January 16, 2001 - Two independent studies confirm that the Flower Promotion Organization's "Flowers. Alive with Possibilities."^TM campaign already is selling more flowers. The campaign, which began mid-September 2000 and ran through October, promotes the use of fresh cut flowers as home décor accessories. Two independent studies commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the six-week effort corroborate the positive effect and indicate that the campaign is unequivocally impacting awareness of flower advertising, consumer attitudes towards flowers and flower purchases.

The FPO employed two distinct methodologies to evaluate the impact of the fall 2000 advertising campaign, and both studies indicate significant, positive shifts among consumers. The first study was conducted by Ron Ward, Ph.D. of the University of Florida and was specifically designed to assess the impact of the campaign on consumer behavior. The results reveal that consumers in the five target markets (Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, Detroit and San Diego) are buying more flowers. Across the board there is a 20-25 percent increase in the frequency of cut flower purchases among existing flower buyers when compared to the frequency of purchase without the FPO campaign. "The results are an accomplishment for any marketing campaign," said Arnie Thirup, FPO co-Chairman. "It is also a great advance for the floral industry, which has spent years trying to find the right message to motivate consumers to buy more flowers," he continued.

The gains noted in the Ward study can be traced specifically to the FPO target audience, female fresh cut flower buyers ages 25-55, who show a 58% increase in the number of times they purchased flowers. This impact on the frequency of flower purchasing is further linked to those women buying flowers for their own use in the home or office, a key objective of the campaign.

"It is quite amazing to see such dramatic changes in the frequency of purchase after just a few weeks of promotion," said Ron Ward, Ph.D., the independent researcher spearheading the econometric analysis. "Any marketer should be thrilled to see such a strong link between their strategy and the end-results, especially when the results are so profound," he continued. The stated objective of the FPO campaign is, in fact, to increase the frequency of purchases of fresh cut flowers among current buyers.

The second study is a custom research plan conducted by Prince & Prince Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. It was designed to evaluate consumer awareness, attitude changes and to help understand reasons for the behavior changes. The results show a positive impact on these measures, supporting and explaining the explicit purchase increases revealed through the Ron Ward, Ph.D. study. Across all five markets there was a significant level of awareness of the campaign slogan, "Flowers. Alive with Possibilities."^TM. This recall was more profound among target females. There was also a 5 percent increase in consumer's favorable attitudes that fresh-cut flowers are versatile in their uses. A positive shift in agreement was also noted among higher income consumers with integral campaign ideas such as flowers are easy to decorate with and great for enhancing the home.

Select target markets also show additional statistically significant behavior changes within the Prince & Prince survey. Cut flower purchases for gifts in San Diego for example, appear to have been significantly increased by the ad campaign, interpreted as a halo affect of the home décor strategy. "These results collectively validate both the communication strategy and the media approach adopted by the FPO for the "Flowers. Alive with Possibilities."^TM campaign," said Felipe Ramirez, FPO co-Chairman. "We now can show that consumers respond favorably to the message, and have mounting evidence that demonstrates that focusing our efforts on select markets can lay the foundation for a long term, sustainable program."

The methodologies used in the two studies are statistically reliable and typically used to evaluate the impact of promotional campaigns. The study conducted by Dr. Ward is an econometric analysis, similar to those conducted for commodity programs funded by the dairy, beef and pork industries. This study compares historical data (collected through the American Floral Endowment) to current consumption trends within the test markets, and employs statistical models to assess what the trends in the target markets would have been without the FPO promotion efforts. In addition, the study compares the target markets to control models. The Prince & Prince study compares consumer information collected via a mail survey from the target markets to that of control markets.

The FPO will continue to evaluate the results to refine the spring, 2001 program plans. The spring advertising will be augmented with media outreach in the five markets to boost editorial and news coverage of the campaign and key messages. In addition, the FPO website, www.flowerpossibilities.com, remains an on-going resource for consumers and industry members eager to learn more about the campaign and the endless possibilities for flowers. The FPO remains confident that this integrated program will build on the campaign's success and continue to boost sales of fresh cut flowers.

The Flower Promotion Organization, an alliance between Colombian and American flower growers, was created to expand the US market for all cut flowers. The FPO is committed to increasing short term and long term consumer demand for fresh cut flowers.

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