We always try to make the most effective ag media recommendations possible for our clients. That’s what they hire us to do— reach the greatest number of qualified producers within a specified target audience, as frequently as possible, for the least cost. That’s called maximum media efficiency.

Our media director here at Paulsen is pretty darn good at that. For over 15 years Kristi Moss has been planning, negotiating and placing media buys that deliver results for our ag clients. Over the past year or so, Kristi has mentioned her concern that more traditional media strategies—print, radio, TV, direct mail—are not reaching the ENTIRE ag producer audience.

“Here’s my dilemma,” she told me. “I know we’re doing a good job of reaching 40-60+ year-old producers. But something tells me that younger farmers are using the Internet a lot more than we realize. I think we’re missing an important chunk of the market without including an Internet advertising component in each of our media plans. Likewise, we’re missing older producers with Internet-only strategies.”

With that concern in mind, we decided to do some research. We hit the road January-March, attending many of the larger winter ag shows such as the National Cattlemen’s Convention in San Antonio, Tex., the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., the Commodity Classic in Anaheim, Calif. and several regional ag producer meetings in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

With a small video camera and a list of questions, we asked lots of farmers—young and old, male and female, crop and livestock—their usage and reliance on various ag media sources for general information, and for making major purchases for their farming operations. The results of these interviews are very interesting.

Based on this research, Kristi has written an informative article titled, “The New Ag Media Model: Conventional + Contemporary Strategies.”

We’re so excited about the results of this effort that we’d like to share them with the entire ag marketing community. You can view her article, along with video excerpts of the producer interviews, by going to www.paulsenmarketing.com/agmedia.

I think Kristi’s article and the video interviews should be a “must see” for all agri-businesses, ag media representatives, and yes, all agencies serving the ag market. It’s proof that our business continues to change in many important ways. Take a look, and let me know what you think.

Looking forward to attending the National Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City this week along with five of my fellow Paulsenites. Always a great time to see old friends!

I sat down to write a New Year’s Eve blog entry a week ago. It was a pretty emotional tirade. “Good riddance to 2009!—a miserable year for business, especially for those of us in marketing and advertising”, the first sentence stated.

I even had the national advertising industry statistics to prove my point:
• Ad spending down 12.9% (sharpest drop since the Great Depression)
• Ad agency revenue down 9.7%
• Ad agency staffing down 14% (76,300 jobs lost since November 2007)
• Media employment down 12.7% (newspapers and TV hardest...

Today’s blog entry is from Mark Smither, VP Strategic Director, Paulsen Marketing

Walk through the halls of our office and sooner or later you’ll hear Greg Guse offer up an aphorism like this: “I’d rather make something happen than wait to see what happens.”  We call this a Guse-ism—a little bit of wisdom that gives you comfort in troubled times.

When you think about it, “make something happen” is good advice these days. Many companies today are clinging tightly to their marketing dollars waiting for economy to improve. Others are using this downturn as an opportunity to gain some ground on the competition...

It's very quiet this New Year's Eve afternoon.  Not a lot going on in Adland.  Many clients are taking time off between the Holidays as are a number of Pauslenites.

This is an excellent time to complete those annual end-of-year tasks and think about the year behind and the one just ahead.

Without question, 2008 was a year of extremes. Record highs and record lows.  A real roller coaster ride that doesn't appear to be completed yet-- I read and hear so many conflicting comments on what to expect in 2009.

I recall the South Dakota Corn Grower's Association annual meeting in early January of 2008.  In my 30+ years in agribusiness, I had...

…and all through the agency things were pretty darn quiet.  Many Paulsenites have taken a vacation day for traveling to visit family and friends for the holidays.  Others are getting caught up with last minute shopping and gift-wrapping. 

For those of us here at the agency for the half-day, it’s a great time for getting the desk cleared off, scanning trade journals or just reflecting on the past year.

And what a year it’s been here at Paulsen Marketing. 

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