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FFA Float Will Connect With Millions on New Year’s Day
INDIANAPOLIS.— On the morning of January 1, 2010, the National FFA Organization will make contact with an estimated 42 million people in the United States, and more than 100 million people worldwide, through participation in the 121st Tournament of Roses Parade. Television viewers settled in to watch this New Year’s Day tradition will witness history being made, as the first-ever FFA float in the Rose Parade not only makes its way down Orange and Colorado Boulevards before the crowds in Pasadena, but into the living rooms, and into the hearts, of families watching at home. On and surrounding the float will be the 2009-2010 National FFA Officer Team, National FFA Advisor Dr. Larry Case and the four Stars Over America, along with 52 invited FFA presidents from every U.S. state, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The float, FFA Today, is one of the largest in the parade, at 75 feet long, 30 feet tall and 18 feet wide. It features three gigantic sculptures depicting FFA members engaging in agricultural, educational and development activities. The float will further be highlighted by several elements from the FFA emblem, each with a significant meaning. Alongside the emblem are a sleek horse, a combine, barn and windmill, a stand of evergreens, a grove of fruit trees, and finally urban buildings and a communications satellite – contrasting with the rural features to display the scope of FFA activities. The float is designed to represent all FFA members, past and present, as well as portray a most positive image of agriculture into rural, suburban and urban-based homes. In addition to more than 10,000 fresh flowers, the float will be decorated by FFA members with commodities grown by the American farmer, including corn, wheat, soybeans, and cotton.
All of the FFA float costs and expenses for this major communications effort are being underwritten entirely by RFD-TV and the sponsors and advertisers associated with RFD-TV’s live broadcast of the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade and Equestfest. The float also promotes and ties in with the weekly, half-hour FFA news magazine program on RFD-TV.
“When we first learned of the 2010 Rose Parade theme, “A Cut Above The Rest,” we immediately thought of FFA, and saw this as an opportunity to not only pay tribute to the world’s premiere youth organization, but at the same time to also showcase FFA activities on a world stage in this continuing effort to connect and educate the urban world about the positive aspects of rural America”, stated Patrick Gottsch, founder and president of RFD-TV.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to communicate the FFA message to the world,” added Bill Stagg, communications director for the National FFA Organization. “The float is beautiful, and it will be a beacon of pride for all associated with FFA. The opportunity to assemble so many FFA leaders in one place at one time has never happened before outside of our annual convention. What a way to start a new decade!”
The Tournament of Roses Parade is simultaneously carried live or on tape delay by six national or cable television networks in the United States (ABC, NBC, HGTV, Univision, RFD-TV/RFD HD, KTLA) and begins at 11 a.m. (Eastern time). The parade will also be distributed into more than 110 countries around the world. Extensive print and radio media cover the events and floats leading up to the parade and the afternoon Rose Bowl football game. It is anticipated that interview opportunities for FFA will also materialize with outlets such as the Today Show with Al Roker, KTLA, and other media.
“Never before has there been a chance to showcase FFA to the entire country, and project the good work being done by young leaders in agriculture, on so many prime media outlets at once,” said Raquel Gottsch, public relations director for RFD-TV. “From day one, RFD-TV’s primary goal has been to find common ground for urban, rural and suburban residents again. The Rose Parade provides a platform to the world. This is going to be good for FFA and the entire agriculture industry; it will take agricultural communications to a whole new level”.
In addition to its regular live production and broadcast of the two-hour Tournament of Roses Parade hosted by Crook & Chase along with Pam Minick, RFD-TV will also air a one-hour special on the “Making of the FFA Float” beginning at 10 a.m. (Eastern time), and will repeat the entire three-hour Rose Parade broadcast set several times during the first week of January. There will also be a live Web feed of the float being built and decorated on the www.rfdtv.com Web site, plus “Float Updates” on the channel.
