Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2016, winter

This Hort Innovation Nursery Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2016, winter edition.

The 202020 Vision (20 Vision) continues to headline the marketing program for the nursery industry. The 20 Vision is now in its fourth year and continues to follow the original brief of determining to see two per cent more plants sold year on year (+ CPI), and so increase the demand for plants. In campaign speak: 20 per cent more green spaces in urban areas by 2020.

The aim of the marketing activity is to communicate to key influencers and stakeholders in urban areas that plants are a necessity and fundamental for health and wellbeing within our cities, as well as having strong economical, commercial and environmental attributes that can boost the liveability and productivity of our cities. The four key audiences for the campaign are government, business, schools and consumers.

Last year’s results

Last year the 20 Vision achieved great results. The media and PR activity generated more than 280 articles and interviews, representing 32 million in circulation through unpaid activity.

The strategy behind media partnerships (paid media) was to work with The Australian and the Australian Financial Review to publish a number of special reports and resources. These included special report Green movement needs a human face and e-mags such as 20 Vision projects the Directory of Good Design and The Black Book of Green People.

The media partnership also had to…

• Deliver increased awareness of the 20 Vision initiative among its primary and secondary target audiences
• Deliver increased engagement in the 20 Vision network by providing a compelling call-to-action resulting in project sign-ups, increasing numbers within the LinkedIn group and increased website visits
• Be a partner with a strong ideological connection to the goal of the 20 Vision
• Be a media partner that demonstrates an innovative approach in its thinking (ie: conducting a roundtable with key government and influencers).

There was also work with a range of smaller trade publications including ArchitectureAU (online), The Fifth Estate and Government News.

The ‘My Park Rules’ competition also generated a lot of media activity. The competition saw more than 40,000 votes and more than 90 articles and stories promoting the benefits of green space to the public.

The fourth year of 202020

In this fourth year, the 20 Vision team is continuing to look at how audiences contribute to the goal of more and better green space, and how we can capitalise on ensuring the 20 Vision has a presence across all areas.

The audiences have been broken down into separate streams where the work will be focused.

• The Living Network. This is what maintains the 20 Vision movement in the media, to help promote the benefit of trees and plants. It is considered the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the program in terms of connecting the 20 Vision to key individuals, government and organisations that have the ability to influence and implement green space.
• Government. Ultimately this work is to ‘guide policy’ and hopefully influence it through encouraging the implementation of more and better green space through key influencers. Of course this is done in a non-agripolitical way and has a strong focus on the benefits of plants and how they can be better utilised in our cities and communities.
• Much of the urban forestry work falls in this category, and all the work undertaken in this sector is done with a bipartisan approach. This year the 20 Vision will have a specific allocation to ensure we are in Canberra, knocking on doors on behalf of the nursery industry
• Business. The 20 Vision will work with Hort Innovation to ensure that the first of the Pool 2 Green Cities co-invested projects are aligned with the 20 Vision as part of the Green Cities strategic co-investment fund. The goal of this stream is to engage key business partners and to also identify and respond to barriers against green space through R&D.
• Schools. This is all about extending the successful My Park Rules program and connecting communities with the tools and funding they need to purchase plants and trees. The 20 Vision team is also setting up initiatives to offer schools pre-designed park layouts, integrate with One Tree Per Child Program (where applicable), produce a school-room edition of the Instant Plant Plan, a 10 Step Guide to Making it Happen (a fundraising guide for schools), incorporate information on KidsGrow and create a ‘How to Guide’ on how to green your school.
• Consumer. The consumer campaign is designed to sell the benefits of plants, trees and greenlife in a new and interactive way through what is being called the ‘Healthy Homes Index’. This will involve working with a university or similar to create a scientifically based index –an app of some sort that rates how healthy your space is making you. The app will have a nursery finder and there will be some incentives for consumers to go and buy more plants to make their spaces healthier. It is anticipated this part of the program will be ready in late spring.

Also within the consumer area there will be developed of a suite of ‘the basics’ which includes integrating the 20 Vision logo onto standard plant labels where possible; developing a kit that outlines health and wellbeing benefits of trees and plants; producing downloadable guides focusing on green ideas for small spaces; and building a consumer hub on the 20 Vision website.

More year-four work

As part of the program in year four, the 20 Vision through with Hort Innovation will host NGI 20 Vision training and capacity-building forums to engage key industry stakeholders including state CEOs, current extension representatives, NGIA Board and staff to ensure they are completely across the program NGIs and their staff can advocate the Vision to all levy payers.

In 2016/17 the media partnerships will take a different course, with plans to partner with News Local (a channel for engaging local council representatives and community members) and with Government News (reaching a highly engaged state and federal government audience) as well as ensuring trade publications are represented to target consumers.

Read a more extensive breakdown of the 2016/17 20 Vision program.