Steve Vandeberg, director, endectocide marketing, Merial Limited has been named the 2013 NAMA Marketer of the Year. The NAMA Marketer award will be presented during the Second General Session of the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Forging New Frontiers” on Thursday, April 18 at 11:00 a.m. in Kansas City, Missouri and is sponsored by Agri Marketing magazine.

Steve’s work in parasiticides pioneered a golden era for the cattle industry. He developed the launch campaign for IVOMEC^® (ivermectin) – the iconic industry brand; thus creating the cattle endectocide category and one of the first 100 million dollar dose form cattle products in the United States. Steve has worked to maintain the IVOMEC Brand sales and margin in the face of branded competition and one of the most aggressive generic onslaughts seen in the industry. Steve continues to play key roles in groundbreaking work that grows awareness and sales – leading key product introduction efforts and authoring training materials.

Steve’s depth of experience grants him the knowledge he needs to guide innovative work. But, Steve doesn’t rest on past successes. He’s always staying one step ahead in the field, quick to share the latest findings with any and all. Steve is driven to make sure that veterinarians, beef and dairy producers and the media understand best practices and treatments for strategic parasite control. He is a tireless sponsor of industry conferences, and events and shares his 30+ years of knowledge in the cattle endectocide business.

Steve has been integral in creating tools and platforms to enhance producer knowledge. He developed and launched a new Merial dairy campaign and new EPRINEX^® (eprinomectin) beef campaign relying on heavy digital advertising, digital producer contact and print. In November 2012, Steve led the charge to launch LONGRANGE^TM (eprinomectin). LONGRANGE is an innovative product for parasite control in cattle and the first in its category of extended-release dewormers. Steve leveraged his tenured experience within the cattle industry to create a dynamic and innovative marketing plan that focused not only on bringing LONGRANGE to market and raising awareness at launch, but first on educating producers on common misconceptions about deworming and reasons why current practices are not effective.

Steve has been a NAMA supporter for many years, participating in conferences and judging Best of NAMA.  Steve is also an active member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).