March 8, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



21 .3 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS 



AND 



ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURISTS 



NATIONAL PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN. 

 When the Publicity Committee and 

 the Finance Publicity Committee met 

 in joint session at the end of January, 

 the financial status of the campaign 

 was thoroughly discussed, expendi- 

 tures minutely examined, and every- 

 thing found in first class shape. All 

 accounts had been audited by a firm 

 of certified accountants, and were ap- 

 proved by the committees. The com- 

 mittees did not appoint an audit com- 

 mittee from their own body, it being 

 decided^ that as the campaign was con- 

 ducted under the auspices and direc- 

 tion of the S. A. F. and O. H., the 

 official audit should be made by a com- 

 mittee to be appointed by the society's 

 executive board which was to meet 

 next day at Detroit. The secretary 

 was directed to prepare and send to 

 every subscriber, as soon as possible, 

 a summarized report covering receipts 

 and expenditures. 



At the meeting, also, an appropria- 

 tion of $20,000 was made to cover the 

 magazine advertising for the spring 

 season a schedule of which has al- 

 ready been published in the trade pa- 

 pers; and the P. F. O'Keefe Advertis- 

 ing Agency, of Boston, was given a 

 contract for the preparation and plac- 

 ing of the campaign advertising for 

 the year 1919. The meeting was char- 

 acterized by a feeling of great opti- 

 mism as to the campaign outlook for 

 the year, as was demonstrated in the 

 decision of the committees to set 

 $100,000 as the amount of the fund to 

 be aimed for this year. 



Publicity and the S. A. F. Executive 

 Board. 

 The enthusiasm of the Publicity 

 Committees was echoed at the meet- 

 ing of the Executive Board of the S. A. 

 F. next day at Detroit, when the sub- 

 ject matter of the Publicity Campaign 

 came up for discussion. Never in the 

 history of the board was such interest 

 shown in a particular phase of the 

 society's work. So enthusiastic were 

 the members of the board that, al- 

 though liberal subscribers annually to 

 the Publicity Fund, they added in the 

 aggregate $2065 fo their 1919 subscrip- 

 tions after the reports of the commit- 

 tees and secretary had been read and 

 discussed. The accounts in the sec- 

 retary's report, in accordance with the 

 recommendation of the Publicity Com- 

 .mittees, were presented to the Board 

 with the request that the board ap- 

 point a committee from its members 

 to audit the same, and such commit- 

 tee being appointed the report was 

 made that the same were correct in 

 every way, and commendation was due 

 for the accuracy and neatness with 

 which the same were presented. 



Publicity Committee's Report. 

 The report of the Publicity Commit- 



tee was presented by Chairman Henry 

 Penn, and was as follows: 



The first twelve months of the na- 

 tional publicity campaign of the So- 

 ciety of American Florists have passed 

 and if any doubt existed before we en- 

 tered upon it, I feel that I voice the 

 sentiments of not only the members of 

 the Publicity and Finance Committees, 

 but those of every progressive up-to- 

 date man in the country, who is en- 

 gaged in the growing and selling of 

 flowers when I make the statement 

 that it has greatly exceeded our ex- 

 pectations. 



Despite the obstacles which every 

 business had to contend with during 

 the past year, and particularly those 

 encountered by the florists, we should 

 feel greatly pleased that we launched 

 the campaign when we did. 



I have talked with many florists lo- 

 cated in different parts of the country, 

 and the almost universal opinion has 

 been that their business was better 

 than ever before. Granting that this ' 

 is so, let us consider the coal curtail- 

 ment which was faced, other contin- 

 gencies due to the war, and the fact 

 that flowers were in the so-called lux- 

 ury class; and then if the Publicity 

 Campaign did nothing more than to 

 keep business normal during the try- 

 ing year just passed, the Society has 

 taken a great step in advance. 



We had planned to expend $50,000 

 during 1918, and this amount was to 

 cover every expense. Adverse condi- 

 tions, however, prevented raising the 

 full amount, but taking everything into 

 consideration, we believe that the sum 

 raised was very satisfactory. 



Mr. Young, our Secretary, will give 

 in his report the exact sum raised and 

 expended, and you will see by this. 

 that during the year, we used for ad- 

 vertising in the national mediums 

 less than $?,0,000, the balance of the 

 expenditure being used for the work of 

 the Promotion Bureau in New York, 

 printed matter and other incidentals; 

 and right here. I want to pay tribute 

 to the wonderful work accomplished 

 by the Promotion Bureau under th" 

 direction of Mr. John Young. Head- 

 quarters have been established in New 

 York where the florists of the country 

 who visit New York can transact busi- 

 ness, obtain information and keep in 

 touch with business generally. Hun- 

 dreds of columns of reading matter 

 have been obtained in the newspapers 

 and magazines of this country abso- 

 lutely free, and every co-operation ex- 

 tended to help build up our business. 

 The trip of Mr. Young from coast to 

 coast, not only increased subscriptions 

 to the Publicity Fund, but tended to 

 keep the florists of the country in 

 closer touch with each other and with 

 their business. I believe that on his 

 trips he also obtained new member- 

 ships for the society to the number 



of several hundred, which in itself, 

 is quite an achievement. His work in 

 enlisting the co-operation of the Red 

 Cross Society was a great gain for 

 our industry, and taking it all in all. 

 I feel that the. close co-operation of 

 the Promotion Bureau with the Public- 

 ity Campaign has been the means 

 of placing our business on a higher 

 plane than ever before. 



Now that conditions in business are 

 approaching normal, it seems to me 

 that ont only should we have a Pub- 

 licity Fund of $50,000 per year, but It 

 should be closer to $100,000, and if the 

 florists of this country will only real- 

 ize the possibilities for more business, 

 I feel sure they will, I believe that sub- 

 scriptions will increase as time goes 

 on. 



As some members may possibly 

 think that this national advertising is 

 expensive, I call your attention to one 

 item as showing how little it does cost 

 in comparison with the results accom- 

 plished. 



For instance, we expended about 

 $20,000 during the spring season of 

 1918, and about $10,000 during the fall 

 season. Let me dwell for the moment 

 upon the fall expenditure of $10,000. 

 and permit me to tell you that for 

 that $10,000 we appealed to over ten 

 million readers of the national maga- 

 zines at a cost of less than one-tenth 

 of a cent per person. Just compare 

 this with any form of direct contact 

 that you can think of and realize how 

 much more inexpensive are the results 

 obtained through the medium of the 

 national campaign. 



As we were somewhat delayed in 

 getting the Finance and Publicity Com- 

 mittees together to consider the 1919 

 campaign, it was decided that during 

 January and February of 1919. we 

 should concentrate our advertising ef- 

 forts upon our slogan. "Say it with 

 Flowers." and with this idea in view, 

 we are inserting this slogan during 

 January and February in practically 

 every magazine of prominence in this 

 country We are using small space it 

 is true but we are obliged to do so en 

 account of the fact that we did not 

 want to expend more than $5,000 dur- 

 ing the entire two months, and felt 

 that if we could impress our slogan 

 "Say it with Flowers" upon the minds 

 of over eleven million people during 

 these two months, that we would be 

 helping all future publicity work tre- 

 mendously, because, after all. to my 

 mind, this slogan, "Say it with Flow- 

 ers," is one that is worth a great deal 

 to the florists of this country, and the 

 more we can make people remember 

 and think of it, the more business will 

 it make for lis all. 



It is regrettable that so few of our 

 members have contributed to the pub 

 licity fund, and yet we are enabled to 

 participate in the benefits of this cam- 



