AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE.

The Professional Development Area Awards of Excellence honor NAMA members based on outstanding achievement in four areas. Awards of Excellence are presented in the areas of (1) Marketing Communications, (2) Product/Species Management, (3) Public Relations and (4) Sales. These new awards demonstrate NAMA's commitment to the four professional development areas and are designed to honor outstanding accomplishments by active members of the organization.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Doug Headley
John Deere

Over the last 10 years, Doug Headley, John Deere, has provided the leadership to improve the status of the John Deere in-house Advertising and Marketing Communications department. When the John Deere advertising communications department moved from Moline, Ill. to the Ag Marketing Center in Lenexa, Kan., Headley saw an opportunity to create and put in place Public Relations and Event Marketing teams to work side-by-side with the Communication Planning Managers and Creative staff.

Headley and his group are responsible for the introduction of "Frontier," a new brand of equipment outside the John Deere umbrella. "Frontier" was launched earlier this year and Headley's group stepped up communications efforts to target and market to a new customer segment -- Lifestyle Farmers. In order to reach these high-income professionals who live in the country but obtain their income from non-farm sources, Headley and his department created and launched the new publication, Homestead, in Spring, 2001.

Headley has budgetary responsibility for John Deere Ag Marketing and Communications on a worldwide basis.

Headley has been a NAMA member for 9 years and has served on the Board of Directors for the Agriculture Council of America (ACA), which is managed by NAMA.

PRODUCT/SPECIES MANAGEMENT

Tony Solon
AGCO Corporation

Tony Solon has been a positive influence in helping AGCO Corporation become a prominent player in the agriculture equipment business. Solon is the General Marketing Manager of the "New Idea" brand for AGCO. Since he has assumed these responsibilities, the "New Idea" brand has added more new products to its line-up than any other brand in the 100-year AGCO history. These new products have improved sales by 50 percent in the last 12 months and have opened market segments that were previously not available to "New Idea" and its dealers. All of this during a time when AGCO manufacturing was relocating from it's Coldwater, Ohio facilities to AGCO's facilities in Hesston, Kan.

Solon interlaces with all departments in AGCO and has visited one on one with the top "New Idea" dealers in North America. He also took part in "Trade Talks" at the NAFB convention last fall to help promote the awareness of "New Idea" and its new products. It is this interaction that has been the key to success in the last 12 months.

Active in NAMA, Solon was past committee chair of the NAMA Ag Communicator/Ag Marketer of the Year committee and has also served as a student marketing competition judge for the past 9 years. Solon was presented with the NAMA Ag Communicator of the Year award at the 1999 Issues Forum.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Ken Gordon
Syngenta

Ken Gordon, APR is External Communications Manager for Syngenta Crop Protection. Over the last 18 months, Gordon developed and implemented the communications plan for the phase out of diazinon. Syngenta Crop Protection determined that its product diazinon was no longer viable for the marketplace. The company decided to phase it out of the marketplace, but the product was undergoing a review by EPA as required by the Food Quality Protection Act. Strong communications needed to prevail for a smooth exit strategy to succeed.

A smooth transition for diazinon out of the marketplace was paramount and Gordon designed the communications strategies and tactics to support this objective. During this process, he tapped those people within the company who were closely associated with diazinon, in sales, marketing, regulatory, development and internal communications. A core team of spokespeople was formed from these areas to successfully position diazinon communications. That team became the implementation arm for product phase out communications.

The media could have positioned diazinon as a product being banned. Instead, media coverage focused on the product being phased out. Early communications with customers and stakeholders minimized the downside risk. Had major retail customers opted to remove diazinon from their shelves based on misinformation and negative media reports, the impact to the company would have been significant. This successful effort hinged upon effective communications.

Ken has served on the Board of Trustees of the Agricultural Relations Council, the public relations interest council of the National Agri-Marketing Association. During his tenure, he helped rewrite the bylaws governing that organization.

SALES

Tom Taylor
High Plains Journal

Tom Taylor is Associate Publisher and Vice President of High Plains Journal. Taylor's "team" approach has created new sales opportunities, new marketing concepts and target audience alternatives for the increasing list of Journal clients. As Taylor focused the attention of his team on the Animal Health industry and the changing needs of farmers and ranchers, they developed two key initiatives to create a strong foundation for current sales growth and future opportunities.

After decreased sales in the animal health advertising market,Taylor and his sales team targeted a "Top Ten List" of major Animal Health companies and provided the hard facts and marketing statistics that demonstrated the unique coverage provided by the Journal. In the end, they landed eight of the top ten companies as major advertisers and re-established themselves as a major animal health partner.

Taylor's team pulled together again to address the changing face of the American farmer and rancher. High Plains Journal hosted two focus groups last year to learn how farmers and ranchers viewed Ag publications and, more specifically, how High Plains Journal fit or didn't fit into their operations. In response to these group discussions, the Journal will roll out a new comprehensive resource directory of over 2,000 agriculture related businesses in December and take a substantial step forward in new business development.

A long time NAMA member, Taylor served as a member of the Executive Committee from 1998 - 2001. In addition to his service on the Executive Committee, he has also served in a variety of leadership positions in the Great Plains Chapter and led both the National Program and Trade Show Committees.