Enticing edibles

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PLEASANT VIEW GARDENS

Brand loyalty can be difficult to achieve with Millennials. Consumers born in the early 1980s to 2000 tend to value recommendations from their friends and posts on Facebook over traditional advertising. Once they’re hooked, however, they can be fierce supporters who share their good experiences with their friends and family.

But how do you encourage people to buy a brand they are unfamiliar with in the first place and start that chain reaction?

Pleasant View Gardens thinks they have found a solution. Nathan Keil, marketing manager for the wholesale greenhouse grower based in Loudon, N.H., says the company was looking to revamp their edibles line with something that would appeal more to Generation Y consumers.

“We had a line of herbs and veggies that were sold to garden centers in the Northeast, but it was kind of a tired brand and more marketed to the grower,” Keil says. “After talking to garden centers and knowing their struggles, [we understood that] they are looking to attract Millennials and first-time homeowners. And the gateway drug to gardening is edibles.”

Sticking with tried-and-true varieties that they knew gardeners could be successful with, Pleasant View focused on developing a marketing campaign to rebrand their veggies and herbs and launched Savor Edibles & Fragrants this past summer.

“It’s more than just a gardening campaign. It’s a lifestyle campaign,” Keil says. “It’s about gardening and cooking and being adventurous, and trying these new things together. We had an open house [during the last week of July] and had some great feedback from the garden centers.”

Younger consumers who are new to gardening are primarily looking for edibles and succulents, says Shanielle Voci, perennial nursery manager at Morrison’s Home & Garden in Plymouth, Mass. She thinks the new red pots will attract them.

“Edible gardening is huge now, so I can only imagine that this is going to be huge for [Pleasant View]. The pots are green, too; you can plant the pot, which is nice, and it will break down,” Voci says. “I think it’s smart to target the younger crowd ... [The growing tags] have recipes on the back. It’s helpful for people because it takes the guesswork out of it for cooking meals at home. Pleasant View is giving you the plant and telling you here’s what you can use it for and here’s a recipe in case you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Point-of-purchase and marketing materials will include photos of 20- and 30-somethings with short bios. One features a bespectacled, bearded man carrying both empty and planted terra cotta pots, who bikes 15 miles to work each day, is restoring his 1925 Victorian and is a poetry slam king. But, his “Real claim to fame?” the advertisement reads, is “Growing the tastiest tomatoes on Marcy Avenue.”

“It’s all based around stories. There are personalities involved in the campaign to generate excitement,” Keil says. People that young gardeners share interests with and can relate to.

“The look and the feel is kind of urban, a little upscale. It’s definitely different than other things you see on the market.”

Plants in the line have names like ‘Stir Fry Thai’ basil, ‘Baked Potato’ chives and ‘Thyme For Everything,’ a not-so-subtle hint at how gardeners can use the herbs in their cooking.

“We’ve come up with playful names for them as well to draw people in, like ‘Mojito Mint Cocktail,’ ‘Pizza Thyme,’ ‘Good Friend Sage.’ The fun, light names help you understand how to use it, too. There are no scientific names that would scare people away,” he says. “Photos show people how to use the product, too.” Tags have photos of pizza and baked potatoes instead of the herbs.

There are close to 90 herbs and vegetables in the line, including tomatoes, eggplants, and hot and mild peppers, which will be available in garden centers in 2016. The launch will include primarily the Northeast, but the plan is to expand if all goes well.

“There are a lot of herbs and veggies on the market that are based on the old-timey look and feel, which is great, but we’re already talking to those types of people,” Keil says. “We wanted to get something new and fresh out there, and to talk to the new generation of gardeners coming in.”

Voci says this is good timing, at least in her area — she’s beginning to see young homeowners visit the garden center.

“Slowly people are getting back into buying houses again because there’s a little bit more money again,” she says. “So we’re noticing that crowd of young homeowners caring about their yards again.”

A consumer website and other resources are in the works, but liners are available to growers now. Liner customers can order individual plants or kits that include some of the best-selling varieties. Depending on the order, POP, bench tape and signage is included or can be purchased.

“They are fairly standard varieties that will be easy to grow and easy to work with,” Keil says. “Our tagline is ‘Grow your own adventure.’ We always want them to come back the following year because they’ve been successful with their adventure.”