Client: KIOTI Tractor
Agency: Baldwin&
Executive Creative Director: Russell Dodson
Group Account Director: Jennifer Hazelett
Senior Project Manager: Lindsay Barnes
Production Director: Liz Stovall
Senior Copywriter: Scott Chalkley
Director of Design: Jennifer Matthews
Director of Media: David Dykes
Media Planner: Ali Shore
Production Company: Farm League
Director: Chris Malloy
Line Producer: David Burden
EPs: Tim Lynch & Michael Pizzo
Post Production:
Edit: Cut & Run, New York
Editor: Joel Miller
Producer: Eytan Gutman
Managing Director: Lauren Hertzberg
Color: The Mill, Nick Metcalf
Finishing: Jogger
Producer: Mike Tockman
Artist: Joseph Grosso
Music: Aika Music
Composer: Jessy Ribordy
Producer: Charlie Campbell, Chris Slusarenko
Published: August 2018
Synopsis:
KIOTI takes tractor advertising to a dirtier level
North Carolina based KIOTI Tractor and Raleigh, NC-based creative agency Baldwin& today released a new campaign for KIOTI tractors.
It focuses on what tractor owners prioritize most—hard, dirty work on their land and the satisfaction that comes from doing the work themselves. The campaign features dirt in every form and on every surface—hands, faces, work boots, shovels and especially tractors—to show appreciation and respect for one of the most fundamental aspects of the industry—dirt. The campaign gives new meaning to the phrase “we’re going to treat you like dirt.”
“Because of how much dirt represents for KIOTI and for our tractor owners, we love the power in reframing the phrase ‘we’re going to treat you like dirt’ to now reflect the highest form of respect,” said Peter Dong-Kyun Kim, president and CEO of Daedong-USA, Inc., KIOTI Tractor Division. “Many KIOTI tractor owners are hobby farmers—people who make up their own minds, value quality and are not trend followers. They enjoy the hard work—and the getting dirty—that comes with working land. KIOTI embraces that attitude, and values hard work above all else. We are proud that these ads showcase that focus.”
Baldwin& and KIOTI aimed to create something to not only catch attention and stand out, but speak to the farmers, hobby farmers, tradesmen and women who actually live this life. For that reason, the KIOTI work shifts the focus from the tractor to the reason for the tractor—the dirt and the satisfaction of a hard day’s work.
“In the tractor market, advertising is all perfect people and shiny tractors across every brand, which isn’t accurate to the tractor life style,” said Russell Dodson, Executive Creative Director at Baldwin&. “Showing perfectly groomed models driving squeaky clean machines would have been a miss. Our clients at KIOTI agreed that the best way to show our audience that KIOTI ‘gets it’, was to express our love for that ‘brown gold’ that all the others wipe off before the camera starts rolling.”
The “Treat You Like Dirt” ad opens with shot of a bright orange KIOTI tractor pulling out of a barn, startling a deer, as a male voiceover promises, “At KIOTI, we’re going to treat you like dirt. Because we hold dirt in the highest regard.”
The closing focuses on dirt’s virtues: “We’re honored to find it under our fingernails. Lucky to be caked in it at day’s end. And we count our blessings every time we’re able to return to it… Dirt gets taken for granted by most. But if you know us, you know getting treated like dirt means getting treated with respect.”
The “Dirty Work” ad opens with a KIOTI PX tractor tilling the land, stirring up clouds of dirt as a voiceover compares KIOTI tractors to those “with bigger names. Longer histories. More popular hats. Cute toy lines.” It continues, “So we’ll let the others keep their squeaky-clean images. And we'll focus on what really matters. KIOTI. We dig dirt.”
The campaign will roll out in TV, print, social media and banner ads across digital properties.