Getting Ready for
Gardening Season
opportunity
Ask any gardener – novice and expert alike– how they learned to garden, and most will tell you about a parent, grandparent, or favorite aunt who passed along a love of digging in the dirt. For Ferry-Morse, one of the oldest and largest home gardening seed packet companies in the U.S., this presented an opportunity to take a leading role as advisor – even cheerleader – to help more people find success and satisfaction in the garden. This was even more important for helping the 18MM+ new gardeners that had entered the gardening category during the Coronavirus pandemic, drawn to the hobby for benefits like relaxation, home beautification and quality food. Our 2022 strategy revolved around being a trusted voice, building a profile for Ferry-Morse’s in-house Chief Garden Guru, Rebecca Sears. 360PR+ extended our expertise and deepened the spirit of a gardening community by partnering with a diverse group of influencers located in various gardening zones to showcase different gardening methods and share how-to content featuring Ferry-Morse products.
approach
While many think of gardening as a spring activity, the planning and prep take place in late winter, so our strategy was to surround media and consumers with our expert team right out of the gate in early 2022. 360PR+ held a virtual press event in February to introduce Rebecca to editors from top gardening and lifestyle outlets. 30 top-tier attendees received Ferry-Morse planting kits so they could garden along with Rebecca, asking questions and engaging with the brand. Next, 360PR+ hosted Ferry-Morse’s first annual Garden Get-Together on Facebook Live in celebration of the first day of spring, March 20. Ferry-Morse’s 2022 brand ambassadors participated with individual segments during the Facebook Live, sharing their advice, and Rebecca also revealed the brand’s exciting new spring collection as well as a suite of online digital support for gardeners. As part of the live broadcast 360PR+ also kicked off a relationship with nonprofit partner, Million Gardens Movement, with a $5K donation and connected to retail with 15% off event code.
results
Heading into prime seed-buying season (end of March) we had already participated in more than 30 interviews, offering advice on everything from creating window boxes to home garden trends, to top tier outlets like Better Homes & Gardens, Today.com and Well + Good. Ferry-Morse’s share of earned media in the competitive seed category increased 10 percentage points from the same period the year before, asserting authority. Product sales tied to the event promotion code and earned media was also a key indicator of success. Our Garden Get-Together live broadcast saw over 55,000 live event-day views with an average watch time of 5:25.
