Interior Industry Growth Initiative Officially Launches

The Interior Industry Growth Initiative will raise the profile of the interior landscape industry through a targeted, business-to-business marketing campaign dubbed "Plants at Work." As a result of fund-raising efforts, the Plants at Work three- to five-year marketing plan is now being finalized to reach corporate and facility mangers and other buyers of interior plant services.

ALCA created the Interior Growth Initiative Task Force in 1998, and the task force commissioned Krome Communications to survey interior decision-makers and measure their perceptions of plants’ roles inside buildings. The information will help interior companies determine what building owners, facility managers, architects, interior designers and others are looking for when they decide whether plants belong in their building.

The effort to fund an industry-wide marketing campaign was completed with a final financial push provided by the Florida Nursery and Growers Association (FNGA) through the Florida State Department of Agriculture (FSDA). The FSDA agreed to provide professional assistance including Web site design and other production assets valued at more than $100,000.

Gary Mangum, chair of the Initiative Fundraising Committee, recognized and applauded his crew of 15 dedicated visionaries who helped raise nearly three quarters of a million dollars in less than 10 months.

According to McRae Anderson, the Initiative’s marketing plan task force coordinator, "The initiative will be publicly visible within 30 days with initial press releases and internal announcements to hundreds of selected target media." Case studies will soon be collected and developed into market-specific feature stories. The development of a media placement plan, direct mail campaign, initiative Web site and kick-off press conference are also underway, assuring an aggressive marketing campaign that the interior industry will use to raise its professional profile.

Anderson said the Plants at Work message on a national, targeted scale is to inform purchasers of interior plant services that plants in the work place are essential to their bottom line. "As a business owner, this is just the type of marketing campaign that I would like to launch," Anderson noted, "but my company does not have the funds to do it with the style, depth and consistency that needs to be done."