The Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association (ONLA) received four awards in the recent Ohio Society of Association Executives (OSAE) Achievement Awards Program. The OSAE Achievement Awards program recognizes excellence in the association profession. The awards were judged by a panel of professionals from the fields of business communications, marketing and association management. The ONLA received four of the 23 awards given.
The Buckeye, the ONLA’s 56-page, full color, monthly magazine, was honored with an Achievement Award in the category “Serial Publication.” This is The Buckeye’s sixth award earned in this category since 1999. The Buckeye is the flagship publication for the association and remains the foremost venue for communication to association members.
A second Achievement Award was presented to “Leaflets” Newsletter in the category “Technology.” “Leaflets” Newsletter is a free online publication distributed to gardening and landscaping enthusiasts from around Ohio and neighboring states. “Leaflets” Newsletter previously received an achievement award in the “Serial Publications” category in 2004. “Leaflets” is part of the ONLA’s consumer education initiative through BuckeyeGardening.com. BuckeyeGardening.com is a free resource for Ohio's gardening community. Through BuckeyeGardening.com, Ohio gardeners can access gardening information compiled from reliable sources.
A third Achievement Award in the category “Public Relations” was presented for the ONLA’s “Joe Pro Marketing Campaign.” This is the second year in a row the Joe Pro campaign has earned this honor. The Joe Pro campaign features a series of 30-second commercials promoting the ONLA’s marketing message (building the nursery and landscape industries brand identity) and making the industry more recognizable. The campaign seeks to reinforce what the industry has to offer, green goods consumables, and their accompanying activities as fun, enjoyable, exciting, rewarding, and a great family activity. The Joe Pro commercials can be viewed on BuckeyeGardening.com.
The fourth Achievement Award went to the ONLA’s “Let Me Tell You About ‘CENTS’” sales DVD in the “Marketing Campaign” category. The sales campaign includes a professionally developed movie featuring on-the-spot interviews with actual exhibitors, videos of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and scenes from “CENTS” and downtown Columbus. Put together with fun music and entertaining graphics, “Let Me Tell You About ‘CENTS’” allows potential exhibitors to hear about the show from the exhibitors.
The following questions are evaluated during judging:
- How well defined and measurable are the goals and objectives?
- How clearly did the entrant keep in mind the objective of project and the association/organization?
- How well does the entry meet its stated standard?
- Was the project effectively executed? Execution addresses the implementation plan, impact of the product on the target audience, correlation between the results and the objectives, and appropriateness of all elements.
- Does the format effectively transmit the information to its target audience?
- What were the results achieved by the entry?
- Does the entry show imagination/creativity, innovation, or originality of concept?
- What is the overall quality/excellence of the entry?
The Ohio Nursery & Landscape Association, headquartered in Westerville, is a state association representing over 1,600 nursery stock growers, landscape contractors, garden centers, landscape maintenance firms and allied suppliers. The mission of the ONLA is to provide leadership and guidance to the green industry by offering services to increase the profitability of member firms, through personal and professional growth, while addressing legislation, research, marketing and education.