Phil Johnson is NAMA Marketer of the Year

Chuck Zimmerman

Phil JohnsonThe NAMA Marketer of the Year is Phil Johnson, Chief Operating Officer at Colle+McVoy. He’ll receive the award at the upcoming Agri-Marketing Conference in Dallas The award is sponsored by AgriMarketing magazine.

NAMA recognizes its active members with senior management of marketing and/or sales responsibilities with the NAMA Marketer of the Year award. This award is NAMA’s most prestigious honor awarded to active members of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing.

As a principal at Colle+McVoy for 20 years, Johnson has provided the leadership and encouragement needed to offer exceptional client service and innovative marketing solutions.

Celebrating his 20th anniversary as a member and leader of NAMA, Johnson has served as a director and president of the North Central Chapter and chaired awards program committees from the Midlands and North Central chapters. He successfully chaired the NAMA Issues Forum committee in September, 1998, and received the Outstanding Chair award in 1999 for his leadership.

Agencies, NAMA

John Deere Keeping You Safe

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere SafeAt the Commodity Classic John Deere gave away a very nice safe.

The winner is Doug Rund, Twin Valley, MN. He’s a member of the Minnesota Wheat Council.

Since this wouldn’t fit in the overhead on the plane he’s going to have it delivered by his local dealer.

I think he’ll have to settle for putting your guns and other in-house valuables in there.

The combine and tractor just isn’t going to fit.

Commodity Classic, John Deere

Advertising in Podcasts

Chuck Zimmerman

Chief MarketerHopefully if you’re involved in marketing you’ve got a subscription to Chief Marketer. I’ve pointed you to them before because they have interesting articles like this one on advertising in podcasts.

It’s titled, “And Now A Word From Our Sponsor: Podcasters Integrate Advertising Into the Mix.” It is an interview with a couple of guys from Libsyn (Liberated Syndication) who talk about what they’re seeing happen and what they think will work when it comes to advertising in podcasts. Here’s a response to a question about tracking.

I think it’s going to come full circle. Brands [want to be] associated with this media and the excitement and the buzz going on. Things will become more trackable. The good thing about podcasting is that it’s remote, it’s not tied to the computer. But soon your computer [will be] everywhere. In the next two years or so, fully connected devices like iPhones that have full multimedia capabilities are going to allow for people to do things like “click to learn more” and then engage themselves into a campaign, and that will be trackable. There are call to actions now, like “go to this Web site and learn more.” And if we can track the effect brand advertising is having [on the] Internet, that’s a really good metric for ROI.

If Grandma has a new iPod then agricultural communicators and marketers should be paying attention.

Advertising, Podcasts

St. Louis is AgWired

Chuck Zimmerman

Commerce Magazine Cover StoryIs agriculture important to St. Louis? You bet it is. In fact, one of the first jobs we had here at ZimmComm was to do an economic study of the financial importance of agriculture to the St. Louis economy for the St. Louis AgriBusiness Club. This was way before we began blogging and podcasting. Now about 3 years later that study caught the attention of St. Louis Commerce magazine and their March issue is all about agriculture. This is the publication of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association.

Cindy really likes the little corn dude icon since he’s got on a suit and is framed by the St. Louis Arch.

You can find the cover story here, “Cultivating St. Louis: Farming Fuels St. Louis Economy.” It’s got lots of facts and figures from our study.

There’s also an interesting one titled, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm: Mac Jr. Has an Agribusiness Degree, Blackberry, Blog. . . “

This will do wonders at raising awareness in the community about the significance and importance of agriculture to the area.

Ag Groups, Publication

Get Connected at NAMA

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Convention 2007Last week I said I’d have more details about the NAMA Connection Point (trade show at the convention) so here it is. Please put on your calendar so you don’t get scheduled during this exciting show.

Show Hours this year:

Wednesday, April 11
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. – Best of NAMA Celebration/Connection Point Grand Opening sponsored by DTN

Thursday, April 12
12:30 Noon – 2:00 p.m. – Connection Point Luncheon

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – Break in the Connection Point sponsored by Millennium Research and Hoard’s Dairyman

5:00 – 7:00 p.m. – ABEF Silent Auction/Connection Point Closing Reception sponsored by NAFB

A 7″ digital picture frame will be awarded at the end of each session to a trade show attendee. Plus, a grand prize drawing for a 30 GB iPod will be held at the end of the trade show session. Each booth will have a box to collect business cards, and they will be combined at the end of each session. A bingo activity will occur during the luncheon, if you get a bingo, you’ll be entered into drawing for two Southwest Airline Tickets!

Booth space in the Connection Point is still available. If you would like to purchase a booth, please visit http://nama.org/amc/ts/signup.htm.

