If you pose the question, “What’s your brand?” the answers you receive could vary greatly dependent upon who you might be asking.

Ask a rancher and you would probably get, it’s a unique mark or design applied to an animal’s hide to identify ownership and is used to protect against theft and loss.  Brands are typically applied using a heated iron, though a freeze branding method is also used, and are recorded with a government agency to ensure the brand is unique and protected.

Ask a business owner or marketing specialist and you would probably get, it’s the identity and story of a company that makes it stand out from competitors that sell similar products or services.  Brands are an effective way for companies to communicate their vision, basically clarifying what a company stands for and why.

Did you know that Summit County Farm Bureau has a “brand”?  Maybe you noticed the repeated use of a phrase over the years on notepads, bumper stickers or window clings and on t-shirts, but didn’t realize that it was a conscience decision to establish a “brand”.  So when I tell you that our brand is Could You Live Without Farmers?, it all makes sense now, right?

 You’ll be surprised to learn just where this “brand” came from and when.  We can thank the young Lisa Graf of Graf Growers.  An eleven year old Lisa read about a bumper sticker slogan contest in the Farm Bureau magazine in the early 1970s.  The contest age requirement was 18 or over.  After reading about the contest, not to be deterred, Lisa asked her parents if she could enter the contest under their name.  Mrs. Janice Graf submitted the entry but when Lisa’s entry won, Mr. John Graf contacted the Tri-County Farm Bureau committee to let them know that Lisa had actually been the one to “come up with” the slogan.  The committee not only sanctioned the win but wrote an article, including a picture of young Lisa Graf.  She was given a $15.00 check as her winnings, a tidy sum for a child in the 1970s.  Bumper stickers were mailed to each of the active members in the tri-counties and believe it or not, we just happen to still have one, do any of you?

AND we were able to reach out to Ohio Farm Bureau, who not only searched and found but sent us a copy of the original article: Student Wins Slogan Contest.