2025 Spring ARC Light

Meet the next ARC Hall of Fame member: Robert Giblin

During the 2025 Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) Annual Meeting, set for June 24-25, in Kansas City, Mo., ARC will welcome Robert Giblin, APR, to the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame. AgriMarketing Magazine sponsors this award. Giblin, a 40-year communications veteran, served as an ARC president and strategically led initiatives to secure ARC’s position as the only association dedicated to serving the unique needs of public relations professionals working in agriculture, food and fiber industries.

With communication roles in agency, corporate, government and military work, Giblin’s professional strength lies in strategy and research. Gary Myers, an early partner at Morgan&Myers, now MorganMyers, a G&S Agency, shared a story regarding Giblin’s research virtuoso.

“Bob Giblin’s amazing career was well underway at Morgan&Myers when his National Guard unit was activated and sent to Europe for several months during the Bosnian conflict,” Myers explained. “When he returned home from active duty, we asked him to become the firm’s research manager. It was a newly created position and our expectations were vague. We sent Bob to the AC Nielsen/Burke Institute for extensive formal training in market research methodology. Bob came home and quickly integrated market research into significant client programs. Bob’s insistence on solid data and reliable insights led to more effective strategies, tactics and evaluations for our work. With Bob’s assistance, our account team leaders delivered more demonstrable, measurable campaign outcomes. Client satisfaction soared and prestigious industry awards became commonplace.”

Colleague Mace Thornton, Stratovation Group partner and COO, described Giblin’s strategic acumen. “Bob excelled at crafting and executing communication initiatives that connected farmers, agribusiness leaders, policymakers and consumers,” wrote Thornton. “His ability to distill complex agricultural issues into clear, compelling narratives has not only educated but also influenced key stakeholders. Through his work in public relations, policy communication and advocacy, he has played a pivotal role in shaping the public discourse around agriculture.”

Along with his team, Giblin’s career highlights include:

• Pull-through marketing for vegetable genetics: Giblin led MorganMyers’ efforts to assist Asgrow Seed Company’s vegetable division in its move from a traditional ag push-through marketing strategy to a pull-through strategy for the end fruit and vegetable products, based on meeting grocery and foodservice retail needs and consumer demands.
• Plant biotechnology product introductions: Bob spent a great deal of time planning early plant biotechnology product introductions. This involved developing relationships across the spectrum, from growers to grocers, as well as numerous stakeholders.
• Philip Morris (PM)/American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) “gap” research: Giblin was part of MorganMyers’ team that worked with PM, AFBF and Roper to conduct a major research project among farmers and consumers, which paved the way for relationship building across multiple agriculture and food industry groups, and led to a much deeper understanding of farm, ag and food issues.
• Sustainable Beef: Giblin led efforts to obtain Merck Animal Health funding and support for the first global conference on sustainable beef, which built relationships across the entire beef industry – from farmers, ranchers and cattle feeders to major packers and processors, retailers and non-government organizations.
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention: Giblin spent a year working in Atlanta at the Joint Information Center, in the CDC Emergency Operations Center, for the Ebola response. His responsibilities included conducting a top-to-bottom assessment of the health promotion and communications efforts for the Ebola response in West Africa.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): As a FEMA employee voluntary agency liaison, Giblin engaged with federal, state and local governments, as well as voluntary, faith-based and community organizations, to support survivors recovering from 2018 floods in Western Wisconsin, primarily in rural areas.
• Military service: Giblin began his career as an active-duty U.S. Army private and newspaper reporter for the Fort Lewis, Wash., Ranger newspaper. After leaving active duty, he continued his career as a public affairs NCO and officer for the U.S. Army and Wisconsin Army National Guard. As editor of the Wisconsin National Guard At Ease newspaper, he and his team were recognized several times in the Keith L. Ware awards program as one of the best Army community newspapers worldwide.
• Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer: For the past several years, Giblin volunteered by consulting on projects for the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program. In 2018, he helped Yogi Superfoods – a supplement and food product company based in Antigua, Guatemala, develop their digital strategy. More recently, he worked with two financial services cooperatives in Colombia, leading overall corporate strategy, communications and corporate social responsibility training and planning exercises.

Help recognize Giblin for his dedication to advancing agricultural public relations by attending the 2025 ARC Annual Meeting. For more details, go to: https://agrelationscouncil.org/agricultural-relations-council-annual-meeting. ARC thanks AgriMarketing Magazine for sponsoring the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame.