Reclaimed by one of the most famous cinema directors for his movie, this 4-wheels extra became a Hollywood star...
And an icon in agriculture, thanks to its inventor’s pivotal idea
His blue eyes stared into the deep blue pool of the Hollywood sky.
He stubbed his cigarette in the ashtray and snorted -“I don't care what the price is. I want that 4020 in my film,” said the director.
Tom wiped the sweat from his forehead. He couldn’t believe his ears. He was on the phone to one of his favorite directors.
His voice trembled when he answered: “Impossible. I need it for the harvest. Unless…”
Imagine your product used as a scene object in Hollywood movies…
That’s what happened with this incredible brand.
Perhaps you have seen it as an extra…
Its 4 yellow wheels and its bright green paint rolling by Julia Roberts in The Mexican.
Roaring in the foreground in Footloose…
And in the iconic scene of the Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner, with his daughter sitting on his lap, transforms a corn meadow into a baseball field.
This niche product became a Hollywood star, with its cameo appearances in all different genres of movies, creating generations of excited fans all around the world.
Like Tom Manning, a farmer from Iowa, who has collected different types of this 4-wheel star, just as you might collect stamps or coins.
One day, Tom received a call from a famous director who wanted to cast one of the models from his collection: a 4020 tractor.
A tractor as a star? Really?
Yes, THE tractor.
And the name of its inventor is currently used as a synonym when we talk about tractors, thanks to a single pivotal idea that revolutionized the history of farming.
But before we jump into the “happy ending” when Tom received that call, which changed his life … and when a movie couldn’t be filmed without his special 4020 tractor…
The story of the inventor of this 4-wheel star started with a tragedy, in Hollywood style.
The life of John Deere is like a movie…
A Murder, A Suicide, or An Escape to a Better Life
Even to this day, nobody knows what happened to John Deere’s father.
Raised only by his mother, John learnt that life is a battlefield where you have to fight to survive.
As weapons, John chose a hammer, an anvil and fire, with which he forged acclaimed works in his workshop in Rutland, Vermont, in 1829.
John didn’t only make sparks fly, he was a creator who knew how to “strike while the iron is hot.”
Because an emerging industrial era swept the United States, John intercepted the new needs of farmers and went from “producing his tools on demand” to selling them, anticipating the demands of the market.
But even if Vermont farmers coveted his shovels, hoes, and pitchforks, John still risked bankruptcy and jail.
When tongues of fire devoured his blacksmith shop, which was mortgaged, John was left with a handful of dust.
With a wife and son, and another one on the way, John borrowed money to rebuild his shop.
Another opportunity.
New sparks between the anvil and the hammer.
And then, the monster of fire. Again.
An untamable fire, raging like a tiger, destroyed John Deere’s shop and his only source of survival.
Resilience Made of Iron
Failing and giving up, for him, meant going to prison.
Without national bankruptcy laws, the penalty for debtors was incarceration.
Despite the collapse of the New England Economy and the pressure of the creditors who were breathing down his neck, John Deere, thirty-two, with determined gaze, and eyes burning with ambition, sailed away.
Beyond the Erie Canal, among the lakes past Detroit, through the Straights of Mackinac, down to Chicago…
On the horizon, beyond the diamond lights that sparkled on the surface of the water, John saw the light of a new land, his Eden…
Vermont shaped him like a metal jewel, but the West gave him sparkle, giving the world the invention that changed the lives of farmers forever.
In 1836, John opened his business in Grand Detour, Illinois, where one of his
acquaintances, Leonard Andrus had built the first settlement.
Miles of fertile treeless grassland seemed to be the perfect spot to cultivate.
A Farming Nightmare
Unlike what happened in the East, the rich Illinois soil stuck to the wooden and iron plows, transforming the life of a farmer into a nightmare.
Under the hot sun of Illinois, like little worker ants, the farmers plowed a piece of land.
Like a knife the plowshare cut a furrow, while the iron moldboard lifted, turned and reset the soil.
Then the farmers stopped. Got off the plow to scrape off the dirt soil from the moldboard plow.
Then they started again and again. Sweating and sighing.
