Challenge
Since 2019, June Communications has collaborated closely with Commoditrader as a strategic communication partner for the Romanian market. A year after launching the digital trading platform for agricultural commodities in Romania, Commoditrader released a new product for the carbon sequestration certification program. JuneCom stepped in to help them create a media strategy to raise awareness of the program and the benefits of conservation agriculture.
Commoditrader was already taking advantage of a sound image capital in the local market, but the concept of conservation agriculture, its practices, and benefits that farmers could take advantage of in the medium and long term was not known. The main goal of the PR campaign was to create a strong storyline about the power of the Romanian farmers to fight climate change, to assure a better living for future generations by switching to conservation agricultural practices and enrolling in the CommodiCarbon program, and benefiting from financial support for this transition.
Industry
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Agriculture, financial services
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Conservation Agriculture
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Carbon Sequestration Certification
Services Provided
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Communication strategy design
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Press Release Copywriting
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Media Coverage Monitoring
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Social Media Management
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Distribution in Agriculture Groups
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Media Buying
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KOL management
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Media Relations
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Website content copywriting
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Blog articles copywriting
About
Globally, farmers are becoming aware of the impact of their activity against the environment through CO2 emissions, influencing soil quality and thus the crops obtained. More and more of them are starting to adopt conservation agriculture, changing their traditional practices with more sustainable ones. CommodiCarbon is a CO2e certification program launched in 2020 that allows farmers to plan a full or partial conversion to conservation agriculture. Conservation agricultural practices capture carbon in the soil and reduce CO2 emissions. CommodiCarbon's mission is to promote sustainable farming methods aligned with global trends and support farmers in their transition with co-financing.
Conservation agriculture is based on five essential principles: crop rotation, the reduction of soil disturbances, the optimal distribution of residues, green fields throughout the year, and fertility optimization. Crops become more drought tolerant and absorb rainwater more efficiently, contributing to better nutrient storage and improved soil quality. The transition to conservation agriculture favors biodiversity, generating a rich biological activity. Moreover, by adopting this type of agriculture, the farmers can store the greenhouse gas and CO2e, which can be quantified, verified, and transformed into carbon certificates that bring financial benefits to farmers.
Approach
From the initial launch of Commoditrader in the Romanian market to the launch of the new CommodiCarbon program, we made sure that the news reached the right audience through the right channels. We carried out a complete communication strategy, using broad media and agricultural profile media, tech, business, and local media, to reach out to the main target - the farmers and also to influencers and KOL like industry associations, profile universities, research centres and other business players of the industry. The communication campaign came along with integrated marketing actions conducted by the Client and partially by JuneCom.
We designed the communication strategy and media planning and afterwards we were in charge of its implementation and following up on results.
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Research and understanding of the European programs - PAC and Green Deal Program
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Understanding of the carbon certification field, of the local and international market context, and information internalization on the subject by the JuneCom team
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Strategic planning for the program launch based on the strategic objectives to be achieved and in the set timeline
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Selection of the key partners and KOL to support the project
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Selection of suitable channels for communication - media relations and social media
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Selection of the target agro and business publications
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Media pitching of the leading journalists in the industry
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Media buying and planning for the key publishers: e-banners and advertorials in Agrointeligenta
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Website & content review of the Romanian language and dedicated landing page for CommodiCarbon
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Identifying the right messages for the main audience - the farmers, to determine them to take action and for the second audience, the influencers and KOL.
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Collaborating and strengthening the partnership with APPR for designing the market strategy of the new program. Commoditrader participated at the annual APPR conference and we issued a press release to announce the strengthening of the partnership
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Identifying and interviewing KOL in the industry to exemplify good practices, estimating results, social proof for farmers to get the right feeling of the potential benefits
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Feedback on visuals and messages in the social media campaign owned by farmers
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Distribution of the messages to specific Social Media groups
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Media relations and content creation for press
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Monitoring media coverage on all media channels
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Reporting and analyzing the results vs. the objectives set for the campaign
To emphasize the benefits of conservative agriculture and empower farmers nationwide, we conducted interviews with two Key Opinion Leaders in the Romanian agriculture industry, which generated a great media attention.
The first PR material featured Arnaud Perrein, a farmer with 14 years of experience in the romanian farming and the vice-president of the APPR. He has been practicing conservation agriculture for several years and being a strong promoter, and he believes that the co-financing of farmers to support their transition to sustainable practices is a good incentive.
The second material featured Teofil Dascălu, a farmer with over 15 years of experience in the industry, the CEO of Frizon Group, one of the most digitized agricultural Romanian companies with the vision of an integrated business model, focusing on the best practices in terms of digitization and adoption of conservation practices. He is one of the early adopters of conservative farming practices. It has openly integrated the Commoditrader platform into day-to-day operations. He sees pragmatic benefits of conservation agriculture on the day-to-day activities, but the farmer practices it primarily to fight against climate change and ensure a better life for future generations.
Deliverables and outcome for launching CommodiCarbon
3
PRESS RELEASES
164
MEDIA ARTICLES (ONLINE PRESS, NEWS AGGREGATORS)
97
SOCIAL MEDIA SHARES
1
MEDIA INTERVIEW
3
MEDIA PITCHING ARTICLES
2
ADVERTORIALS IN AGRICULTURE MEDIA
1
E-BANNER
2
CASE STUDIES WITH
KEY OPINION LEADERS
Deliverables in 2 years of collaboration
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The launch of the Commoditrader platform in Romania
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The launch of the CommodiCarbon program in Romania
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11 Press Releases
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1 Client Testimonial Project that generated 15 interviews
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2 Case Studies with Local Farmers (Key Opinion Leaders) for CommodiCarbon
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Partnerships with Agriculture Associations
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Social Media Content creation and Platform Management
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Social Media Distribution in Groups of Agriculture Profile
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Research of potential business partners for the Romanian market
Outcome in 2 years of collaboration
11
Press Releases
+260
Press Articles
+130
Social Media Shares
Want to see more? Read the Commoditrader Case Study on our blog.
About
Commoditrader ApS is a Danish fintech start-up founded in 2018 by Julie Koch Fahler, Ida Boesen, and a Danish group of farmers. By launching the online trading platform www.commoditrader.com, the company is committed to supporting transparent and open trade and creating better connections at the farm level using digitalization.
Ida Boesen
CO-FOUNDER, COMMODITRADER
For our launch of Commoditrader and our digital marketplace for the trade of agricultural commodities, we worked in close collaboration with June. Entering a market from the distance requires the right team on the ground and June supported us to a high extend on the PR and media side of our launch. We ended up with more than doubling our goal of reach, and had a highly successful launch. June receives our highest recommendations!