Branding · Global · 1895
John Deere: The Furrow
A tractor maker has published a farming magazine for more than a century.
By Maer Media editorial teamPublished 4 October 20263 min readJohn DeereContent & Social · Market & Growth
- Brand
- John Deere
- Market
- Global
- Year
- 1895
- Category
- Branding
- Agency or team
- John Deere
- Channels
- Magazine
The context
Farmers needed practical advice. John Deere needed trust and relevance beyond the dealership.
Farmers needed practical advice.
The move
John Deere launched The Furrow in 1895, publishing farming techniques and stories rather than product advertising.
How it was executed
- Published practical articles.
- Avoided the hard sell.
- Kept publishing for decades.
A tractor maker has published a farming magazine for more than a century.
What happened Reported facts
The Furrow is still published, and is often called one of the first examples of content marketing.
Why it worked Maer’s analysis
Trust grew through usefulness.
What to take from it Maer’s analysis
- 01Teach your customers something useful.
- 02Long-term content builds trust that ads can’t.
- 03Write for the customer’s job, not your product.
Indian agri and B2B brands can publish genuinely useful content.
Where Maer applies this
The same thinking runs through these brand templates:
Sources: John Deere. Figures are as publicly reported; Maer Media was not involved in this work and is not affiliated with John Deere.
The Maer Media editorial team studies how brands are built, from positioning and packaging to launches and growth. Figures in each case study come from the public sources listed above; the analysis and the India notes are our own. More about Maer
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