How Twitter, John Deere and Farmers Created the Andy Clean Social Media Craze Now Born Into a Business

Andy Pasztor is a southwest Ontario, Canada farmer first who’s also found fame on social media for his ability to make any tractor shine.

“I’ve always been a stickler for cleaning equipment,” says Pasztor.

While his own family knew him for his consistently clean tendencies around the farm, it wasn’t until he started posting pictures of his clean equipment on twitter that “Andy Clean” started to take off.

“Actually, it was a farmer from Michigan, and he’ll yell at me if I don’t mention his name. His name is Robert Reese, and he’s from Lansing,” says Pasztor. “He’s the one who came up with the hashtag. So, he wants royalties now.”

What started as anyone who posted a photo of clean equipment that was #AndyClean got an “Andy Clean” sticker has now turned into a business. And the story really started with a family vacation a few years ago.

“I was out to Iowa at the John Deere Tractor Museum with my family on a family vacation, and I commented on twitter how everything was so ‘Andy Clean’ out there,” he remembers.

Next thing he knew, John Deere’s social media account reached out.

“Then later on, they actually created the logo and gave me a box with like 1,000 stickers in the box. I was like, ‘what am I going to do with all these stickers?’ I knew the first guys on Twitter who kept all their stuff pretty clean. So I just said, ‘Hey, what’s your address?’ And I shipped them out,” says Pasztor.

From the logo to the decals, all the marketing material was created by John Deere.

“We made a black and silver one for all the guys who don’t run John Deere equipment,” he says.

The color-blind logo to go on any brand of equipment was also an idea born by the John Deere marketing team.

“I was talking to my buddy Brian Torrey at John Deere, because they’re the ones that came up with it, I said, ‘Brian, there’s a lot of people in here saying we need other stickers for our equipment, too.’”

And he says the “Andy Clean” movement brand got a boost before John Deere’s big X9 unveiling in 2020.

“The night before the X9was released, they threw a picture of it up on Twitter, and it had the ‘Andy Clean’ sticker on it. So that’s when it really took off.,” he says.

But as the “Andy Clean” craze continued, he had an idea to try to recoup some of his costs from shipping the stickers around the globe.

“It was never really in my mind to make a soap, but I had a lot of people asking me what kind of soap I was using and stuff like that,” he says. “It just kind of clicked where I thought I might as well try and create something.”

And so he did. His own “Andy Clean” soap that was created by a farmer and then tested by other farmers all across Ontario

“What makes it the ‘Andy Clean’ soap different is it’s farmer-built,” says Pastzor. “That’s what it is. It’s farmer-built, right from the ground up.”

The creation process took longer than expected, as COVID-19 shutdowns and supply chain issues have also been a factor in getting the product in farmers hands. But Pastzor is finally crossing the finish line as he works to build a network of John Deere dealers to retail his soap not only in Canada, but also in the U.S. And he knew exactly where to start; none other than one of his local John Deere dealer, Huron Tractor.

“I just called him up and said, ‘Hey, Justin, you guys interested in retailing this,” says Pasztor.

And Justin Englehart, corporate parts manager for Huron Tractor in Ontario didn’t really hesitate with his answer.

“I had been following it for quite a while. So, it was a no brainer for me. I immediately said yes, and I think I might have even cut them off halfway through and just said, ‘Yep, just send me the order form,’” says Englehart as he smiles.

The product has been in place here at Huron tractor for just a week, and it’s already creating big buzz.

“Lots of interest, for sure,” Englehart adds. “I think we’ve sold three or four today even, and it’s selling quick.”

As Pastzor works to make even more dealer connections across both the U.S. and Canada, he’s using Twitter as a launching point. As he says the marketing team at John Deere, along with key connections on Twitter, have been the foundation of his success.

“I’ll give myself maybe 5% credit on the ‘Andy Clean’ brand,” he says. “It’s just everybody else on Twitter and social media who built the company, because they were tweeting the ‘Andy Clean’ stuff. That’s the cool part about it. Those are the people I have to thank for it. “

As the business takes off, he says he really doesn’t even consider it a business right now. It’s just good, clean fun. However, he does have big goals for the business that he’s starting to build.

“We grow a lot of vegetables and stuff,” says Pasztor. “So that pretty much takes up our summer. Once we start in April, it’s all the way till pretty much until December that we’re in the field and working. So, I’m kind of hoping this takes off where we can ease a little bit up on the on the vegetables because it consumes our summer quite a bit and don’t get to have a lot of fun.”

His ultimate goal is to use the money from ‘Andy Clean’ to give back to the agriculture community in some way, a noble goal born from a business social media helped create.