If you have questions regarding the Connection Point, please contact Judy Knoll at judyk@agrimarketing.com or at (636) 728-1428.

NAMA

TRENDS by Cattle-Fax

Chuck Zimmerman

Cattle-FaxIf you’re wondering what the trends are in the cow-calf business then you need TRENDS.

Responding directly to the needs of its clients in the cow-calf sector, Cattle-Fax has introduced TRENDS, a monthly newsletter specifically for cow-calf producers.

Like other Cattle-Fax publications, TRENDS will provide expert research and analysis on the issues that affect all facets of the cattle and beef industries. But TRENDS will have a special focus – providing cow-calf operators with cutting edge information, business trends and outlooks, and market opportunities. Topics addressed in TRENDS will include: grazing conditions, hay prices and supplies, weaning tips and strategies, replacement female costs and forecasts, retained ownership opportunities, and other issues that directly impact the livelihood of the cow-calf producer.

To receive a free issue of TRENDS or to start a subscription, call Cattle-Fax at 1-800-825-7525.

Ag Groups, Publication

Grandma’s Got a Blue iPod

Chuck Zimmerman

Edith Gaffner With Blue iPodThe winner of the New Holland Blue iPod contest which was held at their Commodity Classic booth is Edith Gaffner of Greenville, IL. Here at ZimmComm we like to provide order fulfillment with a smile so I was in St. Louis already and decided to just drive out to the Gaffner farm to personally meet Edith.

I had a very enjoyable conversation with Edith while I was there. She says they have good high speed internet access and they’re online everyday. Her grandchildren are very impressed that Grandma’s got an iPod! The iPod came pre-loaded with the interviews I did at Commodity Classic and the pictures I took. Those pictures included 2 of her granddaughters who were coincidentally chosen to draw the winner of the New Holland Zero Turn Radius Mower they also gave away in a drawing at Commodity Classic. What are the chances of that happening?

Blue iPod Engraved with New Holland-Commodity ClassicI interviewed Edith so that you can learn a little more about her and her farm in Greenville, IL. They’ve actually turned things over to their son who’s now the dairyman, soybean and wheat grower.

You can listen to my interview with Edith here:

nh-blue-ipod-winner.mp3

New Holland was one of the sponsors of my coverage of Commodity Classic again this year.

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, New Holland

The Big 3-0-0-0

Chuck Zimmerman

This is post #3000 on AgWired. It’s hard to believe that I’ve posted that many times in the last 2 years. As one of the students in my presentation yesterday said, “You’ve got an awesome resource.” They were looking at all the categories I’ve got and how many stories or posts to each of them there are. A lot of people still don’t realize that the blog software archives everything so it never disappears. You can actually scroll back to the first post I did.

Today I’m in St. Louis for a Truffle Media Networks meeting with Aaron Gilbertie. We’re plotting strategy, including what we’re going to do at the upcoming NAMA convention. If you’d like us to come present the coolest new media channels let me know.

After our meeting I’ll be heading over to a farm in Illinois to hand deliver the New Holland Blue iPod Nano to the winner from their Commodity Classic booth drawing. I’ll have a picture for you later.

Uncategorized

Blogging From The Ag J Class at MU

Chuck Zimmerman

AGJ Capstone ClassHello from the University of Missouri Agriculture Bldg. in Columbia, MO. I’m doing a presentation on new media for the AGJ Capstone class.

Here they all are. No one’s asleep yet. Hopefully they won’t be. We’re in Q&A right now.

This is a live demo post to show them how quickly and easily we can use this mechanism to cover an event.

Post Update: After the class I interviewed Jessica Pollard (on the left) and will feature her interview in next week’s ZimmCast. Thanks to Bill Allen for inviting me to speak at his class.

University

Corn Crop Will Be Big

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm FuturesEveryone seems to want to know how much corn is going to be planted and what it’s going to be used for. Farm Futures has their producer planting intention survey results out and they say it’s going to be a big one. Thank you ethanol and prices.

Farm Futures estimates corn plantings at 88.4 million acres, up 13% from last year, based on a survey of more than 850 farmers from March 5 to March 12. That’s unchanged from the magazine’s last tally, in January. USDA releases its definitive survey of planting intentions on March 30. The massive shift to corn will come at the expense of soybeans and spring wheat, according to the magazine. Survey results showed farmers plan to put in 68.9 million acres of soybeans, down 9% from last year, and a drop of 600,000 acres from the January estimates. Spring wheat plantings are estimated at 12.7 million acres, a 15% crop from last year. No estimate was made for spring wheat in January. The magazine forecasts total wheat acreage at 58.8 million acres, up from 57.3 million in 2006.

Corn, Publication