Brand Strategy
“You’re not selling a commodity unless you want to.”
This short quote from Seth Godin says it all. These days, availability is a fact of life in every area—from the ultra-competitive big box model to mass product delivery systems. But does that mean we must resign ourselves to accept the identity of “commodity broker”?
You’ll find five different definitions of the word “commodity” in the Merrian-Webster Online Dictionary. Here’s one: “a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (as brand name) other than price”
Or how about this from Investopedia: ”When a product becomes indistinguishable from others like it and consumers buy on price alone, it becomes a commodity.”
Is that really all you can say for your product? Is what you are selling truly indistinguishable from all others? If I walked into your corporate headquarters and said: “Because you clearly have no service to speak of, no quality assurance, no experience in the field that will assure me that spending my money with you is the smartest bet for my business … let’s just talk price.”
Would you go meekly into a proposal based on dollars and cents or would you explain to me the specific ways in which I had your brand wrong?
2009 Commodity Classic: A class act
The Commodity Classic is Agriculture’s premier tradeshow attracting agribusiness and growers in the U.S. corn, wheat and soybean industries.
This year, the Commodity Classic was held in Grapevine, Texas. Not to be outdone, this year’s show topped last year’s with a registered attendance of over 5,000. Last year’s event in Nashville, Tennessee was attended by approximately 4,500.
Expecting to find a more reserved, confined show, I was more than surprised. Bigger displays, more product and lots of vendors took their spaces on the show floor.
There was OPTIMISM. Cautious yet overwhelmingly optimistic was the tone of this year’s show. I was told that farmers and people who supply them are accustomed to the ups and downs far more than the general public. It’s a way of life for most attendees.
It seemed that no matter whom I talked with — equipment, fertilizer, chemical, technology or bio-fuel companies – the resounding response to my question “How are you affected by the downturn in the economy?” was “So far, so good!”
A few growers I spoke with were feeling unsettled but were sticking to their plans and hoping for the best. “People need to eat” is what I heard over and over again.
With a new administration in Washington, bio-fuel advocates were extremely optimistic. The economy, the environment, and energy independence pave the way for a positive attitude, actually paying off this year’s theme, “Bright Horizons.”
The Commodity Classic once again proved itself to be the show of shows. It’s classic in every way, especially by bucking the general news of the economy.
Vertical Farming – coming to a highrise near you!
Large-scale farming in the middle of Manhattan? A self-sustaining farm on the Vegas strip?
building concept from atelier soa architects
Vertical farming isn’t an entirely new idea, as greenhouse-based agriculture is a global success allowing crop production year-round. What is new, is the plan that the “greenhouse” would expand to the size of an 18-30 story skyscraper that takes up an entire city block. In fact, prototypes have already been designed specifically for New York City and Toronto.
This may take place sooner than you think. Projections show that the world’s population is on track to include an extra 3 billion people by 2050. In order to feed that many mouths, traditional farming methods would need to expand to include a field the size of South America.
One 18-story high-rise farm could feed as many as 50,000 people.
Revisit History and Improve its Outcome
History does seem to repeat itself, though there’s no assurance the outcome will be the same.
U.S. President-elect Obama has pledged to boost the economy with the single largest new investment in U.S. infrastructure since the 1950s when President Eisenhower created the interstate highway system. Obama believes it’s critically important for the nation to rebuild its highways, bridges, roads, ports, air and train systems. Expectations include big spending on electrical grids, public transportation, dams and alternative fuels. The cost analysts estimate a range of $700 billion to $1 trillion and the creation of 2.5 million jobs. If this plan goes through, a long-suffering U.S. manufacturing industry may stand to benefit.
For well over a century, the United States manufacturing industry has been a global leader. In recent years, the “brain drain” of talent, labor and material outsourcing to other countries has greatly damaged a pivotal and prosperous U.S. workforce.
If our country truly follows the path Obama has proposed, this may be America’s second chance to reinvigorate what was once the core of its burgeoning economy. It may however require a fundamental shift in corporate practices for our country to reap the full benefits.
Perhaps, today’s business leaders can literally follow Obama’s plan by not only creating jobs for workers but specifically bringing back to our country the strategic positions that have been outsourced in recent years. Companies can dip into the current unemployment pool and have their choice of highly qualified people with hard-earned engineering and technology degrees. Their knowledge and skill is most important to us as we plan and implement infrastructure improvements.
Groundbreaking news or not, maybe this is an opportunity, long overdue, to rebuild a loyalty to company, industry, and country, all of which has been tarnished in recent times.
What do you think the outcome will be?
New Frontier: The American Farm
Welcome to CBD’s Agriculture blog by Chris Chleboun, resident specialist in all things Agriculture, Food Ingredients, and Manufacturing. With a Purdue background and a network of connections in the Agriculture industry, the “American Farm” is one of my favorite subjects.
So let’s take a look at what’s happening “down on the farm” right now …
Evolution of the New Frontier: The American Farm.
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