Plant Something!

The “Plant Something” campaign originated in Arizona in 2009 after the Arizona Nursery Association received a specialty crop grant to promote the nursery industry. It subsequently grew into a national campaign. There are several universal lessons that can add to the effectiveness of any promotion, and “Plant Something” is a good example to follow.

The campaign includes a website with promotional messages touting the environmental and aesthetic benefits of plants and a link to a list of garden centers in participating states, as well as state-specific plant information. Cheryl Goar, executive director of the Arizona Nursery Association (AZNA), said there are currently nine states participating.

“We are trying to generate some excitement to get people to go into their local nurseries and garden centers and buy plants,” Goar said.

Keep it simple
One of the keys to the success of any promotion is simplicity. Goar said the “Plant Something” slogan is general enough to represent the entire nursery industry. Jay Harper runs Harper’s Nurseries with his brothers Jeff and Jerry. He also sits on the steering committee for AZNA. Picking a catchy name for the program was vital, he said.

“Our hope was to have it be as catchy as ‘Beef: it’s what’s for dinner’ or ‘Got Milk?’ and I think it could be,” Harper said. “It’s short, concise, descriptive. Very simple.”

The program initially received more traction from retailers than growers, but that being said, “Growers need retailers or other avenues to push their product, and our growers from the AZNA were just as excited about it as the retailers were,” Harper said.

Right program, right time
Another key to a successful promotion is timing. Harper said the Plant Something initiative benefitted from a perfect storm of things coming together: customers are concerned about the environment, have a desire to improve their property values, and growers and retailers are trying to justify their association dues.

“You can go to independent retailers and say here’s a marketing program we’re doing for you that doesn’t cost you a dime,” Harper said.

If a state nursery association is a licensee of the program, that gives its members the right to use the Plant Something logo, theme, material artwork, video and commercial.

“We started this without much in the way of national implications, but it’s really catching on,” Harper said. “A lot of states are joining with us and leveraging it. It will be exciting to see where it will end up. It might end up being as big as ‘Got milk?’”

— Matt McClellan

Watch Cheryl Goar speak about Plant Something here: www.nurserymanagementonline.com/ ofa-plant-somethiing-goar-marketing.aspx