Sep 3, 2015

Got Plans for Planting Day? By Tim Hodson

Next Saturday, Sept. 12, is National Planting Day.

National Planting Day was launched four years ago “to celebrate the value and power of native species in restoring ecological balance to the environment while creating greener, more beautiful communities.”

It is one of the many different components of the Keep America Beautiful program, the nation’s leading nonprofit which envisions a country where every community is a clean, green and beautiful place to live. It is a day to mobilize Americans to help bolster their local ecosystems by planting flowers, trees and shrubs.

It’s also a great opportunity for growers to raise awareness about their products and what they have to offer.

This year, Keep America Beautiful is asking National Planting Day participants to celebrate the theme of “Keep America Bee-utiful” by focusing their efforts on planting pollinators.

Keep America Beautiful is a founding member of the National Pollinator Garden Network and is part of a national campaign ““ the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.

National Planting Day is a perfect opportunity to put your products and company on display and give something back to your local community. So you may want to make some plans for next Saturday.

Does your company already participate in National Planting Day? If so, drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and let me know what you are doing.

Click here to learn more about National Planting Day and how you and your company can participate.

– Tim

Wal-Mart, Home Depot Make Top Most Valuable Retail Brand List

Brand Finance, an independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy, based in London, recently released its Top 500 most valuable brands list and, once again, Wal-Mart and the Home Depot are two of the top 10 retailers to make the overall list. The list ranks the value of individual brands across all industries worldwide. Apple topped the list of retailers while Wal-Mart and the Home Depot came in at No. 3 and 4, respectively.

Lowe’s Social Media Efforts Pay Off

Lowe’s social media efforts are gaining ground on two platforms where many other retailers have had challenges – Pinterest and Vine. Brad Walters, the company’s director of social media, said Lowe’s was an early user and it has paid off for the company because today it has 3 million followers on the platform. That is reportedly the third most popular account on Pinterest. Lowe’s has been using Vine to produce and promote its original video content including its Fix in Six series.

Wal-Mart Gets Earlier Jump on Holiday Selling Season

Wal-Mart is looking to jump start its holiday sales this year by offering its layaway program two weeks earlier than last year. The retailer is also lowering the minimum price for its layaway items (from $15 to $10) and giving customers 90 days to pay them off instead of the previous limit of 60 days. Analysts say the move is being made in advance of what is expected to be a very competitive holiday selling season for all retailers.