John Deere has earned the right to call itself an iconic, all-American brand. Its line of construction equipment, however, needed help standing out, with a campaign that raised an eyebrow and gave a chuckle in an otherwise drab category.

This campaign gave an unexpected nod to the unsung heroes of the construction industry (the big machine operators, who got a bump in their title to "Earth Flattener.”

With a campaign rooted in Social and supported through various media touchpoints, we connected with--and elevated the role of--operators, resulting in a campaign that allowed an influential audience to impact business results.

Not only is brand conversion tough to achieve in the construction equipment industry, but it's a crowded market where upwards of two dozen competitors are fighting for share. And while John Deere is a leader in agriculture equipment, best known for their green tractors, the green fades away into a sea of yellow construction equipment where it's difficult to stand out.

If a construction equipment brand doesn't have strong awareness & consideration, driving sales at the dealership level is that much harder. Relationships between customers and dealers in this industry are therefore crucial for sales, especially repeat sales, and must often be engaged and nurtured.

Understanding the landscape and challenges, the problem to solve easily presented itself: How can we help John Deere's construction line stand out in a cluttered environment, pointing shoppers to the dealer who can help them get the job done at the right price?

Believe it or not, there are thousands of people who think the Earth is flat. Theories have been raised and societies have been formed where many (including celebrities) try to logically explain why the Earth simply has no curve. No brand has ever engaged with this theory, until now. RDO Equipment Company and John Deere are making flat earth a reality with their technologically advanced Earth Flatteners - they do flatten Earth, just totally differently. The campaign features tongue firmly planted in cheek videos, headlines and copy that promote the Earth flattening benefits of John Deere's construction dozers, loaders and graders across John Deere dealer RDO Equipment’s local trade area. When you ride a John Deere dozer from RDO.. yes, the Earth is flat. And if not, we can make it flat.

There are numerous B2B stakeholders in the construction equipment purchase decision. While construction company owners are often the primary target, an equally influential but sometimes overlooked target are those who use the equipment every day. The operators are most attuned to equipment performance, comfort, and reliability. Their opinions carry weight, but their role is rarely elevated in advertising. The Flat Earth campaign needed to speak to Operators on a platform that allowed for a personal connection; in a place where they could converse and engage; and in a way that resonated, empowering them to influence both the purchase decision and the work to be done on the site.

Additionally, connecting with Operators had to be done during the pandemic, where traditional face-to-face, relationship-building was made impossible. A strong, upper-funnel campaign with tactics that would allow us to spread our Flat Earth story was equally as important as lower-funnel, conversion-driving channels.

The Flat Earth campaign pushed its way into the market in March across RDO Equipment’s trade area covering 19 DMAs via a hyper-local omnichannel solution. Social, a channel where RDO has historically achieved great success, spearheaded the campaign with Organic Posts and Paid ads on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Prospecting approaches were leveraged when there was not the opportunity to match to RDO Equipment’s customer list and build qualified lookalike audiences. Additional supporting digital tactics that allowed precision targeting of the construction industry included Programmatic Display and Streaming Audio.

Organic support was also received on Twitter.

Offline, print ads were secured in trade publications to reach this niche audience.

Lastly, the campaign also came to life on RDO Equipment’s website with homepage sliders and a custom landing page that carried the Flat Earth theme, along with product detail and financing offers.

With 4+ million impressions served through April, performance bulldozed benchmarks. Beginning at the top of the funnel, display CTR was 1.4% (up 97% from avg CTR for construction segment). Measurement is also identified through organic lift to product pages on website from the start of the campaign, up 99% YOY, and all organic entrances to the RDO site up 178% YOY.

Mid-low funnel, the Social traffic ad was 3x the average CTR at 2.2%. The Lead Generation placement CPL was $44 - one-third the average CPL for construction segment.

Average organic social engagement on campaign posts in April was nearly 150% higher than average of other organic activity shared in the same month.

Over $7 million dollars in incremental sales has been achieved, with 14x ROI.

Lastly, those on-site officially received a bump in title from "Operator" to "Earth Flattener" evidenced by the pride exhibited while wearing Earth Flattener swag.