Updated Images
A florist shop revamps its ads.
Meredith Schwartz -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 6/1/2003
The Cutting Garden in Cleveland is a European-style florist shop that opened in 1992. Each month, president Catherine Jones runs full-page, four-color ads in Cleveland Magazine. The original ads featured typical floral bouquets, but when Internet offerings from 1-800-Flowers and other online services began to appear, they looked an awful lot like the Cutting Garden's.
Gift retailers can relate to the dilemma of differentiating an independent specialty shop from a nationwide brand. The Cutting Garden met the challenge by re-envisioning its magazine ads, simplifying them with less copy, and using close-up photography. Now, rather than bouquets, the new ads focus on unusual flowers the shop carries. The approach sounds basic, but a picture is worth a thousand words. In making a first impression, good photography and graphic design is vital for ads, signs, Web sites, press releases, and mailings.
The Cutting Garden's new ad campaign also focuses on the strength independents offer that a large chain can't — personalization. A company like 1-800-Flowers offers a wide array of choices, but isn't able to respond to a customer's request to design a particular centerpiece. The Cutting Garden's customers are encouraged to imagine the possibilities when they see the ad of a single bloom. And imagine they do — thanks to the new ads, the store's sales increased $34,000 over a one-year period.
