Branding across the pond

The branding of plants in the UK over the years has been somewhat intermittent and achieved varying levels of success with the most successful revolving around personalities from within the industry such as Harry Wheatcroft, David Austin and Raymond Evision. This however may be about to change with the introduction of the Proven Winners range.

Across Europe it was only in the 1950’s that Francis Meilland campaigned to protect the rights of plant hybridists and paved the way for hybridists to patent their new rose varieties, thus offering some protection and re-imbursement for their years of research and development work.

This coincided with the spread of supermarkets across the UK, which also assisted a brand to establish rapidly and Wheatcroft Roses led by the flamboyant figurehead Harry Wheatcroft were quick off the mark to take pole position in plant brands. This was also at a time before container growing of plants had been invented and roses were the staple diet of gardeners as they were so amenable to the mail order and root-wrapped sales.

Another successful offshoot of this development in the rose industry was a promotion called Rose of the Year (following the All-America Rose Selection system, in fact) which still exists today. It provides a great vehicle for the industry to work together and all benefit from their joint promotional efforts.

Still with roses, probably the most successful plant brand to this day in the UK is David Austin Roses, which were first developed in the 1970’s by crossing certain old roses with the more modern hybrid teas and floribundas, thus providing a group of plants rich in fragrance but also healthier and longer flowering than some of the older varieties.

Another successful brand is Raymond Evison Clematis which has introduced more than 100 new cultivars and also specialize in producing free-flowering, healthy varieties

All of these brands, however, have been fronted by an outgoing, charismatic personality who could be met at Chelsea Flower Show, seen on the television gardening programmes or read about in the national press.

The arrival of Proven Winners on the UK shores threatens to break this trend with their range of trialed and tested varieties.

A customer focus group evening held at Cleeve Garden Centre in April threw up some interesting results, which indicated a positive, interesting and at times surprising response to the range. Overall, the customers were happy to pay a little extra for a larger plant, which will give results quicker (a massive advantage when you consider the abysmal spring weather we have experienced in the last few spring seasons). The recipe cards were very well received giving customers the satisfaction of putting together a container for themselves with the confidence that it will succeed. A fascinating viewpoint from the younger members of the group was that they preferred to buy plants that only last for one year. This gives them the opportunity to start again in the next season and create a different scheme or design, and any mistakes are short-lived!

This focus group led to several changes to the point of sale materials and recipe cards to make them more intuitive before the range was trialed at Plymouth Garden Centre in May. If there was only one thing learned from this weekend, it would be that the products are incredibly easy to sell and also encourage high numbers of related sales of pots, baskets and compost. The challenge now is to ensure that the products sell through silent means rather than assisted sales and also to convince those in the supply chain there is merit in selling fewer plants at higher profit margins.

Kevin has worked as an independent garden center consultant to retialers, suppliers, DIY stores and trade organizations across the UK, Ireland, Europe, U.S. and Japan since 1995 and founded The Garden Works in 2001. Kevin can be reached at kevinwatersconsultancy@gmail.com