Positive vote to support Flower Council of Holland
Following the 78% vote from growers to support a new funding model for the Flower Council of Holland, (FCH) it’s been announced that the majority of trading companies (74%) have also voted in favour of introducing a General Binding Declaration (GBD) for their collective activities.
A GBD allows all growers and traders to contribute to the collective marketing and communication activities. If the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) also approves the application the GBD will come into effect on 1 January 2025 and ensures that FCH can continue its work and carry out its new strategy until 2027.
New strategic direction
The positive outcome of the vote also provides clarity concerning the level of support for the new FCH direction which sees a change of strategy.
For whilst giving consumers a positive image of flowers and plants is more important than ever, changing times need a different approach and following extensive research they’ll be launching new initiatives, continuing what works, and discontinuing a number of familiar actions.
First step will be increased sector communication and working with socially critical consumers and individual opinion leaders in order to positively influence the public opinion of the Dutch horticultural sector.
In addition, they’ll be intensively collaborating with Dutch stakeholders and European network partners in horticulture as well as coordinating challenging issues and communicating on the basis of a clear and powerful sector narrative.
A combination of consumer angled background stories and fun and surprising facts will be key and feature on their websites and sharable consumer knowledge, insights and research will stay paramount as FCH continue to develop as a knowledge-driven marketing organisation.
And there’s been a radical shakeup in other areas as well.
For example, FCH will no longer promote sales and instead adopt a push to pull strategy to stimulate demand. Major national media campaigns on television will go and activities will no longer solely focus on the core countries of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands but spread further to new and upcoming markets.
The focus on niche target groups of ‘high users’ who already often buy flowers and plants will stop and instead more focus paid to ‘light users’ and young people with shareable and eye-catching images, videos and texts to inspire and inform
And shopper activations will stop with more effort put into easy to share high-profile PR events and content campaigns, with a focus on products and themes like well-being, sector innovation, and sustainability.
Speaking about the changes Flower Council said “Everything we do is with a clear goal in mind: nurturing, strengthening, and developing a sector that the Netherlands is proud of. A horticultural sector that produces fantastic products in an increasingly sustainable manner, with flowers and plants that make the world a more beautiful place and help to improve people’s well-being – each and every day.
First UK activation kicks off!
March see’s the first UK initiative called Budget Blooms. Launched on March 21st key influencers and journalists will be shown how easy it is to add colour and style using flowers from a local florist. Not just a way of showing how bringing flowers into the home can make a difference but to show that shopping local and from an independent florist needn’t cost a fortune.
Collaborating with influencers, a special workshop, hosted by an expert florist, will give insider tips and tricks, let the guests create three bouquets at different price points and shared through the social media channels linked to Funnyhowflowersdothat.co.uk.
Read why the Editor thought it was so important to keep Flower Council of Holland going here.
