Our Labor of Love: Pushing Ag Perception Toward Reality.

By Roger Reierson, May 10, 2010

Every agency search begins with the words, “So, tell me a little about your agency.” And that’s a good place to start because the response always reveals how well or poorly the suitor-agency represents its own brand.

Perception-Soybeans

Whenever I’m asked to talk about AdFarm, I try never to use the phrase “ad agency.” It’s inaccurate and a limited depiction of what we do.  Our deeper connections yield deeper insights and our deeper insights result in higher-impact communications. It would be more accurate to say that we are an agricultural company focused on connecting clients to their farmer-customers and influencers —through social media marketing, digital, direct, advertising, public relations and consulting.

Rhetoric, Inc.

Lately we’ve been helping more clients connect with their influencers – or end-consumer audience in matters of perception.  Portrayal of U.S. agriculture in popular movies, books and general media have trended in the negative for the past few years and we’ve been helping some of our clients use that national spotlight on agriculture to their advantage.

We have taken up this charge in one of the nation’s most ag-heavy areas with the California Agricultural Communications Coalition (CACC).  The CACC seeks to reconnect growers and consumers within the state on behalf of more than 100 ag associations, groups and other stakeholders (In fact, AdFarm has just opened a new office in Sacramento to keep focusing on opportunities in California.). We’re helping CACC and other clients turn the one-way rhetoric and biased monologues into conversations about agriculture that are fully informed.  And you can’t do that with traditional advertising alone.

Today’s Partner vs. Yesterday’s Ad Agency

Traditional advertising may be appropriate as a supplementary element of the strategic approach, but in today’s world some of our client’s messages will never be digested unless they are being spoken by a third party.  Often, the only way to reach those third parties and make them care enough about your message to repeat it is through efforts in PR, digital and social media. Any company that calls itself (or thinks of itself) simply as an ad agency, likely won’t stay in business for long. Communications needs are much more complex than in the past.

To that end, so are agency searches. Selecting a communications agency partner can be an arduous process – certainly one you don’t want to repeat a year or two later. So I highly recommend that any agency search include the assignment of paid short-term sample projects. We feel this gives prospective clients the best look at our process, and they’ll also get some valuable work moving. Most important, the prospective client will be in a better position to make a confident decision in the end.

Right Tool for the Right Job

Ultimately, you want to know that your communications partner not only has the sharpest and widest variety of tools at their disposal, but that they know how to use them with precision. The better you know the market’s customer, the better chance your strategy is on target. Deeper insights equal better strategy. While we at AdFarm have the tools, talent and collective experience to reach customers in any market or situation, we maintain a deliberate focus on agriculture and those precise markets our agricultural clients need to reach.

What do you think makes agriculture such a unique industry to be part of?

Roger Reierson is the President and Managing Partner of AdFarm — visionary, brand shepherd, connector and innovator.

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Are Creative Agencies Keeping Creative?

By Heather Koehler, May 3, 2010

Glenn Kaworski, Founder and Managing Director of The Business of Ideas, took some time to talk creative with us at the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference. He asserts that creativity doesn’t spring magically from “creative” people, but that agencies (and organizations) need to make creativity happen.

We caught up with Glenn after his presentation to get his thoughts on what agencies do well — and not so well — when it comes to helping ideas happen.

At AdFarm, we refuse to work in silos, although we are fans of silos (on a dairy farm). Working in teams that bring together creative, account management, strategy, digital, public relations and social media departments, gives us a healthy dose of what Kaworski calls “creative abrasion” — opposing ideas, various perspectives, and un-group think. Glenn’s presentation was a helpful reminder of why that model works and how we can make it work even harder.

What tiny improvement could an organization make to help creativity happen?

Heather Koehler and Jacob Edenfield are co-writers on this blog post. And while they share many of the same opinions about creative abrasion, they differ in their views on creative scarification. You can find them tweeting — and retweeting one another — at @hlkoehler and @jacobedenfield, respectively

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The Art of Interpersonal Communication Goes Beyond Technology.

