October 2003 - The Flower Promotion Organization proudly announces the expansion of the successful "Flowers. Alive with Possibilities", promotion campaign to Atlanta area consumers through a partnership with the Atlanta Metro Flower Delivery Cooperative. Billboards, cab toppers, cable and local network television and radio ads, and a TV design demonstration hit the Atlanta market this month as the FPO entered it's seventh major market. The FPO's popular and unique radio give-aways will commence in November where lucky prize winners from five participating Atlanta radio stations will receive one bunch of flowers per week for three successive weeks.

Ed Coen, owner of Robins Nest Florist and a member of the Metro Atlanta Flower Delivery Coop executive team, welcomed the cooperative Atlanta floral community efforts with the FPO. "By pooling resources, we now have the ability to reach more consumers than we have in the past, acting as individual retailers. The FPO's 'home decorating with flowers' message will help drive traffic to our stores and give us the opportunity to develop relationships with these consumers that we can leverage throughout the year."

Atlanta joins Minneapolis/St. Paul as the future of the FPO advertising program, where local retailers partner with the FPO to leverage this successful program in their own markets. Several local and state floral associations have approached the FPO to partner for the 2004 campaign. The FPO will continue to expand its coverage by partnerships in other markets.

The FPO campaign also ran in September-October in Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit, Houston and Philadelphia (the San Diego ads were pulled due to the special recall election would have pre-empted the negotiated placements the FPO had in that market.).

The FPO's public relations efforts are also paying big dividends for all floral retailers. In addition to live demonstrations of simple and easy flower home decorating ideas on local TV shows in our key markets throughout the Fall season, the FPO's TV spokesperson, Jill Slater, has taped a holiday home decorating design segment for HGTV's popular 'Carol Duvall Show.' This segment will kick off to a national audience at 9 am (Eastern) on November 11 and will be aired numerous times through out the holiday viewing season; re-runs will also be shown in subsequent years. "The Carol Duvall segment validates that our program message is recognized as viable for national exposure by the media," stated FPO Executive Director Stan Pohmer. "We are proud of the quality content and message we provide to the consumer. Consumers are responding by buying more flowers in our target markets and by going to our web site for information and simple design recipes when they have seen our recipes demonstrated on local television. Now a national audience can see how easy it is to decorate their homes with flowers."

The FPO's print media activities, working through the Garden Writers' Association and major newspapers throughout the U.S., has resulted in feature articles in major newspapers such as the Columbus Dispatch, and St. Petersburg Times, with more to come in the next few months.

The FPO PR campaign has generated over 152 million consumer impressions since its launch in 2001. This campaign has had wide reach, with coverage in all 50 states and the District of Colombia, reaching 24 of the top 25, 49 of the top 50, and 92 of the top 100 media markets. This is over and above the close to 275 million advertising impressions the "Flowers. Alive with Possibilities"Ã campaign has garnered since its inception in the fall of 2000. The FPO spokesperson campaign, featuring simple ideas to how to decorate with flowers have reached over 3 million television viewers in eight states. A current running tally of the FPO's PR campaign can be found by clicking here.

The FPO's web site, www.flowerpossibilites.com, now draws over 10,000 unique visitors a month to view the monthly postings of simple "flower recipes" as well as a monthly column by Dr. Bridget Behe, Professor of Horticulture at Michigan State University. Dr. Behe also answers consumer questions posted to the site. The Flower Promotion Organization, an alliance between Colombian and U.S. 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.