Once again NAMA is pleased to report that we exceeded last year’s attendance numbers and brought even more agri-marketers to Kansas City for the 2013 national conference with a total of  1,248 professionals and students from across the country.  This is the highest attended conference since 2000!

Anders Sorman-Nilsson kicked off the conference with a discussion of  his concept of “digilogue.”  Simply stated it’s taking the measurability of digital communications and combining it with emotion and accountability of more analog style outreach.  Analog is needed for transformation, digital for information.  He urged conference attendees to take advantage of new media tools to embrace the transparency being demanded by customers and use them to tell the real story of American agriculture.

Josh Linkner explained the virtues of creativity calling it the “currency of success.”  He noted creativity is 85% learned and shared simple ways to nurture creativity in the workplace.

Throughout the rest of the conference, agri-marketers enjoyed time to meet face-to-face with clients, attend breakout sessions on diverse topics like developing web content and monetizing social media and walk through the Connection Point Trade Show.  Attendees were encouraged to visit each of the 65 exhibitors to enter to win great prizes.  Congrats to Teresa Roof, Rosemary Schimek, Cait Schneckloth and Justina Frost, who each won an iPad Mini.

The Closing Brunch speaker, Damian Mason, had the audience laughing out loud with his special brand of humor.  Each attendee received a special departing gift from Mason – a bumper sticker carrying the words, “Agriculture: Because Starvation Sucks.”

During the conference, NAMA presented two distinguished awards. Thad Simons, President and CEO, Novus, accepted the 2013 Agribusiness Leader of the Year.  Steve Vandeberg, Director, Edectocide Marketing, Merial Limited, was named 2013 NAMA Marketer of the Year.

Congrats to  Best of Show Winner – Advertising, Beck’s Hybrids; and Best of Show Winner – PR, Minnesota Pork Board and Minnesota Pork Producers Association! Click here for a complete list of winners.

Visit NAMA on Flickr to see the full Agri-Marketing Conference album.

Steve Vandeberg, director, endectocide marketing, Merial Limited has been named the 2013 NAMA Marketer of the Year. The NAMA Marketer award will be presented during the Second General Session of the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Forging New Frontiers” on Thursday, April 18 at 11:00 a.m. in Kansas City, Missouri and is sponsored by Agri Marketing magazine.

Steve’s work in parasiticides pioneered a golden era for the cattle industry. He developed the launch campaign for IVOMEC^® (ivermectin) – the iconic industry brand; thus creating the cattle endectocide category and one of the first 100 million dollar dose form cattle products in the United States. Steve has worked to maintain the IVOMEC Brand sales and margin in the face of branded competition and one of the most aggressive generic onslaughts seen in the industry. Steve continues to play key roles in groundbreaking work that grows awareness and sales – leading key product introduction efforts and authoring training materials.

Steve’s depth of experience grants him the knowledge he needs to guide innovative work. But, Steve doesn’t rest on past successes. He’s always staying one step ahead in the field, quick to share the latest findings with any and all. Steve is driven to make sure that veterinarians, beef and dairy producers and the media understand best practices and treatments for strategic parasite control. He is a tireless sponsor of industry conferences, and events and shares his 30+ years of knowledge in the cattle endectocide business.

Steve has been integral in creating tools and platforms to enhance producer knowledge. He developed and launched a new Merial dairy campaign and new EPRINEX^® (eprinomectin) beef campaign relying on heavy digital advertising, digital producer contact and print. In November 2012, Steve led the charge to launch LONGRANGE^TM (eprinomectin). LONGRANGE is an innovative product for parasite control in cattle and the first in its category of extended-release dewormers. Steve leveraged his tenured experience within the cattle industry to create a dynamic and innovative marketing plan that focused not only on bringing LONGRANGE to market and raising awareness at launch, but first on educating producers on common misconceptions about deworming and reasons why current practices are not effective.

Steve has been a NAMA supporter for many years, participating in conferences and judging Best of NAMA.  Steve is also an active member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Thad Simons, president and CEO, Novus, has been awarded the 2013 Agribusiness Leader of the Year.  This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, will be presented at the Opening General Session of the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Forging New Frontiers,” April 18, 2013, in Kansas City, Missouri. The award honors outstanding leaders in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas who exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry.

