AGCO Has Been The Proud Owner Of The MF Brand Since Its Acquisition In 1994 And Remains Committed To Its Legacy Of Supporting Farmers .

India is no stranger to corporate advertisement battles. The long list of advertisement wars includes PepsiCo-Coca-Cola, Reliance Jio-Bharti Airtel, Amul-Hindustan Unilever, Times of India–The Hindu, Complan-Horlicks, and many more. 

The latest to join this elite list are tractor giants Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE) and the US major AGCO, both fighting a legal battle over the ownership of the Massey Ferguson (MF) brand in India. Now, both companies have taken this MF war to the streets through advertisements across India to stamp each other’s claim on the iconic brand. 

It was in April that AGCO first announced the termination of its agreements with TAFE, including the brand licence for MF, which kicked off a legal battle. On November 19, both TAFE and AGCO claimed that the Madras High Court had favoured them in their dispute over MF, citing an order to maintain the “status quo”. Following this, AGCO was the first to enter the campaign pitch through its front-page advertisements in The New Indian Express on November 22, which said, “Every farmer’s friend, AGCO’s Massey Ferguson”. The advertisement repeatedly referred to the brand as “AGCO’s Massey Ferguson” and said that it had been present in India since the 1950s. AGCO followed this up with a series of media and traditional advertisements across the country, including in financial daily Mint and Tamil daily Dinamani.

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