Celebrate Oregon Agriculture campaign wins prestigious marketing award, Aug. 6

The highly successful Celebrate Oregon Agriculture campaign has gained additional recognition across the US and Canada by receiving the North American Agricultural Marketing Officials (NAAMO) Marketing Excellence Award for 2014. The Oregon Department of Agriculture submitted the campaign for the award, which was presented last week in Denver. “It’s an honor to receive this award and it confirms the campaign’s effectiveness as it reaches out to Oregonians with key messages surrounding the Oregon agriculture experience,” says ODA Marketing Director Gary Roth. “When peers select our campaign as the best out of all states and provinces, it validates all the hard work that has taken place the past couple of years.” Celebrate Oregon Agriculture uses TV, print, radio, and online resources to reach the audience. The campaign connects agriculture, health, and the economy into relevant and entertaining stories that audiences can act on. At the heart of the campaign are four marketing objectives: • Elevate awareness of and attitudes about, and utilization of, Oregon’s agriculture products. • Educate the public about the availability and affordability of local agriculture products. • Help parents and caregivers of school-aged children understand the connection between healthy food choices and the overall health and well being of their children. • Motivate parents, and give them the knowledge and skills needed to have their children participate in the growing, harvesting, cooking and serving Oregon’s agriculture products. The campaign is sponsored by ODA, Food Services of America, NORPAC Foods, Whole Foods Market, and Wilco, with KATU Television as a key partner through its broadcast and web presence. Celebrate Oregon Agriculture is also funded, in part, by USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, administered in Oregon by ODA. The NAAMO Marketing Excellence Award recognizes innovative and effective agricultural marketing projects by states and provinces. All states and provinces in the US and Canada are eligible to submit nominees. This year, Oregon, Alaska, and Maryland were named finalists with the winner selected by a vote of NAAMO attendees at the conference. NAAMO is an international organization of the state and provincial government agricultural marketing officials who provide both domestic and international marketing services to the agricultural and food industries in their states and provinces. Since its inception in June 2012, Celebrate Oregon Agriculture’s multi-platform media campaign has generated 65 million media impressions in the Portland Designated Media Area, reaching 97 percent of adults 18 and older.