As President and CEO since 2001, Thad continues Novus on a path to achieving the vision of “helping to feed the world affordable, wholesome food.” Novus started out as a small B2B company with two products for the poultry industry, but Thad saw the potential to transform the organization’s global reach and impact. He established the organizational framework to develop solutions specific to new markets based on Novus’s established core technologies. His strategy was successful, and today the Novus product portfolio contains over 100 products that provide a holistic approach to health and nutrition for poultry, cattle, pigs, equine, companion animals, farm-raised fish, seafood and people. Novus has employees working in over 100 countries, serving more than 3,000 customers worldwide.

Under Thad’s leadership, Novus has created a unique business model which marries excellence with innovation, sustainability and sharing best practices. The company maintains a culture of collaboration both internally and through interaction with a global network of agricultural students, academia and customers to identify solutions to move the agriculture industry forward.

Thad shares his vision for feeding the world through an ongoing campaign of industry event participation and sponsorships worldwide.  His message is reaching an ever-larger audience of agribusiness leaders.

Thad is currently President-Elect for the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA), and is committed to advancing the IFAMA mission – to improve the strategic focus, transparency, sustainability, and responsiveness of the global food and agribusiness system.

Thad serves on the Board of Directors for Novus International, Inc., the Nine Network of Public Media, Grand Center, Inc., United Way of Greater St. Louis, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis Zoo, Corporate Council on Africa, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, and ESM Technologies. He is a member of the Missouri and Georgia Bars.

Thad’s additional awards and recognitions include: International Businessperson of the Year, World Trade Center of St. Louis, 2001; International Visionary Award, Boeing Institute of International Business, 2007; Heroes of the Planet Award, St. Louis Business Journal, 2009; Entrepreneur of the Year, Central Midwest-Bioscience, Ernst & Young, 2010; Entrepreneur of the Year, National Distribution and Manufacturing, Ernst & Young, 2010.

A few days are left to nominate the cream of the crop – Agribusiness Leader of the Year and NAMA Marketer of the Year.

Click here to view a list of current and past winners for Agribusiness Leader of the Year and NAMA Marketer of the Year.

The winners of these prestigious awards will be honored at the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 17 – 19, in Kansas City.  Celebrate the achievements and impressive careers of the very best in agriculture with NAMA.

Submission deadline is January 18, 2013.  Visit nama.org and click “Awards” to find nomination forms.

The NAMA 2012 Fall Conference was a big success with nearly 200  in attendance.  The new NAMA Fall Conference focused on celebrating leadership and recognizing those who are the leaders in the agri-marketing industry.

Attendees who made it to Minneapolis  early for the North Central Ag Tour had the chance to visit CHS Savage Terminal, Peavey Grain Elevator and Flat Earth Brewing.

The founder of the Rainforest Cafe, Steven Schussler, Schussler Creative, opened the  Fall Conference as keynote speaker.  “It’s a Jungle in There: Inspiring Lessons, Hard-Won Insights and Other Acts of Entrepreneurial Daring,” was the topic of his presentation. Steven is also the author of the bestselling book, “It’s a Jungle in There.”

Afternoon breakout sessions on the first day of Fall Conference targeted agri-marketers ready to move up the career ladder  and acquire game-changing professional development skills.

The day ended with a networking reception at SEVEN.   Attendees enjoyed complimentary appetizers and cocktails courtesy of  Broadhead.

Day two began with a session on “How to Make Things Happen When You’re Not in Charge” with Sheila Campbell, President, Wild Blue Yonder, Inc. Campbell urged the audience to foster relationships that make people want to help us.

Morning breakout sessions on day two included a discussion on crisis management, communicating with impact and moving up the ladder.  The audience gained insightful tips on how to fine-tune their leadership skills.

NAMA honored the  2012 Professional Development Awards of Excellence sponsored by Farm Progress Companies. These awards honor NAMA members with hands-on responsibility in marketing and communications, public relations, product/species management and sales.  Congratulations to Troy Schroeder – Broadhead, Justin Funk – Agri Studies Inc., Kevin Bien – AGCO and John Rozum – World Dairy Expo.

Wrapping up the conference was Aidan Connolly, Vice President Corporate Accounts, Alltech Inc.  Breakfast in China, afternoon presentation in Minneapolis at the NAMA Fall Conference. That was on Connolly’s schedule for the day.  Agribusiness is a worldwide business now and that means dealing with different languages and cultures. Aidan says “agriculture has never been so key to the world” and “food is a conversation that everyone wants to have.” He says that future leaders in agriculture need to be ready to travel, understand what’s going on in China, Brazil and India, have a sense of curiosity and a willingness to use new technology.

This meeting also marked the passing of the gavel from 2012 NAMA President Beth Burgy, Broadhead, to incoming president Paul Redhage, FMC Agricultural Products.

