16 



The Florists^ Review 



May 10, 19 IT. 



ideas tu his follows in tlie trade and at 

 tiie s;inie time adopting wliat oi" theirs 

 he lieliexes ^ood. 



These traits ol.' the florist have 

 l>rou<i;ht out many novelties, some ot' 

 ■which ha\(' lieconu" staples in ilie trade. 

 An illustration will be a reminder that 

 some brain lirst (.-oneeived and directed 

 the work on each ot' tlie iuncral designs 

 which every tlorist now makes. Others 

 ol" tlie novelties are ])opular for a whilo, 

 nnd then are drop]ied. But discarded 

 or not, each new creation has l)eeu an 

 inspiration not nnly to the designiT, but 

 to t>onie other Ihtrist. 



Individuality Makes Sales. 



The mere bunching of :i few tioweis 

 and (iispi.'iy iiig the result with liundreus 

 of other bundles of much tlie sa"i.> char 

 acter does imt invite custom. Viewing 

 a field ot' daisies is miicli the same. 

 There :ire so many of the Howers tliat 

 the jiossessioii of a few if tliein means 

 but little to tlie observer. Hut take 

 those same bunches of tiowers into the 

 llorist's store, jnit eacii into an individ- 

 ual setting and the chances for sales 

 have increased tremendously. 



Ill the exhibit of I'lMinock Bros., 

 I'liiladeljdiia, at the jose show in 

 March, there were displayed several il- 

 lustrations of this individual method in 

 society work. Special debutante boxes, 

 each math^ especially for the recijiient 

 and not dujdicated, were shown. Then 

 there was the lloral gift for the new 

 baby, also original and also individual. 



Harmony the Keynote. 



Such work as tiiis requires .-iccessories 

 as well as stdection and treatment of the 

 flowers which comjiose it. Hoxes, 

 baskets, \ ;ises, dishes-- all may thus be 

 utilized, lint, as has been emphasized, 

 1)0 ciireful that the recoptacde used be 

 in keeping with the tiowers it contains. 

 Make it a lifting l)ackground for ami not 

 a rival to, the c(dors of the ilowi'rs. 



After the siiriny rush those in the re- 

 tail branch of tlie trade have more time 

 to gi\<- their artistic ability full sway. 

 It is the time, too, Avhen every original 

 touch to the show window, arrangement 

 of flowers and interior of the store, will 



be a great sales help. For each will at- 

 tract attention and stimulate the desire 

 to possess in the passer-by and the visi- 

 tor to the store. 



Another example of such a window is 

 jiictured in the illustration on this page. 

 \-\ R. I'ierson Co., of Tarrytown, j\'. Y., 

 believes that pottcrv is a logical side 

 line for the retail florist. The window 

 pictured was awarded lirst prize iu a 

 window display contest arranged by a 

 pottery manufacturer to secure the ex- 

 ploitation of his line. "All the win- 

 dows submitted were excellent, adding 

 to your credit in receiving the award,'' 

 was the comment made when the prize 

 was awarded to Mr. I'ierson. 



'I'he larger pieces in the window were 



used by Mr. I'iersou in his display of 

 roses, lor which he received fii'st prize, 

 at the New York show. The two gar- 

 den vases were used in the Pierson rose 

 garden, which also received lirst prize 

 at the same show. 



Too much stress cannot be laid on the 

 necessity of carrying the invaluable ac- 

 cessories which act as a trade stimulus. 

 Hut iu broadening his business, the re- 

 tailer should not go beyond reasonable 

 limits. He should confine his side lines 

 to natural adjuncts to his business. But 

 first, last and all the time he should 

 remember that his business is selling 

 tiowers and that the other things are 

 merel.v aids in the accomjilishment of 

 these sales. 



i;' ^ty^^Lm^iy^j!^^^'!iL^ity{!iyt|^iu^ii^ 



EXPLOITING MOTHERS' DAY 



MOTHERS' DAY NATIONAL AD. 



Paid For "by Small Profits. 



Tlie Mothers' day advertisement of 

 the Chicago Florists' Club, with its bor- 

 der of forget-met-nots, apjieared in the 

 Literary Digest for Ma.v .'3 and probably 

 has been the most talked of thing that 

 has happened in the trade this spring. 



It is well understood that the adver- 

 tisement, costing something over $1,000, 

 was paid for out of the jtublioity fund 

 earned by the (Jhicago Florists' Club b.v 

 its sales of St. Valentine's day and 

 Motliers' day jiosterettcs. These sticker 

 stamps in bright colors were manufac- 

 tured in large quantities, printing great 

 sheets of tlu^m at a time, so that by sell- 

 ing in small lots, at moderate prices, a 

 jirofit was turned into the publicit.v fund. 

 A large number of florists contributed, 

 but none contributed more than a few 

 d(dlars and each contributor received 

 full value for his money in tlie jiostor- 

 ettes he obtained for his own use. It 

 iii\(>lved a largo amount of work for the 

 publicity committee, but the raising of 



the money was an easy matter because 

 it came in small sums from many jieo- 

 ])le and the transaction was a purchase, 

 not a contribution. 



Discussion of Details. 



As tlic first attempt at national pub- 

 licity for flowers the advertisement has 

 attracted unusual attention from the 

 trade. Not unnaturally, there is diver- 

 sity of ojiinion regarding the details. 

 Literary Digest has not been the fa- 

 vorite weekly ])ublication of any con- 

 siderable number of florists and many 

 were surprised at the committee's selec- 

 tion and the statement of the number of 

 leaders reached. Discussion of this 

 jioint gets nowhere, however, for the 

 reason that no one would be able to pick 

 out a ])ublication giving a greater cir- 

 culation among an equally desirable 

 (dass of people unless the expenditure 

 for a. ]>age were much greater. 



The position accorded the advertise- 

 ment was all that could be desired. It 

 appeared on jiage 1, the first page in- 

 side the cover, a position so well es- 

 teemed that for it practically all juib- 

 lications charge an extra price. 



Fimdamentally All Right. 



There are those who think the writiM" 

 of the advertisement might widl have 

 |iut more omjihasis on the sontiinontal 

 .ippeal of the day, but it is a not un- 

 rominon fault of florists' advertising 

 that it neglects to take into account that 

 the public does not lia\e tlie com])lete 

 Ixiiowledge of the subject possessed by 

 the writer of the fulvertisement; many 

 a florist 's advertisement would be well 

 liinlerstood by the fradt> but is rather 

 iii(>aiiiiigless to the outside reader. 



.\s an interesting experiment, liow- 

 t\ or, this MothiMs' ilay ad\ertiscm(Mit 

 is excellent. It has shown the way. 

 It- is the woil< of tlie conimittec^ of a 

 local llorists" club, wliicli jindiably will 

 not care to carry it on indelinitidy. The 

 ciuit iniiation of the work, and it un- 

 doubtedly is worth continuing, probably 

 will rest 'with tlie S. A. F. 



Prire Window Display of Pottery by F. R. Prersoti Co., Tarrytown, N. Y. 



THE COMMITTEE'S VIEW. 



''This camjiaign of advcM'tisiiig for 

 Mothers' day was a mighty task,'' says 

 I'recl Laiiteiischlager, chairman of the 

 publicity committee of the <'liicago l-'lo- 

 rists" ('lull. '• First of all, we got a late 



