New This Year!
Watch the Call for Entries for our new category, the Producer’s Choice Award. In this category, you’ll be able to enter a single page ad that will be judged by 1,000-2,000 producers. This category is made possible by Successful Farming & Agriculture Online and Readex Research.

The Best of NAMA Call for Entries will be available on the NAMA web site at the end of August and will be mailed by September 1.

All entries must be received in the NAMA Office by Friday, October 8, 2010.

The Best of NAMA awards program honors the best work in agricultural communications. Actually, the best of the best, since companies/agencies must first qualify through regional competition in order to advance to the national level. The national awards ceremony will take place April 13, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City.

Best of NAMA operates on a regional judging format. Entries are sent directly to the national NAMA office and judged by industry professionals at a regional level for possible advancement to national competition. A minimum point standard will be used at the regional level. If you place first or merit at the regional competition and score above the minimum point standard, you are eligible to advance to the national competition.

Stay tuned to your email inbox for notification of the Call for Entries on the NAMA web site!

Trends In Agriculture
Mark your calendars for the 2010 Trends In Agriculture fall meeting, October 5-6 at The Marquette in Minneapolis, MN. Programming for the fall Trends meeting is underway and more information on sessions will be available soon!

If you are interested in sponsoring a session at the 2010 Trends In Agriculture meeting, please contact Jenny Pickett at 913-491-6500 or at jennyp@nama.org.

Best of NAMA Call For Entries
The deadline for submitting entries for the Best of NAMA competition is Friday, October 8.

The Best of NAMA awards program honors the best work in agricultural communications. Actually, the best of the best, since companies/agencies must first qualify through regional competition in order to advance to the national level. The national awards ceremony will take place April 13, at the Hyatt Regency, Kansas City.

More information on the Best of NAMA Call for Entries is on the way!

Thanks to all who attended the 2010 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 21-23, in Kansas City! This year’s conference attendance was the highest in 10 years!

If you were at the conference and have not yet filled out the online survey, please do so at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=llIfMHX5o9XJcRdqbR_2bTYg_3d_3d. Your response is greatly appreciated!

If you were unable to join us in Kansas City for the conference, take a look at the highlights on the NAMA blog at www.namablog.org.

For a list of the Best of NAMA winners from the conference, please visit http://www.agrimarketingdigital.com for a complete list of winners.

For photo highlights from the conference, please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/namaflickr/collections/72157623950490478/. Special thanks to Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm, for taking photo’s.

NAMA toasted the Best of the Best last night at the annual Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony. You can find a complete list of all the winners in AgriMarketing Magazine.

The Best of Show – Advertising went to:

Client: Midwest Dairy Association, St. Paul, MN – Gregg Fogleman
Agency: Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Kansas City, MO – Leslie Franklin
Message: To remind consumers that everything is better with cheese on it.
Audience: Mothers 25-54 with children 18-years-old and younger in the Ozark region.

Our other Best of Show winner is for Public Relations.

Client: Dairy Management, Inc., Rosemont, IL – Jennifer Wing
Agency: Weber Shandwick, Minneapolis, MN – Polly O’Grady
Message: To use social media to tell the dairy industry’s story, reinforce and build its positive image and respectfully counter inaccurate or uninformed online commentary about modern farm practices.
Audience: Consumers, age 17-29 and dairy consumers.

Thank you to Denny Eilers for the photos.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

The ABEF Online Media Package auction is underway! The auction started on Wednesday, April 7 and will continue until 5:00 p.m. on April 14. New packages have been added, so don’t miss out on the great opportunities!

To view the online auction media packages visit, http://www.nama.org/abef/silentauction/bidco.htm.

Note: If a bid is received on an item within the last 30 minutes of the auction, the auction will remain open on that item through the next business day until 5:00 p.m. (central time). This process will continue until no bids are received within 30 minutes of the bid closing.

ABEF Silent Auction – Donations Still Needed!

Please join your agri-marketing peers in supporting this worthwhile effort by donating to the auction. Click on the Pledge Form to indicate your donation and/or interest in the project.

Any worthwhile product or service will be gratefully accepted. Some of the most popular items auctioned in past years include:

* Framed and limited edition artwork
* Media packages for broadcast, print & Internet
* Professional services
* Premiums and wearables
* Collectibles
* Sports tickets and memorabilia

Thank you for help in supporting the ABEF!

NAMA is excited to announce some new social media tools that will be implemented at the 2010 Agri-Marketing Conference!

Text Updates – Text updates will be available to those who sign up to remind you of what events are happening prior to the start of them.  To sign up for the text updates at the 2010 conference please visit http://www.nama.org/amc/index.html. Thanks to Commodity Update for providing the text updates!

New Digital Signage will be provided courtesy of AGCanada.com Network.

Mobile Program – You will have the opportunity to get the conference program on your phone to better help direct you to sessions, the Connection Point and other conference activities so you don’t miss out on important events. Sign-up information for the mobile program will be provided in the upcoming weeks. The Mobile Program is courtesy of Farm Progress Companies, powered by iNet Solutions Group.

NAMA Blog – in keeping with tradition, the entire conference will be blogged. If you are unable to make it to the conference or if you just want a recap of the day’s events at conference, just visit www.namablog.org. The blog is sponsored by Successful Farming and maintained by AgWired.

The 2010 Agri-Marketing Conference is a little over a week away, but you can get started on who you want to visit in the Connection Point.

Determine where booths will be located and find out more about the exhibiting companies before the event by taking a trip through the Virtual Trade Show at http://www.nama.org/amc/ts/virtual.htm. (Please note: It is best to view the Virtual Trade Show with Internet Explorer.)

Connection Point Hours
Wednesday, April 21
6:00-7:30 p.m. – Best of NAMA Celebration Reception courtesy of Pfizer Animal Health & Woodruff Sweitzer

Thursday, April 22
12:30-2:00 p.m.-Trade Show Luncheon courtesy of Furniture Row Racing/Car of the Heartland
12:30-1:30 p.m.-Student Mentor Luncheon courtesy of SFP
3:00-4:00 p.m. – Ice Cream courtesy of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine
5:00-7:00 p.m. – Trade Show Closing/ABEF Silent Auction courtesy of NAFB & John Deere