So, does this marketing piece work?

LH: If we're talking about color, this color is not appealing to me, but rather harsh on the eye. It makes it hard to read the text in the box. I realize that bright yellow is the "it" color right now (if you happen to follow the fashion magazines), but it's just not working for me here. In terms of the imagery ... my first impression was that it's kind of cheesy and dated.

Fragrance is always a big sell for customers, and that selling point does come through in this bench card. It's obvious she's having a pretty good time with that flower ... but the image seems more distracting than it is enforcing in terms of the additional message they are trying to convey. The paragraph about the influence of plants is too clunky, and most customers won't read the whole paragraph.

It's also not worded in a way that will make the customer care about what it's saying. Customers have a really short attention span, especially when it comes to signage. I'm sure that is why they are using the image they are, in order to grab people's attention. But if you're trying to send an "emotional" message, my opinion is that fewer, but more impactful, words are better.

Now, I'm not saying that this couldn't work very effectively in some garden centers. It just depends where you are located and what your customer demographic is. A more traditional customer base will probably respond favorably to this bench card, while a younger audience will probably look it over without reading it. The goal is how to get both to respond to it.
 

TP: Where is the passion? Where is the romance?

While it may be nice that plants help memory retention by 20 percent, is that why I am here [at the garden center] thinking about buying plants? It's kind of like seeing a sign outside the restaurant you're headed into saying, "Eating food can help fight the feeling of hunger." That's not why I am taking my family out to eat. If it was to fight hunger I could eat at home. No, we are going out to eat to celebrate, enjoy each other's company, and enjoy good food in an upbeat, sophisticated setting.

I like the idea of being able to download signs and bench cards that describe the attributes and benefits of particular plants. This can make it much easier to get signage up and put in place where it can do the most good. The idea of ready-to-go signage is good; it's just the reason for buying that rose was not to help my memory retention. The reason I wanted to buy that rose was it brought back wonderful memories of grandma's house. Where is the sense of adventure and rediscovery?

Let's bring back the romance, mystery, and passion of gardening.
 

The benchcard reviewed here is from Ball Horticultural and America in Bloom and is just one piece of a widely used series of marketing materials touting the benefits of plants. Opinions expressed by Panel members do not necessarily reflect the views of Garden Center magazine.