John Deere and the Chip Foose custom 4020 tractor contest

Last week I delivered a keynote at the National Agri-Marketing Association annual conference. NAMA is the United States' largest association for professionals in marketing and agribusiness.

I really enjoy speaking to a wide variety of industries because the principles of the new rules of Marketing & PR are the same. It doesn’t matter if it is B2B, B2C, nonprofit, rock bands, or independent consultants. And it doesn’t matter if it is in Istanbul, Melbourne, Tokyo, Amsterdam, or Kansas City (all places I have spoken at in the past year or so). What works is creating something interesting online.

At NAMA I met Tara Litzenberger who told me about a really cool marketing and PR effort at John Deere. The company teamed up with Chip Foose (the star of TVs' Overhaulin') to customize a classic John Deere 4020 Tractor. The 4020 is like a Ford Mustang—it is one of THE John Deere tractors.

This is the last of a Video series to show how the tractor was customized. Here are the first and last Webisodes.
John Deere Big Buck 4020 Webisode 1
Webisode 7- Finishing Up

Right now, the tractor is on tour across the country as part of the Drive Green caravan to give people a chance to see it in person. The finished tractor will be given away and anyone can register at John Deere dealerships to win.

Tara told me one of the objectives was to reach out to people beyond the traditional, bleed-green crowd. It worked because Jalopnik, Autoblog, BangShift and Car and Driver all posted stories about the John Deere Big Buck 4020 Chip Foose Giveaway on their blogs.

As of this writing, the classic tractor is still available -- and there's still time to sign up to win it. I'd love to tool around in this thing.

Comments

[KrisColvin]

This is cool! It's been really fun working on this campaign for Deere.

[Julian Summerhayes]

David

I have now recommended your site to at least a dozen folk; awesome. I love the speech that you gave to the direct marketing association that is on Vimeo. I am a lawyer in private practice and we are in the late (no make that very late) adopter stage. If you have any top tips - apart from getting it - then awesome.

Seasick Steve sings about his John Deere; may be that's another angle - the music industry. We like our Massey Fergusons in Devon, England.

Best wishes
Julian

PS I have ordered your book on the strength of the video.

[Travis Jensen]

The question I have is what is the value to John Deere in reaching out to the readers of Car and Driver, Autoblog, et al? I can't imagine many Honda Tuners are going to picking up a Deere any time soon, so what is John Deere hoping to gain here?

(Please note: this is not being asked sarcastically. I'm really curious.)

[cihip]

John Deere and the Chip Foose custom 4020 tractor contest post thanx.

[Al_Winmill]

I'm happy to learn you have experience with agrimarketing - I was excited for you to come to Fargo for the AAFND meeting before,now that I know you've worked with people who do what I do, I can't wait!

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Al. Not a ton of experience, but some.