Open Register

It’s marketing mania at California pack trials

David Kuack, editor of GMPro magazine, made his yearly pilgrimage to the California pack trials in April. Today, he shares some of the interesting (and eye opening) marketing materials companies displayed. Look for full coverage of the trials in the July issue of GMPro.

This year’s California pack trial displays offered something for everyone, from the whimsical to the provocative. Several companies that participated in the trials said they are seeing an increasing number of retailers stopping and visiting their displays--this includes both big boxes and independents.

Fides’ point-of-sale posters drew the most comments. At many stops people were asking “Have you been to Fides?” Each poster incorporated the specific flower that was on display. Would the posters help sell more flowers? Not sure, but they would certainly get people to stop and look.

New moms get the gift of fresh air

New moms at NYU Langone Medical Center will receive a peace lily plant today, courtesy of Florida grower Costa Farms and the nonprofit organization Earth Day New York. The plants are being touted as natural air purifiers, helping to protect a newborn’s lungs.

“This gift of fresh air launches the beginning of the ‘O2 for You’ public service campaign,” said Jose Smith, Costa Farms CEO. “We want people to understand the health benefits of indoor plants just as they do with blueberries and antioxidants. Research shows plants can help you live a healthier life.”

According to a NASA study, indoor plants remove up to 87% of dangerous volatile chemicals every 24 hours.

As the mother of a 5-week-old I’ve got one question: Do they rid the house of icky diaper odor, too?

-- Sarah

Racy plant ads raise gardeners’ eyebrows

I was browsing some of the consumer gardening blogs when I came across a couple discussions about Pack Trials as seen from consumers’ points of view. The growers’ marketing efforts struck a false note for them. They saw the campaigns as an effort of bringing in non gardeners who will treat plants as particularly long lasting bouquets. They worried that this meant that garden retailers would push aside traditional gardeners so they can get more money from a broader audience.

How valid are these concerns? Some retail campaigns are aimed at garden decorators, as Gardening Gone Wild’s Saxon Holt called them on his blog. These are the customers we target with overflowing, big impact container gardens. Those plants will be replaced at season’s end with the next crop of abundant, luxurious color.

And it’s true that our industry yearns to bring in new garden buyers. How do we convert suburbanites who equate gardening with weekly mowing to true gardening? Do we dumb down gardening? Or do we try to develop more advanced gardening skills?

So, are true gardeners sidelined in our efforts to reach new and younger gardeners?

Rebate checks could fund landscape improvements

Jeff Edgar with Silver Creek Nurseries in Manitowac, Wis., offers a few thoughts on how consumers could spend economic stimulus checks that will be hitting mailboxes this summer.

You probably have received your notice from the Feds about the economic stimulus payment checks that some of us will be receiving in May.

According to the president, this money is to be used to buy things and not for paying off debt. Although some will pay off existing bills, some are probably thinking the money would put a dent in the cost of a HDTV or something similar. While that might be good, the profit from a sale like that goes out of the country.

What better way is there for people to enhance their homes than to use this money to buy plants or put it toward a landscaping project? The money will be spent on goods and services instead of reducing any personal debt and most, if not all of it, stays local.

Most landscaping plants are produced in this country, sold by local nurseries and installed by American companies. When the economy comes back, any landscape improvements will just add to the value of homes.

If this interests you, there's still time for you to advertise this idea to your potential customers and just maybe we can benefit from a greater portion of this money.

Just a thought on Tax Day ...

-- Jeff Edgar

Are hard goods a hard sell?

When I’m in a plant buying mood, the first place I head is to my favorite independent garden center. But if I’m searching for hard goods or bagged goods I always end up at a nearby big-box store. Why? Because when it comes to these items the mass merchants have better prices and a wider selection. At least in my neck of the woods.

Case in point: The husband and I started rehabilitating our front flower bed this weekend. I wanted some plain black plastic edging to keep the Bermudagrass from intruding. (It’s a losing battle, I know. Just humor me, OK?) I knew exactly what I wanted. The flexible kind that comes in a big roll.

I went to my local garden center and, of course, they didn’t have it. They had something kind of similar, but I would’ve had to buy two rolls and spend a lot more than I intended to. So, I headed over to Lowe’s and got exactly what I wanted and spent less than $30.

Still, I felt bad. I really want to patronize local independent businesses. But when you’ve got two small children and a tight budget, price tends to trump everything else.

I’ve talked to plenty of garden center operators who say they don’t try to compete with the big boxes on price -- particularly when it comes to hard goods. Everything gets the normal markup. Some customers will go ahead and pay the price, others will go elsewhere. That’s just the nature of business.

What’s your strategy? Does your selection of hard goods mirror what you’d find at big boxes? Are prices similar? Or do you do your own thing? What are the pros and cons of that approach?

-- Sarah

It’s the same ol’ thing at your local garden center!

Each Saturday I pick up the home and garden section of my local newspaper. And each Saturday during spring I see the same full color, full page ad from one of my local garden centers.

It’s essentially the exact same thing. Each and every week.

No, wait. It gets better. I’d bet you $500 that the exact same round of ads have run for at least the last three years. The only thing that changes is the “headline” plant. (Geraniums first, later switching to petunias, then impatiens.)

It pains me. Why oh why are they shelling out money for an ad that shows nothing new and exciting? A full page giving customers absolutely no reason to come out and visit?

It might be easier to simply repeat last year’s ad campaign. But, trust me, people notice. And it’s not the kind of recognition that you want. Make a commitment to get the full bang out of your advertising dollar by tailoring ads to THIS year’s hot new products.

