Introduction
While creating the Florida-specific plant brand Florida Garden Select, the Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association (FNGLA) also developed a variety of communication materials. To test the effectiveness of the messages, FNGLA partnered with the PIE Center to conduct focus groups in Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami with potential consumers. Researchers hoped to determine:
- How the Florida Garden Select brand and slogan, “Florida Grown, Nationally Known” resonated with consumers
- Types of messages consumers respond to in relation to purchasing plants
- Perceptions of plants, gardens and landscapes
- Consumer attitudes and perceptions of FNGLA’s Florida Gardening educational website and print materials
Based on the results, FNGLA would create and implement a marketing plan similar to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences “Fresh from Florida” campaign.
Key findings
When examining the Florida Garden Select brand and slogan, the majority of participants responded favorably to “garden select,” but had mixed feelings when “Florida” was added. Many participants thought of a quality or fresh product, while others thought the brand sounded too much like an advertisement or suggested that other products were of lesser quality. As far as the proposed slogan “Florida Grown, Nationally Known,” many participants thought of oranges or citrus products and expressed confusion about whether the plants were native to Florida.
More than 60% of participants indicated that the brand of a plant was unimportant, while 25% concluded that a plant brand was neither “important nor unimportant.” Instead, participants said they were interested in the size of the plant, blooms and the level of maintenance required.
With respect to the Florida Garden Select logo and Florida Gardening website, members in all six focus groups responded unfavorably to the colors used and readability of the font. Although the participants said they would use the website as a resource, they were critical about the pictures, color scheme and other design elements.
Recommendations
The PIE Center recommended that FNGLA consider other branding options besides “select,” as it was not chosen by focus groups as a good descriptor of plant products. Similarly, the perceived vagueness of the slogan indicated FNGLA might want to be more specific and descriptive about the products included in the brand, for example an exclusion of citrus.
Because many of the participants alluded to the unimportance of plant branding, for success, FNGLA will need to use the brand brand in unconventional and include details that are interesting and important to consumers. Participants rarely remembered the name of a plant brand and many considered only the name of store where the plants were purchased.
Given the largely unfavorable reaction to the Florida Garden Select logo, the PIE Center suggested a reevaluation of the logo design, colors and font to better reflect Florida-specific plants. The participants also desired details and cohesion in the website evaluation and wanted a connection among all images, photos, graphics and the content.
Additionally, FNGLA should include more plant-specific information on the website such as size, soil/water/light conditions as well as flowering information and promote interactivity on elements such as its map of the hardiness zones.
