John Deere appoints PR AOR amid spend declines (Score 19)

Sales lead: Reach out to see if this company needs any more assistance.

• John Deere (JD) named Bader Rutter its PR AOR.
• The agency is tasked with storytelling for JD's US and Canada production and precision agriculture & small agriculture divisions. 

Target demographic: Farmers & businesses that need agricultural machinery/equipment

The company will likely:

• Ramp ad spend back up
• Increase promotional activity
• Make additional agency changes

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: JD spent around $14.7m on national TV ads YTD, a 14% decrease from $17m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend increased by 30% from $13.1m in 2021 to $17m in 2022. 
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, MLB Baseball, The First 48, College Football, and Your World With Neil Cavuto.

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: JD spent around $4.6m on digital display ads YTD, a 27% decline from $6.3m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2022. 
• YTD data: 925.3m impressions via Facebook (37%), mobile display (28%), desktop display (22%), Instagram (5%), desktop video (4%), YouTube (4%), and Twitter (1%). 
• 2021-2022 spend: Full-year spend fell by 35% from $11.3m in 2021 to $7.4m in 2022. 
• Ad location: It placed 64% of these ads directly onto sites such as facebook.com, accuweather.com, agweb.com, instagram.com, and youtube.com. It placed 36% of these ads through multiple indirect channels onto sites such as football.fantasysports.yahoo.com, cargurus.com, answers.com, agweb.com, and kohls.com. 

Additional channel insights  

• Vivvix: JD also invests in OOH, print, radio, and local broadcast.

Agency analysis:

• Opportunity: PR appointments commonly precede additional roster shifts, so get in touch now to be top-of-mind. 
• Current roster:
  • Signal Theory: creative AOR
  • EP+Co. Headquarters: creative & social AOR
  • Imre: social & PR
  • VMLY&R Commerce: media planning & social

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix.