John Deere —

CULTIVATING THE NEXT GENERATION
OF AGRICULTURE LEADERS

With John Deere’s Smart Industrial Redesign they’re showcasing how Automation and Autonomy are stepping to the forefront of agriculture practices. And with John Deere, as a brand, evolving to a position as a technology leader in the ag space, we wanted to find unique ways to share their new positioning with the world in ways that matched their innovation.

CLIENT

JOHN DEERE

PROJECT

FarmCraft Game Experience

DELIVERABLES

Minecraft Branded Integration

THE
IDEA

With the goal of simultaneously boosting the number of students interested in careers in agriculture, and shifting brand perception, John Deere turned to SCS to help inspire, engage and educate a younger audience on the role agriculture plays in the world. SCS then turned our own focus to where that audience was spending much of their time; Minecraft—a popular platform that already encouraged creativity and innovation by providing an educational game experience with the problem solving basics of agriculture, mining, lumbering, etc. By creating and integrated experience, we could give young people an introduction to modern agriculture through simulated use of the agriculture machinery, processes, and decisions that go into farming.

THE DELIVERY

That’s where the idea of FarmCraft was born. The purpose for the FarmCraft experience is to educate young people on the importance of agriculture using a familiar, interactive digital platform. Within the FarmCraft world, players undertake and complete unique farming missions, including planting and growing crops and then harvesting them once ready.

To help build out the FarmCraft world within the Minecraft environment, SCS tapped Blockworks, a UK based digital production studio with over 30 content creators specializing in creating custom experiences in and around Minecraft while leveraging the most positive aspects of the game. Over the following year, SCS, John Deere and Blockworks collaborated to build the FarmCraft experience to be to most realistic agricultural experience possible for our younger audience to enjoy.

THE
EXECUTION

THE RESULTS

Response was immediate, and overwhelmingly positive. Within the first month of launch alone, FarmCraft netted over two million downloads. On top of that, positive reviews within the Minecraft Marketplace began to spike as well with more than 7,000 off the bat and climbing, proving that sometimes, to get kids attention, you need to get down on the floor and play their games with them.