24 



The Rorists' Review 



Fbbbuary 1. 1917. 



L^tiS^tyWI^tiSfJl^Jl^t^liS^l^l^l^l^^ 



ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 



">liTT^ifrffirKffrffl?nffirHB^^ 



A TEADE-MADE FLOWER DAY. 



The Work of Four Years. 



Four years is a long while to wait 

 for anything, but in the history of a 

 trade four years is only a brief time for 

 the creation, development and firm es- 

 tablishing of another special flower day. 

 Those who were in the trade in 1912 

 will recall that five years ago St. Val- 

 entine's day was without significance 

 for florists. 



Indeed, the development of St. Valen- 

 tine's day ig one of the best examples 

 of what florists can do for themselves, 

 once they have their attention called to 

 the opportunity. 



How It Started. 



Read up on St. Valentine's day and 

 you will find its origin lost in the mists 

 of antiquity. Since time immemorial it 

 has been the day on which brave men 

 have sent fair ladies fond tokens. But 

 it was not until 1913 that any attempt 

 was made to cause the use of fiowers as 

 valentines. January 30, 1913, The Re- 

 view published a St. Valentine's Day 

 Number in which it was conspicuously 

 stated: 



The purpose of this iune it to get 10,000 florists 

 each to do at least a little something to attract 

 the attention of the public to the appropriateness 

 of flowers for use as valentines. 



That was the real beginning of St. 

 Valentine's day from a florists' flower 

 selling point of view. 



That issue of The Review pointed out 

 an opportunity — and showed how to 

 take advantage of it. It illustrated the 

 methods by which the few retailers who 

 had tried to do something with the day 

 had made two dollars come in where 

 only one dollar came in before, and it 



showed pictures of the corsage bouquets 

 and packages that seemed likely to be 

 the readiest sellers. 



Everybody Doing It Now. 



Perhaps that 1913 St. Valentine's 

 Number of The Review fell short of its 

 purpose to get 10,000 florists to push 

 flowers for use as valentines, but the 

 results really were surprising. Liter- 

 ally thousands took up the work and 

 the way St. Valentine's day sales 

 jumped is matter of common knowledge. 



After only four years we find every- 

 body advertising flowers for St. Valen- 

 tine's day. It has paid splendidly, for 

 it has been demonstrated that, as The 

 Review said in its first St. Valentine's 

 Day Number, "all the public needs is 

 the suggestion to send flowers." 



Although the St. Valentine's day de- 

 mand for flowers is based on an ancient 

 custom, it is a special flower day of 

 the trade's own making; it affords a 

 splendid illustration of the results that 

 follow united effort. It has come to 

 pass because a large number of individ- 

 uals each has done and is "doing his 

 bit" for his own individual good and 

 the sum of the effort makes a push that 

 makes the flower business boom. 



ADS AND WINDOWS. 



The Bright Displays. 



If any florist neglects to decorate his 

 window with a special display for St. 

 Valentine's day he will pass up one of 

 the best chances of the season, for it 

 pays, pays directly, pays tangibly and 

 immediately. Also, it is easy, for hearts 

 and flowers go together and with the 



red heart in the window the message 

 is easy to get across. 



The St. Valentine's window decora- 

 tion shown on page 25 is to give an 

 idea capable of many variations. This 

 was the 1916 window of the Spokane 

 Florist Co., of Spokane, Wash., and it 

 paid handsomely for the not great spe- 

 cial effort and the small extra expense 

 involved. The suggestion, "Let your 

 valentine be flowers," should not be 

 omitted. 



Newspaper Ads. 



At Washington, D. C, and in many 

 other cities, it has proved splendidly 

 effective for the florists to get together 

 on a large newspaper advertisement 

 such as the one reproduced on page 27. 

 This is shown, not as an example of 

 good copy, for it might be improved, 

 but as an illustration of a method whicli 

 has brought splendid results at small 

 cost to the individual. It is worth do- 

 ing in any town where there are three 

 or more florists willing to work together 

 for the general good of the business. 



Of individual advertising there is no 

 end — on the whole it is the best means 

 of increasing the sales of flowers. In 

 any town where the florists use news- 

 paper space to an extent that will make 

 an impression on the public the flower 

 business is sure to be in a healthy con- 

 dition. Intelligently used, individual 

 advertising is the greatest power thus 

 far discovered for the improvement of 

 business. But usually the cost of the 

 individual St. Valentine's day adver- 

 tisement is much greater than would 

 be the individual subscription to a co- 

 operative flower advertisement. In the 

 original the Fleischman advertisement 

 reproduced on page 28 was over four- 

 teen inches long and three columns 

 wide; it measured 600 agate lines in 

 a paper that charges 30 cents to 40 

 cents per line. It probably cost the 

 florist $200 and an equal space will cost 

 more this year, for advertising rates, 

 like everything else, have gone up in 

 the newspapers that were not charging 



Tulips in Heart-shapied Hamper,' Front and Back View, for St. Valentine's Day. 



