There was once an old expression that farmers wanted to go to farm shows to "kick the tires" and touch farm machinery with their own eyes before they bought it. Brochures could sing its praises, but farmers wanted to see the real deal – preferably in action, before plunking down their money for a new machine.
Creative marketers are taking this concept one step further today. A dozen, more or less, likely more, exhibitors at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky, this year had their farm machines there for people to see. They could kick the tires if it had tires – touch it, feel it, see how it was built.
But since Louisville is an indoor show with no live demonstrations, companies are doing the next best thing. They are filming the machine in action, picking out what they feel are the important parts of the machine they want customers to see, and then displaying the video on large flat-screen video screens, usually non-stop all day long.
The most impressive ones had the video mounted right above the farm machine. One in particular stood out. Even if you don't cut brush, you had to stop and watch a brush-eating machine mow down scrub brush in the video and spit it out the back of the machine. Once you were hooked, the machine was right there, underneath the video monitor screen, for you to examine. You could see the features described in the video, and determine whether it was worth investigating further for your farm. Without the video, it might have been another walk-by exhibit for many people. It's not every day you get to see a sturdy brush cutter that mounts on small utility vehicles tackling brush in fence rows or pastures.
Expect more companies to use this technology in the future.
