Marketing the Green Industry

What do you get when you put 35 people from many different green industry segments together in a room in St. Paul, Minn.? The answer is, two half-day sessions with, at times, passionate discussion about the pros and cons, and how’s and whys, of marketing initiatives for the green industry.

The outcome of that discussion was a decision to continue the dialog to further explore the feasibility of the nursery and greenhouse industries joining other green industry segments to fund, develop and initiate a unified marketing program. The meeting was hosted by Bailey Nurseries and facilitated by Project EverGreen (PE).
 
The original intent of the meeting was for PE to reach out to the nursery and greenhouse segments and encourage them to join PE in the national marketing initiatives to consumers. PE has evolved in the past four years into a non-profit that informs the general public about the benefits of properly maintained and managed green space.

Dale Siems, a PE board member and past president and CEO of Sherman Nursery Co.,  was one of the primary initiators of the Nursery/Greenhouse Summit. He has been talking with numerous growers and retailers around the country for the past few years about banding together to collectively do a better job of marketing their products and benefits. After hearing about PE, he attended last summer’s board meeting and got involved in a big way. Siems felt strongly that PE could be the vehicle to bring the growing and retail segments of the industry together with those already a part of PE. He was instrumental in encouraging some of the attendees from around the country to be present at the meeting.
 
Attendees included representatives from several large growers of nursery stock. The retail segment was represented by a few large independent garden centers, some of which are part of growing operations. Associations such as the American Nursery & Landscape Association, Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association, OFA – an Association of Floriculture Professionals, America in Bloom, PLANET, and Society of American Florists joined several PE Board Members, Supporting Council Members and staff. Media representatives from several green industry publications also were present.
 
PE Executive Director Den Gardner gave a brief history of PE and recapped its current national efforts. He reported that more than 5,700 families were being served by more than 1,300 volunteers in the GreenCare for Troops program. Gardner reported on other PE initiatives including the EverGreen Zone concept in Akron, Ohio.

There was considerable discussion about national marketing campaigns such as Got Milk, Safe Gun Storage and Pork – the other white meat. Jonathan Bardzik, director of marketing and industry relations at ANLA, gave a brief history of some of the initiatives that have been tried in the nursery industry over the past 100 years. It was noted that, most of these campaigns have a single focus such as milk, or pork.

“Past efforts to create national marketing campaigns have failed for multiple reasons,” Bardzik said. “Mandatory funding has, in fact been tried. It has been insufficient funding, from mandatory or voluntary sources, which have created the lack of resources needed to carry out an effective campaign. All segments of the industry, not just growers, have struggled to identify a message and maintain a commitment to a campaign they felt adequately met their goals and supported sales of the products and services of their businesses.”

Mandatory payment into marketing orders run through the USDA must be agricultural related and pertain to a single crop. This negates the possibility of that type of funding for the entire green industry. There was near unanimous agreement that properly managed and funded marketing campaigns can be very effective. There was not yet agreement on how it might be done for the green industry. A few of the meeting participants remained skeptical that joining with PE in this effort would be useful. There was a strong feeling that any national campaign must be tied to emotions and tug at the heartstrings of consumers about the importance of green in their lives. “Quality of Life” was continually brought up as an important message that needed to be delivered to consumers.
 
Areas that need further discussion include: focus, segmentation issues, marketing promotion, sustainability and green messaging. What is the message? What is the product? Fundraising mechanisms and determination of a reasonable budget are all parts of the focus area.

On the positive side of the segmentation issue is the success that PE has had with various segments of the green industry. A potential negative is the independence of growers. Discussion indicated that there is a possibility that, with the proper focus, growers could decide to become very viable participants in PE. There appeared to be fairly strong consensus in the group that the green industry should be the leader in the sustainability and green messaging movements. We should not be letting others take away what the green industry has always been about. Most participants also agreed that since PE already exists and has brought together a large portion of the green industry, there was no need to go backwards. We need to continue to move forward and bring as many groups as possible into the fold.
 
The Summit didn’t hit a home run, but it did at least get past first base and is rounding to second. The PE Executive Committee and a few invited guests will be getting together the end of July. Part of their agenda will be to discuss and decide what the next steps should be. Questions include: When should another meeting be held? Who should facilitate the meeting? How is it going to be funded? Who should be invited?
 
Your thoughts and comments are most welcome. Direct your comments to elizabethneiderhiser@projectevergreen.com.