New communication concept

March is when the promotional programme is due to begin, with the aim of livening up the garden centres and freeing the group from the shackles of the weather. As press officer Valérie Thomé explains the problem, “Everything is fine so long as the leaflets remain in tune with the weather conditions. But it is catastrophic when the weather goes wrong. We have looked more closely at this situation since the beginning of the year 2000, when the climate started to appear unpredictable, producing seasons when nobody was expecting them.”
In the plant market the choice is great.
Botanic will be integrating the garden centre team into the planned campaigns. “We have decided to regale our customers with tales that will follow the rhythm of the seasons and the major holidays,” Thomé continues, “All product categories will be drawn into the scenario to create an environment to gratify consumers’ senses.”
Two themes have been chosen for this spring.
During the whole of the month of March the first of these will revolve around gardens from the past. “In such gardens there were familiar, useful and old-fashioned objects marked by the passage of time. And flowers grew there in abundance,” enthuses Ms Thomé. There are eye-catchers of this type throughout the garden centre, starting with the entrance area, where a garden with thousands of old-fashioned flowers will be established. The garden boutique is also adapting to the theme by presenting baskets, antique-style tools, potting benches, twine on wooden reels, clogs and wheelbarrows.
Then in April the second theme will be the natural garden. Customers will be presented with fragrant flowers and herbs, vegetable seedlings and straw to protect the plants.
Reflected in the campaign themes are the qualities valued by Botanic, which include simplicity, authenticity and nostalgia. Some objects have been altered or old-fashioned products adapted to modern tastes, e.g. zinc jardinières or woven willow plant supports. Botanic has also re-created old tools, like the long-handled lopping shears packaged in a wooden case.
Botanic intends to increase customer loyalty by varying promotional themes.
In an effort to do greater justice to customers’ requirements, Botanic has set up a club that has achieved a membership figure of 100 000 since last spring. The annual subscription of about eight euros is refunded when the member makes his first purchase. The maxim has it that customers feel greater loyalty as a result and can also profit from…