With all the focus on new media and new ways of marketing, the winner of this year’s NAMA Marketer of the Year is one who uses the oldest method of marketing known to man, and the one that still works the best – word of mouth.

Stephanie Liska, co-founder of Beck Ag, grew up on a farm in Iowa and is married to an agronomist, so she knows agriculture.  “Word of mouth is not knew to agriculture or to business,” she says.  “Purdue University has validated that the most influential person that a grower or a veterinarian or someone in our industry looks to to make a decision on what they are going to use or recommend is their peers.”

Stephanie has been involved in NAMA since she was a student at Iowa State University and was chairman of the NAMA conference last year.  She also credits her faith and her husband for supporting her with the business.

Listen to an interview with Stephanie in the player below.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Each year NAMA honors an outstanding leader in the agribusiness industry.

This year that person is David Seehusen, Land ‘O Lakes. David was presented with the Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award. David has made significant contributions to the industry and made a really fantastic Earth Day speech which I will be adding to this post as soon as I get a copy of it. Dave included a lot of statistics about food production comparing today to years past. He made a great point of saying how new technology can continue to increase food production to feed a growing world population but only if farmers are allowed to use it.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

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.

Twitter Bird has been keeping busy during the 2010 NAMA show in Kansas City. He was caught sending tweets, reading tweets, reading the Nook (which will be awarded to one lucky registrant) and promoting ZimmComm’s new social media campaign, @ZimmComm tweets uright!

Between activities, Twitter Bird signed autographs and took photos with the NAMA attendees, as seen in this photo.

Don’t miss your chance to meet, and take home, Twitter Bird and you can see him in action in the
2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

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

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

Sullivan Higdon & Sink hates sheep. Why? Because they are followers – not leaders. Well, you may love them or hate them but during NAMA you can abuse them as part of the interactive We Hate Sheep game. The game was created by t2, an interactive company based right here in Kansas City, the host town for this year’s NAMA.

I was joking with a fellow colleague, Steve Knudsen, who works for the International Agri-Center (they host the World Expo Show each February in Tulare, CA) and he asked the designers, “So is this the Web1.0 version? When will Web 2.0 be launched with the foxes trying to eat the sheep?” I personally think that’s a super idea and maybe next year, SH&S will be back with even more ways to eliminate sheep. And if you haven’t already, be sure to stop by.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

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

Can you guess the number of spots on this really cute stuffed cow? What about the table cloth? If you can, then you can win cash at the J.L. Farmakis booth. J.L. Farmakis is a rep firm that represents agricultural media. So be sure to stop by for your chance to win but don’t get too excited, I’ve already won!