The week before Thanksgiving in 2018, Mara Downing was attending a Quad City Mallards hockey game in Moline, Illinois, with other members of the John Deere executive team. Heading down the hallway on the way to her seat, Downing ran into her boss, Marc Howze, Chief Administrative Officer for the company, who asked her if she had a second to chat. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Marc cut right to the chase: "Mara. you did a remarkable job leading our brand re-imagining study, and the CEO staff has decided you're the perfect person to lead both brand and communications as our new Vice President of Global Brand Management and Corporate Communications. I have to run to drop the game puck, but we do hope you'll accept soon." Mara had sensed that she was going to be tapped for such a position but was surprised to have the news sprung upon her in the hallway, on her way to her seat, right before puck drop. As she hurried to her box to get settled in for the start of the game, though, her mind was already well past whether she should accept (an easy yes) but onto exactly how to structure the new department, create a strategy for the function, and which issues she would need to tackle on her first day in her new role. A STORIED COMPANY John Deere traces its roots back to 1837 in Grand Detour, Illinois, where founder John Deere worked as a blacksmith. Hearing farmers' concerns that their plows, designed for the sandy soil of the eastern United States, weren't holding up in the thicker prairie soil of Illinois, Deere fashioned a sturdier plow from steel and a broken sawblade. At first just making a few plows for local farmers, Deere found himself needing to fulfill over 100 orders by 1842. To keep up with ever-increasing demand, Deere moved the nascent company to Moline, Illinois, in 1848, building a water-powered factory right on the Mississippi and doubling production in that first year. Over 170 years and just eight CEOs later, John Deere was still headquartered in Moline in 2018. By then, the company's operations had expanded well beyond producing a single plow to include equipment for everything from construction and landscaping to forestry and the military and enjoyed a market cap north of $45 billion. Like many other corporate communication functions at Fortune 100 companies that can trace their roots back nearly 200 years, Deere's communication function faced challenges in adapting to an increasingly fast-paced, digitized world while remaining true to its heritage. SHARED HISTORY As a third-generation employee who had joined the company more than 20 years ago. Mara Downing could easily relate to the communication challenges John Deere faced in balancing its desire to respect its family-oriented history and its loyal fan base with its need for modernization. With a background in accounting and finance. Mara had originally joined the company's tax department, later moving to a lobbying position, and then from public affairs to corporate citizenship. Throughout the years. Mara continued to move up the ranks, and by 2015, she was named Director of Global Brand Management and Corporate Citizenship, as the company sought to more directly link its brand with the soul of the company and its understanding of corporate citizenship, identity, and responsibility. STRONG HEADWINDS When Mara took over as head of brand and citizenship in 2015, the company was facing brand and communication challenges on a variety of fronts. Deere was no longer ranked on Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies List or recognized on key sustainability rankings: media buzz about the company was at an all-time low; and the communications department was struggling to support the many functions that turned to them to articulate Deere's purpose and vision. At the same time, then-CEO Sam Allen turned to Mara to find opportunities to build on the company's success in past sponsorship events. For example, the company had sponsored the John Deere Classic for the PGA Tour since 1998, and it had done much to grow the business's golf and sports turf segment. Thus. Sam turned to Mara wondering what Deere's next big sponsorship event should be. Something for college football? For Disney? For some other overlooked segment? GETTING TO THE RIGHT DIAGNOSIS Mara was hesitant, however, to double down on corporate sponsorship. Aware of the complex dynamics that feed into morale, brand, and reputation, and also not wanting to misdiagnose the problems Deere was facing. Mara sought to comprehensively, and as much as possible quantitatively, get to the heart of what had led to the company's issues. Mara began by bringing in some external assistance, turning to researchers from the Tuck School of Business to conduct over 30 interviews at Deere to better understand what challenges and opportunities existed for the corporate communications and brand functions. Across the board, a key theme emerged: that while, internally. Deere employees understood and believed in the company's mission, externally, they were failing to effectively communicate that to the outside world. As one interviewee noted, "John Deere has a good message. Shame on us for not getting that out." Mara knew, however, that she needed to supplement this qualitative assessment with a quantitative one, turning to the RIG tracking system to more concretely measure gaps in the company's performance. Just as had emerged during the qualitative interviews, the areas where Deere was falling short were largely ones where they effectively remained silent. STARK RESULTS With the results of the survey in hand, it was abundantly obvious to Mara where the greatest work needed to be done. Clear gaps emerged between what information was viewed as most important to share from the perspective of shareholders, employees, and the general public. and the actual information Deere put forth. The company needed to finally start talking about gender and people of color in its employment base: to more fully articulate its commitment to sustainability; and to make it clear that diversity and inclusion were topics they weren't afraid of discussing. Moreover, Mara quickly realized that resources were not being effectively allocated. The communications department was also facing major issues, in terms of its tone, structure, and process. The department had been dominated by more traditional voices, who often turned to long form editorials and utilized a more formal tone of voice, regardless of which audience that sought to reach, including employees. Additionally, the department operated in a very reactionary matter, almost like a classic news desk waiting for information to come into them. Other than knowing what events the CEO was going to be attending and preparing remarks for him, there was no editorial calendar and no sense of who else needed to be supported from a communications perspective. Another consequence of this more reactionary approach was that common themes in terms of concerns or challenges brought to the department were being missed. For example, five different members of the Human Resources team might come to the corporate communications department in a day with similar questions around statements on company purpose, but the corporate communications team was not stepping back to analyze trends in issues that were being brought before them. Thus, Deere faced an issue not only of resource mismanagement but of fundamental misalignment between purpose and practice. Mara knew, then, that keeping the brand and communications functions separate was no longer a viable option for Deere. PUCK DROP As Mara rushed down the hallway to make it to her seat on time, her mind turned to her new role, and the challenges she knew she would face in leading the newly combined brand and communications departments. How would she handle the budget constraints she knew Deere was facing? How would she organize this now much larger department that was gluttonous in some areas and starved for support in others? How would she gain credibility with the far larger number of staff for whom she was now responsible? All these questions, and many more, raced through her mind as she made it into her seat just in time for the puck to drop, signaling the start of the game and a far more challenging stage of her career. 1. Given the pain points outlined in the case, would you advocate for a centralized or decentralized communications structure at John Deere? Explain. 2. Within an organization like John Deere, who should be responsible for handling external and internal communications? Should the responsibility lie within the communications department, or should the C-suite play a role in execution? 3. Consider the results from employee surveys at John Deere. Based on these insights, how do you think Mara can use both internal and external communications to improve the brand's image externally? 4. If you were in Mara's position, what communications activities would you prioritize first to enhance cohesion between the brand and communications departments? Why?