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SENTIMENT SELl\S 



AT THANKSGIVING 



Not yet the "flower day" it should he and is c\rtain to become, the 

 Thanlisgiving holiday offers to florists an opportunity fbr sales effort sure to 

 he rewarded. What some florists did a year ago may give others suggestions 

 to act upon for the coming holiday. 



OB some holidays, notably 

 Christinas, Easter and 

 Mothers ' day, flowers have 

 become so indispensable 

 for the proper celebration 

 of the occasion that the 

 florists' need is more for 

 system and organization 

 to handle the business 

 X)roperly than for effort to 

 increase it. But of such holidays 

 Thanksgiving day is not one. The day 

 has brought in years past a fair amount 

 of business, but not nearly as much as 

 a day of national thanksgiving should. 

 It would seem that <a day of rejoicing, of 

 thanks, of harvest-time, should of ne- 

 cessity demand flowers for the full ex- 

 pression of sentiment on the occasion. 

 It would seem that flowers were more 

 indispensable to the event than to 

 Christmas and' Easter, primarily reli- 

 gious holidays and sec- 

 ondarily days of celebra- 

 tion in a material way. 

 But, on the contrary, it 

 appears that the turkey 

 alone is indispensable at 

 Thanksgiving — more nec- 

 essary than is a lily at 

 Easter. 



Flowers Appropriate. 



This is a matter for flo- 

 rists to change. It is one 

 they are changing. Each 

 recent year has produced 

 a greater amount of effort 

 on the part of florists to- 

 ward the promotion of 

 Thanksgiving as a flower 

 day. The effort has been 

 well repaid. Flowers are 

 abundant at Thanksgiving. 

 Chrysanthemums are in 

 full swing. Prices are not 

 high and the demand is 

 not so strong that they are 

 pushed higher. The re- 

 tailer, therefore, has at 

 this time the elements 

 that he finds niost desir- 

 able for a profitable busi- 

 ness. It is a time to in- 

 crease the sales, if pos- 

 sible, and the experience 

 of florists who have tried 

 show that it is easily pos- 

 sible. 



The method lies in the 

 presentation of the idea to 

 the florist 's p a t r o n s. 

 Merely a list of flowers 

 available with their prices 

 and the suggestion to buy 

 flowers at Thanksgiving 

 is not enough. Jlowers 



are sold best by the forceful presenta- 

 tion of the sentiment for which they are 

 to stand. Make the public feel the sen- 

 timent and the public will feel the ap- 

 propriateness of flowers. 



Methods. 



To convey the sentiment to the public, 

 the florist has at his disposal all the 

 methods he employs on other occasions. 

 Folders and letters — direct mail adver- 

 tising — are valuable for such an occa- 

 sion. The first two pages of a leaflet 

 may be devoted to presenting the senti- 

 ment of the day, the last two pages to 

 a price list of the flowers and plants 

 available. Suitable illustrations and 

 verses assist materially in such advertis- 

 ing. Those florists who use newspaper 

 advertising — the number constantly in- 

 creases — will find the investment in 

 printers' ink at Thanksgiving a most 



profitable one. Several illustrations of 

 this sort are given on this and the fol- 

 lowing page, to show how florists last 

 year got the sentiment in the minds of 

 the public. The effect of this advertis- 

 ing in Chicago was noted with particu- 

 lar satisfaction and this year the effort 

 to push the day will be increased. 



On this page is shown an advertise- 

 ment which the publicity organization 

 of Chicago, the Allied Florists' Associa- 

 tion of Illinois, ran in the Sunday Trib- 

 une just before Thanksgiving a year 

 ago. It was followed, just before the 

 holiday, by the advertisement repro- 

 duced on the next page, which occupied 

 smaller space. These advertisements, 

 emphasizing the spirit of hospitality 

 prevalent on the day and the best ex- 

 pression of its appreciation as in flowers, 

 made a decided im])ression on the mind 

 of the public, as the retailers in that 

 city testified after the 

 holiday. 



How simple the expres- 

 sion of the sentiment of 

 Thanksgiving may be 

 made in a florists' public- 

 ity copy, while it is, never- 

 theless, connected with 

 the flowers that are for 

 sale, is to be seen in the 

 advertisement of the 

 Fleischman Floral Co., 

 Chicago, reproduced on 

 the following i>age. This 

 was used the day before 

 Thanksgiving in the Chi- 

 cago Tribune, occupying 

 about nine inches in two 

 columns. 



Flowers 



for Thanksgiving 



'As a gift to your Hostess or, if you will 

 entertain, at a compliment to your guests. 



TF you are to be ■ guest, jrour hoitess will appre- 

 ciate best a gift of flowert, or a (eaMoable 

 plant, as a symbol of your though fulness. 



THE AI.I.IEP FLORISTS' 



ASSOCIATION OF 



ILLINOIS 



If you are to entertain, your guests will notice 

 the compliment if the table is nicely decorated 

 and fall flowers are about the home. 



One Phase of ibfi Sentiment that Appeals at Thanksgiving Day. 



Frisco Ad. 



An especially good ad- 

 vertisement was used by 

 the florists of San Fraii- 

 cisco in all the papers, 

 both morning and eve- 

 ning, of that city. The in- 

 ability of the engraver to 

 reproduce the advertise- 

 ment suitably prevents, 

 unfortunately, its appear- 

 ance as an additional illus- 

 tration. The advertise- 

 ment was five columns 

 wide and twelve inches 

 high, a large space. Most 

 prominent, in a ])anel, was 

 the ])icture of a girl posed 

 among clirysanthemums, 

 while in a corner was a 

 small sketch symbolic of 

 the Pilgrims who inaug- 

 urated the day. The text, 

 however, was the most em- 

 phatic part of the adver- 



