Four weeks ago... you were REALY BUSY! It was the first full week of May, and just 3 days away from Mother's Day. That's why I believe most of you have not seen what I am about to share.
It was on Thursday, May 8th and our May GROUPtalk LIVE session. Nicholas Staddon shared an important message titled "What's Your Therapy."
Everyone needs some form of an Oasis. It's a place to escape the day-to-day activities, routines, and stresses. For some, it may be exercise or sports. For others, it could be curling up with a good book. There are a number of ways to find or create an Oasis.
Years ago, an industry effort called The Garden Council had a number of program themes they promoted for everyone to use. They produced text and graphics, as well as some POP. This was well before any social media or internet options.
I know this is most likely one of the busiest weeks of the year for you as a Garden Retailer. You now have Mother's Day weekend behind you, and Centers are reporting Week 19 for WDR reporting this week. I am sure last week was a big week for you.
Something else very important happened last week. With it being such a busy week for you, I understand if you missed it. The May GROUPtalk LIVE Session was last Thursday, and Nicholas Staddon presented "What's Your Therapy?"
With all the news today about imports, exports and tariffs, it becomes natural to think about what our Centers offer today. The great Trees, Shrubs, Perennials and Annuals you sell are certainly grown close to you or at the very least in the same region or country. Some of you are actually growing some of them in-house. There may be some imported components, whether it is peat or peat substitutes, bamboo stakes, etc., but the majority of what a customer takes home could be considered Homegrown.
Even our great non-plant suppliers, the majority of them produce their products domestically. Just take a look at what you have in your Center today and think about where it is being made. I'm confident the majority of what you see is Homegrown. OK, saying a non-plant item is Homegrown sounds somewhat strange, but you get the point.
Our industry devotes a tremendous amount of effort to Plant Health (or Plant Wellness). Offering a healthy plant is at the core of what we do. If it is not healthy, it just doesn't sell.
What we don't spend much time on is the Wellness of People. Obviously, each of us is very concerned about our overall health and the health of everyone around us. But, there is a growing movement on a connection between the two, hence the subject today... Wellness = People + Plants.
If you are subscribed to The Group's Marketing eList, you may have seen the message shared last Thursday by Tom Kegley, The Group's Brand Guru. Tom shared a review of this year's Super Bowl Ads, produced by Kantar, one of the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business and brand partners to the world’s top companies, including 96 of the world’s 100 biggest advertisers.
If you have been part of The Group for very long, you have read my observations through recent years on how other brands and industries leverage what you have to gain attention to what they are offering. This approach shows either someone in their garden enjoying plants and flowers or even in a Garden Center setting, either as a retail customer or even a Garden Center owner or staff.
You can often see this in new medicine ads or business services. They show happy people in Garden settings.
Logically thinking, we identify our Garden Retail operations as Garden Centers. For instance, just look at our name for The Garden Center Group. Your actual business name may include Garden Center (more frequently today is the word Gardens), or certainly Nursery, Nurseries, or even Greenhouse is common.
But there are some important trends that suggest there may be something more...
The answer to that question varies by who you ask, where their Garden Center is located, and of course... the weather!
For a technical answer, we can turn to the Old Farmers Almanac, which says the answer is:
We all live in different parts of the country, and I know for some, there may be one season that is dominant over the others. Areas in the farther parts of either north or south, you certainly can have much more extremes in either winter or summer months.
Karen and I have lived in North Georgia since the Fall of 1989. We moved from Central Florida and even today, we can remember so vividly our trip to Atlanta to look for a home. It was October, and what we were about to see was so different than what we were used to.
If there is one thing I am certain of, it is there is real Power in Collaboration. I see it nearly every day and certainly multiple times a week watching all of the sharing within The Group. It happens Peer-to-Peer (our Garden Centers) as well as with our Service Providers. It also happens with our Partners for Success and Fall Event Sponsors.
The Power in Collaboration comes in different levels. At the base level, it is sharing details that can help save time and direction. Time is saved by just not having to create or learn something from scratch. Direction comes through being capable of making the right decision the first time.
