Advertising Procedures and Practices of Agricultural Commodity Promotion Groups

Excerpts from the report: Substantial amounts of money and effort are being invested by farm groups and processors of agricultural products in promotion activities. In 1958, it was estimated that some 1,100 farm groups or organizations were engaged in promotion activities, spending around $75 million annually to maintain and strengthen their markets. These groups primarily represent producers and those engaged in marketing farm products who have banded together in commissions, councils, boards, and cooperatives to sell more of their products. The membership of these groups ranges from less than a hundred to over a million. Some groups draw their membership from a single State, others are regional, and some are national in scope. To assist these groups and to provide comparative benchmarks for those more experienced in promotion, a study was undertaken to analyze the promotion practices followed by selected producer-oriented promotion groups, commercial food firms, and advertising agencies. The objectives of this analysis were to: (1) Determine promotion methods and programs used by agricultural groups to create demand for their respective products, (2) ascertain the organizational structure and practices used to administer promotion activities, (3) appraise advertiser-agency relationships and responsibilities in carrying out promotion programs, (4) determine the amount of expenditure for the several phases of promotion programs and the manner in which payments to advertising and public relation agencies are allocated among different services provided by the agencies, and (5) provide a basis for making broad recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of programs to create demands.