Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 3

This Hort Innovation Nursery Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2017, edition 3.

Hort Innovation’s investment of the nursery marketing levy, through the Hort Innovation Nursery Fund, is all about the 202020 Vision – the movement to increase urban green space by 20 per cent by the year 2020.

The 202020 Vision has been hard at work to maximise the exposure of the industry, enlisting a range of tools including press, print and public relations (PR). Some top-level highlights of the program to date include…

• More than 59 million people reached through media since 2013
• More than 1200 media stories generated on the value of green space since 2013, and more than 250 media articles about the 202020 Vision for the financial year
• There are now more than 410 network partners working towards a shared goal
• 84 urban councils now have, or are on their way to, an urban greening strategy
• 202020 Vision was named the number one Australian leading sustainable cities program at the Banksia Awards.

Find out about the latest efforts to connect with consumers about green space, below.

What makes a space great?

202020 Vision has been working with Kylie Legge – director of Place Partners and an expert in ‘plant placement’ – to identify the various ways people connect with green spaces and encouraging them to get out and enjoy green spaces in their local area.

As reported in the last edition of Hortlink, so far the research has summarised the top five ways in which people connect with green space as:

1. Belonging – opportunities for human to human contact
2. Wellbeing – passive and active reaction
3. Inspiration – connection to something bigger than yourself
4. Play – fun and active socialisation
5. Nourish – food and community.

Armed with this information, certain parks across Australia were identified as great for connecting with such green spaces. For example, Queensland’s Buderim Urban Food Street, which provides nourishment to its surrounding community, and Western Australia’s McCallum Park that’s a go-to for the active people of Perth.

To help spread the word and encourage interaction by communities, national street press publication Time Out was chosen to promote the power of green space and how important it is to people on a variety of emotional and physical levels. Three articles conveying the benefits and the science behind why people seek out green space accompanied a listing of 40 park profiles from around Australia.

The additional value driven by such content pieces is the ability to share them with councils so that the benefit to communities is front of mind in their development of new and more tailored green spaces.

Plant Life Balance campaign

A new campaign called Plant Life Balance is kicking off in spring and aims to get more Australians to buy green life for their homes, indoors and out.

The desire is to create demand for plants in the domestic setting by using fashion and styling for homes combined with the science explaining the two fundamental benefits of plants: air quality and wellbeing.

This name has been used in a previous campaign, but now has a fresh approach. With the use of a newly developed app, this consumer campaign uses technology and social media to connect directly with a very targeted audience to help build their confidence and inspire them to get more plant-life-balance in their lives.

The app allows you to take a photo of your space and it will then rate the health of it based on the attributes of air quality and wellbeing. You can then drag and drop plants into the space and instantly see the health and wellbeing benefits of adding more greenery. This is the first time an app will have this capability, making it something that the market is really excited about.

The science behind the app – described in the R&D summary above – captures 100 studies outlining the benefits of air quality and wellbeing achieved through plants.

The app provides the user with seven different pallets which have been designed to inspire and motivate increased greening in small spaces (curated by The Planthunter).

Retail nursery tours

Retail nursery tours will be conducted, as it is important that staff have a solid understanding of the science and how the app works so they can offer a boutique experience for their customers. We have also developed print and digital creative assets which will be available to all retailers to use in store and across their own channels.

Community gardens

In the last Hortlink we told you about Park It, the 10-step video and guide to help neighbourhoods and community groups take unused spaces and turn them into well-loved green ones.

To support the launch of Park It, the 202020 Vision program has been keeping an eye out for examples of community groups around the country who have successfully turned a ‘grey space’ into an amazing green one. One of the case studies is from Hilton, Western Australia, where community members worked with The City of Fremantle to get their pocket park approved.

202020 Vision Green Design Award

Drum roll, please… Canberra’s new Hassett Park took out the 202020 Vision Green Design Award at this month’s Good Design Awards. The award recognises and celebrates the importance of green and living infrastructure design for our built environments.

Jane Irwin Hill Landscape Architecture and Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects designed the green oasis, which the community of Campbell now enjoys. 202020 Vision advocate John Lloyd, Hort Innovation chief executive, praised the design for its imaginative use of greenery.

“Hassett Park embodies the mission of 202020 Vision, which focuses on not only increasing urban green spaces, but increasing quality green spaces. It encompasses water sensitive urban design, bike paths, play spaces and native trees, and is a poster child for outstanding green design.”

National PR and media

As opportunity exists to engage women aged 25 to 40 as key targets for raising awareness around green spaces, a national PR and media campaign is about to kick off, including advertorials in Backyard, Domain, Concrete Playground and other channels.

This will be supported by a strong social media presence including curated content and ads on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, as well as a key media personality as an ambassador. Point of sale materials for in-store promotion will also target women aged 25 to 40, including young mothers.

Getting the decision-makers on board with green space

After extensive consultation, the 202020 Vision cross-disciplinary discussion paper will be published in the near future. The research shows a need to strengthen communication and collaboration between engineers and green space practitioners, to ensure green space does not get left out of developments and re-developments.

To prepare the paper, an online survey was run and an engineer focus group with representatives from AECOM, Cardno, Covey associates, Dalmau Consulting and Water Sensitive SA was convened.

By publishing the paper, engineers and green space practitioners will have some of the tools they need to have a considered conversation around increasing green space. By opening up the discussion between these two groups and the wider community, it is hoped that collaboration on solutions to the current barriers is facilitated.

Keep an eye on the 202020 Vision LinkedIn page, where can you download the document. It will also be promoted through various trade and relevant media outlets.