In this spot for KIOTI Tractor from Raleigh, NC-based ad agency Baldwin&, the strategic decision to treat customers like dirt paradoxically equates to doing good business. Titled “We’ll Treat You Like Dirt,” the piece focuses on what tractor owners prioritize most–hard, dirty work on their land and the satisfaction that comes from doing the work themselves. The campaign features dirt in every form and on every surface–hands, faces, work boots, shovels and especially tractors—to show appreciation and respect for one of the most fundamental aspects of tending to the land: dirt.
“In the tractor market, advertising is all perfect people and shiny tractors across every brand, which isn’t accurate to the tractor life style,” said Russell Dodson, executive creative director at Baldwin&. “Showing perfectly groomed models driving squeaky clean machines would have been a miss. Our clients at KIOTI agreed that the best way to show our audience that KIOTI ‘gets it’, was to express our love for that ‘brown gold’ that all the others wipe off before the camera starts rolling.”
The “Treat You Like Dirt” ad opens with a shot of a KIOTI tractor pulling out of a barn, startling a deer, as a male voiceover promises, “At KIOTI, we’re going to treat you like dirt. Because we hold dirt in the highest regard.”
The closing focuses on dirt’s virtues: “We’re honored to find it under our fingernails. Lucky to be caked in it at day’s end. And we count our blessings every time we’re able to return to it…Dirt gets taken for granted by most. But if you know us, you know getting treated like dirt means getting treated with respect.”
Chris Malloy of Farm League directed the work, which was edited by Joel Miller of Cut+Run.
