Soil Poetry
Brief
In 2023/24, Yara International, one of the world’s biggest producers of mineral fertilizer and agricultural technology, was going to launch ”organic-based fertilizer” – products based on organic material and that are suitable for organic farming – for the first time.
For the launch, Yara wanted a campaign that separated these products from the rest of their portfolio. More than highlighting the benefits of the products, the campaign should focus on the target group and their sentiments. It should prove that we understand them and what drives them in their farming life.
Yara believed these products would naturally be the preferred choice for farmers who are particularly focused on soil health. Farmers who care about and take pride in their soil, not only producing as much as possible, and who see a direct link between soil health and the quality of their crops and produce.
Solution
However, soil health alone can easily be very technical and all about ”dry” specifics. Not necessarily something to build a campaign around. So, we decided that we needed to talk to farmers, and find out more about how they think, feel and act on the topic of soil and soil health.
And through dialogue with them, we realized something astonishing. Many of the farmers expressed an almost emotional connection to their land. Feelings that are rarely, if ever, expressed in words. Many of them felt that getting questions about the relationship to their soil was somewhat strange, some even found it a bit uncomfortable to open up on such feelings. It was almost as if this was something private. Still, it was obvious that this was something universal and common to the target group.
So, we decided to tap into these emotions, collect them, and use them to create ”Soil Poetry.”
But we needed more. So, we surveyed over 1,000 European farmers to describe their relationship with their soil. Giving us a large database of quotes describing their true feelings towards their land and their soil, and how they treat and nuture it to make sure it thrives. And then we visited nine of them: Johannes, Anna and Mikael in Sweden, Valentina, Lorenzo and Niccola in Italy, and Jo, Russ and James in the UK. We gathered quotes, portrayed them together with one of Norway’s most renowned food and portrait photographers, and highlighted the deep connection between them and their soil. We then selected, rewrote, and curated our favorite quotes.
This not only formed the basis for a unique Yara campaign, it also resulted in the publication of a poetry collection, called ”The Unspoken Sacred Trust”. A title taken from one of the quotes in the book. A 63-page poetry book, where each poem is presented alongside intimate, honest, and emotional photographs from the nine farms we visited. It was printed in 1000 copies, and given to key farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural industry.
The campaign also stayed true to the personal and poetic feel that was so evident throughout the book. Poems made from quotes were put together with the beautiful images from the farms. Everything highlighting the intimate, strong bond between farmers and soil. It was used as both ads (digital and printed), in Point-of-Sales material, and the best quotes were also made into short films for use in social media – with the farmers themselves reading the poems over a slideshow of images from their farms. The choice of using still photos here aswell was deliberate, as the photography underlined the subtle, artistic approach in the poetry.
A series of articles for both the respective markets and the international websites was also produced, spanning from farmer portraits to atricles that focus more thorougly on soil health. But all of them used the theme of soil poetry to a certain degree.
Results
The poetry book was so well-received that the first circulation proved to be not nearly enough, and a second circulation is currently considered. Also, both China and Brazil – two huge and important markets for Yara – have expressed interest in having the book translated to their respective languages.
The Soil Poetry-campaign itself was also very well-received, both among the markets and the end-audience – the farmers.
The timing for when each of the core markets (Scandinavia, Italy and UK) launched the new products varied, and the utilization of the campaign material was largely up to the marketing teams in each country. Timing would also hinge on when relevant crops are in season. Creating assets and content that could be distributed when they believed it to be most impactful was thus the most important aspect.
However, due to a huge internal interest from other European markets within the Yara system, and to benefit from the momentum created by the poetry book, it was decided on running a "European campaign" in autumn 2023 to kickstart the launch. It was to run organic only for the first five weeks, and then be supported by paid content in week 6. The campaign was mainly targeted at farmers and people within the agricultural industry in central Europe (France, Italy, Spain and UK), but also specific audiences within the food industry.
Despite being very specific in its messaging towards a very specific audience, the numbers proved to be really good. Through organic reach only, the posts reached more than 65.000 unique users within the target group (for context: It is estimated that there are only somewhere between 150.000 and 200.000 farmers that grow organically/ecologically in France, Italy, Spain and UK in total). And the posts had an average engagement rate of 3,79%, vs 1,2% industry benchmark.
When adding the numbers from the paid distribution, the posts had an estimated reach of 95.000 unique users, and more than 130.000 impressions.