[April 25, 2024]
AKC Marketing’s work was on national display during the Best of NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) awards, held in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 24, 2024.
After advancing eight awards from the Region 3 NAMA awards in January (six first place and two second place), AKC earned some more national hardware.
The Pivot Bio Original Show, Money Grab in the Cab season 1, was awarded a first-place national award for Broadcast News or Taped Program; The Lely Calm Roundtable received a second-place national award for virtual events; and the Pivot Bio Originals Tournament was named a second-place winner in for Digital Content – Web-based Journals or Blogs Directed at Farmers, Ranchers or Growers and All Others Serving.
Broadcast News or Taped Program – First Place, Pivot Bio
We’ve all seen what happens when unsuspecting New Yorkers get into a taxi that could double as a well-lit nightclub. But what happens when some rural farmers are surprised with that same experience out in the wild? In the Pivot Bio Original, Money Grab in the Cab season 1, former Cash Cab host and comedian Ben Bailey pits farmers in a race against the clock as they try to answer a variety of trivia questions to earn money for their local FFA chapter.
Pivot Bio Originals is a collection of shows, including Money Grab in the Cab, airing on RFDTV. Each show was advertised in different ways — digital ads, social media and CTV. Additionally, each show had its own landing page where episodes can be streamed, or viewers could watch on YouTube. The shows cover agricultural content that farmers care about, and each show features a unique conversion opportunity for known farmers to enter the CRM.
Money Grab in the Cab, along with other Pivot Bio Originals, were designed to capture the attention of farmers, who would then sign up to learn more, be notified when new episodes drop and enter the variety of giveaways and promotions that the shows offered. In the days since, the results have been nothing short of spectacular. Promotions of the shows ranged from social media tactics, emails, direct mail, paid media, print ads and much more. Web traffic to the "Money Grab in the Cab" landing page has been outstanding, with a significant increase compared to other pages on the Pivot Bio website. Since October 2022, this page has garnered an impressive 13,894 website views. More importantly, these page visits directly translated into tangible results, as over 200 new farmer leads were added to the CRM, demonstrating the remarkable success of this approach.
By utilizing real farmers as participants on the show, who subsequently won money for their local FFA chapters, Pivot Bio effectively generated interest in Season 2 of Money Grab in the Cab. The open call for casting and FFA chapters to participate in the show further reinforced the alignment of this strategy with the challenge.
Pivot Bio recognized that engaging with known farmers, providing them with both entertainment and educational content, and incentivizing participation through FFA chapter contributions were key elements in overcoming the challenge of introducing a relatively new company to a niche audience. The strategic blend of entertainment and promotion through various channels ensured that Money Grab in the Cab successfully captured the attention of farmers, delivering on both engagement and CRM growth objectives.
Virtual Events – Second Place, Lely North America
Survey after survey, poll after poll – each result showed the people farmers trust most are other farmers. But how do we effectively capture and market the authenticity that comes from word-of-mouth endorsements? To bottle this farmer magic, AKC Marketing and Lely hosted an exclusive event by dairy farmers for dairy farmers. So, just how do you bring that authenticity to farmers while still being a brand? By hosting a live panel discussion, of course. The Lely Calm Virtual Roundtable event featured dairy farmers who utilize the Lely Calm automatic calf feeder.
During the pandemic, AKC Marketing and Lely started producing virtual events as a way to continue delivering important information to customers and prospects – while keeping a safe distance. We found that roundtable discussions with dairy farmers and product experts were very well received. We took those virtual discussions and started adding more production, live feeds and special guests. In 2022, we held our first Calm Roundtable. The Lely Calm automatic calf feeder helps dairy calves get acclimated to the process of self-feeding and getting food on its own schedule, rather than at pre-determined mealtimes.
We used a number of communications channels to reach out as directly as possible to prospective and current customers to build interest in the event. By utilizing a local and personal touch, the event would feel intimate and increase the likelihood of dairy farmers attending, engaging and ultimately purchasing Lely products. Achieving a personal feel and buy-in from Lely Centers (distribution agencies/dealers) was paramount. We customized communications from each Lely Center to localize invitations to customers in their geographic region.
To execute our strategy, we used a multi-faceted campaign of direct mail, email, social media and communications from Lely Centers.
All promotional materials highlighted the Lely Calm automatic calf feeder, as well as the speakers and customers participating in the roundtable, and the benefits available to the attendees.
We also made the Virtual Roundtable easy to participate in. With everything being virtual, those invited to or wanting to attend only had to fill out a form and log in at the right time.
Our main goal was 12 new contacts to add to the Lely sales funnel. We received 16 new contacts from registration alone, reaching 133% of our goal instantly. We received an additional seven contacts post-roundtable, for 23 total new contacts. Also, 75% of the 108 total registrants were external, indicating great interest in, and successful marketing of the event to potential customers outside the Lely ecosystem.
We were also able to measure and record several metrics to confirm we achieved our expected outcome. The event had 176 registrants, with 117 logging in and attending the roundtable throughout the week. Those not joining live were invited to watch the roundtable in its entirety the week after the event. Throughout the live portion of the roundtable, which had an average view time of 59 minutes, 24 questions were asked by the audience. Attendees also downloaded 25 pieces of content, bringing them into the sales funnel as new contacts.
Two sales deals, one of which was valued at more than $1,000,000, were directly attributed to the roundtable.
Digital Content – Web-based Journals or Blogs Directed at Farmers, Ranchers or Growers and All Others Serving Agribusiness – Second Place, Pivot Bio
The launch of Pivot Bio Originals in 2022 was a huge win for all involved. Dubbed “Agritainment,” the series of nine shows targeted at farmer and rancher audiences beat all expectations and generated large amounts of contacts to be entered into our CRM. When the shows were airing, there was a regular flow of content, contacts were created and a rhythm was established. Life was good.
The challenge came when the shows had ended for the season. How do we avoid losing the momentum we spent months building? Especially in an age of short attention spans and moving on to the next shiny thing, keeping potential customers living in your ecosystem is critical. We needed to find a way to utilize the content we already had in a new, fun way that would help us bridge that gap between seasons.
Coming out of the winter, we had exhausted all our traditional options and needed something different. With March Madness taking hold, we decided to capitalize on that cultural zeitgeist and hold our own tournament. By building a landing page with a bracket-style voting element, we allowed Pivot Bio Originals fans to vote for their favorite program, pitting them against each other in a one-versus-one matchup until a champion was crowned.
By promoting the Pivot Bio Originals Tournament in our weekly newsletter, as well as on organic and paid social media, we were able to target people who were already invested in the programs and gave them something new to do while also keeping our content top of mind.
The excitement generated around selecting a winner helped take us through the month of March and got us that much closer to launching season 2 content and refueling our reserves.
Our goal was to get 1,000 votes and didn’t plan on adding new contacts through the life of the campaign, which only lasted a little more than a month, as we were targeting mostly known contacts. The results were stunning. We had more than 4,000 people visit the landing page and a whopping 2,218 votes were cast.
Perhaps most surprising was the amount of new contacts that we generated. By promoting the tournament on social media, we were able to attract farmers and ranchers that had not previously engaged with the show, but, perhaps caught up in the heat of March Madness, found a path to our content. Overall, we added 653 new contacts to our CRM.
This campaign drove home the concept of meeting the consumer where they are to all of us. No new content was created, but by coming up with some sport-themed language and capitalizing on the popularity of a well-established event, we were able to not only keep our current contacts engaged, but add new ones we had previously missed. We view the campaign as a tremendous success and it has given us the flexibility and freedom to explore other potential opportunities.