Industry Segments Duke It Out

Teleflora isn’t the only company competing for Valentine’s Day commissions or sales the wrong way this year. GivingPlants.com, which teams with growers to bring flowering potted plants to consumers, deliberately attacks the Colombia cut flower business–a V-Day competitor–in a video that appears on its website and YouTube.

You can view the 60-second video titled “The True Story of Cut Flowers” here. The video is just another example of an ad campaign of one company that attempts to undermine another segment’s product without promoting the benefits of its own.

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GivingPlants.com has a great website and beautiful products, and it should build a campaign centered around that. It’s unfortunate many U.S. cut flower growers have been affected by the growth of the Colombian market, but the Valentine’s Day message we should be delivering is to buy more plants and flowers, regardless of who supplies them.

If a consumer chooses to buy cut flowers that happened to derive from Colombia this Valentine’s Day, so be it. That purchase still bodes well for floriculture. It might not directly impact your sales. You might simply have to reposition your own products better as Valentine’s Day worthy.

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Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

I couldn’t agree more with the statement that “The video is just another example of an ad campaign of one company that attempts to undermine another segment’s product without promoting the benefits of its own.” The ad undermines our whole industry. Our industry needs to stop fighting each other. We’re all in the flower & plant business TOGETHER. Our true competition are other industries who compete with us for the consumers’ discretionary dollars. Our true competition are the industries that want consumers to buy things other than flowers and plants. It’s the industries that sell chocolates, candles, lotions, wine, etc. Bickering over “my plants are better than your flowers” doesn’t help us as an industry. It’s counterproductive.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

It’s not surprising that some smaller operators become desperate and attack. I did see promotion of a benefit, however – it looked like there was a potted plant that was alive at the end, after the cuts had gone into the trash. That story – long-lasting value – seems like a good story for domestic ornamental growers now, as consumers are getting tight – maybe it’s time for a cartoon showing plants outlasting chocolates, candles, lotions, wine, etc

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

I couldn’t agree more with the statement that “The video is just another example of an ad campaign of one company that attempts to undermine another segment’s product without promoting the benefits of its own.” The ad undermines our whole industry. Our industry needs to stop fighting each other. We’re all in the flower & plant business TOGETHER. Our true competition are other industries who compete with us for the consumers’ discretionary dollars. Our true competition are the industries that want consumers to buy things other than flowers and plants. It’s the industries that sell chocolates, candles, lotions, wine, etc. Bickering over “my plants are better than your flowers” doesn’t help us as an industry. It’s counterproductive.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

It’s not surprising that some smaller operators become desperate and attack. I did see promotion of a benefit, however – it looked like there was a potted plant that was alive at the end, after the cuts had gone into the trash. That story – long-lasting value – seems like a good story for domestic ornamental growers now, as consumers are getting tight – maybe it’s time for a cartoon showing plants outlasting chocolates, candles, lotions, wine, etc