Plant marketing 101: How Proven Winners creates and drives a market

In spring of 2012, Proven Winners will invest nearly a million dollars in advertisements in popular consumer and gardening magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, Fine Gardening, Sunset and Martha Stewart Living, generating nearly 50 million impressions that will be seen by gardeners everywhere.

The promotion’s focus? A plant combination called Bermuda Sky, a delightful blend of three popular and colorful annuals – Supertunia Bermuda Beach Petunia, Laguna Sky Blue Lobelia and Superbells Yellow Chiffon Calibrachoa.

Danielle Ernest, public relations and brand development coordinator for Proven Winners, said company officials chose these plants – and this combination – because thousands of gardeners told them to. “We asked tens of thousands of gardeners back in June of this year,” Ernest said. “Out of dozens of combinations, consumers picked Bermuda Sky for its fresh, pastel colors that are favored by many gardeners.”

Ernest and Proven Winners have done enough plant marketing to believe that the consumers will “bite.” Consequently, growers and retailers should respond accordingly. The former group, obviously, would be well served to put the combination plants in their growing mix. Retailers, meanwhile, should craft merchandising at the store to include solo displays of Bermuda Sky – with the plants needed to make the combination within reach.