Students from New Mexico State University took first place at the Student Marketing Competition sponsored by Monsanto. The competition was held April 20-22 in Kansas City, MO.

The New Mexico State marketing team had 23 students involved with this year’s project to market Custom-made Saddles. The team spent the last several months doing market research, writing the marketing plan, and developing a presentation.

The top six marketing teams this year were: First place, New Mexico State University; Second place, Illinois State University; Third place, Michigan State University; Fourth place, Iowa State University; Fifth place, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo; Sixth place, University of Minnesota.

Students decide on a project and develop a plan to successfully bring the product or service to the marketplace. In developing their marketing plan, students follow the same practices and principles used by today’s marketing professionals. Teams submit a written plan summary prior to the competition and then make a formal presentation of their marketing plan to a panel of judges at the competition. The judges’ panel consists of marketing and agribusiness professionals.

Overall, 31 student NAMA chapters participated in the marketing competition. The competition is part of the annual Agri-Marketing Conference. Over 400 student members attended the conference.

To view the Executive Summaries of the Final 6 schools visit http://www.nama.org/student/marketing.html.

To view the Student Scholarship Recipients, visit http://www.nama.org/student/scholarship.html.

To view the Outstanding Student Chapter winners, visit http://www.nama.org/student/outstanding.html.

The Southwest NAMA Chapter shares news from the recent NAMA Annual conference held in Kansas City, April 21-23.

The Southwest Chapter hosted a reception for their Student NAMA groups from TX A&M, TX A&M Kingsville, Sam Houston State and New Mexico State Universities.  The reception was held on Tuesday, April 20, and it was fun to share the enthusiasm and excitement the students brought to the evening – in preparation for their marketing presentations the next day!

Every chapter performed in the Student Marketing competition with exemplary expertise and enthusiasm – reminding all attendees how rewarding careers in this industry are.  To put the “icing on the cake” New Mexico State University took home first place!  The students created a marketing plan for introducing a specialized saddle designed to eliminate pressure points and saddle fit problems into the rodeo market. While this isn’t the first time the team has won the top prize, it has been several years since they have brought home first place!  (Read more and see photos at the NAMA blog.)

Congrats to the members of all  these chapters for their hard work, enthusiasm and dedication.  The Southwest NAMA Chapter is proud to be host Chapter of the winning team!

Thanks to all the students for representing your schools and the Southwest chapter!

As if you can’t tell already, I had a blast during the NAMA conference last week in Kansas City. I especially had fun spending time with the 31 student teams that competed in this year’s Student Marketing Competition. I did, however, have a special place in my heart for my Alma mater, Iowa State University. I had an opportunity to spend some time with them during the week and they are a fantastic group of students. I look forward to working with them, as well as all the students at the conference, in the near future.

Congrats to all the winners whom you can see in our 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

And the awards keep on a coming….at least during the 2010 NAMA Student Marketing Competition. During the Awards Ceremony, five student chapters were given awards by John Deere as part of the John Deere Signature Awards that were started by Michael Gustafson, who also won the “Hard Ass” award for his role as a judge in the competition.

The awards are given to the student chapters based on a scale that includes student participation in NAMA.

This year the winners are….

1st Place – Iowa State University -$3,000
2nd Place – University of Florida – $2,000
3rd Place – New Mexico State University – $1,000
4th Place – Illinois State University – $500
5th Place – University of Wisconsin Madison – $500

Congratulations to the winning chapters!

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

You didn’t have to be the 2010 Student Marketing Competition Winner to take home an award. This year, six Chapter Performance Awards were given to five teams:

Chapter Performance Awards
Abraham Baldwin Ag. College – Chapter Management
Iowa State University – Chapter Programs
Abraham Baldwin Ag. College – Membership Recruit.
Pennsylvania State Univ. – Fundraising/Fin. Mngt.
Iowa State University – Chapter Communications
Delaware Valley College – Career Development and
Illinois State University – Career Development

In addition, four awards were given to the Overall Outstanding Student Chapter. What is really cool is that the winner, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is only in its second year as a chapter! This should inspire all the chapters.

First Place
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College

Second Place
Iowa State University

Third Place
Illinois State University

Fourth Place
New Mexico State University

And last but certainty not least is the award for Outstanding Advisor who was award to Stacey Noe, with Iowa State University.

Congratulations to all the winning chapters and to Stacey Noe!

Congrats to all the winners whom you can see in our 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Each year, as part of the NAMA Student Marketing Competition and student activities, one student is awarded the Successful Farming/Fergie Ferguson $4,000 Scholarship. This was the largest award of all the 15 student scholarship awards given. This year, the honors went to Amanda Sollman from Michigan State University.

Amanda is a senior majoring in Agri-Science and Communications and upon graduation, she plans to pursue teaching agri-science communications. She said during her thank you speech that NAMA has been the greatest club experience she has had while attending Michigan State.

Congrats Amanda and good luck with all your endeavors!

Congrats to all the scholarship winners whom you can see in our 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

The 2010 NAMA Student Marketing Competition was not the only event gaining attention during the 2010 NAMA Conference. This year, 15 students were honored with scholarships during the student luncheon ranging from $500 to $4,000. While the students were handed plaques and envelopes, before they could blow their awards on a night on the town in Kansas City, they were informed, “the checks are in the mail.” But that didn’t damper any of the winners’ spirits.

2009-2010 Student Scholarship Recipients:
$4,000 Scholarship
Successful Farming/Fergie Ferguson
Amanda Sollman – Michigan State University

$1,000 Colle+McVoy/New Holland Scholarship
Melissa Short – University of Florida

$1,000 MoKan Scholarship
Kerri Bates – Kansas State University

$1,000 ABEF Scholarships
Danielle Brown – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Carly Cummings – Iowa State University
Katie Dogs – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Sarah Butterfield – The Ohio State University
Kayla Lehman – Michigan State University
Jamie Thomas – New Mexico State University
Lauren Tatum – New Mexico State University

$500 ABEF Scholarships
Kristin Witte – University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Kelsey Olson – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Elizabeth Burns-Thompson – Iowa State University
Scott Henry – Iowa State University
Karoline Kastanek – Univ. of Nebraska – Lincoln