There are many new avenues of communications that feed companies can use to reach customers, says Aidan Connolly, vice president of corporate accounts, Alltech. He gives six examples:
1. Producers in Estonia now receive western-style advertising through their Saturday morning farming television program – a sophistication that did not exist 15 years ago.
2. Dairy farmers in Ireland routinely receive market prices and product offers by text message.
3. Farm radio in the U.S. in the past suffered from the need to be on Medium Wave (MW) from a cost standpoint, but now has access to a wider audience through the Web, with crystal clarity everywhere.
4. Rural online television reporting has offered new opportunities to bring novel ideas and practices from farmers such as AgrootsTV.com to both a local and a worldwide audience.
5. Discussion groups, points for purchases and first mover opportunities to use new technologies for producers such as the Farmer Club in Turkey, offer a great conduit for companies to develop lead user groups, share development costs and market entry with those lead users who gain the advantage of access and costs.
6. Sponsorship has huge potential – especially in non traditional events – and can be seen in the upcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games which will sell at least 600,000 tickets and have 500 million viewers. Apart from Alltech, other sponsors of the games include John Deere and Rolex.
