A beloved heritage brand, diminishing trust, and a rookie QB. This is the story of how John Deere reconnected with a generation disconnected with a key link in their food supply chain.
Though the general population may not buy heavy machinery, maintaining the brand’s reputation goes beyond driving sales, especially as recruiting tech talent becomes increasingly important. After a 2023 survey showed a shift in the general population’s trust in the John Deere brand—notably so among 18–35-year-olds in the general population—they knew they needed to break out of their heritage mold to earn attention.
The brand decided to hire a Chief Tractor Officer—a real job as an “in-house content creator”—with recruiting help from rookie quarterback Brock Purdy. They would join TikTok, a platform that by nature, reaches their target demo. Their first post on the platform would announce the Chief Tractor Officer with a humorous, headline-worthy video packed with talent that resonated with their target demographic.
The core objective? Integrate across earned media, influencer engagement, and owned social to create a brand-building moment that appeals to the 18–35-year-old demographic—and leverage that moment to create ongoing interest and engagement with the brand.
Goals:
To attract savvy content creators to apply, Deere designed the Chief Tractor Officer to be a year-long role (with compensation to match!) standing out in comparison to other “novelty” c-suite positions.
The campaign’s central TikTok video features Brock Purdy attempting to go on a nationwide search to find the Company’s new Chief Tractor Officer—in a tractor. As he tries to leave, he gets continually interrupted by calls from influencers (Corporate Natalie, iJustine), viral stars (The Corn Kid and Brock Purdy “lookalike” Anna Frey), and fellow athletes (NBA star Tyrese Haliburton and gold medalist Gabby Douglas).
Relying fully on organic distribution, launch elements were chosen as social media algorithm fuel: unexpected visuals like a giant tractor in the streets of San Francisco, a talent mix that resonates with the target demo—and a rare glimpse into silly humor from Purdy.
Racepoint Global focused on two core PR moments leading up to the video dropping—the Leak and the Launch—that culminated in more than 150 pieces of coverage from publications like ESPN, Ad Age, and the Daily Mail.
The Leak stoked online conversation and speculation around the brand’s work with Brock Purdy. Photos were captured at the shoot with the plan to leak them. Before that could happen, a local CBS reporter walking by the production tweeted about it, and then featured it during her show that night, spurring the first wave of earned coverage and speculation.
The Launch timed a live interview—Brock Purdy on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show—with the launch of the video and embargoed release of media coverage. Racepoint Global secured 159 pieces across three target publication categories: PR and marketing, sports, and mainstream consumer and pop culture.
Following the launch, Deere extended the buzz by featuring Jackson Laux, a 9-year-old TikTok star who went viral for his love of tractors and sage wisdom, in a video that announced he would train the soon-to-be-named CTO. Jackson then appeared on the TODAY Show to talk about his love for Deere and excitement for the role.
The campaign stoked brand awareness, leading to more than 2 billion impressions across earned and social media. The launch video brought in hundreds of applications. Once creator Rex Curtiss was chosen for the role, his first video went certifiably viral, with more than 36 million views watching his “training” with Jackson.
And the campaign connected with their target audience. A follow-up brand survey showed that 18-35-year-olds increased perception of the brand as an admired employer by 9.5% percentage points in the month following the launch. This showed up on the TikTok account: it gained 500K followers during the campaign, with 72.6% in the target 18-35-year-old demo. And they liked what they saw: the Company's first-ever video on TikTok video earned 730K, with another 1.5M views on Instagram.
