Agrea: Social Enterprise Marketing

No dream is too simple. For Cherrie Atilano,  her dream is loud and clear: everyone needs to eat. Cherrie grew up on a sugarcane farm in Negros Occidental and has since been able to share her knowledge with her neighboring farmers that she learned through reading books when she was 12 years old. She took up a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture, majoring in Horticulture Specializing on Tissue Culture, and since then made it her mission to make agriculture accessible to Filipinos, creating initiatives that improve the livelihoods of existing farmers, as well as attracting younger generations to take up farming as a viable career path.

From a simple desire to help fellow farmers in her hometown, she created a movement that aims to address issues of poverty surrounding the agricultural sector, as well as a platform where women can be empowered to work in the male-dominated industry of farming. With her efforts, Cherrie has made farming sexy and attractive.

This momentum needs a proper organization to fully utilize the abilities of those who are committed to her mission. She wanted to create an organization that will be a national, even worldwide initiative. Cherrie then sought to collaborate with Design for Tomorrow when it was just a mere idea and guided the founders in crystallizing the vision through a branding that articulates the vision and mission, defining what it stands for, and what this mold-breaking movement hopes to achieve.

In 2015, she formally launched the AGREA brand, a mobilizing organization aimed at activating opportunities in underproductive agricultural lands and a catalyst for young people to discover the untapped potential of the agricultural industry in the Philippines. The name is a portmanteau of Agriculture and the Greek goddess Gaea, the personification of Earth. AGREA’s core pillars, Planet, Progress, and People grounded the already thriving movement into a more focused undertaking.

Overall, DFT and the founders formulated AGREA’s mission slogan, “Ecology of Dignity,” anchored on the idea that agriculture encompasses all aspects of living: plants, animals, and humans, and as such should be approached with sensitivity, far-reaching vision, and consideration of impact and mutualism.

The challenge to communicate this effectively to current members and potential partners inside and out of the Philippines is a matter of precise visualization of the organization’s essence that can be summed up by a graphic mark and complementary elements. DFT designed a brand identity that encapsulates the entirety of AGREA, with a trinity of leaves representing sustainability and its three core pillars, as well as resembling the symbol of fertility and incubator of life – the female reproductive system. This symbol is interspersed with a pyramid-like initial “A” that connotes an upward compass and progress for farmers and agriculture. Green and earthen tones underscore the commitment to sustainable practices in agriculture, growth, and hope. Completing the logo is a circle that represents the world and the entire ecosystem.

Successfully launched locally and widely used for global partnerships the logo and identity became the movement’s shorthand for everything AGREA wants to express and stand for. DFT also provided the supplementary brand narrative, brand strategy, and applied the brand elements across all collaterals, both print and digital, and guided the stakeholders on the brand implementation and applications.

The AGREA brand identity becomes an international icon and visual signpost for the movement’s steadfast commitment to agriculture and sustainability. Now recognized by prestigious institutions and governments worldwide, it has also become a catalyst for how the youth view farming as a viable, worthwhile, and inspiring path to pursue.