"We experience a revival of Dianthus"

It sounds a bit unusual for a breeding company to promote their products to end consumers, but that is exactly what Selecta One is doing. In 2017 they started a campaign for their Dianthus variety Pink Kisses. “We wanted to understand the consumer behavior and trends. That’s why we began to speak to different participants along the value chain.” Milena Weller tells. “We think a lot of people, especially young people, see Dianthus as a conservative, old-fashioned flower. The beautiful and trendy appearance of Pink Kisses together with our attractive campaign brings this kind of flowers back. We experience a revival of Dianthus.”

Spontaneous buying
There are remarkable changes in consumer behaviour, Selecta One learned. “Most consumers buy plants without an intention. Especially the young generation doesn’t think about the purpose of a plant. If a plant is hardy or long-lasting is not relevant for this target group. Instead, they just like how the flower or plant looks like. Or they simply like the packaging or the way the plants are presented at the point of sale. This is precisely the point, where the Pink Kisses campaign comes into play.”

And why promote pot carnation Pink Kisses? “That is because it has excellent cultivation characteristics, it is easy to cultivate in any given pot size, it has a striking flower shape and an outstanding shelf life. Furthermore, it is available almost all through the year and its beautiful, slightly fragrant flowers trigger a purchase desire by many”, tells Milena. “Consumers buy it spontaneously because it appears immediately attractive. That’s why we made it a brand: Pink Kisses. From a rational hardy Dianthus Hybrid to an emotional brand and trendy gift.”

The effects of the campaign are clear. When the campaign started in 2016-2017 sales increased by 49 percent and in 2017-2018 again by 38 percent, Milena says.

Retail

“We chose to promote Pink Kisses as a symbol of friendship between women. Therefore our target group are women in the age of 18 – 35. With printed bags, posters, banners and even a lip balm, we positioned this Dianthus as a gift and a trend plant. With this material we want to support the retail to improve sales of Pink Kisses”, Milena says. “Since this year we offer also a Pink Kisses sales display for the retailers and garden centres. Also, interested customers can rent a mobile promotion stand directly at Selecta. It can be used for example for events or actions in garden centres or in retail.”

Selecta One is also promoting the Dianthus by using media. “For the campaign in Germany we launched a webshop where consumers can shop special friend-sets and we also promote by social media and corporations with German magazines, bloggers and influencers.”

Other varieties

While all attention goes to Pink Kisses, you would almost forget that Selecta One recently presented other varieties as well: Purple Wedding, Early Love and Peach Party. “For these new varieties we are working on promotion as well, but we don’t plan to promote them with such a big campaign as we do for Pink Kisses”, Milena says.

More information:

Milena Weller
Selecta One