STEPABLES® Launches New Media Marketing Campaign

Under A Foot Plant Company™ and its national plant brand of creeping perennials, STEPABLES®, announced today the launch of an innovative marketing campaign designed to utilize new media, such as an interactive Web site design, instructional videos and informative blogs, to build brand recognition among its growers, garden centers and consumers.

As an award-winning marketing leader in the horticulture industry, STEPABLES® has designed the Web site to serve as the core of the new media campaign. The site now includes:

• Hundreds of new images to show consumers and landscapers the most creative ways to use STEPABLES
• Multiple forums for open discussion about anything the site visitors would like to discuss
• Several instructional, how-to videos
• A new blog written by Frances Hopkins, founder and president of Under A Foot Plant Company™
• “Meet Fran” section that personalized the brand with a family behind the name
• New media center with all current press releases
• A help desk available to consumers, garden centers and landscapers
• Design center with printable garden layouts
• A STEPABLES® Fun Club to receive discounts on plants and merchandise

“I wanted to create a marketing campaign that reflected my enthusiasm for gardening and hopefully inspire those visiting the STEPABLES® site to try something new,” said Frances Hopkins, founder and president of Under A Foot Plant Company™. “I look forward to interacting more personally with anyone who visits www.stepables.com.”

Hopkins will be updating her blog regularly as a new medium for communicating upcoming STEPABLES® news and responding to commonly asked questions from homeowners and landscapers. The site also has a new guest blog where horticulturalists and experts are invited to offer advice and knowledge about their experiences with STEPABLES® plants.

Brief instructional videos are featured on the new STEPABLES® site for a quick look at how STEPABLES® can spruce up any landscape. In less than five minutes apiece, these four videos show imaginative possibilities with the STEPABLES® line such as learning the basics of container gardening, planting combination sensations with flower bulbs, creating accents with steps and benches, and replacing a lawn with these low-maintenance plants. Hopkins produced and starred in each of the videos to further personify the brand and educate her audience with these how-to STEPABLES® tips. Take a look at one of the videos, posted below, to see how you can plant STEPABLES® around benches or between steps.

Click on the links and video to see how this plant brand plans to remain at the forefront of marketing with the newest technologies in communication!

~Leslie

All Great Things Come in Threes

Exciting News from Ball Horticultural Company!

1. Ball Horticultural Company announces the launch of its completely redesigned Web site!

The new site is organized and easy to navigate with one convenient location for growers, retailers, landscapers and home gardeners to find out about plants, products and programs available from Ball.

Highlights of the new ballhort.com include a database where growers and retailers can list their businesses, a commonly asked questions page for all audience types, and a section for sustainable solutions from Ball. Also, site visitors can enjoy all the best features of the previous site including downloadable PDFs with plant culture information and lists of Ball Exclusives. Take a look!

2. Ball Horticultural Company and French firm Alliance 47 announce a joint venture to develop and commercialize new bio-packaging products for the horticulture industry.

Under a long-term agreement, Ball Horticultural Company has exclusive worldwide rights to technology that will apply to an extensive range of packaging products including pots, tags, point-of-purchase materials and more.

Ball Innovations will oversee the research and product development work related to the partnership. “Our goal is for Ball to continue to lead the industry in providing practical, sustainable solutions for greenhouse growers,” says Bill Doeckel, General Manager of Ball Innovations. “By working with Alliance 47 to greatly expand the range of sustainable packaging products, we hope to dramatically improve the sustainable options for our industry.”

Packaging products made from the new substrates will be commercially available to horticulture industry professionals in Europe and North America beginning in 2008.

3. In 2008, Wave® petunias will celebrate their 10th year on television with a national advertising campaign that is bigger, bolder and better than ever before!

A new commercial promoting Wave petunias in Pink Packaging will air more than 700 times on 25 national cable channels including HGTV and DIY as well as other lifestyle-oriented networks like E!, Lifetime, A&E, Food Network and more. The comprehensive marketing experience for Wave petunias will also include elements of print advertising, direct mail, events, online communications, viral marketing and public relations.

“This commercial is designed to get attention and appeal to newer, younger gardeners with an edgy, fun style,” says Diane Hund, Director of Marketing at Ball. “This year’s entire Wave marketing campaign is unlike anything our industry has ever seen. We’re fully committed to helping growers and retailers by marketing Wave petunias to consumers in fresh and creative ways, and the unique approach and broader reach of this year’s television advertising plan does just that.”

The theme of the commercial is “Accept the Gardener in You,” and will air March 31 through June 11 in the U.S. and Canada.For a behind-the-scenes look at the integrated Wave marketing plan, check out the Wave video posted on YouTube.

~Leslie