SI EQ is made up of many moving parts that all work together to make sure our clients are getting the best experience. But there is one department that works behind the scenes to make sure the system is keeping money in the client’s pocket. That is the Co-Op department. The Co-Op team works hard alongside many other departments to ensure dealerships meet brand guidelines and compliance with their advertising. This is common in many big-name brands such as John Deere, and a requirement for all dealerships under the brand to follow if they want some money back on advertisements from corporate.

 “They have a cooperative (hence Co-Op) relationship, where the dealer can spend this amount of money and then corporate will reimburse them for a certain percentage of that,” explained Cait Weaver, Co-Op Manager of SI EQ.

John Deere created specific Co-Op guidelines for all dealers to follow in order to get reimbursements on advertisement. Keeping up with the guidelines can be tricky but thankfully, the Co-Op department is staffed with experts so clients get optimal reimbursements from corporate, saving them dollars and headaches. 

An agency that offers to do Co-Op for clients is rare in the agriculture marketing world. Nevertheless, we go the extra mile for clients to get the highest reimbursement possible—and the kicker is we’ll do it free of charge for all existing clients. “Not a lot of agencies like us file Co-Op. So we’re pretty original to that. Most agencies will send it to the dealer and say good luck,” said Mary Craig, Co-Op Specialist. 

While dealerships won’t face any penalties from Co-Op ineligible content other than not getting a reimbursement, it is highly suggested because it can be very beneficial to dealerships of all sizes. “If they can get that reimbursement of 50% on what they spend they can actually put more into their advertising which puts them more on the table for consumers to see them and eventually sell more,” said Weaver.

“It’s based on their sales…If their sales increase, their Co-Op will go up. The bigger the dealership, the more money they are allotted,” said Craig.

Clients might not see or hear from Co-Op often but that just means they’re doing their job. And their duties can vary depending on the day. They complete a variety of tasks that can include billing for clients, reporting, managing claims and invoices, helping AEs get pre-approval letters, and much more. “It takes a lot of organizing,” said Craig. “It’s really a lot of paper shuffling organization.”

Clients can meet with the Co-Op manager if they have any concerns but if everything is going well and running smoothly, which we always aim for, contact between Co-Op and clients is very minimal.

Instead, Co-Op communicates more directly with account executives, SEO, accounting, and really everybody else to keep the show going. They can help the team in many ways including questions about guidelines, tracking budgets, or any other concerns involving Co-Op. 

Even though our team is known for saving clients a pretty penny, there is more to our Co-Op team than filing claims and getting money back. “We have to come up with creative solutions sometimes,” said Weaver.  “So say that a process isn’t working properly, we get to brainstorm on ways to make it more efficient, more optimized, and essentially better for the dealer and for us.”

They sometimes work hand-in-hand with our in-house media experts and John Deere corporate to create new advertising opportunities. Also, if we discover a new way to advertise your products, our Co-Op team will share our newfound knowledge with corporate and collaborate with them on new guidelines to open up all sorts of new ways to utilize every penny of your Co-Op budget

The Co-Op team takes on a lot on their own but they are thankful for the help of the rest of the SI EQ team to keep things afloat. “We have a fantastic team. Everyone has, in some way, made an impression on the thought process with their creativity and their ideas and opinions to make it exactly what all of us need,” said Weaver.