John Deere did something that few entrepreneurs remember to do…
He listened to his customers' complaints, understanding their problems and their true needs.
John had no clue that this simple action would bring him a 400-billion-dollar business idea…
Having identified the problem, Deere used his experience as a blacksmith to invent the solution that changed, not only the Midwest agriculture, but the entire world.
John thought that a polished surface would make the sticky soil slide more easily, so he used steel from a broken saw blade to create a revolutionary plow.
He immediately put his invention to the test at Lewis Crandall’s farm, near Grand Detour.
That day, under the bright Midwest sun, reflected in the eyes of hundreds of speechless farmers, John made history, leaving his footprint in the ground forever.
The steel plow slid across the field, tracing perfect lines without stopping. The grasslands succumbed under the farmer’s hands and a new romantic era of agriculture began, “returning to nature,” as in Rousseau’s philosophy.
John sold much more than a self-scouring steel plow.
He gave farmers a new life: reducing the fatigue and stress of their hard work and donating more time with their family.
His demonstration attracted farmers from Grand Detour, and by 1841, with the help of his friend Leonard Andrus, John was producing from 75 to 100 tractors per year.
The Heirs Take it From Here
Leonard was less ambitious than John and his stubbornness hindered the expansion of the business, so they broke up their partnership.
Determined to bring his invention to more farmers, John moved to Moline, Illinois, where he could exploit the Mississippi River for power to bring raw materials, move plows and keep up with market demands.
By 1855, Deere’s factory was selling more than 10,000 tractors, becoming known as “The Plow that Broke the Plains”.
But having a novel idea isn’t enough to make history…
In fact, even if the self-scouring steel plow was a “eureka moment”, it was not the pivotal idea that led Deere's tractor to Hollywood, and onto the set of a famous director’s movie.
You need to communicate and present your solution to the right target.
In fact, to change the history of his sector, and find clients all over Mississippi, John needed an original way to spread his invention faster, transforming the habits of farmers.
But this challenge remained to his heirs.
John Deere died in 1889, with the promise that: “I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me.”
A Promise Kept
His heirs would keep that promise.
First, improving the quality of the product.
Then, finding an original means of communication to spread their message, using a revolutionary invention from another sector.
But primarily, they had an urgent problem to solve.
The first Deere tractor designs were unsuccessful, so the company decided to get hold of the most popular tractor model on the market: the Waterloo Boy, a beast that ran on kerosene.
But the Waterloo Boy belonged to one of Deere’s competitors: the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company.
Fortunately, the company was on sale.
With sweaty hands as he held an ultimatum from the President of the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company, Deere’s vice president of sales, Frank Silloway, had less than a day to convince Deere & Company Board of Directors to approve the purchase their competitor.
After tests and failures, with a two-cylinder engine, fueled by kerosene, that farmers could buy more easily and less expensively than gasoline, The Waterloo Boy became the first John Deere model tractor in 1918.
Its legendary makeover stood out from competitors: with the iconic green and yellow wheels to reflect the romantic idea of the farmers as the new kings of the lands.
But even if Deere & Company’s quality was the best in the sector, farmers needed to understand the benefits of owning a tractor, changing their habits and mindset.
In fact, in 1920, when Deere & Company was founded, the impact of tractors on agriculture was minor with only 6% of farmers owning a tractor in six corn belt states.
With the Great Depression of 1930, and World War II in 1939…
John’s heirs needed an original way to communicate Deere’s invention and help farmers move into the Tractor Age.
Spreading the Message in A “Movie-Style” Way
Under the lights of the Warner Brothers theater in New York, the 6th of October 1927, the movie star Al Jolson sang and played 11 musical numbers making his voice heard for the first time on film The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie” movie that changed cinema forever.
And the destiny of Deere & Company.
The Vitaphone technology used by Warner Brothers opened new possibilities for movies and businesses to synchronize images with music and dialogues.
John Deere’s heirs grabbed this opportunity, realizing the potentiality of motion pictures before all their competitors.
With commercial movies, Deere & Company could not only showcase new products, but also exhibit their tractors in action and explain how to use them out in the field.
