Now Is The Time For National Promotion

I love that plant slogan, "stimulus plants" Well, at the risk of being run off the page by bringing everyone down, let me talk a bit about this idea. If I understand this concept correctly, the end game is to drive more business into independent retail garden centers and nurseries, right? Yes, there were pretty fantastic seasons for us all some years back. The best were in the early 80's when customers would walk into retail greenhouses and say "I want houseplants in my home everywhere!" Remember that? Sweet times! But the river has moved and moved fast in our industry....the boxes, the selections, the pricing, the rapid communication and more importantly, the new generations. We all know that. If we think that this national campaign will drive significant increases in our sales, it just aint gonna happen. The majors will piggyback right onto this concept in a New York minute and take all the oxygen out of the room real fast. Until all our buying generations believe that they can walk through our doors knowing that they will get great plants, great service and great prices, we are stuck just wishin and hopin. To most gardening customers, "independent garden centers equal HIGH PRICES" Now we know that this is not always true, but that is the perception and it will not go away unless we re-think what we are to the buyers of plants and plant products. We need a a different model. We need to re-engineer who we are. For most we are a place to buy spring flowers and bug sprays. We are a big plant stand that is there when they need us and forgotten when the spring is over. So why not look at that model again? Quite trying to be a furniture store or a barbecue boutique. Take out the brass and glass and load the place with plants and plant care products and move them out the door as fast as possible with great prices. Be the plant stand they are looking for. Then watch that checkbook balance go up and stay there! We won't need a national campaign. Everyone in our communities and regions will know where the good stuff and great prices are. I love your enthusiasm for this project. I want to see it succeed. It's just a hard new world out there and we have to recognize the cold hearted reality of where our customers' heads are at. nickhudson greengardengates@blogspot.com

Idea for slogan: Beauty Feeds the Soul What we want is to suggest a 'culture' of living with more beauty, more health, more consciousness. The Food Industry is already moving this way due to attacks on it from the 'health' side, and they are doing it without an industry slogan. In a way, they have broken the ground for us. Ornamental horticulture could align our message with food and health, demonstrating the 'value' that plants contribute to our lives. The marriage of Food and Flowers (the common stand-in for all landscape beauty), is classic evidence of the 'Good Life.' Anyone in the industry could use the slogan or just the concept because it does not name any particular slice of the industry. Targeting specific demographics is done with individual message crafting and delivery media. A universal adoption of the theme would constitute a 'cultural' message without requiring any industry overhead...except maybe to TM the slogan.

What kind of plant life video can we make that could go viral on YouTube, i.e. appeal to young people in droves? Might be able to work a slogan around the cliché, "get a life!"

What I have read answers everything except; What demographic are you targeting? The goal has to be bring in new purchasers. Many of the ideas tossed around, in these articles, just solidifies the people already buying. Create an app for the new phone market. Doesn't cost that much, in terms of other advertising. It can be nerdy and silly, not dry and boring( not that the above ideas are. Just think outside the pot). Figure out who the the enemy really is, a dwindling client base. The app could also create a revenue base to do the next step, what ever that might be. "Plant a Smile".

USDA Sets Hearing for Proposed National Marketing Agreement for Leafy Green Vegetables AMS No. 161-09 Jimmie Turner (202) 720-8998 jimmie.turner@usda.gov Billy Cox (202) 720-8998 billy.cox@usda.gov WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the dates and locations of seven hearings related to a proposed national marketing agreement for leafy green vegetables. The hearings will be held September and October 2009. A cross-section of producers and handlers from the fresh-produce industry proposed the establishment of a marketing agreement to facilitate the practical application of Good Agricultural Practices, Good Handling Practices, and Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If established, only handlers who sign on to the marketing agreement would be subject to the requirements of the accord. Signatory handlers could only handle leafy green vegetables (domestic or imported) that meet the requirements of the program. The hearings provide the public an opportunity to learn more about the proposed agreement and to offer comments in support of or opposition to the agreement. The hearings will be held at the following locations from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (local time) or as determined by the presiding administrative law judge: Sept. 22-24, at the Hyatt Regency Monterey, 1 Old Golf Course Road, Monterey, Calif. Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, 1515 Prudential Drive, Jacksonville, Fla. Oct. 6, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Room D130, 400 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio. Oct. 8, at the Denver Airport Marriott at Gateway Park, 16455 East 40th Circle, Aurora, Colo. Oct. 14-15, at the Yuma Civic Center, Yuma Room, 1440 Desert Hills Drive, Yuma, Ariz. Oct. 20, at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel, 701 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, N.Y. Oct. 22, at the Charlotte Marriot Executive Park, 5700 Westpark Drive, Charlotte, N.C. The proposal and the hearing notice will be published in the Sept. 3, 2009, Federal Register. A copy of the proposal is also available on the home page of the Agricultural Marketing Service's Web site. Copies may be obtained from Antoinette Carter, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 0237, Washington, DC 20250-0237, phone: (202)720-2491, or fax: (202)720-8938; or Melissa Schmaedick, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, Northwest Marketing Field Office, AMS, USDA, 1220 SW Third Avenue, Room 385, Portland, OR 97204; phone: (503)326-2724, or fax: (503)326-7440.

Great idea. I wish I was creative enough to come up with a catchy slogan. I'm sure out there can. As for the best plants winning-they always do-if you can get the customer into your greenhouse.

Something like the 'stimulus plan' Lets all do something for everyone. No, I like the good old American way - you do for you and I'll do for me and may the best plant win.

