This month John Deere introduced a series of exceptional ads that have managed to add excitement and inspiration to the otherwise relatively boring agricultural equipment industry. The new brand campaign,What will you create?, features real John Deere customers who have created what they describe as “visionary lawn art”, turning what used to be a chore into a way to express yourself. The campaign is meant to inspire customers while breathing new life into an iconic brand. Along with the print ads, they also have revamped their website to showcase more examples of lawn art created using John Deere equipment. The site also has a form where visitors can submit examples of their own lawn art to be featured on the site. The ad above features Stan Herd who creates designs seen from airplanes on his Kansas property. Another ad features Pearl Fryar from South Carolina, who has logged over 1,000 hours on his John Deere. This new campaign is very effective because instead of focusing on the products its focus is on the people and their stories creating an emotional connection with the brand.
Experiential marketing, utilizing unique marketing tactics giving consumers the opportunity to engage and interact with brands to create an emotional connection based on a branded experience, continues to evolve, finding new approaches to connect with consumers. One of the most interesting is the latest campaign from Pepsi’s Tropicana brand. In January, Tropicana traveled to the northern Canadian town of Inuvik, which experiences weeks of constant darkness during the winter, to brighten their day. Knowing the adverse effects of 31 days without sunshine they decided to bring them the sun. This seemingly impossible task was accomplished by constructing an inflatable electric powered artificial sun that was raised high above the town. While the locals gathered to watch the sunrise they were given bottles of Tropicana. Not a bad way to market your brand when you want to be associated with morning sunshine. The best part of video was the people’s reactions as they gathered to bask in the “sunshine” with an astonished look on their face. Instead of simply distributing product samples, Tropicana made it an event that will not be soon forgotten. This experiential campaign was especially effective because of the strong emotional connection they made with customers with the unique experience, they will always remember how Tropicana came to their town and did the impossible. They managed to give them an unforgettable experience that is impossible to duplicate at the perfect time and were able to center the whole experience on their brand.
As experiential and guerilla marketing techniques are used more frequently to make a stronger connection between the consumer and the brand I predict we will see more campaigns like this. After all providing customers with an experience centered on your brand is the best way to make an emotional connection and foster a strong brand relationship that will last long after the campaign is over.