But they didn't just produce a few short films...
A Camera Creates an Empire
A field kissed by the sun and a John Deer Model D tractor crossing the screen.
“Four Sons” was the first film produced by John Deere’s company in 1926, followed by another short film titled “The Changing Picture in Farm Power” which teaches customers how to use and repair the new “Model GP tractor.
With a camera, Deere & Company built an empire…
Using storytelling as a marketing tool, Deere & Company hired the screenwriter Glen Rohrbach who combined education with entertainment, creating a successful business formula.
So successful that Deere & Company became a synonym for “tractors” and Glen made it through the golden gate of Hollywood for his talent.
The John Deere Days
Imagine an open-air cinema, with food, dancers, parades and thousands of farmers with sons and wives gathering to watch the Deere movies, to discover the innovations in the market and to see the tractors in action.
In 1947, at the height of Deere Days, about 102 shows a day were presented in Canada and the U.S. from November through March, with over 1.7 million people attending.
The Deere Day was a success not only for Deere & Company. Here’s a sample of a short Deere Day movie. (Just click the play button).
The payoff for the local dealers was the registration card.
During the Deere Day, farmers filled in a registration form with their name and their address, and which Deere equipment interested them.
With a mailing list of the ideal customers in its hands, the company created promotional materials to send them, helping the dealers to make sales visits, and increasing revenues.
Thanks to this strategy, the company discovered that wives and sons influenced the buying decisions of farmers.
That’s why family values were the core message of each John Deere movie and the reason why, even today, his tractors are iconic.
John Deere’s message grabbed the hearts of lots of people and transformed John Deere’s green and yellow wheels tractor into a symbol of identity.
John Deere’s tractors became like the old watch passed on from father to son, a precious inheritance to preserve.
In an interview, one of Deere’s customers said: “This tractor helped me to improve the relationship with my son.”
But why did John Deere give his tractors the important mission of strengthening the bond between sons and father?
The Last Words Written
The truth is…
The origin of this message is still a mystery, but perhaps a letter holds the key.
A letter John Deere received when he was only eight years old.
Illuminated by the light of the port, with a lump in his throat, William Deere wrote a letter to his son before disappearing: “Dear John, take care of your mother,” as if he knew he was going to die soon.
Those are the last words that John Deere received from his father, before he left the family to set out for England.
The reason why he left is still nebulous. And also, his death.
When William’s truck arrived in England, he wasn’t there.
Perhaps, this wound influenced John Deere’s message, made it so powerful that it pushed a famous director to pay a fortune for a John Deere tractor in his movie.
That movie was the Bridges of Madison County.
One Phone Call Later
106 years after John’s death, Tom Manning received a call from Clint Eastwood.
He wanted his 4020 Deere tractor in his movie Bridges of Madison County, set in the countryside of Iowa, telling the story of a farmer’s wife who falls in love with a traveling photographer, played by Clint Eastwood.
Tom refused. He needed that tractor for his harvest.
But Clint was determined to change Tom’s mind, so he paid him well and asked him to join the set and teach the lead actor to drive the tractor for a scene.
Tom thought that Clint had to drive the John Deere tractor in the movie, but on the set that morning, he had a surprise…
Riding the tractor, with her long hair tied back under a Panama hat, a pair of jeans and her diva smile, Francesca, the wife of the farmer and the protagonist of the movie … and that character was played by Meryl Streep.
“She quickly learnt how to drive,” said Tom in an interview: “We had to shoot the scene 16 times to get it right, and when Meryl ran to answer the phone, I had to drive the tractor back.”
Behind the success of a pivotal idea, there’s more than hard work, sparks of geniality and a marketing strategy.
More than anything, there’s passion and a message with values that conquer not only the mind, but hearts.
John Deere products aren’t only tractors.
They are an identity, a way of being. Pioneers who became famers who perfected and conquered the wildness of nature.
A farmer with his cap, the yellow wheels breaking the plains, and a smile of satisfaction because, also today, he has completed his job, leaving his mark on the ground.
Awesome Quotes by Awesome People
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”— John Deere