24 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbkuary 1, 1917. 



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ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 



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A TRADE MADE FLOWER DAY. 



The Work of Four Years. 



Four ycais is a Idii^ while to \\:iit 

 lor anytliiii^. l)ut in tlie liisloiy ol' a 

 trade lour vt ;trs in only a luicf tiino for 

 Iho creation, (leveloj)nient and linn es- 

 lablishinc,' of aiiotlior special ilowtM- day. 

 Tliose who were in the trade in li)i2 

 Avill recall that live years a^o St. \al- 

 entine'a day was -without signilieanee 

 for florists. 



Indeed, tlie development of St. Valen- 

 tine's day is one of the best examples 

 of ^vhat florists can do for themsidves, 

 once they have their attention calleit to 

 tlie 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 iinmemorial it 

 has been the day on whicli brave men 

 have .sent fair ladies fond tokens. ]^ut 

 it was not until lOi;'> that any attempt 

 was made to cause 1h(> use of flowers as 

 \alentincs. Januaiy ;j(i, J!)l.'5. The Re- 

 view ])ublish(Ml a St. A'alentine '.s Day 

 Numlx'i' in wl]i(di it was conspicuously 

 stated: 



The purpose of this issue is 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 w;is the real beginning of St. 

 Valentine's ilay from a llorists' tlow<M' 

 selling jioint of view. 



That issue of The Rc\iew ])olnted out 

 an opj>ortunity — and showed how to 

 take advantage of it. Tt illustrate<l the 

 methods by which the fi^v retailers who 

 had tried to do something with the <la>' 

 had made two dollars come in where 

 only one dollar came in before, and it 



showed ]iictures of the corsage bouquets 

 .•iml jiackages that seemed likely to be 

 the readiest sellers. 



Everybody Doing It Now. 



I'eihajis that 191.'! St. A'alentine's 

 Ninnber of The Review fidl short of its 

 jiurpose to get 10.000 llorists to push 

 llowers for use as \alentincs, but the 

 r(»sults really were surprising. Liter- 

 ;iliy thousands took up the work and 

 the way St. Valentine's day sales 

 Jiimjied is matter of common knowledge. 



After only four years Ave find every- 

 body advertising flowers for St. A'alen- 

 tine's day. It has paid splendidly, for 

 it has been demonstrated that, as The 

 Review said in its first St. A'alentine's 

 ]^ay Number, "all the public needs is 

 1h(> suggt'stion to send flowers."' 



Although the St. Valentine's day de- 

 mand for flowers is based on an ancient 

 custom, it is a si)ecial flower tlay of 

 the trade's own making; it affords a 

 sjilemiid ilhistration of the results that 

 I'uliow unite(l elTort. It has come to 

 jiass because a large number of indi'id- 

 uals eacii lias 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 sjiecial display for St. 

 X'alentine's day he will pass up one of 

 the best chances of the season, for it 

 pays, ]iays directly, pays tangibly and 

 immcciiat(dy. Also, it is easy, for hearts 

 and llowers 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 ca])abli' of many variations. 'J'his 

 was the I'JKi window of the Spokane 

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

 ])aid liandsomely for the not great spe- 

 cial effort and the small extra expense 

 in\-oi\-ed. The suggestion, "Let your 



\aleiitine li 

 omitted. 



lowers," should not bo 



Newspaper Ads. 



At Washington, I). C, and in many 

 other cities, it has proved splendidly 

 tdfectivc for the florists to get together 

 on a large iicwsjiaper advertisement 

 such as the one rejiroduced on jiage 27. 

 This is shown, not as an example of 

 good co])y, for it might be improved, 

 but as an illustration of a method which 

 has lirought splendid results at small 

 cost to the individual. It is W'orth do 

 ing in any town where there are three 

 or more llorists 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 moans 

 of increasing the sales of flowers. In 

 any town where the florists use ncws- 

 ]»aper space to an extent that will make 

 an impression on the public the flower 

 business is sure to be in a healthy con- 

 dition. Int(dligently used, individual 

 advertising is the greatest power thus 

 far discovered for the improvement of 

 business. But usually the cost of the 

 indi\idual St. Valentine's day adver- 

 tisement is much greater than woubl 

 Ite the individual subscription to a co- 

 operatiAc flower athertisemcnt. In tin 

 original the Fleischman advertisement 

 lejuoduced on jiage 2S av;is over four- 

 leeii inches long and three columns 

 wide; it measured GOO agate lines in 

 a jmper that charges T.O cents to 40 

 cents ]ier line. It probably cost th(^ 

 florist $200 and an equal space will cost 

 more this year, for advertising rates, 

 like everything else, have gone up in 

 the newspajiers that were not charging 



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



