Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2017, edition 4

This Hort Innovation Nursery Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2017, edition 4.

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.

As always, 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 – and this edition of Hortlink, we put the spotlight on the latest and exciting consumer-facing activities of the initiative.

Plant Life Balance

On October 30, the newly refreshed and revised ‘Plant Life Balance’ campaign was launched across Australia. The objective of this campaign is to get more Australians to buy green life for their homes, both indoors and out.

Consumers are being targeted through fashion and styling ideas for homes, combined with the science explaining the two fundamental benefits of plants: improved air quality and wellbeing.

This campaign uses technology and social media to connect with a target audience of women aged between 25 and 35 years, to help build their confidence and inspire them to get more ‘plant life balance’ in their lives.

Curated by The Plant Hunter, seven style looks and ‘plant pallets’ have been designed to inspire and motivate increased greening in small spaces.

One of the key platforms to communicate the health benefits and inspire creativity with plants is the new Plant Life Balance app (with the science behind it developed by the R&D component of the Nursery Fund program). Like a ‘try before you buy’ experience, the app allows users to take a photo of their space and then rates the health of it. Users can then drag and drop plants into the space and instantly see the health and wellbeing benefits of adding more greenery.

This app is the first of its kind in the world and is achieving great results – at the time of writing, there had been more than 21,000 downloads since the launch on October 30.

Watch a quick video on the app here, and find it in the app store on your smartphone (it’s available for both Android and iOS). You can also see the consumer-facing Plant Life Balance website here.

Essential to the success of this program is the engagement with and promotion of the campaign by retail nurseries. Nine retailer training events were held around the country through July and August 2017, letting businesses know about the details of the campaign and the elements to bring it to life.

For in-store promotion, branded point-of-sale kits have been created which include bunting, plant tags, shelf wobblers, posters, staff badges and ‘cheat sheets’ for the sales staff. These are free to any retail nursery who wants to get behind the campaign, with 96 retailers around the country having snapped up these kits and begun using them in their businesses so far.

As at early November, 110 stories about Plant Life Balance had been featured across a range of media channels including print, online, social, radio and media partnerships – delivering a value equating to a $20M+ reach.

Jamie Durie kicked off the campaign as its official ambassador and his involvement has allowed promotion of the campaign to make prime-time TV spots on Today, The Morning Show and The Daily Edition.

Nursery businesses are encouraged to get involved in the campaign and promote it through to customers and through the supply chain. A digital version of the point-of-sale kit and digital video assets to be used across your social media platforms can be sent to you. Just contact hello@202020vision.com.au.