The region around Einbeck at the end of September: The sun is beating down, dust is in the air, and the silage corn has long broken the three-meter mark. Perfect conditions for a day of harvesting – and for shooting a good video.

And so Matthias Stauffer and Björn Weigel smile into the camera with an almost mischievous look on this windless morning, while the contractor Hagen Schmidt explains the current status of his corn harvest. They shake hands, make one of two few witty comments, and always have their orange KWS sunglasses always at the ready – camerawoman Valeska Weber can give the thumbs-up. “Cut!” – the recording is in the can.

The team displays so much routine and pleasure in their work that it’s hard to believe the corn blog was launched only a few months ago. “Fortunately, we very quickly got used to standing in front of the camera,” says Stauffer in his customary cheerful manner. The two corn consultants, corn marketing trainee Valeska Weber and intern Theda Hammersen have been working on their video blog since the beginning of April, with the goal of increasing farmers’ loyalty to KWS and its corn varieties and creating greater identification with the company.

From the diary to the blog

Yet the subject of videos didn’t even cross their mind to begin with. “When we came up with the first idea for a blog at the end of 2018, we just had a field diary with a few lines on the growth of corn in mind,” says Björn Weigel. “However, after mulling over the idea for a few months, it became clear that we ought to try something with video.”

While the 26-year-old chats about the beginnings in such a laid-back way, Matthias Stauffer’s grin grows wider. Then he reveals: “To begin with, we were actually very skeptical whether that would just make us look ridiculous.”

It’s therefore no surprise that they watched a lot of videos from the competition in the first few weeks: “We wanted to see how it’s done,” says Valeska Weber. Some videos were well intentioned, but simply not funny. Other competitors focused merely on promotion and marketing, but their videos had “zero entertainment value.” “And others were simply amateurish,” adds Weigel. “We wanted to avoid doing something that embarrassing. The Internet never forgets.”

Good response, also from colleagues

The team therefore decided on a pitch that’s both informative and humorous. “We wanted something that was in tune with the times and could be easily understood by farmers,” is how Weigel sums up the goal.

And lo and behold: The first video went over well. “That was also because our family and friends liked clicking on the blog and everyone laughed themselves silly,” jokes Matthias Stauffer.

That, of course, isn’t the whole story: “You could see that the response was very good,” says Valeska Weber. “And not only from the feedback in the comments on Facebook. Our colleagues also gave us a lot of encouragement and supplied new ideas.”

Up to three scripted videos a month

And so up to three videos a month were produced from May to October – i.e. between the start of the sowing season and harvesting – presenting corn varieties and matching KWS services in a witty and fun manner.

The time required for that was also pretty reasonable. Weigel calculates: “If you consider that creating a video – including coming up with the idea, shooting and editing – takes roughly one day, then each of us invested 15 percent of our monthly working time at the most.”

And that’s despite the fact the bloggers are all self-taught. “Learning by doing,” confirms Matthias Stauffer. At the start, for example, they didn’t plan what to speak about in the video until they were making their way to the field. Björn Weigel smiles gently when he recalls that, then says: “And sometimes we botched things up.” Now there’s a rough storyboard. “But no script with set texts – we want to keep it authentic.”

Guest appearances by farmers

And varied: That’s why farmers or other guests are regularly invited to appear. “That adds a little pep to subjects that are a bit drier,” explains Stauffer. A further advantage: “If the guests share the video, you reach a larger audience.” And its size is more than 120,000 on Facebook for some blogs.

The bloggers are already working on new ideas to keep that number rising in 2020. One thing is for certain: The same old topics won’t be churned out over and over again. “We’re toying with the idea of focusing more on a single contractor,” says Weigel. And the team has also “hatched a few ideas” for the off season in the winter. “But we’re not going to reveal them – we don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

Is that enough to arouse your curiosity? Well then, visit the blog (again). |