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DES MOINES, Iowa and SAO PAULO, June 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Agrimedia, the leading marketing and media partner for the U.S. agricultural community, today announced it will launch its flagship Successful Farming brand in Brazil, one of the world's largest producers of agricultural products. This represents the first international relationship for Meredith Agrimedia (www.meredithagrimedia.com), which is owned and operated by Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com).
Successful Farming and www.agriculture.com will launch by October 2015 in the Portuguese language as part of a joint venture with Spring Media Group, one of Brazil's leading media companies. It will start as a digital resource for Brazilian agricultural landowners and professionals, and offer national and multi-national advertisers and marketers both national and local opportunities to reach them. Other media platforms, including a print magazine, are expected to follow.
Brazil is the world's fourth-largest exporter of agricultural products, and leads the world in the export of orange juice, sugarcane, soybean, coffee, poultry and beef. Many of Successful Farming's largest advertising and marketing partners do business in Brazil, where a unique climate allows for multiple harvests each year and increases demand for agriculture-related products including equipment, seed and fertilizer.
"The strength of our brand and our knowledge of the agricultural marketplace, coupled with our leading content and Meredith's track record with international expansion, make this alliance a great strategic fit for the Successful Farming brand," said John Zieser, Meredith's Chief Development Officer. "We are excited about the Brazilian market, our partnership with Spring Media, and the opportunities we will create for our advertising partners. We will continue to seek similar alliances for our leading brands that help fulfill our mission to reach more consumers worldwide."
Founded in 1902, Successful Farming was the first magazine published by Meredith. Today, it's the largest media brand focused on helping farmers improve and grow their agricultural operations. Successful Farming's website, www.agriculture.com, was established in 1995 and is the premiere website for American farmers. The Successful Farming brand also includes a strong presence in mobile media, database solutions, events, a weekly television show, and a radio program distributed over 110 stations nationwide.
Spring Media, which publishes media brands including Rolling Stone Brazil, Magazine ESPN and AmericaEconomia, will manage day-to-day operations of Successful Farming Brazil, including content creation and localization, advertising sales, and distribution. Meredith will support the brand with other aspects of its considerable expertise in digital media, including content creation, operations, sales and marketing. In the United States, Meredith's online properties – including Allrecipes.com, BHG.com, Parents.com and agriculture.com – reach approximately 70 million unique visitors each month.
"By working with journalists who are specialists in their fields, Spring Media has established itself as a creator of targeted editorial content that's of the highest quality in Brazil," said Jose Roberto Maluf, Spring Media founder and chairman. "We are proud to work with Meredith, and proud to develop the Successful Farming – which has so much respect and credibility in Agribusiness."
"Taking the Successful Farming brand to Brazil was a logical step, given the scale and importance of its agriculture industry and because many of our current marketing partners in the United States have long been asking us for a Brazil marketing platform," said Scott Mortimer, Vice President and Group Publisher of Meredith Agrimedia. "With a philosophy rooted in service journalism, and a long tradition of providing exceptional solutions to our agrimarketing partners, we are excited to work with Spring Media to bring the Successful Farming brand to Brazil."
The agreement with Spring Media builds on Meredith's presence outside the United States, which includes localized editions of Allrecipes.com in 24 countries and localized editions of Shape and Parents available in 12 countries each. Globally, Meredith's brands are available in more than 60 countries.
ABOUT MEREDITH AGRIMEDIA
The Meredith Agrimedia brand builds on Meredith's more than 110-year heritage of serving the information needs of rural and farm families through more than 4 million touchpoints. It encompasses Successful Farming®, Living the Country Life®, Agriculture.com and Ageless Iron Almanac® to provide marketing solutions by engaging those living on the land through a wide variety of platforms, including publishing, digital, broadcast and mobile. Successful Farming was Meredith's first media product in 1902. Its website, Agriculture.com, was established in 1995 as one of the first agricultural websites in America. Living the Country Life was founded in 2002 as a sister publication to Successful Farming.
ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION
Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) has been committed to service journalism for more than 110 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms - including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile, tablets and video - to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners.
Meredith's National Media Group reaches a multi-channel audience of 220 million consumers monthly, including 100 million unduplicated women and 60 percent of American millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating content across media platforms in key consumer interest areas such as food, home, parenthood and health through well-known brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Allrecipes and Shape. The National Media Group features robust brand licensing activities, including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. and at Walmart.com. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is a leader at developing and delivering custom content and customer relationship marketing programs for many of the world's top brands, including Kraft, Lowe's and Chrysler. Meredith's Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. television households.
Meredith's balanced portfolio consistently generates substantial free cash flow, and the Company is committed to growing Total Shareholder Return through dividend payments, share repurchases and strategic business investments. Meredith's current annualized dividend of $1.83 per share yields approximately 3.5 percent. Meredith has paid a dividend for 68 straight years and increased it for 22 consecutive years.
ABOUT SPRING MEDIA GROUP
Founded in 2004, Spring Media Group began as a creator and distributor of custom media content for corporate clients including TAM Linhas Aereas, Rossi Residencial, Docol Metais Sanitarios, TRIP Linhas Aereas and OAS Empreendimentos. Today, Spring Media is one of Brazil's media companies, with assets in publishing and digital media, television and radio.
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SOURCE Meredith Agrimedia