-- Sarah

Canadale Nurseries wins Perennials Marketing Contest

Canadale Nurseries in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, won the 2007 Perennials Marketing Contest sponsored by Plant Publicity Holland and Perennial Plant Association. The store’s winning submission was called “Down the Inspirational Perennial Path.”

“The display concept is to inspire our customers to create a beautiful perennial garden of their own by showing customers perennials planted in the ground in a small garden center,” the store’s submission read.

Customer education was also an important component of the display. Free color information sheets were provided in a stand next to the display. The winners will receive a trip for two to Holland in August. Garden Center Magazine is media sponsor of this contest.

-- Sarah

Green industry Gen Xer gets her say

Jessica Hall, a grower from the East Coast, read Garden Center columnist Ian Baldwin’s December article about how to connect with Gen X and Gen Y gardeners, and sent in this reaction. (To check out Ian's column for yourself, click on the links to pages one, two and three of the article.)

Dear Mr. Baldwin,

My name is Jessica and I am 25. I just finished reading your article on Green Beam and WOW did it hit home. I finished college in 2005 and found myself in my current career working in the grower department for an East Coast lawn and garden distributor. The generation gap that your article highlighted is something I face in one way or anther on a daily basis.

I got into this industry because of my passion for horticulture; however, I feel that’s the only thing I have in common with my peers. Unfortunately there just aren’t that many young people involved in this industry and for the few there are, our joint voices just aren’t being heard. Your characterization of my generation fit me to the T! Not only did I recognize EVERY brand you mentioned, I am a repeat customer for most of them along with my “Mr. iPod” and our lovely three children (all of which are the four legged kind). The only difference between my husband and I and the rest of our Gen X and Y peers is that we are on the horticultural industries side. We both are very passionate horticulturalists and gardeners, and try to offer our opinions and advice all the time to help bridge the gap. Unfortunately no one really listens to us.

It seems that this industry doesn’t really care about marketing to the tastes and wants of Gen X and Y. The very expensive marketing techniques down to the simple daily marketing inputs all seemed to be geared to a much older (pardon me for saying that) customer base.

A simple clay planter with the typical annual combo might be just fine…for my mother, but what about my taste? Where are the sleek black planters to match my lacquered black IKEA furniture? Or why does going to the local garden center feel/seem dirty and cluttered compared to my quite regular visits to “Tarzhay” where it’s always bright, clean and the employees are easily identifiable with some form of red on (not even a “true” uniform in the sense).

It isn’t for lack of interest that my generation isn’t shopping at the greenhouse and garden centers. Most of us, myself included, hold fond memories from our childhood of celebrating Earth Day and like to take any extra measures we can to be environmentally friendly. The way to market to us is by going green and going upscale. We want to buy things that make us feel “high end” and know that we are doing something positive for the environment in the process.

Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, if the industry doesn’t soon start attempting to offer products in ways that appeal to my generation, the consequence will be losing out completely on a group of consumers with the disposable income to really turn things around for an industry that has been fighting an uphill battle for a while. I wanted to take a moment to tell you how right you are in what you wrote and to say on behalf of Gen X and Y thanks for saying what we’ve been screamin’ all along.

Sincerely,
Jessica Hall

Stoke the spring fires

It gets cold even in Texas. And during chilly weekends there’s nothing better than curling up with a good gardening catalog. Right now, I’ve got the latest catalogs from Plant Delights Nursery, Park Seed and Jackson & Perkins stacked on my desk at home. Maybe I’ll get around to them on Saturday…

And, like so many other gardeners, I’m dealing with a deluge of promotional e-mails from the mail order companies. They’re kind of annoying, but I still end up opening them. (Hey, I’m working. I’m doing trends research. Yeah. That’s it.)

I’m a sucker for full-color photos and dreamy plant descriptions. I make wish lists and complete order forms that I may or may not actually send in.

In the midst of these mail-order missives, I stumbled across a postcard from one of my favorite local garden centers.

Was it offering a sneak preview of the best new plants for spring? An overview of hot perennials for 2008? Nope. It was a friendly reminder that they offer free soil testing.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a valuable and useful service. (Which confirmed last year that my soil has enough clay to start a pottery factory.) But there’s nothing fun or exciting about soil testing. It’s certainly not a message that got me in the mood to buy. In fact, it dampened my enthusiasm. It got me thinking about all the soil amendments I need to bring my front flower beds up to par. Sigh.

I know retail reality hits hard this time of year. Most businesses are just trying to keep the lights on and key staff employed until spring rolls around. But here’s my point: If you’re going to invest money in early season marketing, make sure you do something inspirational.

Take a cue from the mail-order catalogs and create something that whets the appetite. Sure, you can mention the houseplants, soil testing and stuff that will bring in a trickle of customers now. Just do yourselves a favor and give people a reason to rush in right after the last frost date. You’ll be glad you did.

-- Sarah

Greenleaf Nursery launches Gen X, Y marketing program

Greenleaf Nursery in Park Hill, Okla., will introduce a marketing program this spring designed to appeal to Generation X and Y consumers.

O2: Planting for the Future targets busy families with school-age children. Program materials emphasize the importance of oxygen and its role in the ecosystem. Greenleaf will offer plant tags, banners and point-of-purchase materials supporting this initiative.

The program is exclusively available to independent garden centers during its first year. Garden centers interested in the program can contact the local Greenleaf Nursery sales representative for more details.

-- Sarah