“Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.” -Francisco d’Anconia, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
We have backed ourselves into a corner, and we run the risk of either continually going in circles (wishing that we could have a national marketing campaign but doing nothing to make it happen) or of going out in a blaze of glory (trying to force an involuntary program on the industry). Let us reevaluate our assumptions.
We assume we want to sell more plants. No argument there.
We assume a national marketing campaign similar to “got milk?” would cause us to sell more plants. A naive assumption. Advertising is risky business. It doesn’t always work. This is not my main point, but I can’t resist pointing out that this is not 1990. If the milk folks had started today instead of in the previous century, would they be able to achieve their results with the funding they had? It is a far different media landscape. Network TV is dead.
We assume the way to tell our story to the world is via paid advertising. It is not the only way. It may be the most effective way.
We assume collective marketing is moral. Obviously, there are many in the industry that believe compulsory confiscation of their monies to fund collective advertising is not moral.
We assume if we all got our act together to get this done, the USDA and Congress’ approval would be a formality. Think again. It appears that conservatives such as the Heritage Foundation will thwart anything they view as a “tax,” as seen by the recent Christmas tree marketing effort that has been in the news.
In summary, a collective marketing campaign in the style of “got milk” will not work.
So, what are we to do? Give up? Forget about it? We say no; let’s check our premises again to find the way forward. Let’s make some new assumptions.
1. We believe plants are more valuable than they are currently perceived to be.
2. We believe the way to increase the perceived value of plants is by communication. In other words, we have a story to tell: the value of plants.
3. We believe if we tell this story (more) effectively, it will increase the perceived value of plants, resulting in higher prices and increased demand (volume).
4. We believe we can tell our story more effectively than we currently do, even without a “got milk” style national marketing campaign.
5. We believe the industry is diverse and fragmented, and that this diversity is a strength, not a weakness.
6. We believe the time is right to organize ourselves to ensure we tell our story, together, in harmony but with diversity.
Does this all seem philosophical to you? Do you think I’ve said a lot without saying anything? I hope you will think about the problem deeply. It matters much how you pose the question, “How do we sell more plants?” There is a way for us to move forward as an industry, for independent firms to act in concert, benefiting themselves and the entire industry.
OpenHort has three proposals, which we will present in the next section, Part Eight.
Thanks for reading!
~Art