Congratulations to our incoming and existing officers!

President Elect – Kenna Rathai,  Kenna B. Rathai Communications
Secretary/Treasurer – Marvin Kokes, National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn.
Vice Presidents – Sally Behringer, MustangRED Communications
Matt Coniglio, Farm Progress Companies
Amy Bradford, GROWMARK, Inc.
Chuck Zimmerman, ZimmComm New Media
Amy Bugg, AdFarm
Sheri Seger, DTN/The Progressive Farmer

See additional  coverage and photos from the Fall Conference in Minneapolis on AgWired http://agwired.com/

NAMA is pleased to congratulate this year’s Professional Development Awards of Excellence recipients sponsored by Farm Progress Companies.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Troy Schroeder, Chief Marketing Officer, Broadhead

Troy has led numerous award-winning campaigns from concept to completion. His ability to combine sound strategy with innovative new communications tools has created tangible results for numerous clients, including AGCO (Massey Ferguson, Challenger, Gleaner, RoGator and TerraGator), American Le Mans Series, Cat Auction Services, IndyCar Series, John Deere, Minnesota FFA Foundation, The Mosaic Company, Oxbo International Corporation, Renewable Fuels Association, Trimble Navigation and USDA.

Troy’s work with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) and the IndyCar Series earned numerous awards and over one billion media impressions in a two-year campaign that focused on the performance and environmental attributes of the renewable fuel. In addition, ethanol was named Agri Marketing’s Product of the Year during the campaign.

A NAMA member since 2004, Troy has been involved in his local chapter and a consistent supporter of the national NAMA organization. He has served on the board of directors for the North Central Chapter, encouraged committee and board involvement from other Broadhead employees, and continues to be a contributor locally and nationally.

PUBLIC RELATIONS
Justin Funk, Managing Partner, Agri Studies Inc.

For over 20 years, Agri Studies has been offering marketing research and educational programs to the agribusiness industry.  Today, Agri Studies offers certificate programs in Professional Selling and Agri Marketing that allow students to write their own course by using real life situations they’re presently experiencing.  There is currently a waiting list to enter, and the concept was expanded into Western Canada locations.

Justin has also been very involved in CAMA. He took over as the CAMA Ontario Chapter President in 2008. During his two-year leadership, CAMA Ontario membership has grown from 125 to 150, and attendance at events and meetings has seen a 15% increase. He voluntarily developed the Certificate in Agri-Marketing as an educational program of CAMA, and assisted the University of Guelph Student Chapter as they developed their marketing project for the NAMA Student Competition. He continually encourages other CAMA members to provide input and feedback to the students to help prepare them for their competition.

PRODUCT/SPECIES MANAGEMENT
Kevin Bien, Product Marketing Manager, AGCO

Kevin Bien is responsible for AGCO’s successful introduction of the Gleaner S7 Super Series of combines. The Gleaner tagline (and also its mantra) is “Built With The Farmer In Mind.” When he wears his product manager hat—his official role on Gleaner from 2006 until 2011—Kevin uses his phenomenal knowledge of the product and the needs of its dealers and customers to drive product development to deliver on the promise of that tagline and the promise of the brand. The new Gleaner Super Series is up to 40 to 60 percent greater in capacity, and very up-to-date in harvesting technology and precision-ag technology, all while retaining the grain sample quality, compactness, maneuverability, soil-protecting lighter weight and easier serviceability. This advancement occurred because Kevin fought tooth and nail to deliver the product that dealers, farmers and custom harvesters wanted and had been asking AGCO to deliver for many years.

Kevin is the epitome of what a national agriculture marketing professional should be. He has been an example for many NAMA members at AGCO as well as a constant supporter of his subordinates’ and colleagues’ investment and participation in NAMA activities.

SALES
John Rozum, Sales Manager, World Dairy Expo
John’s responsibilities involve all aspects of sales for World Dairy Expo, from exhibit space to sponsored events to all sponsored items, signage and materials. As a result, he works directly with the 850+ companies exhibiting at the show from 28 different countries. John takes his responsibility for clear, almost-instant communication seriously, regardless of the question or language barrier. Under John’s leadership, guidance and hard work, Expo has grown exponentially in exhibit and sponsorship sales.

John is a long-time volunteer and leader in the Badger NAMA Chapter. He is currently serving as Vice President and Programming Chair. Much like his work at WDE, John brings new and innovative ideas to Badger NAMA where he is known for developing and implementing impressive programs for ag marketing professionals.