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THE PLAN THAT MADE 



MILWAUKEE FAMOUS 



First of the local movements for cooperative publicity by florists, the 

 ''Milwaukee plan " has become a name known to the trade throughout the 

 country and a pattern for other communities to follow. How it came into 

 being and how it operates is told here by the man who does the work. 



OT YET two and one-half 

 "Tk "T" years old, the cooperative 

 C^l^k I advertising campaign of 

 [ I ^d the florists of Milwaukee 

 ' is a lusty child, making re- 



markable growth. It was 

 born September 6, 1917, at 

 the Bepublican House, in 

 Milwaukee, where fifty- 

 five representative florists 

 met to form what was later called the 

 Florists' Advertising Club. The pros- 

 pectus of the proposed organization was 

 read, the by-laws prepared beforehand 

 were accepted with some changes and 

 a canvass was undertaken to secure the 

 signatures of members. The club was 

 later incorporated under state laws, 

 without capital and not for profit. 



The first officers of the club were: 

 President, H. V. Hunkel; vice-president. 

 Gust. Busch ; treasurer, A. Leidiger; sec- 

 retary, H. J. Seel. 



A board of directors was established 

 to control the activities of the club. 

 This was composed of three growers, 

 three wholesalers and three retailers. 

 The board made all the appropriations 

 and approved all expenditures for ad- 

 vertising. 



To raise the money for 

 the advertising, a "plan of 

 assessment was worked out, 

 then quite novel, but since 

 well known throughout the 

 country by the success of 

 this campaign. Every grow- 

 er who was a member of 

 the club instructed the 

 commission house to which 

 he consigned his flowers to 

 deduct one-half of one per 

 cent from his returns. 

 Every retailer had added to 

 his bill one per cent of the 

 invoice amount. The sum 

 deducted from the growers' 

 returns and that added to 

 the retailers' bill was 

 turned over to the club by 

 the wholesalers. 



Equitable Contributions. 



This plan was formed 

 with the intention of equal- 

 izing contributions. The 

 grower contributed only 

 one-half as much on a per- 

 centage basis as the retail- 

 er, because it was estimat- 

 ed that approximately one- 

 half of his flowers were 

 sold to retailers outside 

 Milwaukee. The percentage 

 on sales in Milwaukee was 

 therefore in equal propor- 



By H. J. SEEL. 



tion between the grower and retailer. 

 By this method each member of the 

 trade contributed in accordance with 

 the size of his business. The returns 

 from the advertising, it was felt, were 

 in proportion to a florist's established 

 trade, and therefore this was the most 

 equitable mode of assessment. The 

 large firms and the small ones contribute 

 according to their ability and the assess- 

 ment is not a burden on anyone. 



Every Dollar Must Count. 



The first year the amount collected 

 was $4,863. This was not an extrava- 

 gant sum of money to do a year's ad- 

 vertising for the trade in a city the size 

 of Milwaukee. It was only by con- 

 serving it, by hoarding it, that the com- 

 mittee was able to make so much of 

 it. Every penny had to count. No 

 large sums could be paid for running 

 expenses. Every dollar was needed for 

 actual advertising, and by careful con- 

 servation the committee was able to 

 make the fund accomplish a great deal. 



So satisfied was everyone in Milwau- 



PUSHING PUBLICITY 



a D o a 



Local campaigns for co-operative ad- 

 vertising occupy the limelight in the 

 florists* trade today. Several cities are 

 seeking to establish them and others 

 are talking of the project. To forward 

 this movement, one of the greatest in 

 the trade's history, The Review pre- 

 sents the stories of the three plans now 

 in operation, from which other com- 

 munities can form their own. 



kee with the results of the first year's 

 campaign that when the annual meet- 

 ing was held February 10, 1919, it was 

 voted to double the assessments for the 

 following year, so that the growers 

 would pay cne per cent and the retail- 

 ers two per cent. The motion to do this 

 was mad'j from the floor, without any 

 recommendation from the officers of the 

 club. It represented the spontaneous 

 appreciation of the florists of Milwau- 

 kee of the good the campaign had done 

 for their business. Seventy-four votes 

 were cast in the ballot on the question 

 and only two were negative. 



For the second year of the campaign 

 in Milwaukee, recently closed, approxi- 

 mately $12,000 was raised. If you di- 

 vide this by two and calculate only on 

 half the amount, or what would have 

 been, received had the rj^tes of assess- 

 ment continued the same as in the first 

 year, you find an increase of twenty- 

 three per cent over the year before. 

 Here is actual proof that the publicity 

 really increased the business of the 

 florists of Milwaukee. We have no doubt 

 of it. The reports from the wholesale 

 houses show thia gain of twenty-three 

 per cent was not merely the 

 normal growth of the flow- 

 er business, for during the 

 same time the out-of-town 

 business did not increase at 

 anywhere near the rate that 

 the city business did. 



The weekly records bear 

 this out also. If the week 's 

 business at one of the 

 wholesale houses indicates 

 a gain of $1,000, approxi- 

 mately $800 of it will be 

 gain in the city and about 

 $200 in out-of-town busi- 

 ness. If there appears a 

 loss of $1,000, the city loss 

 will be $200, the country 

 loss $800. If there is a $500 

 loss, probably the figures 

 show a city gain of $200 

 but a country loss of $700. 



Proof of Returns. 



The fact that the records 

 ^un like this week after 

 week convinces the most 

 skeptical that the advertis- 

 ing in Milwaukee has paid 

 and paid well. 



Out of the larger appro- 

 priation during the second 

 year, we estimate that we 

 have obtained, not just 

 twice the amount of adver- 

 tising we got the first year, 

 but nearer two and one- 



