AGCO - The Edge of Farming
Building a Brand Around Extreme Farming
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Project Overview:
The Edge of Farming was conceived as a brand-building vehicle for ACGO’s Challenger tractors––high-end, technologically advanced machines that compete with John Deere and CASE but lack the same awareness. Pitched as “Deadliest Catch on the farm”, the web series brought Challenger’s hard-charging brand personality to life, taking viewers inside the most demanding agricultural environments on earth. Across three seasons (23 episodes), we captured the human drama of how high-tech is transforming one of the world’s oldest occupations. The show struck a chord in the farming community, amassing a social media community of tens of thousands in its first few months, and delivered more qualified sales leads than any other Challenger brand activation.
My Role:
I creative-directed the production, overseeing storytelling in the field and the editing suite. I also hired and managed the crew, administered the budget, and liaised with the client and the growers (farmers) who starred in the series.
The real deal: The series features real growers from Mississippi, Texas, North Dakota, Washington, Indiana, California, and Iowa. I worked with the brand team at AGCO and their dealers around the country to cast the series with actual customers.
Scouting out drama: Season Two included a trip to the high desert of central California, where the “turnaround kings of farming” were trying to get green from land that hadn’t been touched in 40 years.
“As a client, I've rarely had a marketing partner establish a level of trust so strong and as quickly as Kathryn—the level of trust that leads to groundbreaking work and measurable results. She is equal parts creative visionary and business strategist.”
— Greg Kirksey, Challenger Brand Marketing Manager @ AGCO