A Different Kind of Beef ??

If you're plugged into pop culture, you've probably heard about the Kendrick Lamar vs Drake beef, that has been heating up over the last few weeks through a series of diss tracks. The winner, so far, has been New Ho King - a Toronto Chinese restaurant who has received thousands of 5-star reviews due to being referenced by both rappers.

Okay, enough about rap.

Industry Insights ??

We started April with a lot of jokes, but the shifts we've seen in the market this past month are far from one...

OEM Q1 sales are going the wrong direction

Farm Equipment published OEM Q1 financial data, and it doesn't paint a very pretty picture. AGCO Corporation reported a 12.1% decline in net sales, and CNH followed-suit with a 14% decline. What's to blame? Softening retail demand due to high interest rates, mainly.

Ag industry media benchmarks skyrocketed

Root+Beta aggregates our client data each quarter and provides benchmarks to our partners, and our Q1 2024 benchmarks were well above Q1 2023, most notably paid search CTRs which rose 56.5% YoY. We'll begin publishing these metrics this quarter, so stay tuned!

Farmers are adopting tech, fast

According to Farm Journal , farmers are adopting technology faster than ever. When surveyed, 58% of farmers agreed that new ag tech gives them a competitive advantage and that quickly adapting to trends is critical in today’s industry. What do they value most? Easy integration into their current operation.

What We're Reading This Month ??

Yes, that's right - reading! Here's what our team is reading that you might want to take a look at as well.

• Performance Max will publish to marketplaces which allows advertisers to promote product listings on 3rd party sites, not just on Google or their website.
• Instagram is updating it's algorithm to promote original content and punish accounts who aggregate and reshare content. Read more here.
• John Deere is hiring a Chief Tractor Officer capitalizing on the "Chief ____ Officer" trend on TikTok. The lucky influencer will land a contract for nearly $200K.
• Advertisers are still spending millions on clickbait, "made-for-advertising" websites, according to reporting firm Adalytics (I promise that link isn't clickbait...)

?? Or Flop: What's Working, What's Not

Tactics, channels, and trends we're experimenting with across the agriculture industry. Let us try it so you don't have to.

Weather-based Advertising allows brands to utilize forecasted, current and past weather conditions (over 70 different triggers) to automatically swap-out creative and messaging. SI EQ has been trialing this with select partners, and we've seen a positive affect on related CTRs.

Shameless Plug - We're Hiring! ??

Sorry, but we have to promote ourselves for a minute. We're looking for a super talented Marketing Strategist to join our team, and it could be you! If you or someone you know has at least 3 years of marketing experience, we'd love to talk.?

?? See the job listing here