By Bob Wilhelm, April 30, 2010

I just spent three days at the National Agri-Marketing Association conference in Kansas City. Many of the attendees at this yearly event come from the marketing and communications industry. Lots of business people at the conference were talking about the latest challenges in communications and marketing.

Lots of interesting topics were presented in the seminars. Lots of experts and professionals were milling about – and certainly there was lots and lots of conversation.  But…with each other?table talking

One evening, I spent an enjoyable dinner with a group of AdFarmers –  we were joking about the pervasiveness of Twitter. “If you haven’t tweeted about it, it hasn’t really happened!” At one point, we all were sitting around the table, looking at our individual hand-held devices.  No one speaking. Later that night, I was at the wonderful annual Brownfield party. Standing at the bar, I found myself surrounded by 4-5 people, all of whom were either on their cell phones or their blackberries. No glances at nametags to see who was who. No conversation. Back at the hotel, I found myself with five people in the elevator. Silence.  No one glanced up from their smart-phones long enough to do anything more than press the button for their floor.

All this at a professional conference where everyone could at least offer camaraderie, and at the most a great idea, some business or a job offer!

This is where it gets personal.

My point: don’t forget that e-mails and blogs and tweeting and Facebook, while important, aren’t as important as the interaction and networking – the personal communication — you can do at a gathering.  As marketing professionals, we’d give anything for a venue at which we could personally meet and talk with targets or prospects. So, when you’re face-to-face with people – talk with them. Build contacts and network.  Talk about issues and ideas.  Find out what others are thinking.  Put together your thoughts and try them out on people.  Get their input. Walk away with at least five people to whom you want to send a follow-up note (and yes, e-mail is just fine for that!) Summarize for clients or prospects or your colleagues the key things you learned.

Sure digital and social media, cell phones and blackberries, blogs and websites are incredibly important to us as marketers and as communicators. And that importance will continue to grow. But after you leave such an event, you’ll find that the most value you received was not through a screen or a device – it was through the people and the ideas and the conversation and the networking available at the event.

And that’s so much better than keeping your face pressed to your iPhone!

Where do you think technology fails us when it comes to maintaining business relationships?

Bob Wilhelm uses his vast experience to provide every single AdFarm client with personalized, strategic, and second-to-none service. He can be reached directly at Bob.Wilhelm@adfarmonline.com.

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A lesson in purchaser behavior — straight from the horse’s mouth

By Tracy Barfield, April 26, 2010

Spring has sprung in the Midwest. Horses are shedding their heavy winter coats and I’m about to shed some serious cash. In order to start the season off right, I need to replenish my stock of tack, supplies and supplements. 

    

 

Two good consumers -- Tracy and Darlin'

Two good consumers -- Tracy and Darlin'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Hoof health and word-of-mouth

I’ve had all winter to read and prepare for spring. But I also look to others for help. Studies show that word-of-mouth, brand reputation and associated brand loyalty are hugely important among horse enthusiasts. I’m no exception: if I don’t buy the same brands my grandfather did, I’m probably going to listen to my best friend. My grandfather had horses that pulled, horses that raced, horses with cow sense and saddle horses that covered miles of terrain with ease.  My best friend is an early adopter who consistently tries the newest stuff out there. She’s ridden in every discipline and accepts only the best. And where does all this thinking get me?

 Just say whoa

Well, I can tell you that I already know exactly which brands of saddle soap and leather preservative I’ll buy this year, along with half my deworming choices – the latter decisions are based on experience and rotation schedules . But when it comes to supplements, I’ll chat with friends about their choices and find out how their horses’ hooves look, before I make my decision. My vet may get tired of my questions, but I think this is the year I learn enough to make a qualified decision about using joint supplements to keep my horse’s knees and hocks in good working order.

Will I make another saddle purchase this year? Likely not. My Pessoa  is broken in and rides perfectly. New leathers, irons, bridle and bit? I’m good there, too. But I’ll definitely re-stock with new curry combs and brushes and once I find my faves, I won’t be quiet about what I like.

 While the act of purchasing has evolved with Internet use, my local tack shops have responded with competitive pricing.  Personally, I’ll split my purchases between a catalog supplier and the local tack shop, where individualized service reigns supreme.

