22 



The Florists^ Review 



NOVEMBEK 3, 1921 



ALL TOGETHER 



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F. T. D. AND FLOWER WEEK. 



Wholesome Publicity. 



When I reeeived your invitation to 

 address your meeting on "Say It with 

 Flowers" week, I accepted with the 

 proviso tliat I be allowed to have my 

 subject also include F. T. D. week. 

 Therefore, I will address my remarks to 

 the subject ' ' Say It with Flowers and 

 F. T. D. Week." 



This is in direct accord with tlie work 

 of our committee, composed of Robert 

 L. Graham, of Baltimore; Charles H. 

 Grakelow, of Philadelphia, and myself, 

 appointed by Philip Breitmeyer, presi- 

 dent of the F. T. D. association, to en- 

 courage this movement throughout the 

 entire membership of the association. 

 So you see, in accepting your kind invi- 

 tation, I have a splendid opportunity for 

 getting tlie work of our committee well 

 started. 



This subject has already been dis- 

 cussed sufficiently to carry it beyond the 

 point of argument, as to whether it is 

 a good thing and beneficial to the floral 

 industry. I am sure it will be difficult 

 to find anyone who will not agree that 

 it is a most wholesome way of creating 

 flower publicity. 



Flower publicity' means greater knowl- 

 edge of flowers by the public, and a 

 greater knowledge l)y the public means 

 a greater desire for them, and a greater 

 desire for flowers means greater sales. 



The "How" and "What." 



Tlie purpose of our committee is not 

 only to encourage movement of the 

 "Say It with Flowers" and F. T. I), 

 week, but also to tell those wlio wish to 

 know what to do and how to plan their 

 jirogram for it. The idea was horrowed 

 from the "Automotive Industry," of 

 Washington, D. C. In the spring of 

 1918, this association inaugurated what 

 they called the "buy a car" week. 

 Nearly all of the large establishments 

 were elaborately decorated and tlic 

 program cost them thousands of dollars. 

 The results, liowever, were that during 

 that week everybody in the city had 

 visited and inspected the new models 

 of cars. The result was a great desire 

 on the part of the public for a new 

 model. The ])oint was not so much for 

 a direct sale, but to create a desire. The 

 sale would take care of itself. This is 

 exactly what we want to do with our 

 "Say 'it with Flowers" and F. T. D. 

 week. The florists, with their beautiful 

 flowers and plants, have an opportunity 

 ill advertising not equaled by any other 

 line of business. During the last ten 

 years we have made some progress in 

 this line, but nothing like wliat we 

 should have done. It is the pur])ose of 

 our conunittee to see if it cannot bring 

 out a unity of effort along this line, so 

 that better results may be attained. 



When the movement was first started, 

 the city of Philadelphia was the first to 

 take it up. Under the leadership of 



Tho .iddrpss on ".Say It witll FlowPr8 and 

 K. T. \). \V<Mk,' dpiivcrcd by Z. D. Hl.nckis- 

 tonp. of Wiisliii]).'l(>ii. It. ('., iit llip eiplith nn- 

 iiiiiil cnnvpiiticin of tlip TpiiiiPS'Stfp .Statp FIoriBts' 

 A^Hix'i.'itioii, licld at ('liatt!inoo);a Novi'iiiber 1 

 and -J. 



Charles H. Grakelow, the city put out a 

 really active program. Albany, Balti- 

 more, Chicago and other cities also 

 staged this affair with a great deal of 

 success. Philip Breitmeyer, the presi- 

 dent of the F. T. D. Association, is keen 

 on this proposition and hopes to see it 

 an annual institution all over the coun- 

 try. 



What Was IJone at Washington. 



As a suggestion to those who would 

 like to have a "Say It with Flowers" 

 and F. T. D. week, but are not familiar 

 with the details, we will recite a brief 

 history of how we handled it at Wash- 

 ington, D. C. I was then president of 

 our Florists' Club. The matter was 

 brought up at one of our meetings and 

 an interesting discussion of the subject 

 followed. Thereupon an invitation was 

 issued to every florist in Washington, 

 D. C, and vicinity, to participate in a 

 luncheon to formulate plans for the 

 event. At a luncheon meeting a gen- 

 eral chairman and various committees, 

 such as finance, publicity, hospitality, 

 reception, etc., were appointed. We 

 were fortunate in getting the assistance 

 of a competent finance committee. The 

 proposition appealed to the florists so 

 much that no trouble was experienced 

 in collecting nearly .$2,000. This I con- 

 sider good, as, previous to this, it has 

 always been difficult to raise any funds 

 whatever for such work. With this in 

 hand, we employed an experienced news- 

 ])aper man as our publicity agent. From 

 the beginning of our movement, about 

 August 1, until the end, November 10, 

 we were getting various matters of pub- 

 licity into all the local papers. Nothing 

 was paid for this, but just prior to the 

 beginning of our "Say It with Flowers" 

 week, which began November 1, we 

 spent sever.al hundred dollars in news- 

 paper advertising. Our publicity was 

 running along continuously in all the 

 jiapers. Meetings were held each week 

 and, during the discussions which fol- 

 lowed, we always got some new and 

 interesting ideas. It was really sur- 

 prising liow easily these ideas would 

 come out through this open discussion. 



