations.

Living The Country Life Team LeadersCapturing and serving the growing affluent rural lifestyle market is the goal of a newly created joint venture announced by Meredith Corporation and Learfield Communications, Inc. Learfield is purchasing an ownership stake in the Living the Country Life brand which will be managed jointly by the two companies under the name Living the Country Life LLC. Meredith will maintain controlling interest in the new company.

The Living the Country Life brand (www.livingthecountrylife.com) includes a magazine with a distribution of more than 200,000 highly targeted households; a weekly television show on RFD-TV; a web site; and the most comprehensive database of “ruralpolitans” available in the marketplace today. The new business will combine Living the Country Life’s current products with a nationally syndicated radio program and a greatly enhanced web presence. Also, the magazine will increase its frequency of publication.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 116 (18 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast116-4-25-07.mp3

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.

Audio, Internet, Publication, ZimmCast

Jeff Pigott Joins The Meyocks Group

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff PiggotJeff Pigott has has joined The Meyocks Group as a group account director and member of the agency’s senior management team.

Before joining the agency, Pigott had been director of foodservice marketing for the National Pork Board since 2001. He also has more than 14 years of experience with advertising agencies: as a vice president, group account director with The Integer Group, Des Moines, and as an account supervisor with Noble & Associates, Springfield, Missouri. Jeff’s account experience includes McDonald’s, Tyson Foods, Johnsonville Foods and Sam’s Club among others. An Iowa native, Pigott earned a BBA degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA at Vanderbilt University.

Agencies