 Back in the saddle, sooner

 I don’t see this as a complicated or onerous process. I want marketers to be interested in my needs and likes. But timing is everything for horse enthusiasts. Because making good use of my precious time means I’ll be quicker to get back in the saddle each year.

Do you or your clients have this kind of insight into audiences?  Do you see how it could be valuable?

Tracy is a horsewoman by birth, profession, hobby and certification. At AdFarm she puts her horse sense to work on animal health and nutrition accounts. You can follow her on Twitter @farmgirl76

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The power of choice – liberating or debilitating?

By Ron Wall, April 1, 2010

diceAn article about consumer choice in the Globe and Mail’s Adhocracy column caught my attention the other day.

The article focuses on a new book called The Art of Choosing.  Author Sheena Iyengar, a professor at Columbia Business School, asks why we make the choices we do, when it comes to making a purchase. Is it science or just the luck of the draw?

In the article, Iyengar offers plenty of support for the theory that although we might think we make  well-considered choices, we really don’t. As an example, she points to the 2000 U.S. federal election. Ms Iyengar states that thousands of Florida voters cast their ballots for George W. Bush simply because his name was at the top of the ballot.

 We can’t get no satisfaction.

Part of our problem is the barrier of too much. Without question, consumers have more choices in the marketplace than ever before. In her book, Iyengar notes that “while the average U.S. grocery store offered 3,700 products in 1957, it now offers about 45,000. Meanwhile, the number of consumer goods available in the United States jumped from about 500,000 in 1994 to almost 700,000 by 2003. Yet research shows that consumers are perhaps more restless and certainly less satisfied than they’ve ever been.”

Far from creating more personal freedom, one of Ms. Iyengar’s studies suggests that too much choice might instead caise a kind of “consumer paralysis.” But we’re in complete control of our wallets, right? Maybe not.   

Iyengar finds “compelling evidence that people may not really know what they want, or even why they want what they say they want. (This alone has the potential not just to throw marketing research into a spin, but also the very basis of economics, which seeks to study how people maximize their utility.)”

So what does this have to do with agri-marketing? Everything, because whether you’re in the market for a soft drink or a post-emergent herbicide, you have to make a choice.

How do you decide which products to choose? How do marketers influence those choices? 

For more on the subject, you can watch a one-on-one interview with Sheena Iyengar and Globe and Mail writer Simon Houpt. And whether you watch it or not, you’ve made a choice.

 Ron Wall is a writer at AdFarm. He believes in free will, as it applies to online shopping.

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Does agriculture think different?

By Scott Samoleski, March 31, 2010

Risk. It’s a concept that infiltrates more business and personal conversations than you can imagine.  We manage risk, deflect risk, accept risk, analyze risk, cut risk and absorb risk. Heck, we even play Risk.  But what does taking a risk really mean?

 Start with a simple definition: risk is the quantifiable likelihood of loss or less-than-expected returns.

 So if you risk, you might lose. And the reality is that nobody likes to lose, especially in front of their peers.  Losing doesn’t look good and it doesn’t feel good.

 How far do we go to avoid losing? 

When an outcome is tangible, sometimes public and most often embarrassing it’s tempting to run the other way.  And even if you miss a tremendous opportunity by playing it safe, who’s to know?  Lost opportunity can just silently drift by, with nobody being the wiser. No public shame, no negative judgments of competence issued.  Just safety and comfort, thank you very much.

 But avoiding risk doesn’t make for great communications.

Take Apple computers, for example. In my humble opinion, the greatest ads ever run were the 1997 “Crazy Ones” series developed for Apple by Chiat/Day.  They anchored the Think Different campaign – which is credited with restoring  Apple’s then-lagging reputation.

The commercials featured black and white film footage of the “Crazy Ones,” people like Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon and Gandhi. The voiceover was performed by actor Richard Dreyfus and the script came from Chiat/Day’s Craig Tanimoto.

