Yesterdays Marketing - Todays Reality
August 27, 2008
Wednesday I went up to Boone, Iowa to the Farm Progress Show. Anybody who thinks we can market to this very small segment the same way we did fifteen years ago better wake up....or quit.
Digital was everywhere. Here at the Pioneer Seed display it was like Vegas met Iowa. And this was not the only example of how companies are using very different means to impact consumers with a message. It's no longer OK to simply hand out literature and "stand around" waiting for somebody to ask a question. Marketers are taking an "in your face" approach while they start to impact younger demographics.
One other thing about Iowa and how we are changing: I've not driven up Highway 17 for some time. It's a beautiful ride if you like the simple wonders of the Iowa countryside. You can top a hill and see corn and soybean fields that stretch for miles. There is peace here and something very simple and secure and familiar. Some things never change...or do they? This is a photo taken today looking north. Corn needs some help here but...it's corn.
I then rotated 180 degrees and shot this photo looking south.
It is the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center about 8 miles north of Granger and 3 miles south of Madrid. For those of you who think Iowa hasn't changed much... We'll here's proof we have.
The point of this article is if you are marketing ANYTHING the way you were fifteen, ten or even five years ago...we better have a talk.
Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications where we're lovin' the future.