Relaunch your brand

Relauncii your brand
Every so often, particularly when
what you offer seems invisible,
it is time to relaunch the brand.
Not change it, necessarily. But
relaunch it. Make it interesting.
Exciting. Full of potential and possibilities.
Whether you are targeting the ultimate
consumer or selling into your supply chain, if
the ones to whom you are selling cannot figure
out why you areimportant or why they
want to buy from you, their eye will wander.
And much like a ready-to-philander
spouse or partner, they will find someone
else with whom to play - because there is
always someone on the sideline just waiting
to take your place. You do not want that to
happen. So, let's talk your industry and see
what we have got.
The current state of affairs
With the possible recentexception of grow
your own (GYO) - which, by the way, was
the best cross-over between ornamentals
and edibles imaginable - your industry has
not done a great job of making itself either
exciting or core to new consumers.
Based on your own research over the
years, one of your big challenges is to find
new customers. New markets. New possibilities.
Where are they? Who are they?
What are theirdemographics?
Even the "five a day" campaign
becomes invisible after a while -
no matter how much signage the
stores put out there. So,
the question is: What are the
opportunities as your
industry is
On the lookout
for new
customers?
Perhapsyou
need to revamp
your brand,
suggests Leslie
Kossoff
currently
operating?
Let's continue with GYO
for a moment. From grow
bags (perfectfor the nonigardening
consumer) to
|full-on gardeners, how
S good a job are you doing at
selling to the new demographics? What are
the edibles producers doing to create saleable
GYO products with "exotic" produce instead
of standard?
How about the new interest in cooking
with ethnic fruits, vegetables, herbs and
spices leading to all those tasty possibilities?
At home. For less money thanit would
cost to go out to a restaurant. With a greater
sense of accomplishment. And, of course,
the product that your at-home gardener/
cook is producing is pretty - even before it is
put on the plate - which makes it an aesthetic
win, as well.
Let's extend GYO even further for a moment.
For parents - or even for those couples
thinking about getting into the family
way - how good a jobare you doing at crossover
between "five a day" and GYO?
There is more than enough information
out there about childhood obesity and type
I diabetes to make it a matter of interest to
parents to feed their kids right. Even baby
food. If you tie that in with a GYO effort targeted
at that demographic - no matter the
ethnicity - you will have created market
expansion. Add in organic GYO forparents
worried about chemicals and pesticides,
and you have expanded even further. At a
higher price point.
Within the garden retail sector, we have
seen the growth of cafés (with Wi-Fi,
please), educational programmes, internet
sales, support and more - and that is good.
That, too, expands the opportunities on
both the edibles and ornamentals side.
The customer's point of view
Eventhough your industry tends to treat itself
as separate parts - ornamentals versus
edibles - from a consumer perspective, you
are all the same. For goodness sake, you
can even eat flowers. How does someone
outside the industry make the industry differentiation?
And why should they?
They shouldn't - and that is part of your
relaunch opportunity. No matter the industry,
there is a greattendency to be incestuous.
The same people move around and
across organisations. The same people talk
with one another. The same people attend
conferences to discuss the same issues.
None of your ultimate customers know or
care about that. What they care about is
what you can do for them. They want to
know that you see their needs and wants -
even before they have figured out what any
of...