Is it necessary to brand flowers? Will it improve sales? Have you tried it?
These are some of the questions that I posed to Doug Munro, CEO of Grower Direct Fresh Cut Flowers of Edmonton, Alta. and Jouke Sypkes, general manager of Ontario Flower Growers in Mississauga, Ont.
The following is Doug Monro’s response:
I have always been a strong believer in the concept of branding as a
whole; however, our industry provides some unique challenges to the
actual branding of flowers. The reality is that a retail florist is in
essence a “manufacturer” who takes components from a number of parts
suppliers (read “farms”) and combines them to create a brand new
manufactured retail product. Very little is actually sold to the
consumer in the form or packaging it is received in from the original
supplier. This means that a finished product for sale by a florist may contain original
parts from a number of suppliers, so whose brand is promoted.
Farm branding does work well to identify a specific grower to
importers, wholesalers, and ultimately retailers, but does little to
create consumer awareness of one brand over another. Unfortunately,
this grassroots approach to creating consumer awareness of a particular
farm brand has little hope of succeeding and to date no one has stepped
up to the plate to spend the kind of advertising dollars required to
create demand for a specific brand with the consumer. A number of years
ago when Dole entered the flower industry at the farm level it was
generally felt that they would heavily promote their flower brand to
consumers who already had a very strong awareness of the Dole name.
However, this never did occur for whatever reason. Even “Buzz the Bee”
(a floral awareness campaign from Promoflor that ran from 1996 to 1997)
was geared to increasing flower consumption over all rather than a
specific “brand.” Virtually all marketing currently being undertaken by
farms and importers is done via trade shows and trade publications to
various sectors of our industry rather than to the end recipient – the
consumer.
If you are asking my opinion on branding individual flower shops and
the product they produce, my answer is that it is essential. How many
times does a finished product leave a retail flower shop wrapped in
inexpensive roll end paper, containing a generic enclosure card, and a
package of flower food bearing their wholesaler’s brand? Imagine that a
husband sends such a package to his wife at her place of work. When she
opens it the 10 or so people standing around are all “oohs and ahs” and
the comment is “those flowers are incredible, where did he buy them?”
Why would a retail flower shop go to all of the effort to create a
world-class product then remain anonymous in an effort to save a few
cents on packaging? Go figure. Many retailers feel they are going all
out if they stamp the back of the enclosure card.
Grower Direct did private label some of our rose imports a number of
years ago. Although it did make our retail coolers look colourful, the
reality is that in virtually all cases the product was “repackaged” for
retail sales so there was virtually no impact on the consumer.
At Grower Direct, we have gone to great lengths to provide our stores
with branded products that ensure that the recipient never has any
doubt as to where the product came from. These products include our own
flower food sachets, wrapping paper, tape, care tags, reuseable “eco”
bags, etc. Our unique look is carried though in all of our printed
marketing material such as calendars, posters, postcards, etc.
Below is Jouke Sypkes response:
Is branding important in the fresh produce industry? Just pick up one
of their trade magazines and every page is advertising another brand.
Walk through the grocery aisle and count how many brands are available.
Is it important? The floral industry NEEDS to promote…everybody agrees
with that. What are you going to promote without a brand. A brand
identifies the product at retail and gives consumers a promise. If you
buy this you will get that.
I just got back from Colombia where they now have the equivalent to
Juan Valdez in Coffee for the Flower Industry. Her name is Maria
Florez. She has already travelled the globe in the last 3 months communicating the value of
Colombian flowers. She is a brand for the export market. If Canada was
a floral exporter we would brand our flowers into the market we shipped
to. The domestic market should not be treated any different. It is our
bread and butter market and it has been taken for granted. This market
is important to local growers and we should take the opportunity to
communicate with consumers. The only way to do this is with a brand
that identifies it at retail. Will it improve sales? Yes, as long as the brand promise keeps its word consumers will repeat the sale.
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