Beck Ag Com, Inc. www.beckag.com.

For ten years Beck Ag has developed and implemented peer and expert advocacy strategies to accelerate prospect decision making and drive adoption of new offerings. To date Beck Ag has engaged over 500,000 ag professionals through programs involving interactive dialogue, peer influence and access to topical experts.

Our clients have recognized that traditional marketing initiatives alone are no longer enough to produce successful, timely adoption of their offerings. As companies transform their brand communication from a monologue to a dialogue, word of mouth strategies are becoming an even greater part of the marketing mix.

For example, Merck has used peer-to-peer marketing extensively and calculated the "return on investment" of doctor to doctor discussion groups was 3.66 times the investment, versus 1.96 times for meetings with sales reps. The pharmaceutical industry runs twice as many peer-to-peer programs as it does company-led programs. While agriculture has not reached this point, peer-to-peer marketing has grown steadily over the last several years.

For more information, contact John Finegan at 916/482-4730, or [e-mail].