At the beginning of our week, a reg- 

 ular i)rogram was issued and mailed to 

 each and every florist in the vicinity. 

 As there were only about a dozen or so 

 who were r(>ally active in the campaign, 

 we had to do this to keep those on the 

 outside informed. In this way, they got 

 an idea of what we were doing with the 

 money which they ha<l subscriljed and I 

 f.aiicy that they felt better satisfied 

 for it. 



The Washington Program. 

 Our jirogram was about as follows: 

 We started out l)y sending a bouquet of 

 flowers to all the churches at their Sun- 

 day services. A carefully worded let- 

 ter was sent to the jtastor telling him 

 about the "Say It with Flowers" week 

 and in many cases this letter was read 

 to the congregation. This, in itself, you 

 can realize, gave our movement a won- 

 derful popularity to start with. Mon- 

 day baskets of flowers were sent to the 

 large department stores. Tuesday a 

 handsome bouquet was placed upon the 



desk of each of the city editors, with a 

 little note of greetings from the "Say 

 It with Flowers" week committee. 

 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday flow- 

 ers were sent to the hospitals, homes for 

 the aged, infirmaries and other similar 

 places. With each of these contribu- 

 tions, a beautiful and carefully worded 

 letter was sent telling about the "Say 

 It with Flowers" week. Each of these 

 it with flowers" week. Each of these 

 letters was worded so as to carry a 

 personal appeal. 



This is of great importance and is 

 such that I will take the time to read 

 you two of these letters. Every piece 

 of literature which was sent out from 

 the chairman 's office was gotten up with 

 the same care and thoughtfulness, so as 

 to compel the recipient to read it over 

 the second time. The following letter 

 was sent to the churches: 



Reverend Sir: Won't you on behalf of your 

 congregation accept tliese blooms and have same 

 placed on the altar for your Sunday services? 



This is the beginning of "Say It with Flow- 

 ers" week and we want your flock to join with 

 us in a message of sunshine, helpful love and 

 enconnigement. 



Wp extPnd to you a cordial invitation to view 

 the beautiful flowers which all the florists of 

 Washington have prepared for exhibition during 

 the "Say It with Flowprs" wPek. 



Yours for a more beautiful capital city. 



The Florists of Washington. 



Here is the one for the hospitals, 



which I consider equally good, but brief: 



To the management of 



hospital: The 



florists of Washington wish to make your hospital 

 a little more cheerful today by these blooms, 

 which come to vou from the flower growers 

 jointly. 



This is "Say It with Flowers" week in Wash- 

 ington and WP bplieve that flowers can tell you 

 better than words our sincere desires that every 

 imtient will take new hope from these simple 

 blossoms for an immediate recovery. 



The Florists of Washington. 



Saturday, the final day, an aeroplane 

 ascension was made and flowers with 

 ' ' Say It with Flowers ' ' tags attached 

 were dropped over the city. 



Results of the Campaign. 



Every one of these little things gave 

 an excuse for our publicity man to get 

 a big write-up in the newspapers and be- 

 fore the week was over everyone in 

 Washington, D. C. was talking about 

 "Say It with Flowers." 



Some pessimist will complain that 

 flowers are grown to sell and not to give 

 away. On this occasion we had a great 

 many dahlias in bloom and I am sure 

 not a sale was lost by the giving of these 

 flowers. The chances are, if the flowers 

 had not been given away they would 

 have eventually found their way into 

 the trash bin. I believe it is far better 

 judiciously to give away surplus flowers 

 than to tlirow them away. 



As this movement has been taken up 

 officially by the Florists' Telegraph De- 

 livery Association, it is no more than 

 right that the F. T. D. should be kept 

 in mind, especially through the week. 

 It would be a fine thing as a part of the 

 "S,iy It with Flowers" and F. T. D. 

 week, for all florists who are members 

 of the F. T. I). Association to make win- 

 dows setting fdrtli this institution. Any 

 of the members of our committee will 

 l>e glad to iissist in any wav possible 

 and will be glad to offer" suggestions on 

 this subject. 



Furthermore, we want the wnole coun- 

 try to keep this in mind as it is our 

 desire to have the "Say It with Flow- 

 ers ' ' and F. T. D. week made a regular 

 institution with the florists, so that it 

 ^ylll be looked forward to by the pub- 

 lic as a coming fall event. If we can 

 do this, no doubt, the movement will 

 mean a great deal for the business. 