Just the idea of a simmering hot cup of Tea... in The Garden creates an ideal vision for how to begin the day. Maybe we should pause here for 15-20 minutes, grab a cup of Tea (or coffee), and step out to the Garden (or the most peaceful area of the Garden Center will do). Use the time to relax, breathe deeply, perhaps pray, and think about all the wonderful natural world around us. Then, return to this message when finished...
Last week, many of us, along with thousands of other industry pros, were in Ft. Lauderdale for the TPIE show. One word that was introduced during the General Session was WOW! That same word was also used by many as they explored the show itself.
Experiencing such a large expanse of our tropical world in one place creates a feeling of an Oasis. This message can be an important one to your audience.
If you were with us at The Fall Event 2022 in Kansas City, you will remember Darren Abbott, Hallmark's Senior Vice President Global Product Development and Consumer Experience, sharing much of the DNA that is at the heart of their emotional marketing which leads to product development and the ultimate customer connections. During his presentation, he acknowledged the trends toward gardening – particularly tropicals and he told us his team was developing a series of cards in their Signature Paper Wonder Pop-Up series featuring a few tropical plants.
At the time, he didn't have examples to share and could only say they were in the pipeline. This past week Karen and I were in one of our local Hallmark Gold Crown Stores to grab Christmas Cards (because we care enough to send the very best...) and as I wandered the different aisles of cards I came upon the Paper Wonder 3-D card section. And there I found four of the new tropical-themed cards and, of course, I just had to buy them!
This message is not to introduce us to some new hybrid of our favorite leafy greens. But the idea for this came to me a week or so ago when I read a story by Stanberry Research of Dr. Harry Mitchell Sherman "The Colors of Healing."
Dr. Sherman was an accomplished surgeon in San Francisco in the early 1900s and in 1904, his observations set a new trend in operating rooms and hospitals across the country. Dr. Sherman realized how strained and tired his eyes became while doing surgery in a bright white environment. The white rooms and white cloth were popular back then and reflected the bright lights of the operating room. So he decided to swap out white surgical drapes for black ones, reducing the glare and making it easier to focus on the surgical procedure.
We have talked before about the trend of seeing Plants and the activity of Gardening being leveraged while promoting non-related products or services. This is Riding the Wave of the growing popularity of what your Center offers... every day. Here's another example...
I was standing in the checkout line last week at our neighborhood Publix grocery store. I glanced at the magazines on display as I waited my turn. One publication slapped me in the face instantly. The title:
You may remember a few weeks ago, I shared a message titled "A Nature Store?" The overall idea was how much Garden Centers should position themselves as a vital part of nature and their audience should think of the Garden Center, their own garden, and the activity of gardening as an important part of their own health and wellness.
Coming out of winter, it is easy to attract your audience who have the internal human need for spring, its fresh new growth, its plants, flowers, and everything in the garden. Just the promise of spring helps to bridge the gap caused by "winter blues." And it is easy to recognize your Center is needed at this time of year. What I am sharing today may help you more at other times of the year. This past week I ran across a story titled:
Have you ever considered calling your Garden Center... A Nature Store?
I'm not suggesting changing your Center's name, but just in describing what you do, what you offer... A Nature Store.
In recent weeks I have seen more than one article expounding on the growing consumer trend of prioritizing Wellness. A quick search or simply being alert to watching messaging in almost any media and you will see this first hand.
I know there was a growing awareness or interest in Wellness prior, but I am confident the Covid era has accelerated it even more today. One such article I saw a week or so ago was from AdAge magazine where they were promoting a day-long conference called "The Wellness Revolution Conference" where they will spotlight the intersection of health and marketing. They included several major brands bringing Wellness to the forefront of their marketing campaigns in the coming months. In the same announcement, they quoted a report from McKinsey & Company from last fall. McKinsey & Company is a global business consulting (and research) firm. The title of that report was...
The natural change of seasons can be a time of encouragement. The promise of spring brings a sense of renewal and new life. Most people have never had the experience of walking into a greenhouse in early spring. Just to see all the young plants and flowers there, waiting for the chance to be selected and to be added to a home garden is exciting... and inspirational. There are so many ways to "Be the Inspiration" in spring.
Do you expound upon the beauty, facets or character of the individual flower or plant? There are so many to talk about each week and so many great stories. Do you show how they can make you feel?
