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14 



The Florists' Review 



OCTOBKB 7, 1915. 



energy made Mothers' day. A little 

 push may prove profitable in this case. 



FLOATS THAT ADVERTISE. 



Greenhouse Float, a Real Ad, in an Oklahoma Industrial Parade. 



sold to him when he enters the store. 



Baskets of autumn flowers make a 

 good display at this time. To more 

 easily draw attention to them, the win- 

 dow decorator may add something such 

 as the cornucopia in the autumn win- 

 dow of Hoyt Bros. Co., Spokane, Wash., 

 which is reproduced on the preceding 

 page. This horn of plenty was six feet 

 long and made of Oregon grape, or 

 mahonia, apples, wheat and yellow 

 chrysanthemums. Out of it poured an 

 abundance of fruit, vegetables, bas- 

 kets of flowers and blooming plants. 

 This proved a good window for the har- 

 vest season. 



Other window features similar to this 

 will readily occur to the decorator. The 

 arrival of the football season offers op- 

 portunities, especially in a college 

 town. The world's series and various 

 city series of baseball also present sug- 

 gestions. Other things besides sports 

 may be featured as well. The three 

 points to be borne in mind are: Make 

 the window seasonable, use autumn 

 flowers, and aim to get new trade be- 

 fore people have become accustomed to 

 the absence of flowers again. 



NEW HOLIDAY FOR FLORISTS. 



Mothers' day and Memorial day have 

 proved so profitable to florists that they 

 will at least consider with interest the 



proposal of a new holiday, called Mem- 

 ory day, by a Michigan man. The 

 origin of it reminds one of that of 

 Mothers' day. J. T. Daniells, of St. 

 Johns, Mich., having lost both his 

 wife and his only child, was filled with 

 the desire of bettering the cemeteries 

 and beautifying the graves therein. 

 With this purpose in view, he. offered 

 a resolution to the Michigan State 

 Association of Farmers and to the 

 State Grange. The Michigan legisla- 

 ture took the matter up at the follow- 

 ing session, and now the governor of 

 Michigan has set apart September 30 

 as Memory day. Mr. Daniells is hoping 

 that Congress will comply with the re- 

 quest to declare it a national day. It 

 is not to be a legal holiday, but merely 

 a matter of sentiment. 



So long as cemeteries continue to ex- 

 ist they should be cared for, an4 not 

 allowed to become weed patches. So 

 far the idea is a good one. But if the 

 day is to be a day of planting vines 

 and flowers, and not merely one of 

 weed-pulling, there arises the question 

 whether the spring, rather thaa the end 

 of September, is not the season for 

 such a holiday. 



No matter what the time of year, 

 however, it will pay the florist to be 

 among the leaders in his community in 

 advocating such a day. Florists' 



How an Illlnote Floritt Adverliaed bis Business in a Parade. 



Prize-winners Not Always Best. 



At this time of the year, when in- 

 dustrial, municipal and business-boosts 

 ing parades are almost as numerous as 

 are the cities and towns in the United 

 States, a few words regarding trade 

 floats, from an advertising standpoint, 

 will be timely. 



It is apparent, from photographs of 

 trade floats received by The Review, 

 that many florists who participate in 

 parades do not always utilize the fac- 

 tor that is of high advertising value — 

 the thing that will unmistakably ad- 

 vertise the florists' business. The 

 trouble is that some florists are too 

 confldent that flowers are highly typi- 

 cal and representative of the florists' 

 business. As a matter of fact, the ma- 

 jority of people do not clearly asso- 

 ciate flowers with the florist, any more 

 than they would clearly associate a 

 score of pretty girls with the telephone 

 business or a wagon load of books with 

 one of the local book shops. 



For instance, John Smith, florist at 

 100 Main street, may bedeck his little 

 Henry Ford with hundreds of gladioli 

 and asters and bring home first prize 

 as the best exhibitor, but he is not 

 getting all the advertising he could, 

 at least not enough to warrant the ex- 

 pense he has been to. The crowd and 

 judges greatly admire Smith's float, 

 but they do not associate the flowers 

 with Smith's store. The public's in- 

 terest is centered on the display as a 

 beautiful picture, and what is seen of 

 Smith's sign at the top is soon for- 

 gotten. The beauty of Smith's float 

 defeats its purpose. It distracts the 

 attention of. the crowd from the fact 

 that the float is John Smith's, and the 

 flowers are the kind that John Smith 

 handles. To make a float an advertis- 

 ing success, something more typical of 

 the business than flowers must be 

 used. John Smith's float would almost 

 serve Harry Smith, cosmetics, or Wil- 

 liam Smith, chocolates, as well. 



Floats Should Typify Business. 



Now, had John Smith used a minia- 

 ture facsimile of the exterior of his 

 store, with flowers in the small display 

 windows, he would have vividly ac- 

 quainted the spectators with the na- 

 ture of his business, the name of his 

 business and the location and appear- 

 ance of his store. The float would 

 efliciently advertise John Smith, and 

 not, as in the former case, merely 

 please the senses of the crowd. In plan- 

 ning a float it would be well to bear 

 in mind that the first consideration 

 should be, "Does my float thoroughly 

 advertise my business?" and not, 

 "Shall I win one of the prizes?" 

 There is a vast difference between the 

 two. 



Two Trade Floats That Won. 



There recently have come to the at- 

 tention of The Review the floats of 

 two florists who seem to have caught 

 the right idea. They are the work of 

 the Enid Floral Co., of Enid, Okla., and 

 the Freeport Floral Co., of Freeport, 

 111., both of which are reproduced here- 

 witk. 



The float of the Enid Floral Co. took 

 second prize in an industrial parade 



