ST. LOUIS — July 14, 2008 — More than 5,000 miles separate St. Louis, Mo. from Sao Paulo, Brazil, but one advertising campaign brought together people from both cities. Sociedade da Comunicação, an advertising and marketing firm located in Sao Paulo, partners with one of North America's largest agriculture communications agencies, Osborn & Barr (O&B), to represent Monsanto Company's Brazilian and North American business.
Monsanto Brazil selected Sociedade da Comunicação to manage the company’s corporate image, as well as the launch and management of the cotton and soybean (soja) brands. O&B worked with the South American agency during the selection process and will continue to advise on product launches and brand management.
O&B CEO Steve Barr, a former Monsanto employee, says hiring Sociedade seems like the smart choice for Monsanto
Brazil.
“As a long-standing partner with Monsanto, O&B supports this move and is pleased to help Sociedade da Comunicação,” says Barr. “The Brazilian agency has the necessary agrimarketing experience, and its talented employees will bring great ideas to the Monsanto campaign.”
To better understand the different cultures, the two agencies participated in an exchange program. Three employees from the Sociedade da Comunicação team – an account service representative, copywriter and creative director – visited O&B’s
St. Louis office the week of February 4 – February 8. Three O&B employees traveled to the Sociedade da Comunicação offices in March. Each learned about the Monsanto business, the advertising industry and important public issues in the other country.
“We thought that agriculture is agriculture, no matter where you are,” said Bekah Reddick, senior account executive at O&B. “But the farming industry in Brazil is much different. We learned a great deal about how Sociedade reaches these different types of farming operations. I think we can apply some of their practices to our advertising messages, and vice versa.”
The Sodiedade da Comunicação team reached the same conclusion, according to Alexandre Bandeira, content director. He says the company looks forward to the opportunity to learn from O&B’s experience with the Monsanto brand.
Founded in 2003, Sociedade da Comunicação focuses on strategic planning, content and creative so that market strategy, creativity, truth and ethics work together to achieve the expected results.
O&B, which has nearly 20 years of expertise in agricultural communications, has been working with the Monsanto brand since the agency formed in 1988.
Osborn & Barr is the largest agricultural- and rural-focused marketing communications agency in North America, concentrating on production agriculture, food, feed and rural lifestyle markets. Its staff of more than 140 professionals provides brand management, strategic planning, event planning, creative services, public relations, media services, digital marketing and channel marketing. The 20-year-old agency has $125 million in capitalized annual billings divided among four United States and Canada offices located in St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines; and Guelph, Ontario. Osborn & Barr can be contacted via phone at 1-888-235-4332 or 314-726-5511, or at www.osborn-barr.com.
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