Endless Summer
Challenge:
Building on the success of the Bailey brand, the company came to us with a unique plant that had essentially been waiting in the fields for almost 10 years. With the ability to rebloom throughout the season and a hardiness to endure Northern climates, they knew the plant had tremendous consumer appeal, but they weren't sure how to move forward with it.
Solution:
We began the process by researching previous plant introductions to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their strategic programs. Identifying the unique characteristics of the Bailey plant, followed by extensive positioning exercises, led us to a name that communicated the brand's essence and exuded the emotional appeal that consumers would embrace. Endless Summer was born. A strategic decision to launch the plant solely in IGCs conveyed exclusivity and more importantly followed suit with "the trusted partner" position that had been established for the Bailey brand. To provide marketing support to those retailers, a worldwide advertising campaign was developed along with P.O.P materials translated into numerous languages. Existing materials had to be modified from their original version, which only contained the Bailey name. The Bailey name alone did not support IGCs in further developing their brands, satisfying the notion that there is a direct link between consumers and a retail brand. It was this understanding of the relationship between the consumer and the retailer that led to the creation of an innovative point-of-purchase program. Occurring almost simultaneously with the launch of Endless Summer was the development of a partnership company between Bailey Nursery and Initio called New Growth Marketing. The first in the industry, New Growth is a customized signage program designed to help IGCs build their own brand and differentiate them from the competition.
Results:
The success of Endless Summer was unprecedented in the industry. Over 7 million plants were sold in 3 years. A unique campaign poking fun at this success, urging retailers to prepare for the onslaught of Endless Summer seekers, had tremendous ad recall. Endless Summer is the largest single plant introduction in the history of horticulture.