Editor’s Note: Tim Brannon wrote this blog in response to Farm Equipment Editor/Publisher Mike Lessiter’s Oct. 12 blog “How About Spending Where a Return is Always Found?” 

Our man, Mike Lessiter, wrote a blog recently concerning questionable advertising decisions by farm equipment manufacturers. It was spot on.

I thought back to my 60 years looking at farm machinery product peddling. The efforts of builders and retailers of farm equipment to sell their products have always been a struggle. Many a superior product fell by the wayside, and its place taken by an inferior product due to better advertising. My first memories of opening Farm Journal, Progressive Farmer, Successful Farming, Hoard's Dairyman and the State Co-Operators was to rapidly thumb through the pages and find every equipment ad and read it all, even the fine print. Magazines were our window to the world of options in making farming more productive and less labor-intensive.

My dad read an ad for New Idea corn pickers, then traded the old Deere semi-mount one row for a New Idea 2-row mounted unit. My life as assistant unloader went from hunting and playing between loads of corn to Hades as the wagons stacked up waiting to be put in the crib. Dad gained; I lost but I digress.

Magazines, dealer visits and the few field days were the main equipment promos of the early days. There were a few events sponsored by Deere, Allis-Chalmers and International Harvester where they would gather the faithful for product introductions. I remember talking to AC's Walt Buescher and his crusade to bring customers to French Lick, Ind., for the introduction of the D Series tractor. It was a hard-earned victory that he probably put his career on the line to pull off. I am sure, other companies had the same struggle to allocate dollars in the way to earn the most in return.

State and local Fairs were also an area where the equipment was on display. AC and IH had small tractor “square dances” and other events like a fellow employee, Clyde Hammer, who would take a tractor hooked to a plow, unhook it, pull away, get off, spread the power shift wheels he was promoting to cultivating width and hook to a cultivator — all in less than 5 minutes! 

Almost all promotion was in-house then except some photography and printing. The evolution of corporate efforts to inform and enhance prospective customers evolved slowly.

A national venue of machinery shows developed after the National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS) started in the late 1960s. The NFMS almost flopped before the tractor pull was piggy backed on the event. Due to the expense, perception of perpetual winter bad weather, and low attendance a lot of manufacturers pulled out, but my old company stayed, barely. The others didn’t want to be embarrassed and reluctantly came back on board. The NFMS survived. There were also events such as the Farm Progress Show and others that were building a reputation of the place for the iron peddlers to invest.

Then the 1980s hit agriculture. Chaos ensued. Mergers, new companies and consolidations all took place. Then in the 1990s Tennessean outcast Al Gore invented the Internet. The ag world of advertising was changed forever. Not only could new products be put in the living room computer of every prospect, but they could also be specifically targeted. This new technology was too much for many iron makers. It was a different technology that was alien to steel, plastic and metal.

The majority didn’t want to be left behind as they saw the possibilities of this new tech, so they succumbed to the sales pitches of ad companies and the promise to drive the product to the customer and vice versa, then watch the sales skyrocket. It worked. The ad crew was in the driver's seat.

Just like the smoke-filled board rooms circled by members who rose through the ranks to be VPs and CEOs from floor sweepers and clerks, these old men retired and gave way to persons, younger whippersnappers, who could make a laptop sing and give the figures Wall Street and investors wanted with a button push.

Most had no clue what muscle, money and hard work it took to get those figures, but they had them. Then they, as replacements, started making the decisions, and whether right, wrong or indifferent, the industry cemented the change. Today some have brought back in house some advertising due to written programs that became available, affordable and usable. In fact, due to the net many shoppers know more than we about the planned purchase features and faults.

We still see things we do not understand. Millions spent on how high the front feet of the company icon are off the ground, changing the color of the sign backgrounds, sporting events promotion and other spending that is not on the target audience. Alas, I am a dinosaur.

Til next time.

Related Content: How About Spending Where a Return is Always Found?