May 5, 2006

New Marketing Coalition Seeks FundingSource: Floral Marketing Funding Initiative Coalition

To address the growing need for industry promotion, major floral industry associations met in March in Washington, D.C., to form a coalition, called the Floral Marketing Funding Initiative Coalition (FMFIC), with the goal of exploring opportunities to fund an all-industry marketing initiative that would take floral promotion to a new level.

The initial group of associations includes the Society of American Florists, FTD, Teleflora, BloomNet of 1-800-Flowers, Asocolflores, Association of Floral Importers of Florida, Flower Promotion Organization, Produce Marketing Association and American Floral Endowment. These groups each have representation on a steering committee to direct the effort and have committed to help fund the initiative.

With shrinking margins, increasing costs and intense competition for floral products weighing heavy on the minds of floral business owners, there is more of a need than ever for a viable industry marketing effort, argued the FMFIC. “While the challenges are great, the opportunity has never been better for promoting flowers. The industry now has groundbreaking research that scientifically proves the benefits of flowers on our emotional wellbeing and on workplace productivity. The only obstacle to bombarding the consumer with these positive messages – and convincing more people to buy flowers more often – is limited funding,” stated the Coalition.

Additional interested industry members and company representatives attended the meeting and pledged financial support. Other associations are expected to join the effort later this year, according to the Coalition. By structuring the coalition in this fashion, all information, as it develops, can be quickly disseminated to the industry and all activities will include the viewpoints of every segment.

“This effort will only be successful if it is fair, broadly supported and perceived that way by all segments of the industry,” said Red Kennicott, chairman of FMFIC. “All decisions will be by consensus so that every group has a part in the process.”

From April to September the coalition will explore all possible ways to generate the necessary funds and the Steering Committee will meet to decide which to pursue. The next phase will be to implement a funding program. For more information or to be included on an E-mail update list, contact Charles Kremp at charles@kremp.com or (215) 659-9201.