10 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



APBiL 25, 1912. 



THESE TOOK THE HINT. 



Working Up Mothers' Day. 



It is not often fortune favors the 

 florists the way it has with Mothers' 

 day — the second Sunday in May. 



But the trade should not depend 

 wholly on the fact that the sentiment 

 which inspired Mothers' day has ap- 

 pealed to the great American people 

 as nothing else has done in recent years 

 — we should grasp our opportunity and 

 do our utmost to acquaint the public 

 with the purpose of this annual event: 

 ' ' To honor the best mother who ever 

 lived — your own." There are many 

 ways it can be done — but none of these 

 ways includes raising prices. Don't do 

 that; reduce them, if anything. 



Last year Mothers' day, always the 

 second Sunday in the month, came May 

 14. In its issue of April 27 The Re- 

 view urged its readers to work for 

 the success of the day and suggested 

 some of the things that could be done. 

 The following are extracts from a few 

 of the many letters received later in 

 the month, telling how easily it came: 



Cleveland, O. 



Does advertising pay? Ask any flo- 

 rist in Cleveland and the answer will 

 be in the affirmative. The plan of co- 

 operative advertising had its first try- 

 out in preparation for . Mothers ' day 

 and it is the consensus of opinion that 

 it was a howling success. 



Practically all the florists contribut- 

 ed to a fund. With it a committee had 

 banners painted and placards printed 

 advertising Mothers' day and these 

 were spread broadcast throughout the 

 city. Delivery wagons of every descrip- 

 tion bore one of the cloth mgns read- 

 ing: "Remember Mothers' day, May 

 14. Wear a flower in her honor." In 

 many of the store windows other than 

 those of florists were cards inscribed 

 with the words: "Mothers' day, Sun- 

 day, May 14. As a token of love for 

 her, wear some flower on this national 

 day." Other cards read: "Flowers for 

 mother. Don't fail to send some floral 

 remembrance to mother for Mothers' 

 day, Sunday, May 14." 



Needless to say, there were not half 

 enough white carnations and other 

 stock was also short of the demand. 

 Every store in town was completely 

 cleared of stock by Sunday noon and 

 everybody was satisfied. In the third 

 year of its existence. Mothers' day is 

 already one of the big days of the year. 



C. D. Fell. 



Batesville, Ind. 



I took "The Story of Mothers' 

 Day," as it appeared in The Review, 

 and had it printed as a neat 4-page cir- 

 cular, the title, date and my name and 

 address on the front page, the story 

 on the center two pages, and my Moth- 

 ers ' day prices for flowers on the fourth 

 page. Also I clipped from The Re- 

 view the advertisement suggested for 

 pushing Mothers' day, running it in the 

 local paper and printing it on a card 

 to be distributed with the folder. The 

 one thing I neglected, however, was 

 to secure an adequate supply of flow- 

 ers — couldn't anywhere near meet the 

 demand I worked up. 



Dolph E. Moore. 



Boston, Mass. 



We are sending herewith a copy of 

 our first Mothers' day advertisement. 



You will note we adopted your sug- 

 gestion about 



A white flower for Mother's memory. 

 A bright flower for Mothers living. 



Only we changed the phraseology a 

 little. The results were GREAT, and 

 we think it will be of interest to your 

 readers. Penn the Florist. 



Kansas City, Mo. 



We not only advertised Mothers' day 

 but called in the newspaper reporters 

 and got them to run stories based on 

 your write-up of the day in The Re- 

 view. We did not overlook using your 



A white flower for Mother's memory. 

 A bright flower for Mothers living. 



Mothers' day in our estimation will 



be one of the leaders. Within six or 



seven years, we believe it will become 



second of the flower buying days, if 



not first. Our sales this year were 



over fifty per cent increase from last 



year, comparing Mothers' day and the 



two days before. * Alpha Floral Co. 



Bellefontaine, O. 



Saturday and Sunday we sold 1,275 

 carnations, the largest sale of carna- 

 tions ever made in Bellefontaine, with a 

 population of 8,238. It was better than 

 one flower for every seventh person in 

 town. We did it by advertising Moth- 

 ers' day along the lines suggested by 

 The Review. J. E. Stelzig. 



Macon, Oa. 



We got our leading local paper to re- 

 print "The Story of Mothers' Day" 



newspapers and an article showing how 

 generally the day was observed this 

 year, thinking they may be of use to 

 you in pushing this day. We adopted 

 The Review's suggestion in this matter 

 and are pleased to report fine results. 

 Geo. M. Geraghty, Mgr., 

 For John H. Dunlop. 



Seattle, Wash. 



Acting upon the suggestion of The 

 Review, we took up the subject of 

 Mothers' day. We first secured an edi- 

 torial in a leading paper, which we 

 promptly followed with an almost ver- 

 batim copy of the advertisement The 

 Review suggested, of appropriate flow- 

 ers for this day, including: 



A white flower for Mother's memory. 

 A bright flower for Mothers living. 



We are more than gratified to be able 

 to say to you that we were entirely 

 sold out both on Saturday and Sunday. 

 The custom certainly took splendidly, 

 and Mothers ' day is now on our regular 

 annual holiday list. We often find and 

 appropriate many useful suggestions in 

 your paper and wish to compliment you 

 on its efficiency. L. W. McCoy. 



Canton, O. 



I gave 3,000 carnations to the 

 churches and hospitals, distributing 

 them Saturday. The local papers gave 

 Mothers' day a strong write-up (I 

 sent for them and gave them The Re- 

 view's account of the origin of the day 

 to work on) and the day certainly 

 brought a much larger call for flowers 



Wear a Hower for Mother's Sake 



To honor the best Mother whp ever lived — your own. That 

 is the purpose of Mothers' Day, 



SUNDAY, MAY 12 



A white flower for Mother's memory. 

 A bright flower for Mothers living. 



We shall be prepared Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, with 

 a large assortment of fine, fresh flowers, appropriate for Mothers' Day, 

 offered at our usual moderate prices. All customers served promptly. 

 Special rates to Sunday Schools, Lodges, etc. 



Posey & Blossom, 



Progressive Florists, 



Main Street. 



Send Mother a Bouquet on Mothers' Day. 



We have correspondents to deliver flowers fresh anywhere in the United States. 



Suggestion for Newspaper Advertisement to Help Push Mothers' Day. 



[The Ad suggested by Tlie Review, used last year with great success by Florists In all parts of the country. 3 



as it appeared in The Review of April 



27 and we took the advertisement The 



Review suggested, containing the lines: 



A white flower for Mother's memory. 

 A bright flower for Mothers living. 



The advertisement we spread across 

 five columns of the paper, using a space 

 five inches deep. The results were be- 

 yond our expectations. "White flowers 

 had first call, but bright flowers had 

 an even larger sale, for there were more 

 of them. The Review is entitled to 

 credit for showing the trade how to 

 popularize the flay so quickly. 



Idle Hour Nurseries. 



Toronto, Ont. 



We send herewith our Mothers ' day 

 advertisement from one of our local 



than we had expected. It will be a big 

 day in 1912. Charles Brown. 



ADVERTISING MOTHERS' DAY. 



The best way a florist can advertise 

 Mothers ' day will be to use the columns 

 of the leading paper in his town. The 

 first year that The Review urged florists 

 to take advantage of the opportunities 

 the day affords, an advertisement was 

 suggested that was of a character that 

 any florist can use, either just as it 

 stands, merely inserting his name for 

 "Posey & Blossom," or which he can 

 adapt to his needs by a few minor 

 changes. The advertisement proved a 

 good one. It will be noted in the 



