In FY23, the Ohio Soybean Council enlisted McDaniels Marketing to create and manage a grower sellback campaign. This campaign was designed to better inform soybean farmers in the state of Ohio about the value of the soybean checkoff and the ROI delivered back to them every year.
Educate farmers about the work their checkoff is doing and help them see the value of their checkoff investment.
Soybean growers in Ohio with an emphasis on those aged 18-44.
Because the target audience embraces both traditional and modern marketing mediums, we implemented a multi-channel strategy that hit both the old-school farmer and the newer generation. This included:
Beyond standard communications metrics and KPIs, the Ohio Soybean Council had the following goals:
For this campaign, McD set out to show the “proof” of how the Ohio Soybean Council is working directly for and with soybean growers to illustrate a greater return on their investment of checkoff dollars. The campaign theme centered around the phrase, “The Proof is Everywhere,” and featured four key areas in which the Ohio Soybean Council has made a tangible, real-life impact. This included:
McD efforts began with an introductory ad campaign featuring the core message of “The Proof is Everywhere,” the new uses and impact soybean checkoff dollars are creating, and what that means for growers. From there, McD built the other topics, further supporting the proof messaging with stats and stories showcasing how the Ohio Soybean Council utilized checkoff dollars in each of these areas to make a greater impact.
To further support the campaign, the Ohio Soybean Council 2022 Investor Report continued the theme of “The Proof is Everyone” to show how the Ohio Soybean Council works for growers and investors with real, tangible results. To help them see the impact, McD broke this information into three groups growers and investors could easily relate to: 1) Proof You Can See, 2) Proof You Will Profit, and 3) Proof We Are Growing. Within those groups, four key areas of the ad campaign were also highlighted.
Website landing pages were created or refreshed on each topic that provided growers with additional info on how the Ohio Soybean Council is working for them in that area and tied back to the campaign.
Stop-motion videos were incorporated throughout the campaign, using real soybeans to tell the story visually. These were used in social posts as well as on the website.
Five Ohio growers — who spoke to the areas where they saw their soybean checkoff dollars working — were also featured on the Ohio Soybean Council website, in the Investor Report and on social media channels. Each grower’s testimony gave the target audience further proof that their collective soybean checkoff dollars are making a real-life impact in Ohio agriculture.
Boosted Social Media Posts (Facebook/Instagram/Twitter):
Facebook/Instagram Feed Ads:
Display/YouTube Ads:
