Telling the Story of Innovation with Jon Ebert, John Deere

The following was transcribed from a recent interview on The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. 

Today we’re going to talk about the value of storytelling for brands that continue to evolve as the role of technology continues to grow within even the most established of industries. To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome Jon Ebert, Manager, North American Public & Industry Relations at John Deere, a company that was founded in 1837, and continues to evolve and innovate, as its image continues to shift from being an equipment company to the tech company it truly is at heart.

[Greg Kihlström] In its over 180-year history, John Deere surely has plenty of stories to tell. How are you using storytelling to position the company as an innovator and leader in its space?

[Jon Ebert, John Deer] One of the best parts of the role that I'm in today is being able to tell the stories of the great work that our technologists are doing, as well as the work that it's providing, or the value that it's providing, to farmers that use our technology. And so, as you think about our company being over 180 years old, right, it's easy to say, “Hey, there's probably a lot of cool stories out there.” But the cool part is that, right now, today, there is such advanced technology and innovation happening in the work that we're doing, that's helping farmers really do more with less, and helping them become more profitable and more sustainable. 

You know, as you think about the value that we're able to unlock for farmers, at the same time, there's innovation that's just core within the DNA of the folks that are working on this technology within our company. And when you can combine the tough job that farmers have, right – they're faced with challenges each and every day, many outside of their control, like, “What's the weather going to do today?” And then you couple that with, you know, if you look at computer vision and artificial intelligence and that innovation, it's not just cool; it's actually technology with a purpose, that's helping those farmers control the uncontrollable, to make sure that they're having more successful outcomes. 

So where I get to sit in telling that story is that most folks that maybe haven't been to a farm or don't know a lot about John Deere, it really is eye-opening, when you start to peel back those different layers, to say, wow, Deere is truly a tech company, and we're doing some of the most innovative things not only within our industry but all industries that really are helping farmers do the great work of putting food on our table.

At CES, you unveiled a fully autonomous tractor, so putting a real example of innovation, as you were just saying, in a very public setting. Can you talk a little bit about the story there and why you think it was important for John Deere to make a showing in this way?

You know, if you probably would have stepped into my role, Greg, say 30 years ago, it looked a lot different, right? I mean, we looked at storytelling directly to the audience of farmers, per se, or directly to the audience of dairy and livestock producers. And what we've done here over the last five or so years is we say, “How do we shift that story into a way that's gonna educate a new audience?” Because, when you think of who's at CES, it's the technology community. And we believe we've got a pretty powerful story to tell within that arena. So it's been a deliberate shift in focusing our attention on that new audience. 

So CES has been a great avenue and venue for us to get on, you know, tech’s big stage at CES and really build relationships with that community. And what it's done for us, we're on a multi-year journey of being at CES. This was the third year that we've participated in CES in person. And this year was a very exciting year. We approached it even differently, as we brought the reveal of an autonomous tractor to the show. So it was great in how we were able to focus our attention on what not only automation is doing but the importance of autonomy in helping farmers feed the world.

And so, you touched on how some of these opportunities help you tell the John Deere story in new ways. But what are some of the benefits of reaching those audiences? I mean, obviously, the CES crowd, in many ways, might be a different audience than some of the other shows and more industry-focused things that you attend as well. So what are the benefits to John Deere of being able to tell a story to this crowd in this way?

First and foremost, it's that we're there to advocate for farmers, right? And it's relatable to all of us, because we all do have to eat. And that comes first and foremost. But, as you said, what's the importance for Deere in telling that story? It's really to educate as well. Because, like I said, there could be a misconception, right, that Deere builds tractors. But it's so much more than that. And we've seen that journey over the years that we've been at CES.

If I think back to the first time we were at CES, we were kind of tucked away in a closet behind a staircase and nobody really knew who we were, and we didn't really know what conversations to have. But the first year we showed up with a booth, four years ago, with a combine, I would say that the most interesting stories we would tell at the end of the day were to go around the room and say, “What's the oddest question you got that day?” And so often we would get the question of, “Why is John Deere here? Like, I’ve seen the brand; I think you guys build tractors, but why are you here?”

And if you fast forward to where we were at this year, there was literally no question that came in that was, “Why is John Deere here?” People were coming into our booth saying, “I want to see what you guys are telling us this year” and “Show us the autonomous tractor” and “What's new and exciting that you guys are delivering for farmers?”

And so the conversation has just changed so much over the past four years. So I really think that opportunity to educate that audience with tech that matters has been just really, really motivating and important for us.

So having the 180-plus year history definitely has some benefits to it, right? You've got a wealth of stories, and even to be able to show that, how you've approached innovation throughout that time period. But what are some of the challenges of having a long history, and how do you overcome some of the, maybe, preconceived notions that have built up over nearly two centuries, when positioning John Deere as an innovative industry leader that it actually is?

Yeah, I love that question, because I actually look at what you could perceive as a challenge with a company that's been around for coming up on 200 years as a challenge in being perceived as innovative. But, really, Greg, it's about the fact that those challenges are opportunities for us. There really are, as I mentioned before, as you think about telling the story of John Deere being a tech company, I mean, that’s real, right? It's authentic. We are a tech company, and we have the proof points that are in market, at scale, delivering value and doing some pretty awesome, pretty cool, just crazy stuff, if you were out at the farm and could see it happen in action. So those challenges are really opportunities as we tell that story. 

You know, if I boil it down, though, to the farmer and focus on that, I mean, I think there is at times, in different circles, there's a misconception around who a farmer is or what a farmer does. And this misconception, maybe, that farmers have on overalls and pitchforks and are out, like, doing stuff manually all the time, that is not the reality of what a real farm is. 

