Summit participants aim to put marketing on national stage

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- On at least three separate occasions, I can remember sitting in hotel meeting rooms and listening to impassioned speakers tell us why the green industry needs a national marketing program. There was FloraBoard in the 80s, PromoFlor in the mid-90s and Plants for America in the late 90s. Scattered in between were the Nursery Marketing Council, the Garden Council, Fall is for Planting and probably some others that escape me now.

Some of those programs never got off the ground; others were scuttled before they really had a chance to prove themselves; still others foundered after volunteer donors grew weary of carrying the brunt while the entire industry benefited.

Now we find ourselves in another meeting room, this time at Bailey Nurseries’ impressive facility, where about 40 of the industry’s brightest minds are discussing how to create – and, perhaps most perplexing, fund – a national promotional campaign that would encourage consumers to buy more plants, flowers, trees, sod and so on. Oh, and if we can get homeowners to put in that irrigation system, buy more fertilizer and install an outdoor fireplace, that would be great, too.

One of the forces behind the National Green Industry Summit is the energetic Dale Siems of Sherman Nurseries. He foresees “progress of historical proportions” at the summit.

So what has changed in the last decade that makes Siems and others think the time is right for a renewed national marketing program?

“The last real drive on the national level found most of us complacent,” Siems told the participants. “We were selling or buying every stick of nursery stock we could get our hands on. Times are different now,” he said.

Don’t expect a whole lot to be solved at this initial meeting. These kinds of initiatives move slowly at first, nurtured by a few believers like Siems who make phone call after phone call to get others on board. It’s a years-long process, and I’m thankful we have folks like Siems to push us forward.

Check back for the latest developments from the summit.

-- Kevin