' "■— ■;P''y"TP'»'':^' I ^r-FTT-^^T 7TT'^"^»»'T''^:"*r(7»T-" 



'■■T:T»W'''ff'W7W|jnp«^l!Wl!i!WWT:^^ 



50 



X 



The Florists^ Review 



Ad«dst 19, lOM 



torn. I am informed — though I do not 

 state this as an indisputable fact — that 

 flftj per cflnt of the florists' business is 

 derived, not from the desire of the 

 people to purchase flowers, but because 

 of the established convention which 

 makes it correct to send flowers in the 

 case of deaths. A number of the flo- 

 rists we talked to stated that the per- 

 centage was even higher than that — 

 that it totaled as much as seventy-five 

 per cent — but we believe that fifty per- 

 cent would be nearer the mark. So 

 one -half of all the florists' business in 

 the country is not due, as yet, to the 

 desire of the people to use the services 

 of a florist other than for the one pur- 

 pose of fulfilling the obligation which 

 they feel they owe, as citizens, one to 

 another. 



In other words, to put it in figures, 

 according to the Agricultural Record, 

 the total value of cut flowers purchased 

 by retailers per annum amounts to 

 $12,500,000, which would show that 

 $6,000,000 went for the one item of 

 funerals and the balance for the inter- 

 mittently purchased flowers for other 

 occasions. This estimate, taken from 

 the Department of Agriculture's year- 

 book of 1912, is the last date on which 

 figures for cut flowers was given and 

 applies only as a fixed selling price of 

 $6 per hundred for roses, $4 per hun- 

 dred for carnations and $1 per hundred 

 for violets. Later figures are con- 

 tained in the Department of Agricul- 

 ture 's yearbook for 1919, for plants and 

 cut flowers combined, and show that, 

 during the period from 1899 to 1919, 

 the increase in the value of cut flowers 

 and plants amounted to $16,000,000, 

 the exact figures being $18,000,000 in 

 1899 and $34,872,000 in 1919. Later 

 figures than these are not available and 

 I would suggest, in passing, that one 

 of the things that we should do is to 

 urge the necessity of proper statistics 

 on the cut flower industry, so that we 

 might base our advertising appropria- 

 tions on increases. 



Other Sources of Revenue. 



We will assume that fifty per cent, or 

 one-half of the florists' entire revenue, 

 is derived from only one of these big 

 sources of revenue and that the revenue 

 from this one source has reached as 

 high a figure as it can reach; then it is 

 equally right to assume that our ex- 

 pansion will come from other uses of 

 flowers. Eliminating gifts entirely and 

 eliminating flowers used simply for 

 decorative purposes for the homes and 

 for holidays, we have two other phases 

 of life which are really of more im- 

 portance to the nation than deaths. 

 When one person dies, two are born, 

 and there are ten marriages which take 

 place for every fourteen deaths. 



If it were a custom as deeply rooted 

 in the habits of people to send flowers 

 for a birth as it is now a custom to send 

 them for a death, you can see what an 

 increase would be effected in the flo- 

 rists' business. 



Our advertising is for the purpose of 

 reminding people that flowers should 

 rightly be sent on these occasions. 

 During the three years in which we 

 have conducted publicity campaigns, 

 our aim has been to get the slogan 

 ^'Say It with Flowers" so engraved 

 upon the minds of people that, when- 

 ever these happenings occur, they will 

 make flowers their messengers of con- 

 dolence, joy or good wishes. Our pur- 

 pose has always been to link flowers 



with something joyful — to make flow- 

 ers sing the song of happiness, rather 

 than to have them remind people of 

 the departure of a friend. We have 

 constantly kept in mind that other half 

 of the florists' business, which is the 

 buying of flowers for birthdays, holi- 

 days and gifts and which can, with 

 proper expansion, be trebled in the vol- 

 ume of business done. 



What We Have Done. 



We have carried this message into 

 8,000,000 homes, which means exerting 

 an influence upon 40,000,000 people. 

 Unfortunately, however, our appropria- 

 tion has never been large enough to 

 make our appeal as impressive as the 

 task in hand warranted. 



What manufacturer, for instance, 

 would feel that he was doing justice to 

 his product, which could be used by 

 8,000,000 families, or 40,000,000 people, 

 if he expended only one-twelfth of a 

 cent for each person? That is what 

 we did in 1920 with our appropriation 

 of $35,000 for advertising. 



And yet, with that twelfth of a cent, 

 we have laid a splendid foundation. 

