John Deere has announced that it will not attend any international agricultural and turf trade shows in Europe and the CIS during the company’s 2021 fiscal year as this would require extensive international travel. Instead, the company will use a new marketing mix of traditional and digital tools to deliver information to customers.
The company said it had taken the move to ensure the safety of customers and employees. Events of the past few months had profoundly changed everyone’s working and social lives, it added, and the protection of people’s health and safety was now more critical than ever. It recognised that maintaining close contact with customers was still important in providing reliable services in these uncertain times.
“Farmers have done an excellent job in the emergency phase of Covid-19 to ensure food supplies. For that we wish to express our appreciation to all our customers,” John Deere vice president sales & marketing, Denny Docherty, said. “The pandemic has changed the world and our industry is undergoing a period of great change too. This also applies to our marketing activities.”
The need for a new approach to communications with customers has, therefore, prompted John Deere to reduce its participation in trade fairs for the time being, and the company has decided not to exhibit at any international agricultural or turf show during its next fiscal year, which ends on October 31, 2021.
John Deere’s key focus in 2021 will be the change in its operating model to become a ‘smart industrial company’. Deere is moving towards being a production system-based organisation, in order to build a more customer driven and streamlined business. This is one of the biggest organisational restructurings in the company’s 183-year history, which requires a change of marketing approach and an extended focus on Precision Ag technologies.
The company will continue to support its dealers if they decide to participate in their local agricultural and turf shows as long as the health and safety of both customers and dealers can be ensured.
For more information visit: www.deere.co.uk.
