At Cattow’s Farm, Heather in sunny Leicestershire where preparations are well underway for the Ashby Show. Couldn’t resist a chat with Chandlers, the Massey Ferguson dealer, and a good look at their shiny red machines. I haven’t worked for Massey as a client for a year or two now but they are a worthy example of how great products featuring edgy technology can still benefit from the emotional boost of a fantastic heritage brand like this. (When BBH were advertising Yeo Valley on TV back in 2011, guess which brand they chose to name check?)
Massey mini tractors also helped move all the scenery about in Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London Games. Guess ultra-reliability was something of a consideration when choosing machines for that.)
Chandlers itself is a more than decent brand too, with high scores for delivering the manufacturer’s desired customer service levels, and consequently larger sales territories.
None of this is easy - agricultural machinery is a very challenging sector. If your own business sector isn’t affected by: currency fluctuations; the weather in different parts of the world; European and US emissions legislation; confidence levels amongst your buyers; supermarket pricing impact on your buyers, etc, etc, you should count yourself lucky.