Conference 2011

Congratulations and Thanks

It's been said before, but I'll say it again - Conference 2011 was pivotal for the Association, its members and our industry.

  • Congratulations to those who attended and supported the Board's desire to move the Association into "front footing development" mode.  Our proposals received overwhelming support and while I am sure some were in "support it and wait and see" mode, it was most heartening to have us agree on the basic premise.
  • Thanks go to attendees, for I recognise that there is a fair bit of "trust us, we know what we're doing" in our proposals, and that requires a quantum leap of faith given the sums of money involved.  Rest assured though there is little I regard as more important than getting our Strategic plan and Consumer Promotions Plan into the market place.

In summary the AGM established:

  • New fee levels as circulated with June's newsletter.  These will be invoiced in August and will take into account the first installment invoice we sent in May to cover the period from 1 April to 31 July.  We will willingly accept payments over six months for those who wish to establish an automatic payment schedule.
  • A Development and Promotions levy - also as per the details sent with June's newsletter.  We will invoice this in two parts - October and March.

Our Strategic plan sets us on a solid development path; I welcome your feedback and thoughts on our plans and how we might shape the environment we work in for the betterment of members.

Welcome to the new "Go Gardening" 

A major component of the Consumer Promotions Plan is the launch of our new "consumer facing brand" - Go Gardening.  What's new you might ask?  Well, until now Go Gardening has been restricted to our consumer magazine with many other consumer facing activities and materials under the guise of Gardening New Zealand and NGIA. 
Likely the public is confused, and Hotfoot, our chosen agency, viewed Go Gardening as an ideal consumer brand - it's descriptive of our consumer face, has existing positive market presence and is a clear and strong call to action.  Hence from spring our entire consumer engagement will be under the auspices of "Go Gardening":

  • Television advertisements extolling the virtues of gardening and shopping with Go Gardening stores - that is you, our members.
  • A redesigned magazine
  • New websites and Facebook
  • Go Gardening branding elements for use in store - see some ideas on the insert
  • Point of sale materials around the products and themes feature in the TV ads.

Television and the Magazine

Everything kicks off during August with key dates being determined by spring's Go Gardening magazine (29 August) and an 8 week television campaign (25 September to 20 November).

There will be two TV ads - one being the above mentioned "Go Gardening" benefits and branding module, the second featuring a range of products from yet to be determined sponsors.

The magazine will work hard to support the TV campaign, and the TV ads will strongly advocate the magazine and the need to get into a Go Gardening store.  Note the TV campaign spans both the spring and summer edition of the magazine so there's plenty of scope for enhanced consumer activity.

And hello from the new "Gardening New Zealand"

In a similar fashion, we've retained "Gardening New Zealand", given the branding a facelift (really more of a new face) and redefined its use to encompass our "industry face".  We'll use it in our work with our members, government and other third parties.

We however remain "The New Zealand Nursery and Gardening Industry Association" and exist for the benefit of all members.  While the initial major thrusts of our Strategic Plan appear "retail and consumer centric", developments around nursery best practice, member professionalism, training and skills, workshops and seminars are not far away.

John Liddle