A new way to advertize

YouTube and "viral video" — videos that people email to their friends, who email it to their friends, and so on — give companies a whole new way to get the word out. Did you see the T-Mobile dance video from the London train station? Millions of people watched it on YouTube, including me. This week, Kelly Schwalbe, who does public relations work for John Deere, sent an email linking us to a YouTube video by Tractor Chaser.

I took the bait. I watched the video. These guys are trying to chase down a truck carrying a prototype of John Deere's new 8RT tracked tractor. I looks like a total set up, but maybe I'm just a cynical journalist. (How did they know the truck was coming?) I didn't get much of anything in terms of detail from the video. But Schwalbe used this opportunity to promote John Deere by way of Tractor Chasers. 

In his email, Schwalbe says, "In response to the many calls we’ve received regarding this latest John Deere development, we wanted to make sure you were aware of this information... Feel free to share this information with your staff and ag audiences you serve."

This is hardly "journalism" and I won't be reprinting this blog in Grainews. I'll wait for the official launch so I can get some details. I'm sharing this so you can see the new ways companies are trying to reach you. That, to me, is more interesting than the video itself.