Guild member Martin Rickatson has been awarded a contract by parent company CNH Industrial to handle Case IH’s written communications for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
It follows 15 years of Martin working independently and through other UK and European communications agencies to fulfil the European marketing and press writing requirements of farm equipment brand Case IH.
He will undertake the new contract in addition to his existing work with sister agricultural machinery brands New Holland and Steyr.
“No two global farm machinery businesses work the same way, and CNH Industrial’s uniqueness lies in the way it operates two global brands and a regional European one, Steyr, each being regionally strong in different areas and with different product and feature strengths too,” says Martin.
“Some time ago the parent group decided to move from originating its marketing and communications texts in German (for Austria-based Case IH and Steyr) and Italian (for Italy-headquartered New Holland) to writing them initially in English before translation for wider markets,” he explains.
“I had been working informally to help Case IH – both indirectly through other agencies and directly – with technical and marketing writing since leaving Profi International in 2008, and have developed good relationships with the brands’ teams in the UK, Austria and Italy, so it was great to be offered the opportunity to formalise and extend this.
“Within New Holland and Case IH in particular there are some really interesting products for crops across the EMEA region, including harvesters for coffee, cotton, grapes and olives, so there are some very unusual products to learn in addition to the more common European farm machinery.
“CNH Industrial and the brand teams have been very receptive to journalist feedback from surveys asking what the press wants from company communication, and the plan is to ensure that factual and to-the-point copy is what they will receive directly via each brand’s communications managers.
“There are some really exciting new products coming from the brands at the Agritechnica exhibition in Germany this November, so it’s been a great time to get stuck in with work across all three and with different product areas from tractors and combines to field implements.”
The new work adds to other machinery company technical writing produced by Martin’s JMR Agriculture business for clients including Shelbourne Reynolds, Richard Western and Knight Farm Machinery.