And I'll use CES as the example again. You know, we can't bring everybody that goes to CES to the farm. And we can't have all this cool equipment at every tech show that happens throughout the year. But what we can do is we can start to unlock different engagements, like we say we're storytelling, but we're actually just putting together new ways to unlock that story, so that we're kind of breaking that misconception that it's not the farmer standing there with a pitchfork. Farmers are consumers, too. I mean, they've got smartphones in their pocket that they're managing their farm and their farm decisions from. And it's really fun and engaging to have those conversations at CES and some of the other events that we attend, to do that education and to see the light bulbs go off, of what a modern farm looks like and how this technology is helping those farmers do their job, make their lives easier, spend more time with their family and have a better business and outcome at the end of the year.

Another factor in telling stories is ensuring authenticity in the stories. How does the culture of John Deere influence the way that you talk about innovation and agility?

This is not a case where we have to go dig deep to find an authentic story. There is just such great work happening within our company. There's such a great purpose in why we're doing what we're doing and why it makes sense to apply smart technology to machines to do these jobs for the betterment of the world that we all live in. So, to go try to find an authentic story within Deer, it's not hard, right? So that part is kind of foundational. 

As I think about the culture of our company, and as you look back 20-plus years ago, we founded a group called the Precision Farming Group. So, really, we started out with a couple of engineers back in 1993 that started to figure out, you know, how do we start to put some technology on a machine that's going to help a farmer make better decisions on their farm? And one thing led to the – led to another, and it's been kind of an exponential growth of building what we call today a smart machine. 

Aside from that, we've got really just an environment of, we've been doing Agile for a number of years. If you go back 10 years ago to our intelligence solutions group, that's the group of folks that do a lot of the software work around our smart machines. You know, if you stepped back into one of their offices 10 years ago, they were doing this thing called Agile, right? They were having hackathons. And so that culture has been growing and evolving over the last 10 years.

And one of the more recent proof points is we've, at the highest level of our company, shifted to what we're calling a smart industrial model. So it's not just within one particular, I'll say innovation group, in a back corner of a building; smart industrial is really around reorganizing our entire company to be more agile, to shift our thinking to make decisions quicker, to get products out the door faster. And that all happens by just this culture that we've grown into over the last 10 years. 

So, as I think of that question of how are we telling authentic stories, I don't want to say it's like falling in my lap, Greg, or my job is easy, but we've got a lot of great technologists that are doing great work, and we've got a strategy that's pointed to an area that's helping us deliver this stuff faster and more innovative than we did yesterday. And that's what helps us take that story and activate it within the different events and public relations activities that we get involved in.

Does putting forth an innovation and technology brand also spur on that culture that already exists? Can it also be a north star where not only current employees within the organization but attracting a lot of people that, for one reason or another, aren't currently considering  companies like John Deere. What role does storytelling and the brand play in that aspirational component as well?

It's a really important point. I think you started to hit on it pretty well there. I mean, as you think about, if your company is looking at the work that you do and you're trying to figure out how to brand around innovation and tech and the great work that you're doing, when you put a plan together and have the focus on what your purpose is, and telling that story to the right audience you've identified, what happens is you naturally have employees within your organization that see that storytelling, buy into that culture, get excited and motivated by the work that's happening because of the outcomes that you get from the different events that you might activate.

So, again, I'll go back to CES. As we build out our plans – and when I say “our plans,” we have our booth that we design. This year we did a press conference because we brought in some new news. And as you activate that and you have different employees, we select about 20 folks within the organization that are spokespersons, that help us get that message out at CES. And when you see those stories come to life in the engagements that we do with, you know, it could be a social media influencer; it could be in an article or a media interview, it – we talk about it internally. We focus on bringing the show back to our internal employees, just as much as we focus on getting that narrative out externally. And so we collaborate with a communications team internally and we do stand-ups for internal employees. And you can see the excitement and the engagement from our internal employee base. And I think that goes a long ways toward building a culture that's motivated and inspired, because they know that the work they're doing every day connects back to some higher purpose.

I would imagine makes it feel more real for the employees as well. So, in other words, it's not just a show you take on the road; it's something that you talk about internally. With everything going on these days with the need for better organizational culture and more motivation and stuff, I can imagine that greatly helps there.

Yeah, absolutely, it sure does. I mean, the world, as you and I both know, it's changed a lot in the last couple of years. And we may be working more from home, or from wherever we have an Internet connection, so, yeah, this has been a steady for us, I would say, it being easy to come to work and know that the work that you're doing matters, right, not only for you and your individual team that you might be doing some software work on for a product, but you're impacting farmers and, oh, by the way, it's got a pretty cool and impactful outcome for everybody in the world.

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About the Guest

Jon Ebert is Manager, North American Public & Industry Relations at John Deere.

From Jon:  Ambitious and dynamic leader. I enjoy exploring new ways to solve farmers’ challenges through new technology. I have proven performance in public relations, business development, strategy execution, change management, product development, sales and marketing.

About the Host, Greg Kihlström

Greg Kihlstrom is a best selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur and host of The Agile Brand podcast. He has worked with some of the world’s leading organizations on customer experience, employee experience, and digital transformation initiatives, both before and after selling his award-winning digital experience agency, Carousel30, in 2017.  Currently, he is Principal and Chief Strategist at GK5A. He has worked with some of the world’s top brands, including AOL, Choice Hotels, Coca-Cola, Dell, FedEx, GEICO, Marriott, MTV, Starbucks, Toyota and VMware. He currently serves on the University of Richmond’s Customer Experience Advisory Board, was the founding Chair of the American Advertising Federation’s National Innovation Committee, and served on the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Mentorship Advisory Board.  Greg is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified, and holds a certification in Business Agility from ICP-BAF.