Yara International is a global leader in sustainable agriculture and environmental solutions, providing products and services that support farmers across the globe, enhance crop nutrition, and improve agricultural productivity. Yara is committed to fostering a nature-positive food future, leveraging innovation and expertise to reduce environmental impact and drive growth.
A finalist for the 2024 Loyalty360 Awards at this year’s Loyalty Expo in Orlando, FL, in the B2B Customer Loyalty category, Yara received the platinum award while taking home the silver in the Corporate Social Responsibility and Loyalty category.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Chantal Ghannam, Director of Marketing & Digital, and Renan Kawakami, Loyalty Manager, at Yara Brazil, about the brand’s award-winning presentations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) success, and possible program expansion.
Can you give us a brief overview of your brand and your winning Loyalty360 Award entries in the B2B Customer Loyalty and Corporate Social Responsibility and Loyalty categories from the 2024 Loyalty Expo?
Ghannam: Yara International is a crop solutions company from Norway. We focus on high-quality premium products, with digitalization and sustainability, to bring the best efficiency and health to our clients in the farming world and in food chain companies.
We take an omnichannel approach to loyalty. We have a program for our end clients—our farmers, our channels, our retailers, and our experts so that we can offer more benefits and more technical advice. We believe that bringing the whole ecosystem together will make Yara closer to all of them. For me, that is the real innovation in this loyalty program.
Aside from receiving recognition for your success, what are one or two things you’re most proud of when it comes to your brand’s loyalty program or corporate social responsibility efforts?
Ghannam: Yara is very engaged in corporate social responsibility. Since the program’s beginning, we’ve made it possible for our clients or partners to donate part of their rewards.
This year, the situation in Brazil was critical. We’ve experienced huge floods in the last two and a half months. More than 600,000 people have been dislocated from their homes. We put all our efforts into delivering help to the community. We were quite proud of the results. In the month of May alone, we saw 20 times more donations than in the whole year of 2022.
That made us very proud of the program, and you learn that you can make an impact on people’s lives.
What’s one piece of advice you can share with a similar brand or someone who seeks to expand or enhance their customer loyalty initiatives?
Kawakami: I have two pieces of advice when it comes to loyalty strategies.
The first one is to remain creative despite the loyalty market growing and new competitors emerging daily. It’s crucial to continually introduce new features and benefits to members to maintain the program’s relevance.
Secondly, promote and create a sense of community within the program. It’s essential that members feel that they are a part of the brand—part of a group. I constantly promote how the members of Boa Colheita—our customer loyalty program—are united in developing a collaborative society.
Briefly, what is the next exciting step Yara International plans to take to strengthen its customer loyalty strategies?
Kawakami: That’s a great question. The Boa Colheita team is currently working on exciting new benefits and content for the program. Our ambitions are high.
Perhaps Boa Colheita will expand to a second program or implement a Boa Colheita in another country. I cannot say, but we are enthusiastic about the brilliant future Boa Colheita’s building for Yara Brazil and Brazilian society.
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To learn more about Loyalty360’s 2024 Loyalty Expo, the Loyalty360 Awards, and other award-winning programs, please visit LoyaltyExpo.com. Sign up to be notified of the next Loyalty360 conference by visiting: https://loyalty360.org/subscribe