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 fertiliser 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 one 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. 

Jakkrit Charupong, product group manager, Tra Mongkut: “Thailand is one of the leading rice producers and one of the dominant food-producing countries of the world. Thai farmers play a major role in the agricultural sector which has long been the real backbone of the country. That is why we at Tra Mongkut are committed to providing insights and solutions that will inspire and enable a better living for Thai farmers to achieve a healthier and more sustainable living in Thailand’s agriculture industry.”

Park Wannasiri, chief creative officer, Wunderman Thompson Thailand: “This is the whole new way to look at innovation. It’s a new, simple solution (almost too simple!) but truly helped and embraced by real users. As a brand leader, we need to build more than just awareness but go for brand action that shows our support to the local farmer community. When we launched the campaign and consumers started to create their own version of our Signboard, we knew it then that this made right impact. Thank you to the brand and research team for knowing what their consumers really need.”

As quoted from one of the farmers: “Tra Mongkut gave us an incredible weapon” – the Shelter Signboard became Thai farmers’ life hack of the year. We’ve got their backs!