 

The significance of the spot is much bigger than marketing or brand development: it’s about inspiring courage.  It’s also about client and agency pushing themselves to a point of vulnerability because taking that risk was fundamental to achieving truly great things.

“Crazy Ones” risked failure because they knew it could lead to significant success.

On any given day in agriculture we make decisions that favor managing risk and mitigating failure.  But hopefully we also make other, tougher decisions — accepting failure as a possible outcome.

Because we know that taking risks is OK, right?

 

Scott Samoleski is Team Lead at AdFarm. He takes more risks than most of us – and wins more often than he loses.

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What Avatar can learn from agriculture.

By Warren Fick, March 15, 2010

Why should a box office-busting, technologically ground-breaking Hollywood movie listen to the world’s oldest profession about anything? Well since Avatar didn’t sweep the 2010 Oscars or even manage the Best Direction awarded a true agriculture classic like The Grapes of Wrath , just think of it as a little neighbourly advice.

 

Do these 3-D glasses make my crop look big?

James Cameron had a pretty clear picture of what Avatar was going to be, over a decade before the rest of the world did. But the technology was lagging, he decided. So he seeded. And waited.  In the end, Mr. Cameron didn’t harvest the bumper crop of Oscars he had hoped for, and any farmer could tell him why.

Avatar learning #1: Technology will take you only so far.

Farmers who grow crops know that geography and weather are huge factors in determining their success. They can research and ask questions and make informed decisions about seed. But in the end, growers who have the best land and who luck into the best weather conditions, win.

Daddy, tell me a story.

Avatar looks better than any movie has a right to, unless it’s also a $237 million US epic about a computer generated world in outer space. But at the end of the day, there’s a certain amount of value lacking if the movie doesn’t tell a great story. You could do better, Mr. Cameron. And you wouldn’t have to go to Pandora for the premise.

In fact, the next time you’re stuck for a riveting storyline ask a rancher about preg checking cows. Or a farmer about the anxiety of losing a wheat crop to fusarium head blight . Or sit at a business meeting where US soybean growers struggle to understand how they can compete in a global commodities market.

Avatar learning #2: Real life breeds real drama.

You can’t make up the kind of drama that comes from generations of winning and losing in agriculture.  You don’t need to. If we’re facing Avatar Two, the writers should buy a farmer a coffee. Then just sit back and really listen.

Take off your 3-D glasses and let’s hear about one of the bazillion other ways Avatar can learn from agriculture.  If you’re in animal science and can discuss flying dragons in 140 characters or less, tweet @adfarmtweets.

Warren Fick has no Facebook photo, just a silhouette. His big picture thinking gives our clients a unique face in agribusiness. And he writes. Contact him directly at warren.fick@adfarmonline.com

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Agriculture, the original community. Dot com.

By Glenn Dawes, January 27, 2010

AT LAST, WELCOME TO ADFARMONLINE.COM –FARMING’S NEWEST COMMUNITY.

But is it really a community? Or an online website? Social interaction? Or modern marketing?

To quote Adam Broitman (circ.us), “We now live in a culture of participation. A culture where all mediated touch points are interaction points. The result is that all media becomes social, and subsequently, all marketing is social.”

I like this observation, because it implies that brands (including our own) have to come down off the mountain and actually participate in the discussion, which, we’ve all heard, is happening with or without us. And so, here we are, doing what we do best as an agricultural company. Talking to farmers and clients. Asking for input. And, of course, participating in the discussion.

The world really has changed. But what better way to participate in agriculture than to create an online community dedicated to agriculture? Participation may be the new interruption. However, I sincerely hope that the content we provide here helps to advance agriculture into the 21st Century, not just market it. And not that it needs our help. Agriculture practically invented community, although its origins don’t stem from a website. Rather, they evolved from the honest support that ancient farmers offered their peers.

Oh, well. Enjoy our community. Take part. Or watch as we figure out our roles in this thing.

Reminds me of another quote, this time, from a farmer: “Lettin’ the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.”

What do you think is the best part of participating in an online community?

Glenn Dawes is Creative Director for AdFarm. He can be contacted directly at Glenn.Dawes@adfarmonline.com

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