According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. agriculture field has seen the amount of total land devoted to agricultural use, as well as the number of farms, continue to decline in the U.S. over the past three decades. Facing this steady decline in interest in the agriculture industry and a subsequent lack of new talent joining their dealer network, LG Seeds came to us with the goal of creating an exciting new recruitment campaign for STAR Partners — LG Seeds’ trademark term for their dealers. The STAR Partner program was already established, but LG Seeds needed to create new interest and hype around it and were looking for innovative creative assets to aid in that mission.
This was LG’s first ever dealer recruitment campaign and served as the key marketing focus for 2020. LG’s STAR Partner dealer network is made up of professionals throughout the nation who work with and promote LG Seeds. STAR Partner dealers are the force that drives the brand. They combine their feet-on-the-farm expertise with LG’s leading genetics to bring farmers high-quality seed and resources for their entire operation. In order to get the word out and attract new recruits, both LG Seeds and Simantel knew that bold, heroic creative would be a key driver for the campaign.
The campaign was rooted in a series of interviews with and about key recruitment audiences:
- First-time STAR Partner dealers
- Conquest dealers
- Rising STAR Partner dealers
After reviewing the interview findings, LG determined their focus would zero in on first-time STAR Partner dealers and Rising STAR Partners. While the first-time STAR Partner audience consists of a variety of individuals, from people looking to make a career change to farmers leveraging their seed expertise for other farmers, the Rising STAR Partner program offered something different. This program is akin to an internship program for college students who have shown interest and passion for the agriculture industry and want to start a career at home.
Insights from these interviews were taken and distilled into primary and secondary messaging points. This research and analysis provided the basis for a comprehensive copy library that set up LG’s internal marketing department to execute a variety of assets across multiple platforms.
The creative assets for this effort positioned STAR Partners and Rising STAR Partners as heroes in their community — delivering a bold, confident visual that would stand out among competitors while building hype and excitement amongst prospective recruits.
Key deliverables included:
- Two main campaign visuals
- Animated banner ads
- High-impact Teads ads
- Videos
First-Time STAR Partner Dealer Creative
Rising STAR Partner Dealer Creative
This campaign was enthusiastically received by potential dealers as well as the agriculture industry at large.
Some key results:
- It was the top source for LGSeeds.com traffic
- Accounted for 46 percent of all new website visitors and 42 percent of all website sessions
- Had over 8 million impressions
In addition, it recently won a Best of NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) Regional Awards Celebration, which honors the best work of the year in agricultural marketing, and it’s moving on to the National NAMA Competition in April.
Simantel and LG Seeds have been partnering for over 20 years. See more work from over the years.
