214 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
create the desire and clinch the order. The publicity 
campaign by the American Association will make orders 
come easier hut it is hardly likely to increase their vol¬ 
ume very much unless there is active cooperation by the 
drummers up of business. 
If the nursery business is such that it will not stand 
the cost of high grade salesmen on the road, who know 
their goods, and can tell the customer how to obtain the 
goods lie thinks he is buying, would it not he well to 
make up for his lack of knowledge the best equipment 
that can be conceived, an outfit designed for the pur¬ 
chaser’s benefit rather than for making sales. 
PUBLICITY FOR FLORISTS 
The following paper by L. D. Fernddd, read before the 
recent Florist's Convention is equally applicable to the 
Nursery Trade and will speak for its'elf. 
All that is necessary is to substitute Trees and Plants 
for Flowers to fully appreciate the forceful argument 
set forth in favor of advertising nursery products. 
If, when I was invited to speak to you, I had been told that 
Major O’Keefe was going to address you, I certainly wouldn’t be 
here, except in the audience. I would have said that having 
him here really makes it unnecessary—in fact, rather ridicu¬ 
lous—for me or any other advetising man to hold forth—espec¬ 
ially when what is said will have to stand the test of being im¬ 
mediately compared with the remarks of an outstanding expert 
on advertising, who has also studied intimately the opportuni¬ 
ties and processes of flower advertising. 
Because of that, and because my enthusiasm over the vast op¬ 
portunities of the business of flowers may tend to make me talk 
too long, there is double reason to stick pretty close to some 
notes on the subject. 
Your president in his official page of welcome in this conven¬ 
tion program refers to the fact that this convention has every¬ 
thing that any other convention ever had except “certain cool¬ 
ing liquids.” This desire for “something with a kick 
to it” isn’t limited to conventions; every business man is, 
in these days, looking for “something with a kick to it” to pour 
into his business. 
What Major O’Keefe and I are asked to do is to try to provide 
some prescriptions that will enable you to stimulate your busi¬ 
ness even though a lot of folks are trying to enforce temporary 
prohibition on doing business. 
What are the opportunities of the business of selling flowers? 
If there is any business which can be said to be absolutely 
unlimited in its possibilities, it is the business or profession of 
selling flowers. 
Did you ever hear of any one who didn’t like flowers? 
There is not a single individual among the 105,000,000 of the 
United States who doesn’t instinctively love flowers. Regardless 
of sex or race, color or financial condition, this natural love of 
flowers is instinctive with every person on the face of the globe. 
Our minds have to be trained to want and enjoy almost every¬ 
thing else in life; few things that we do, are things that are in¬ 
stinctive. Most things are like olives, which you have to eat a 
dozen times before you like them. Many things require the sort 
of selling treatment that Wrigley has to give his chewing gum 
in selling it to foreigners. You know Wrigley hit a frost in 
Japan because everybody swallowed the gum instanter, and 
then complained that there was not only no pleasure in eating 
it, but their stomachs actually revolted. So it was necessary to 
employ hundreds of young men to stand up in front of the gum 
signs and chew the gum vigorously, hour after hour, before the 
Japanese public took hold. 
But a flower is the same to the Japanese as to the American. 
It needs no training, no language, no argument, no urging to en¬ 
joy flowers. People are instinctively eager for them. 
If only a fractional part of our 105,000,000 people bought flow¬ 
ers at all regularly, you gentlemen wouldn’t be able to supply 
the demand. There’s one vital thing needed. Let me tell you 
a story: 
A dozen years ago, when the late—and great—Theodore N. 
Vail had built up the telephone service all over the country, to a 
point where it could handle all the business it had, and needed 
more, he started in to advertise the telephone. He showed the 
wide range of everyday and special uses of the telephone to 
everybody in the United States. He showed how the telephone 
could be used instead of a letter—instead of a telegram—instead 
of a personal call in town, or a trip to another city. He showed 
its use in emergencies, its use for economy, for quick results, for 
comfort and convenience. He showed the worth whileness of 
having it at hand whether you made use of it or not; and then 
shewed how much it should be used when you had it available. 
