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CowParade In Wisconsin

Chuck Zimmerman

Wisconsin Cow ParadeMaybe you remember those cows when they were in Chicago. Well they get around and now they’re in Wisconsin. As reported on World Dairy Diary today (a ZimmComm blog) the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board is responsible for this. In fact, this is big business. The CowParade even has its own website. For information about Wisconsin go here. These shameless promoters of all things milk will be at the World Dairy Expo and so will AgWired.

There will be some official CowParade Wisconsin cows – “Say Cheese, Wisconsin” by Bruce Bodden and “Where the Cows Are” by Steven Kozar. When they get us photos we’ll share them.

I actually first found out about this on the Wisconsin Radio Network site. You can listen to a story they did on it here.

Audio

Best of NAMA & CAMA

Chuck Zimmerman

Best of NAMA -2006 - Jazzed
If you’re a member of the National Agri-Marketing Association you might have it in your inbox or your mailbox. It’s time to toot your own horn with your entry in the 2006 Best of NAMA competition. You can find all the information you need online.

Canadian Agri-Marketing AssociationLooking to the north it looks like the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association is having a Best of CAMA with the theme “Change is Alive in 2005” but there’s nothing on their website. If I find more I’ll pass it along.

NAMA

Child Nutrition Programs & Beef Checkoff Dollars

Chuck Zimmerman

MBIC ReportIn this week’s Missouri Beef Industry Council report we talk about child nutrition programs funded with beef checkoff dollars. Cindy interviews Dean Carroll of Clarence, MO, who just recently attended his last official meeting as an MBIC board member after serving for six years.

You can listen to the MBIC Report here Download MP3 File

The MBIC Report is a weekly AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar.

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Podcasts

BASF Moves To Quarry

Chuck Zimmerman

Quarry Integrated CommunicationsSome congratulations are in order for Quarry Integrated Communications for obtaining significant new business from BASF! We knew the U. S. crop account was up for review and it has moved.

I spoke with agency partner, Glen Drummond, this morning and he says their relationship with the company goes back a number of years. Glen works with the agencies interactive/web business. I hope to interview an agency representative who works directly on the new BASF business soon and will have more information to share at that time.

Agencies

Arbitron Measures Podcasts

Chuck Zimmerman

ArbitronJust yesterday I posed the question “I wonder when Arbitron will begin ratings for podcasts?” Guess what they announced today?

Arbitron Portable People Meter System Successfully Tracks Podcasts; State-of-the-Art Audience Measurement System Demonstrates It Can Track Listeners of Alternative Radio Technology

With podcasting making headlines as one of the latest technologies being embraced by terrestrial radio broadcasters, Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) has demonstrated that its Portable People Meter (PPM(SM)) system has the ability to track audiences who listen to this new method of radio programming. During the week of July 18, Arbitron encoded several podcasts by Clear Channel’s WHTZ-FM (Z100) in New York, that were uploaded to the podcast portion of Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The Z100 podcasts were then downloaded to an MP3 player and played over headsets using the PPM headset adapter. The PPM detected and recorded the unique identification codes that were embedded in the MP3 file.

Granted this is just a test of one station that’s podcasting and granted that podcasting of “big media” isn’t really where I think podcasting will be most successful but it’s a start and shows that even the big boys like Clear Channel consider it serious! Thanks to Steve Rubel for the alert!

Heads up folks. You and I can do it ourselves. In fact we are doing it. Want us to help you do it?

Media, Podcasts

New D&PL Website

Chuck Zimmerman

D&PL WebsiteD&PL have announced a new website design. The work was done by Brighton Agency in St. Louis. It would be tempting to critique it here and I’m wondering if you’d like me to offer critques. Let me know by way of feedback.

I will offer one quick idea. From the media’s perspective it would be nice if there was a way for me to subscribe to future information like news releases. There’s a location for news releases but I can’t subscribe to them. I would suggest setting up an RSS feed of them that I can subscribe to instead of email. As it’s set up now I would have to send an email to a contact from the “Contact Us” section to get on a mailing list. Although you see a lot of RSS feeds set up on news sites like the Washington Post, anyone can do it and integrate it into their web strategy.

I like the neat little weather tool that’s on the site. You enter your zipcode once and any time you log on you get your local weather on the page! I don’t farm but I’m a weather fanatic, just ask Cindy. You know how important weather is to farmers. Great idea.

New D&PL Web Site sets Standard for Technology, Service – Company site designed to meet needs of producers, distributors and retailers

Expanded services, improved sales and technical support, and more variety information are just a few of the improvements to the newly designed Delta and Pine Land Company website: www.deltaandpine.com. Working with its marketing partner, Brighton Agency in St. Louis, D&PL gave its Web site a total re-build. The new site went live August 10.

For more information contact Leigh Korb, 1-800-490-2686.

Agencies, Agribusiness, Internet

Mandated Ethanol Discussed On CornTalk

Chuck Zimmerman

CornTalk PodcastIt’s CornTalk time and this week Cindy interviews Missouri Corn Growers Associaton CEO Gary Marshall about Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt’s commitment to getting legislation passed next session that would call for all gasoline sold in the state to be blended with ethanol. Missouri wouldn’t be the first state to pass this legislation and many feel it’s time!

You can listen to CornTalk here Download MP3 File

CornTalk is a weekly AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the file in our sidebar.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Podcasts

Progress Cam Shows The Farm Progress

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Progress Show Aug. 23, 2005You may have seen this before but I still think it’s cool. Maybe AgWired should get a webcam too. I’m just not sure you want to see our work in progress.

Speaking of progress, you can see from the picture, which updates constantly, how things are developing at the the Farm Progress Show. Here’s the link to the Progress Cam. AgWired is planning on getting a little help in covering the dialy activities of the show this year since we’ll be in Switzerland! But never fear, we’ll have some info for you.

I’m sure there are other farm or show cams out there. Point them out to us if you know of them.

Farm Progress Show

Satellite & Internet Ratings Coming This Fall

Chuck Zimmerman

According to a post on MediaBuyerPlanner, Arbitron will be reporting satellite radio listening (Sirius and XM) beginning this fall. Next spring they’ll also begin to add a radio station’s internet feed audience to the station’s audience totals. This report comes from Mediaweek.

I like the way the story says that this is because “more consumers are turning to alternative distribution platforms for their radio listening.” I’d substitute satellite, internet and podcasting for “alternative distribution platforms!”

I wonder when Arbitron will begin reporting podcasting ratings? If you think podcasting is as silly a sounding thing as blogging then why do we have more and more events like the Duke University Podcasting Symposium?

Media, Podcasts