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 (1 Nov 2020 to 31 Oct 2021), in order to ensure the safety of customers and employees. Charlotte Cunningham reports.

In the absence of trade shows, the company has announced that it will use a new marketing mix of traditional and digital tools to deliver information to customers.

In a statement last week, Deere said that events of the last few months have profoundly changed everyone’s working and social lives and the protection of people’s health and safety is now more critical than ever, while maintaining close contact with customers is still important to provide 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,” said Denny Docherty, John Deere vice president sales and marketing, region 2. “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 the company’s next fiscal year, which ends on 31 October 2021.

Smart industrial company

John Deere’s key focus in 2021 will be the change in its operating model, to become a ‘smart industrial company’. As previously announced, 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.

“We’re also expecting a major change in the exhibition landscape, driven by COVID-19 and digitalisation,” said Andreas Jess, John Deere director marketing, region 2. “In the medium term, our company would welcome a new timetable to be implemented by the international trade fair organisations, to free up the show cycle across Europe. However, we will continue to support our John Deere dealers if they decide to participate in their local agricultural and turf shows, always based on the fact that the health and safety of both customers and dealers can be ensured.”