While this advertising was going on, one of the members of 
the board of directors said to President Vail, “Vail, what’s the 
idea of spending all this money in advertising instead of 
in dividends? Advertising is all right for things people don’t 
know about, but everybody knows about the telephone.” 
“Yes,” answered Vail, “everybody knows about the telephone. 
But, d-n it, they don’t think about it enough. If I can make 
them think about it oftener they’ll use it oftener.” 
It’s just as true that while everybody knows about flowers—in 
fact, instinctively loves flowers when they stop to think about 
them—the fact it that they don’t think about flowers enough, or 
often enough. They go on with the humdrum of daily business 
life, daily home life, daily social life—without thinking about 
flowers, and how much flowers can mean to them. 
After all is said and done, the one big thing that the florists 
need, is the means to make the public think oftener about flow¬ 
ers. The oftener they think about flowers, the oftener they’ll 
buy flowers. 
Probably this doesn’t require proof; but let’s prove it, any¬ 
way. What happens at Easter? Easter, without flowers? 
Everybody thinks about flowers at Easter—and almost every¬ 
body buys flowers. The florists’ facilities are taxed to the limit; 
they never have enough Easter Lilies; they don’t have enough 
clerks; their delivery facilities are overtaxed. Everybody wants 
flowers—because everybody is thinking about flowers. 
My point is that florists can keep the people thinking that way 
by magazine and newspaper advertising. There is, of course, an 
emphasis on flowers at Easter time which doesn’t exist at any 
other time, but after all, the principle is the same—the principle 
of having everybody think about flowers. 
That is the great thing that the florists’ joint campaign of ad¬ 
vertising is doing—it is making people think oftener about flow¬ 
ers; and by making them think oftener about flowers, they buy 
them oftener. The buying of flowers is a good deal like the tak¬ 
ing of baths used to be—an occasional cermony instead of a 
daily habit. Anything you do often enough, regularly enough, 
becomes a habit. At first it takes a lot of separate actions—con¬ 
stant reminding to do a certain thing—but when it becomes a 
habit, a part of regular daily life, it becomes automatic. You 
feel uncomfortable if you don’t do it; you know something is 
wrong. 
We must make flowers a universal habit with everybody. That 
is the great function of advertising. The least of its values it 
to have people buy once; its great value is n making people buy 
regularly—in building up a great consuming market for your 
goods. 
Now a person with the habit of buying a particular thing is a 
customer, and customers are what keep a business alive, to say 
nothing of making it profitable. There isn’t a florist who could 
live on transient, one-time sales. He must have customes—who 
come regularly, who buy today, and buy tomorrow and next 
week. 
When he has started the flower habit, the florist has won cus¬ 
tomers who will steadily repeat. He can sell those customers 
new flowers as often as once a day; he can sell them as large an 
order every time—and more than likely their purchases will in¬ 
crease as time goes on. He is selling the most wonderful thing 
in the world—and the most perishable. He can sell the same 
customer the same kind of flowers—from the very same plant, 
perhaps—over and over again. 
To successfully build up the habit of buying flowers will re¬ 
quire a habit of advertising flowers on the florists’ part. Merely 
doing it spasmodically—now and then, at special seasons, or on 
special days—won’t do the job. It will simply increase the 
amount of spasmodic sales—now and then purchasing—instead 
of regular buying of flowers. Transients instead of customers. 
May I suggest that advertising requires exactly the same treat¬ 
ment that the rest of the florists’ business requires? 
The amateur gardener is always getting discouraged because 
the seeds planted today aren’t full-grown flowers tomorrow; he 
is even tempted to dig up the seeds to see if they are growing. 
The experienced horticulturist does not do that. He knows 
that good seed or good plants—good care—good growing condi¬ 
tions will produce good flowers. Years of experience—years of 
persistence in perfecting the development of flowers—persist¬ 
ence in the face of disappointing early results—have given the 
