National NAMA Conference--
One of the Best Yet

Just back this week from the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) conference in Kansas City. I must say it was one of the best annual NAMA meetings I’ve attended in my 34 years in this industry. My compliments to Marjorie Walker, Conference Chair; Les Kahl, Best of NAMA Chair; Micheal DeLuca, Chair of the Connections Point Trade Show and Curt Blades, Careers Committee Chair for an outstanding job with the planning and programming that went into this event. NAMA Executive Director Jenny Pickett and her very capable NAMA staff deserve credit for a job well done, as well.

Paulsen Marketing was well represented with six of us in attendance. We were especially proud of our three First Place Best of NAMA Awards. Those awards went to:

• Kubota Tractor Corporation for Multi-media Campaign Directed to the Rural Lifestyle Audience
• Walters Gardens for their Perennial Resource Web Site in the category of Web Site, Educational Focus, Directed to Consumers
• Paulsen Marketing in the category of Corporate Identity for our own logo/letterhead package

Considering the caliber of companies and agencies competing, and the exceptionally high quality of creative work entered, we are indeed honored to be recognized with our three first place awards.

The keynote speakers and break out sessions were some of the best I can recall. Our folks came away with relevant and meaningful ideas to apply to our real world challenges.

But as usual, the networking and social aspects of the conference were most enjoyable. It’s always fun to reconnect with friends and colleagues in the business, learn what’s new and how folks are coping with the accelerated change we all are facing. As I’ve said before, these indeed are interesting times in which we live.

We’ve received excellent feedback on our recent agri-media research report, “The New Ag Media Model: Conventional + Contemporary Strategies.” A surprising number of people have downloaded the report from our Web site. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look, go to www.agribranding.com and see what farmers are saying about their media preferences for gathering information as part of their purchasing process. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions about this research.

Congratulations to Kubota Tractor Corporation on their First Place Best of NAMA Award for Rural Lifestyle Multi-media Campaign. Pictured here, (left to right) Mike Dowling, VP, Creative Director; Myrna Montague, Marketing Support Manager, Kubota Tractor Corp; Peggy Horkan, Marketing Communications Manager, Kubota Tractor Corp; Marcus Squier, Account Executive; Greg Guse, President; Alicia DeGeest, Account Supervisor; and Sara Steever, VP, Director of Interactive Services.