Climate LLC

Farmers have been using various forms of data collection technologies for decades. Most often it was stuffed into 3-ring binders or collected on an easy-to-lose memory stick that would need to be walked from the cab to the office and then downloaded.

But recently (with the birth of I-Cloud) companies have been scrambling, trying to be the first to use sharing technology to make data collection easier.

Enter Climate and their platform known as FieldView. Climate, a subsidiary of Bayer (formerly Monsanto), is at the forefront of agriculture technology. By using cutting-edge analysis tools to gain insights from their field data, farmers can make more informed decisions about what they grow and how they grow it.

We partnered with Climate on primary research and developed a two-year brand strategy roadmap. After helping them launch a new logo and initial branding efforts, Paradowski developed a unified voice and consistent creative aesthetic across all marketing materials —including, but not limited to: two fully integrated product campaigns (TV spots, radio, print, and digital ads), an extensive collection of testimonial and instructional videos, 2017 and 2018 product brochures and other collateral pieces, immersive trade show experiences (Commodity Classic and Farm Progress Show), direct mailers and event invitations, presentation support, and social media and content strategy.

Pulse Campaign

The creative concept strategy that our agency developed for Climate for the 2016-2017 campaign is known as THE PULSE OF THE LAND. Essentially, we recognize that our Earth is a living, breathing thing. Personifying the land isn’t a novel idea, but here’s what is: if we could listen to the individual facets that make it tick, we’d finally hear its heartbeat.

Climate FieldView employs a multitude of digitized stethoscopes to monitor the vital signs of your farm. Then, it puts data to work by turning them into insights, making the farmer’s tough decisions a little easier. The Pulse creative positioning advances the idea that the prescriptive and advisory approach elevates data from just fact and figures to something more human. This is how the most successful tech companies talk about themselves—they speak to the human condition.

Climate.com

Through the development of new creative materials for Climate, a primary need for a website refresh was identified. Taking the end-user into consideration, we set out to deliver a clean, straightforward user experience, showcasing the features of Climate FieldView and letting those features lead the user to a purchase path.

Go check it out at climate.com.

Commodity Classic

We wanted all attendees to walk away from Commodity Classic viewing Climate FieldView as the leader in digital innovation for agriculture. Our measures of success for this project were to bring farmers into the booth, drive attendance to our informative “Flash Talk” sessions, generate positive word-of-mouth excitement, and ultimately increase sales. Climate archived a Flash Talk attendance of over 300 at the event, and experienced sales of 2.2 million paid acres in the month of March following the event.

Elements of the booth contributing to this success included semi-transparent walls that allowed projected video to display not just on the inside, but on the outside for attendees passing by. A second story “party porch” brought attendees up to view the convention floor from above and to attend the Flash Talks taking place on this level. Attendees also heard and saw a “rainstorm” affect when Flash Talks were set to begin, where thunderstorm sound effects boomed in the convention hall and storm visuals took over all three projected walls of the booth.

New Employee Branding Roadmap (Series)

Starting a new career is very exciting, but can also be scary. In support of the marketing and people operations teams at Climate, the agency was asked in the fall of 2016 to create a compelling and interesting brand that would attract prospective employees in all aspects of the recruiting space (and onboarding process) and bolster the positive characteristics of being employed by Climate for existing team members. A suite of tools was created, including a series of “roadmaps” that contained helpful pieces of information around what a new hire should expect for his or her first day. A creative and artfully designed map was created for each city where Climate has an office, with customized content for each location, as well as interesting landmarks that make up each city.

Farm Progress

The Farm Progress Show is the largest outdoor farm and equipment show in the United States and attendees typically consist of high-acreage, tech-savvy farmers who expect to see new innovation that will improve and grow their business. The primary objectives for Climate presence at Farm Progress Show were to build awareness of Climate FieldView, position the overall technology platform as a science-based and industry leader, communicate the new 2017 product features in order to drive trial and purchase, and to reinforce the fully integrated platform.

To accomplish this, the 100’ x 100’ tent was built and designed to be a fully immersive and futuristic experience, featuring the various digital and industry-leading features of Climate FieldView. Upon entering the tent, attendees were guided to walk through a video tunnel with an introductory welcome voice over message.

Throughout the overall footprint of the tent, five stations were constructed, each focused on a different Climate FieldView value pillar, with monitors, iPads and employee representatives on staff to walk through various demonstrations and answer questions. One of the key areas of the tent featured “The Farm of Tomorrow” where large, animated LED screens projected a video that was related to the content that visitors were digesting via the interactive ePub files on the iPad stands in front of the video wall.

Farm of the Future VR Experience

One of the most exciting aspects of designing the Farm Progress booth was the opportunity to develop a 360 degree virtual reality world, which allowed farmers to personally interact with a new, exciting piece of technology, encompassed in headsets, while also learning about what Climate FieldView’s products can do. Once the headsets were properly positioned in front of the user’s gaze, they were able to explore the entire 360 degree farm scene and focus in on specific “hot spots,” where pop-up shadow boxes appeared and offered data insights and additional details about the feature, such as a piece of equipment, etc.

Try it on for yourself at climatevr.paradow.ski.

Web Series - Freeways to Farms 

“Freeways to Farms,” was a six-month web series which profiles farmers and their real stories of how using analytics can improve farm management decisions. We hired Ag-TV personality Max Armstrong to drive from the busy Chicago metropolis to sit down with a new farmer each month. A wide variety of stories were covered. For instance Steve, who inherited a farm and trailblazer attitude from his father. Or Jamie, who opened a world-class whiskey distillery next to his fields — all with the common challenge of using new technology to improve their livelihood.

To create and support this series, Paradowski screened farmers, crafted the strategy, questions and storylines, designed the FreewaysToFarms.com microsite, and produced (monthly) TV spots, radio, print, digital banner, video and social ads. Metrics to-date reveal that FreewaysToFarms.com is now in the top 2% of all Climate.com site referral sources and users coming to Climate.com from FreewaysToFarms.com have a 25% lower bounce rate than the average user. These findings, among other tactical metrics, indicate that viewers are highly engaged with both the series’ ads and program content, as both potential and current Climate FieldView customers see themselves in the stories.