Angus+Advertising!

For those that don't know, I'm an Agricultural Journalism major at the University of Nebrasa-Lincoln. My emphasis is advertising and public relations. I have all sorts of fun in my city campus classes designing ads for sports drinks, camping resorts, and organic coffee. However, in these classes when I say my interest is agriculture, I get funny looks. After all most of my classmates have never seen an advertisement or PR campaign remotely connected to agriculture. That's why I love this video.

These fun spots from the past are famous among Angus producers. They sit in headquarters for the breed and are a point of interest on the tours. The creativity and big idea behind the ad campaign was that Angus cattle are a more practical size than other exotic cattle breeds, and was the beginning of the moderation we see in the show ring today.

The ads weren't perfect, and like the video says, we stopped before the original ending of the campaign, because the Angus breed was tired of poking fun at other breeds. It was however creative, and helped producers see Angus breed in a new way. I'm not sure what I want to do "when I grow up" but to be a part of a great beef advertising campaign would be the icing on my career cake.

'till the cows come home,

Ellie

Have an opinion

Last night I had a one of those unique opportunities that don't come often. Wayne Pacelle President of the Humane Society of the United States was in Lincoln, Nebraska, and spoke at a town hall style meeting. What he had to say was interesting.

To prevent widespread panic among agriculture groups let me quote him, "We are not launching a ballot initiative in Nebraska!" That doesn't mean they never will, but it means that Nebraska's safe for now.

He talked about the organizations care for animals, and how the enemy isn't animal agriculture, but rather cruelty to animals. I don't know how much of his smooth talk I believe. "Our goal is to curb the worst forms of abuse and cruelty towards animals." After all in his mind, we may reach a point when raising animals for food is the worst form of "cruelty." There was a brief question and answer session, but the last speaker was a lady who spoke as a consumer. She said that agriculture needs to stop fighting organizations like HSUS and reach out to consumers to understand their values and concerns.

That resonated with me, and I thanked her as a beef producer for her words at the town hall meeting. She had an educated opinion, not one that I necessarily agreed with, but an opinion just the same. What gets to me is that so many of my non-agriculture friends don't have an opinion. They simply don't care about animal welfare organizations, or the impact that current fads have on agriculture. I even start a conversation about HSUS or more extreme activist groups, and I get an eye roll or a joke. Sure, I understand that it's not something that is their passion, but having an opinion is important.

Know the difference between PETA and HSUS (or the similarities). Think about how important a safe healthy humane food supply system is. Because it will certainly matter when the system has become so over run with rules, regulations, and mandates that farmers and ranchers can't do their jobs, and the food isn't on the shelf anymore. Enjoy the thanksgiving dinner with your family, but take a moment to stop and think how it got to your plate.

'till the cows come home,

Ellie

The Elephant in the room!

Archrival is a prominent ad agency in Nebraska. Today in class we had co-founder of the agency (a former Husker) come and speak. He mentioned the elephant in the ad world, creativity. He said although creativity usually is a talent, it also can be learned. It takes commitment and passion! With those words I had a flashback to a recent conversation I had with a pair of friends of friends.

We had a great long conversation about how much I value my agriculture background, and then it took a different turn. We began to discuss our careers and futures. I'm in agriculture communications because that's where passion and commitment lie. Now I'm not sure what exactly I'll be doing when I graduate, there are no guarantees, but I'm sure I'll be using my voice in and for agriculture.

In a world where young people are stereotyped as uncaring, lazy, and unispired, I see commitment and passion all around me. Whether it's for solving the problems and equations of engineering, or designing and creating advertising, or mixing rations and moving cattle. That's the future, and it's looking so bright I gotta put on my shades!

'till the cows come home,

Ellie