 Our slogan "Say It with Flowers" is 

 known from coast to coast. It is just 

 beginning to work for us. We have 

 spent three years in placing it in the 

 position to create a market for us. We 

 can go out now and cash in on our 

 efforts, provided we show the people 

 that we take our slogan seriously. They 

 are waiting for us to show them. Now 

 that they know that they should "Say 

 It with Flowers," we should show them 

 just when and how to say it. We have 

 attracted their attention. They are in 

 a receptive mood and one of the great- 

 est calamities which could overtake 

 the florists' business would be to have 

 the florists disappoint — I do not believe 

 that I am putting it too strongly in 

 saying that — the reading public of the 

 United States by not following up the 

 campaigns of the last two years. 



Making Flowers a Commodity. 



What we want to do is to make flow- 

 ers a constant commercial commodity 

 and, during the next three years, to 

 double the business. This we believe 

 can be done by working upon the 

 seventy-one per cent of the happenings 

 that take place every day, rather than 

 devoting fifty per cent of our business 

 toward only twenty-nine per cent of the 

 possible sources of revenue. Every day, 

 in the United States, there are approxi- 

 mately 3,000 marriages and 3,841 peo- 

 ple die, but 6,301 are born and we still 

 have that vast source of revenue to 

 think about. 



Educational campaigns to stimulate 

 the desire on the part of the people for 

 more luxurious and better ways of liv- 

 ing are now being conducted with such 

 success that there will be no cessation 

 of such advertising in the magazines 

 and newspapers during 1921. These 

 cooperative campaigns have for their 

 subject bricks, linen, bicycles, cranber- 

 ries, magnetos, printing, wood wheels, 

 ball bearings, peanuts, milk and the 

 church. So you see there is no limit 

 to the character of the products which 

 can be advertised in this way. So also 

 there is no limit to the scope of pub- 

 licity in putting across either a com- 

 modity or an idea. 



I do not believe there is one single 

 florist who will not agree with me, and 

 with the publicity committee, that a 



cessation of advertising on the part of 

 the florists now would be a calamity. 

 All are agreed that 1921 should see a 

 continuation of publicity for flowers in 

 even larger volume than we have ever 

 seen before. To do justice to the propo- 

 sition we have in hand will require 

 $100,000, and, in applying this amount 

 of money, we should make up our minds 

 that we are going to spend this amount 

 every year for three consecutive years 

 — $300,000 for advertising for three 

 years I Does that amount of money 

 stagger you? Does it seem possible? 

 Does it make you feel as though an- 

 other quarter of a million had been 

 added to the overhead of the florists' 

 business? 



Then I am going to relieve your 

 minds. I am going to show you that 

 you can spend that amount of money 

 and put back into your business, not 

 only the profits which this advertising 

 would bring you, but also the principal. 



Here's the Bright Idea. 



This is the plan — one of many, I ad- 

 mit, but one which I think is simple 

 enough and practical enough to appeal 

 to everybody. In order to obtain a 

 fund which will enable us to spend 

 $100,000 a year, we have to obtain first 

 a trust fund of $2,000,000. This trust 

 fund draws interest at the conservative 

 rate of five per cent. We shall not try 

 to get a higher percentage, because we 

 guarantee the return of the principal to 

 each subscriber, at the end of three 

 years, if he desires it. 



The subscribers will number 4,000, 

 divided into 500 growers, 500 whole- 

 salers and 3,000 retailers. That makes 

 our 4,000 honor list of men who are in 

 earnest about making the slogan "Say 

 It with Flowers" a really national in- 

 stitution. The slogan itself is now pub- 

 lic property. Every florist can use it. 

 Every florist should use it. The more 

 they do so, the more it helps the flo- 

 rists' business. But, to belong to the 

 4,000, it will be necessary for you to do 

 something to warrant recognition in 

 that gathering. 



Your membership in the Florists' 

 Four Thousand will require simply that 

 you loan to your own business a mat- 

 ter of $500, which comes back to you 

 intact at the end of three years, and 

 you have a chance of spending $300,- 

 000 in an investment that will give you 

 as big returns as any other project you 

 can think of — and remember that I 

 come from the home of Ponzi and 

 should know what I am talking about. 



I will leave to the publicity commit- 

 tee the problem of working out how to 

 bring this message home to the 9,000 

 retailers and 4,000 growers and whole- 

 salers with such strength that the Flo- 

 rists' Four Thousand will be formed. 



NEW ENGI^AND SOCIETY NOW. 



The Massachusetts Gladiolus Society 

 held a meeting at Boston August 14 

 and reelected the old board of officers. 

 They also voted unanimously to change 

 the name of the society to the New 

 England Gladiolus Society. They now 

 have fifty-two active members and the 

 wide field now taken in will bring in 

 many more. A committee on rules and 

 regulations was appointed, consisting 

 of F. E. Spencer, A. L. Stephen, Jelle 

 Boos, John Zeestraten and Irving S. 

 Moody. The initiation fee was fixed 

 at $1 and annual dues at $1. 



W. N. 0. 



