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Can what’s happening on agricultural fields captivate people beyond just farmers?

In short, the answer is yes—it can indeed, provided the right communication strategy is applied, impactful creative solutions are used, compelling stories and personalities are identified, and influencers who resonate with the target audience are involved. Our experience shows that thousands of Estonians, if not more, are interested in what happens in agricultural fields.

This summer, many traveling across the country may have noticed beautiful paintings by Estonian artists displayed along the edges of agricultural fields. Beyond being visually stunning and intriguing to compare with the actual fields, the project carried a deeper message about the vital role of agriculture in all our lives.

The META team worked with BASF and AD Angels to share Estonian farmers’ stories in the media and on social media.

Our activities in numbers:

The campaign ran from July to August, with PR activities carried out exclusively in July, lasting just one month.

Social media collaboration with one influencer;

Media outreach relied on one spokesperson;

Total of 18 media coverages;

17 different media outlets (local and national media, television, and radio);

Estimated earned media value: €52,510

We reached approximately 440,000 people in total.

What did we do?

Since the paintings were displayed in seven different locations across Estonia, it provided an opportunity to engage both regional and national media.

The campaign generated 18 pieces of earned media coverage across 17 different channels in just one month. News about the paintings displayed along the edges of agricultural fields appeared online, in print, and on radio, and through a well-chosen spokesperson, even made it to television news. For context, Estonia has 15 counties, and most counties have their own local publication. This means that a significant portion of people in every region of Estonia learned about the paintings and, along with them, the activities happening in the fields.

The news stories primarily focused on the paintings, which in turn helped tell the story of crops and farmers—presenting agriculture in a way that could engage even those who might otherwise find the topic uninteresting.

Through 17 different channels, we reached nearly 400,000 people. This means the news, and the topic itself, reached almost as many people as the population of Tallinn.

Carefully selected spokespeople and influencers

One of the key figures of the campaign was Farmer Tõnis, a familiar name to many through social media. In addition to blogging, he shares his daily life on Instagram, where he has gathered nearly 12,000 followers. Tõnis is the first farmer in Estonia to bring the everyday life of a farmer to a remarkably large audience in the Estonian context through social media. What makes his content particularly engaging is his honest and humorous take on both successes and challenges, including failures.

Instead of focusing on the campaign’s goals as such, we approached the media through Tõnis’ personal story. Using his own genuine experiences, Tõnis highlighted the most important aspects of the campaign: what truly happens in the agricultural fields, the challenges farmers face, and what they think about most while working the farm fields. Farmer Tõnis shared his story with tens of thousands of viewers on TV3, helping to create a people-centered perspective on agriculture. Our goal was to inspire people driving past beautiful fields in the summer to reflect on the possible stories behind them.

Photo: Farmer Tõnis, Instagram @farmer.tonis

One of the campaign’s goals was to bring agriculture closer to Gen Z (born roughly between 1997 and 2010). This is the future generation in the broadest sense, with media consumption habits that differ from those of older generations. To reach and engage them in a way that would help them relate to an otherwise unfamiliar topic, we involved a second influencer—someone with no prior connection to agriculture—who could explore and present the topic in their channels with genuine curiosity and a sense of discovery.

We collaborated with Loora Liisa Leosk, known as looraxo. With 43,000 followers on Instagram, she is well-known among young people but has no direct connection to agriculture. Loora visited the paintings displayed near the fields and shared her experience on Instagram through one post and three stories. Her content reached nearly 40,000 people. For comparison, in the same month—July—the circulation of one of Estonia’s most-read newspapers, Õhtuleht, was 29,400.

Photo: Loora Liisa Leosk, Instagram @looraxo

The project was created in collaboration with BASF and the AD Angels team, with META providing communication support through Ann Hiiemaa, Mirjam Mäesalu, Janet Õunapuu, Merilyn Säde, and Anett Veske.