Are you one of those people who wishes they had an iPod? Not a NAMA member yet either? Then now’s the time to join because NAMA is launching a winter membership promotion.
New members who join NAMA between January 1 and April 6, 2007 will be entered into a drawing for a 30 GB Video iPod. In addition, existing NAMA members who recruit these new members will also be entered into the drawing. Just make sure when you recruit a member that they put your name in the “referred by” space on the membership application. The drawing for the iPod will take place at the Trade Show Closing Reception on Thursday, April 12 in Dallas, but you need not be present to win.
Cattle Industry Convention Directions
I did a walk through of the Opryland hotel this evening to get my bearings and am glad they have directions spread around.
This is just a massive complex.
Tomorrow I’ll be setting up shop in the media room and conducting interviews and taking pictures as the opportunity presents. One of the first committee meetings is the CBB Admin Subcommittee which has oversight for the CBB blog. I’ll be there to answer questions and see what they think of the investment into having a blog which provides them a new communications channel while also promoting transparency.
Visiting With Beef Board Staff
When I wandered in to the Opryland Hotel the first person I ran into was Diane Henderson, Cattlemen’s Beef Board (right). She’s my boss here since I’m posting onto the Beef Board Meeting.com blog.
Here she is giving directions to CBB board member Charles Miller and his wife Judy. This Opryland complex is immense and a tour guide is very welcome. I’ve already spoken with 2 people who said they got lost.
Quesadilla Hamburger in Nashville
It’s not warm here in Nashville but at least it wasn’t snowing like it was in Cleveland which I connected through getting here. After checking in to my hotel across the street from the Opryland Hotel I took a nice brisk walk over to see what was going on and to get my bearings for the next several days of activities.
I came back to my hotel which has an Applebees in it and had an Angus Quesadilla. If you have a chance to try it I highly recommend it. That is a good hamburger.
There were some cowboys seated near me. The first thing I overheard them talking about was computers. One of them said that he was more familiar with mobile devices and used them more than his home PC. I just thought that was interesting and thought I’d pass it along.
Cross Blogging Mania
I’m getting ready to finish packing for some industry conferences and will be doing some serious cross blogging (writing on more than one blog at once) over the next week.
Starting things off will be the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville. I’ll have a lot to post here but will also be posting onto Beef Board Meeting which is the official blog of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. I’m pretty sure I’ll find some good dairy news to post onto World Dairy Diary too.
Then it’s on to the National Biodiesel Conference in San Antonio where I’ll be posting onto Domestic Fuel and the Biodiesel Conference Blog which is the official conference blog of the National Biodiesel Board. My coverage and posts will be sponsored there by John Deere.
So, it’s going to be a busy time. While I’m at it in San Antonio Cindy will be covering the Global Warming 101 Expedition kickoff in Ely, MN at the Mukluk Ball. She’ll be posting content she gets there on Domestic Fuel which is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.
Man it’s a busy blogging agenda! I love it.
AdFarm Named AOR for Destron Fearing
Adfarm has been named agency of record for Destron Fearing which means they’ll be charged with executing all aspects of the Destron Fearing marketing communications plan.
“We are excited about the opportunity to work with the AdFarm team on our marketing communications program,” said Rae Powell, Destron Fearing vice president of sales and marketing. “We felt AdFarm was the best fit with our culture and had a strong grasp of the challenge we face in the animal identification industry.”
Destron Fearing is the animal application unit of Digital Angel Corporation. The company develops, manufactures and markets electronic radio frequency and visual identification devices for the companion animal, fish and wildlife and livestock markets. In livestock markets, Destron Fearing provides a full complement of radio frequency identification products and software solutions to automate the collection and utilization of critical production information to help meet the growing identification demands of the market place.
Cow Parade Raises Awareness in Wisconsin
The numbers don’t lie. The Cow Parade promotion in Wisconsin is a success and putting up some impressive pre/post survey results according to the latest from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
More than 100 colorful cows grazed the Madison area and traveled to every corner of the state this past summer and fall as part of CowParade Wisconsin 2006. A survey conducted by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) following the event confirmed the memorable success of CowParade Wisconsin. When compared to a similar survey of 300 geographically dispersed Wisconsin residents done just before the CowParade promotion, it was found that Wisconsinites’ awareness of the state’s $20.6 billion dairy industry and how it affects their quality of life improved dramatically thanks in part to the promotion.
· 94 percent of those surveyed agreed that Wisconsin is proud to be America’s Dairyland
· 92 percent indicated they “would miss seeing Wisconsin farms if too much land was developed into housing and commercial buildings”
· 89 percent felt “the dairy industry played a key developmental role in the state of Wisconsin”
· And, 88 percent said they were “proud to call Wisconsin the Dairy State.”
Noteworthy awareness increases between the two surveys were also seen in the level of agreement with the following statements:
· “Wisconsin dominates the cheese industry” – Up 9 percentage points
· “One of every five Wisconsin jobs is related to agriculture” – Up 8 percentage points
· “The dairy industry improves my quality of life” – Up 6 percentage points
Heinsohn Promoted at Rhea & Kaiser
Bonnie Heinsohn has been promoted by Rhea & Kaiser Marketing Communications to director, broadcast and print production.
Heinsohn, who joined Rhea & Kaiser in 2003 as production supervisor, is responsible for managing a six-member team while investigating the latest industry trends to improve quality and lower costs in print and broadcast production.
“Bonnie brings 14 years of print production management experience to the table,” said Van Kaiser, executive vice president and creative director of Rhea & Kaiser Marketing Communications. “She has superior people skills and leadership qualities that will be of incalculable benefit to our clients.” Heinsohn, 41, has managed the production of several award-winning projects, is a recipient of the CADM Tempo Award and was a finalist for the National Telly Award.
Presenting at John Deere
Hi there AgWired fans. This morning I’m doing a new media presentation with the folks at John Deere and their agency, BCS Communications. This is an example post for the presentation.
See you later when I get back to the office.
Truffle On The ZimmCast
In this week’s ZimmCast I have a conversation with Aaron Gilbertie, Truffle Media Networks. We talk about our new agreement to work together offering new media services to the agribusiness community. I’m excited about the future of online communications and the folks at Truffle share the feeling. Together we can offer more current channels of communication with our established news blogs and podcasts than you’ll find anywhere else.
For example ZimmComm has established news sites like World Dairy Diary, targeting dairy producers and Domestic Fuel, focused on alternative fuel news while Truffle has several commodity-specific podcasts like SwineCast, DairyCast, PoultryCast and BeefCast. All these channels are reaching a measurable audience and open for sponsorships. That means that many of you can expect to be hearing more from us as we work together to develop these resources while also offering you our services to create new ones customized for your specific needs.
Aaron, along with John Blue from Truffle were recently guests on Podcast 411. You can listen to that interview here (mp3 file).
To listen to my complete interview with Aaron you can download the ZimmCast: 
ZimmCast 104 (31 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
zimmcast104-1-29-07.mp3The 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.