We help New Zealand agribusiness grow using proven and effective rural marketing strategies.

Agrarian was created to help New Zealand agribusiness gain access to proven rural sales and marketing strategies using an independent, lower overhead model backed with the flexibility and efficiency of a highly experienced creative partner network.

You won’t get junior on your account or solutions that come with clipped tickets that serve our interests, rather than yours. 

Instead, you'll enjoy commission-free, media neutral advice from senior professionals with decades of brand, sales and marketing experience they can draw upon to help you succeed.

Experience

We share the insights, knowledge and learnings we have gained over many years to improve your rural sales and marketing results. We can draw from our experience working with many companies over many years at a strategic and operational level. 

About Agrarian

Agrarian was created to help New Zealand agribusiness companies gain access to more effective rural sales and marketing strategies using an independent, lower overhead model. 

rural ute dog box new zealand.jpg

We take a more technical and targeted approach to rural marketing.  It’s no longer about "spray and pray, hit and hope" advertising or getting the crayons out making things pretty.

It’s about delivering solid, attributable commercial results using effective, media neutral rural marketing strategies that work.

Find out how we can help improve your rural marketing performance.

Testimonials

Don't take our word for it. Hear what others have to say about their experience working with us and why they chose us.

Reviews

”We chose Agrarian because of its model. We are a charitable trust with a need to demonstrate prudence with our entrusted funds. St John worked with our Board and developed our Future Shapers theme. If you’re after a rural marketing company that is responsive, cost effective and demonstrates a great understanding of rural, St John and his team at Agrarian are a great choice."

Malcolm Nitschke, General Manager, AGMARDT

“We’re a small, agile company so every penny we spend on marketing and sales needs measurable, instant results and with St John it does. His insights and advice mean that the value we get out of one strategic planning session far surpasses expectations. As one of my sales people said ‘I got more out of a 90 minute phone call with St John than I did from all my previous sales training’. “
Gretchen Bunny, AgRecord/Cloud Farmer

"St John’s knowledge and passion for what he does is second to none which makes him a true rural marketing specialist and a joy to work with. His enthusiasm for the sector is infectious and I would highly recommend him to anyone looking to better understand this complex and often misunderstood sector."

Lindsey Brittain, Marketing Manager, Contact Energy

“Bayer has worked with St John across multiple strategy projects and farming panels in the animal health area. As a dedicated specialist in the rural sector, we find St John to be a highly competent and professional qualitative researcher. St John has the distinct ability of being able to read a room, has the understanding or rural to demonstrate empathy and build rapport quickly.”

George Reeves, Bayer Animal Health NZ

“St John led and facilitated a rural immersion project to help Chorus better understand the rural market. St John brought together leading thinkers to help myself and Victoria Crone distill these insights to validate the approach we ended up taking with our RBI roll out. St John is enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I would not hesitate in recommending him to anyone who wants to better understand and communicate with the rural market in New Zealand.”
Craig Young, Head of Industry Relations, Chorus

"I have worked alongside very few people who can match St John’s passion for, and commitment to, doing the right thing by his rural clients. His intelligent and thoughtful approach to every brief, and his willingness to ask the tough questions, makes him a rarity and one you want to partner with in your business."

Drew Ayers, Creative Director, Stick Advertising/99/Just One

“St John is not only an excellent rural marketing strategist, he can sell himself and his ideas as well. He is professional, he delivers, and goes the extra mile. St John really does his homework to make sure he can walk the talk in the industry he is consulting for. I have learnt huge amounts from St John in the time we worked with him and I highly recommend having St John as part of your consultation team.”

Rowena Harper, Marketing Communications Manager, DeLaval

Latest Blogs

Stay up to date with the latest insights and ideas on rural marketing, sales training and brand thoughts.

Rural Sales & Marketing Blog
Do celebrity endorsements work for rural brands?
Do celebrity endorsements work for rural brands?

