Case Study 2: AGCO Corporation

Challenge:

AGCO Corporation owns a technologically advanced line of agriculture equipment named Challenger who competes directly with industry leaders such as John Deere. Among the overall marketing and branding challenges Challenger faced was how to communicate to potential customers the advanced technology benefits of their line of equipment versus competitors. Challenger equipment is sold in two specific outlets: Caterpillar retail locations and via sales calls (cold calls) from an internal call center. The majority of branding efforts were focused on the Caterpillar locations. Very few branding initiatives were capitalized on during the cold calls. Challenger’s branding was extremely outdated and did not convey any of the key messages regarding the equipment’s technology benefits. Additionally, sales personnel who were directly communicating with potential customers did not understand or convey any of the key messages either. Challenger was in need of rebranding its image, establishing/communicating key education messages that compel potential customers to action, and a repeatable sales process with a reliable sales team armed with concise marketing materials.

Strategy:

After thorough research of the technology and its benefits as well as analyzing the sales/marketing situation, our approach was three-fold: 1) Rebrand the entire Challenger line targeting a highly niche segment of the audience with the central message being the advanced benefits to the buyer from the Challenger line, 2) Develop a direct response sales portal that would eliminate human error by scripting phone, email and direct mail communications with the new branded materials and messages, and 3) Testing, measuring and adjusting the above two elements to increase overall brand awareness, produce an action catalyst from potential customers and grow bottom line sales numbers. Ultimately, the strategy was to simplify the technological and practical benefits of ownership directly to consumers in a variety of effective media.

Results:

  1. The branding was based on the theory of “clean and simple” in order to uncomplicated the technology and its benefits. The below creative work are examples of the brand identity we developed to communicate key messages to the target audiences.
  2. In terms of the direct response portal, we developed an entirely automated sales call protocol. To eliminate human error, scripts were written for each call in the sales process including:
    • Initial cold calls
    • Follow up calls after the distribution of direct mail pieces, pre- and post- marketing events, promotions, calendar and crop milestones, field tests, sales personnel meetings and more
    • To schedule field tests (the primary arena to close sales)
    • Annual and holiday sales celebrations and more
    • To schedule field tests (the primary arena to close sales)
    • Annual and holiday sales celebrations and more

    Additionally, numerous direct mail templates were designed allowing sales personnel to immediately disperse customized marketing pieces directly from their desktop while on the phone with the potential customer. The benefit is a quick response customized to the end user with pre-approved branding materials. This format allowed for consistent message distribution, ease of use for the sales personnel, faster and more efficient sales activity and higher success rates. Challenger still had complete control of the brand and brand messages even while numerous sales personnel were on the front lines and generating excitement for the Challenger product.

  3. The creative and point-of-sale results speak for themselves. In the testing that followed the implementation of the new brand identity as well as the direct response portal, AGCO found the following:
    • Brand/Message retention: In random testing at store location and promotional events, the target audience for potential Challenger customers demonstrated a clear acceptance of the look and feel of the Challenger brand.
    • Business Results: Sales numbers increased significantly directly from the use of our response portal and creative marketing materials. Within each sales call inside the portal, Challenger was able to precisely identify the genesis of each lead/sale. Moving forward, Challenger is able to use this knowledge as a benchmark for future sales research and analysis. Challenger will also be able to accurately measure the effectiveness of various creative and marketing initiatives.
    • User Benefits: Sales personnel repeatedly reported the ease of using the system. They also reported that following the scripts and template direct mail pieces allowed for more thorough follow through on their part and led to more field tests (which was the end of the sales cycle from the internal sales calling center). The call center reported twice as many calls and follow up pieces on a monthly basis which led to increased units sold for Challenger equipment.