I love that plant slogan, "stimulus plants" Well, at the risk of being run off the page by bringing everyone down, let me talk a bit about this idea. If I understand this concept correctly, the end game is to drive more business into independent retail garden centers and nurseries, right? Yes, there were pretty fantastic seasons for us all some years back. The best were in the early 80's when customers would walk into retail greenhouses and say "I want houseplants in my home everywhere!" Remember that? Sweet times! But the river has moved and moved fast in our industry....the boxes, the selections, the pricing, the rapid communication and more importantly, the new generations. We all know that. If we think that this national campaign will drive significant increases in our sales, it just aint gonna happen. The majors will piggyback right onto this concept in a New York minute and take all the oxygen out of the room real fast. Until all our buying generations believe that they can walk through our doors knowing that they will get great plants, great service and great prices, we are stuck just wishin and hopin. To most gardening customers, "independent garden centers equal HIGH PRICES" Now we know that this is not always true, but that is the perception and it will not go away unless we re-think what we are to the buyers of plants and plant products. We need a a different model. We need to re-engineer who we are. For most we are a place to buy spring flowers and bug sprays. We are a big plant stand that is there when they need us and forgotten when the spring is over. So why not look at that model again? Quite trying to be a furniture store or a barbecue boutique. Take out the brass and glass and load the place with plants and plant care products and move them out the door as fast as possible with great prices. Be the plant stand they are looking for. Then watch that checkbook balance go up and stay there! We won't need a national campaign. Everyone in our communities and regions will know where the good stuff and great prices are. I love your enthusiasm for this project. I want to see it succeed. It's just a hard new world out there and we have to recognize the cold hearted reality of where our customers' heads are at. nickhudson greengardengates@blogspot.com

Idea for slogan: Beauty Feeds the Soul What we want is to suggest a 'culture' of living with more beauty, more health, more consciousness. The Food Industry is already moving this way due to attacks on it from the 'health' side, and they are doing it without an industry slogan. In a way, they have broken the ground for us. Ornamental horticulture could align our message with food and health, demonstrating the 'value' that plants contribute to our lives. The marriage of Food and Flowers (the common stand-in for all landscape beauty), is classic evidence of the 'Good Life.' Anyone in the industry could use the slogan or just the concept because it does not name any particular slice of the industry. Targeting specific demographics is done with individual message crafting and delivery media. A universal adoption of the theme would constitute a 'cultural' message without requiring any industry overhead...except maybe to TM the slogan.

What kind of plant life video can we make that could go viral on YouTube, i.e. appeal to young people in droves? Might be able to work a slogan around the cliché, "get a life!"

What I have read answers everything except; What demographic are you targeting? The goal has to be bring in new purchasers. Many of the ideas tossed around, in these articles, just solidifies the people already buying. Create an app for the new phone market. Doesn't cost that much, in terms of other advertising. It can be nerdy and silly, not dry and boring( not that the above ideas are. Just think outside the pot). Figure out who the the enemy really is, a dwindling client base. The app could also create a revenue base to do the next step, what ever that might be. "Plant a Smile".

USDA Sets Hearing for Proposed National Marketing Agreement for Leafy Green Vegetables AMS No. 161-09 Jimmie Turner (202) 720-8998 jimmie.turner@usda.gov Billy Cox (202) 720-8998 billy.cox@usda.gov WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the dates and locations of seven hearings related to a proposed national marketing agreement for leafy green vegetables. The hearings will be held September and October 2009. A cross-section of producers and handlers from the fresh-produce industry proposed the establishment of a marketing agreement to facilitate the practical application of Good Agricultural Practices, Good Handling Practices, and Good Manufacturing Practices guidelines published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If established, only handlers who sign on to the marketing agreement would be subject to the requirements of the accord. Signatory handlers could only handle leafy green vegetables (domestic or imported) that meet the requirements of the program. The hearings provide the public an opportunity to learn more about the proposed agreement and to offer comments in support of or opposition to the agreement. The hearings will be held at the following locations from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (local time) or as determined by the presiding administrative law judge: Sept. 22-24, at the Hyatt Regency Monterey, 1 Old Golf Course Road, Monterey, Calif. Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, at the Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, 1515 Prudential Drive, Jacksonville, Fla. Oct. 6, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Room D130, 400 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio. Oct. 8, at the Denver Airport Marriott at Gateway Park, 16455 East 40th Circle, Aurora, Colo. Oct. 14-15, at the Yuma Civic Center, Yuma Room, 1440 Desert Hills Drive, Yuma, Ariz. Oct. 20, at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel, 701 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, N.Y. Oct. 22, at the Charlotte Marriot Executive Park, 5700 Westpark Drive, Charlotte, N.C. The proposal and the hearing notice will be published in the Sept. 3, 2009, Federal Register. A copy of the proposal is also available on the home page of the Agricultural Marketing Service's Web site. Copies may be obtained from Antoinette Carter, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 0237, Washington, DC 20250-0237, phone: (202)720-2491, or fax: (202)720-8938; or Melissa Schmaedick, Marketing Order Administration Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, Northwest Marketing Field Office, AMS, USDA, 1220 SW Third Avenue, Room 385, Portland, OR 97204; phone: (503)326-2724, or fax: (503)326-7440.

Great idea. I wish I was creative enough to come up with a catchy slogan. I'm sure out there can. As for the best plants winning-they always do-if you can get the customer into your greenhouse.

Something like the 'stimulus plan' Lets all do something for everyone. No, I like the good old American way - you do for you and I'll do for me and may the best plant win.