Using the brand equity of someone else to prop up your own can signal a weak brand or a creative team who have run out of ideas. It seems if you have little brand credibility, you can simply purchase it. Here are a few ways you can build equity in your own brand without relying on celebrity endorsement…

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Is the Fieldays formula too simplistic for today's rural marketer?
Is the Fieldays formula too simplistic for today's rural marketer?

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Fieldays at Mystery Creek and is the biggest show in town. Whilst it has many advocates, including its own passionate PR dept, equally there are as many who don’t like it, think it’s got too big and commit to regional field day events instead. The problem is unless you’re a big fish it is very hard to get cut through at National Fieldays…

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Why food can be the bridging strategy for our rural-urban divide
Why food can be the bridging strategy for our rural-urban divide

We’re too small a country to be divided. Rather than look for differences and positions between rural and urban let’s look for a common ground and a shared vision: to be world-famous in food. When we get this right the world will love New Zealand even more.

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Why synthetic meat could be the best thing to happen to NZ farming
Why synthetic meat could be the best thing to happen to NZ farming

Let’s talk towards this synthetic meat challenge and meet it head on, not shy away from thinking it might go away because it won’t. When it’s natural, real and as nature intended we have a real competitive advantage so long as we have our story straight.

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Have you been deferring maintenance on your brand?
Have you been deferring maintenance on your brand?

Like our homes, lives, relationships and public infrastructure, brands need to be built on strong foundations and be kept well maintained. Short term cosmetics never pay off. If you build your brand right and maintain it regularly it will cost you a lot less and earn you much more in the long run.

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NZ Ag: why we need to stop using the words value add
NZ Ag: why we need to stop using the words value add

Value add is a term tossed around so much it’s become meaningless and tiresome. People use it in the hope it will excuse them from the cognitive challenge of deeper thinking and problem solving. It’s a simplistic statement with those that use it in danger of being perceived as rather simplistic themselves.  Like the catch cry “we just need to tell our story better”, value add is easy to say but far harder to execute. That’s why I’m calling for a moratorium on the term "value add" in NZ Ag until we’ve worked out how we properly define it and apply it.

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NZ Ag: B+LNZ Future Meat Report - great on detail, what's the solution?
NZ Ag: B+LNZ Future Meat Report - great on detail, what's the solution?

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) should be applauded for commissioning such a thorough analysis on the challenge and opportunities from alternative protein. Its Future Meat Report is a solid piece of work that will be doing the stakeholder rounds and roadshows up and down the country as we speak. However having read it what are the next actions? And does it go far enough?

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NZ Ag: Why you should always attack a lead and never defend one
NZ Ag: Why you should always attack a lead and never defend one

Attacking a lead is such a simple concept yet why do so many sports teams and companies not do it? Defending is easier than attacking because it demands more effort, more energy and more skill. It's easier to sit back and protect what you have. This is why loss aversion is such powerful influence in human behaviour. We all know about Blockbuster, Nokia and Blackberry. What about NZ Ag? Attacked or defended environmental concerns? Fonterra? Attacked value add or defended WMP? Meat companies? Back foot or front on alternative proteins? Don’t get complacent. Don’t defend a lead, always attack one. It’s much better that way for everyone. Except for your competitors. Best to keep it that way...

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NZ Ag: the single biggest attribute you need to look for in rural sales recruitment
NZ Ag: the single biggest attribute you need to look for in rural sales recruitment

Intrinsic motivation is the single biggest attribute I look for when I help clients recruit and manage sales teams. I define it as “the ability to kick their own arse”. Easy for any sales recruit to claim at interview but harder to prove. There are certain markers, or behavioural traits, that signal intrinsic motivation. If observed, these traits validate any claim of intrinsic motivation because it’s not what people say, it’s what they do that tells you what you need to know...

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NZ Ag: why relying on customer surveys alone doesn't work
NZ Ag: why relying on customer surveys alone doesn't work

I’ve always been more interested in why people do what they do, not what they say. Because when you get past symptoms you can treat the root cause. As humans we always want to make sense of things. Yet the methods we use to understand why things are the way they are can vary greatly in their effectiveness...

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