Tra Mongkut: The Shelter Signboard

Thailand is the world’s third largest rice exporter with more than 4.6 millions rice farmers nationwide breaking their backs daily to satisfy global consumption needs. With Thailand’s tremendous hot weather sometimes reaching 44.6°C, toiling at the paddy field daily in extreme heat is not only tiring but also dangerous to the farmers’ health. Many farmers live by their lands and works 80 hours a week in this condition with no other choice. Yearly, there are 38 death cases reported of farmers dying of heat stroke alone. Tra Mongkut, the country’s leading agricultural fertilizer partnered with Wunderman Thompson Thailand to back the health of Thai farmers with a simple but life changing solution – Shelter Signboard. The Shelter Signboard is not just a signboard. It is custom-made and researched to reduce heat from the scorching sun by 3°C - 4°C. Its reflective paint reflects back direct sunlight allowing shelter for farmers whilst they work on the fields. 20,000 signboards were handed out to farmers nationwide within 1 month. Sales representatives from Tra Mongkut joined the fields to greet the farmers and provided demonstration and education on the usage of these Shelter Signboards. To share our sincerest gratitude to all these farmers feeding the nation with their sweat and tears, these signboards were printed with messages of cheers and appreciation for their hard work. The Shelter Signboard became the most wanted premium in the farmer’s community. Its massive popularity spread organically offline and online and even inspired other farmers to create their own Shelter Signboard. Even with zero media budget, this initiative gained THB10million of free PR with nationwide news coverage. It generated so much positive news that even the Thai government also joined in to support our innovation by taking this initiative nationwide and focusing more on health of farmers.