Bloom 2016 was the most successful show to date
A record attendance of 115,000 visitors attended the show in the Phoenix Park over the five days of the June bank holiday weekend, to experience the diverse range of horticulture and food content that this year’s show had to offer. Despite the large crowds, visitor satisfaction remained very high due to the improved layout and addition of walkways in the ever popular show garden area. The 23 fabulous show gardens, postcard gardens, floral and plant displays, gardening expert stage, plant village and horticulture displays in the food village provided a fitting showcase for the horticulture industry. Shoppers had the grand pavilion, outdoor retail and food village to satisfy their needs again, with horticulture and food content at the core. Post-show evaluations are at an early stage but feedback from exhibitors and sponsors has been very positive with many booking spaces for 2017. The PR and media coverage achieved in the run-up to and during the show was extensive (including three TV programme slots on RTE on the opening day of the show) which provided a high profile platform around gardening at a key sales time in the gardening season. ✽ |
Potato promotionThe EU and industry-funded potato promotion campaign (Potatoes – More Than A Bit On The Side) commenced in October 2015 with its first key burst of activity taking place last autumn. These activities included print advertising, digital advertising, developing and promoting social media channels across the campaign, including driving visitors to the campaign website and ongoing PR activities. Some key outcomes of the promotion activity to date include:
The second key burst of promotional activity in the campaign is currently running with a similar mix of activities. Current PR campaign activities and planning are revolving around market research on consumers’ cookery behaviour, new season potatoes arrival on the market in early July and highlighting national potato day which will take place |
Mushroom promotionThe final phase of activity in the “Just Add Mushrooms” three year EU and industry-funded mushroom promotion campaign in the UK and Ireland took place in May and featured the personality Jeff Brazier, who has a good profile with female shoppers in the young target audience. There were print and online advertising, as well as traditional PR activities, with online content created to spread to the over 130,000 Facebook users interacting with the campaign. Additional activity in the Irish market included print advertising in Irish Country Magazine. An infographic was produced which highlighted the scale of the Irish mushroom market, which was a useful tool for online media. A Facebook competition was run, new recipes were circulated online, and a new consumer leaflet was designed and launched at Bloom 2016. A new application for EU funding was submitted in spring and if successful, a three-year programme would commence in December. ✽ |
Young Horticulturist of the Year
After 10 challenging rounds, Laurence Wright from the UK’s South East Branch emerged as the winner. Close on his heels were Joshua Stevens (2nd) and Fern Champney (3rd). Laurence won a travel bursary of £2,000, which was sponsored by the Shropshire Horticultural Society. All contestants won prize money and a beautiful limited edition |
Salad promotionIn a new initiative and with the assistance of the IFA, Bord Bia and salad producers are partnering in a summer salads promotional campaign to be held from 18 to 24 July which is a time of the year when there is the maximum range and supply of local salad crops available. A logo has been designed to give the campaign an identity and promotional activity will include PR activities, sponsorship of a radio show, a competition in the Irish Farmers Journal and advertising on the MyKidsTime website www.mykidstime.com (with over 650,000 young subscribers). The aims of the campaign are to promote awareness of the seasonality of Irish salads, engage with retailers, and build momentum for more activity next year and beyond. The crops to be covered include tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and peppers. This initiative is being jointly funded by Bord Bia and the salad producers. ✽ |
GroMόr
The GroMór gardening promotional campaign continues to roll out across the summer. Building on its inaugural year in 2015, this year has seen the further development of existing activities and the evolution of new initiatives. The campaign which is supported by garden centres (through the REI Garden Centre Group) and nurseries with support from Bord Bia (and sponsorship from Bord Na Móna and Westland) is building up a recognition and presence across key communication platforms for the younger target audience. The integrated campaign includes an in-centre presence with seasonal POS, in-store events including talks from the GroMór ambassadors, the revamped campaign website along with active social media platforms, and PR elements to the campaign. Early outcomes indicate growing traffic to the campaign website and an increase in the number of fans and followers on social media along with PR coverage in national and regional print media. The GroMór campaign was also highlighted and promoted in the Bloom supplement in the Sunday Independent at the end of May and in the Bloom pocket guide which is given out free to all visitors to Bloom. ✽ |
Rare & Special Plant Fair
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Labour reviewBord Bia has recently commenced a review of the labour status in the horticulture industry which will provide an updated estimate of the levels of employment within the industry. One of the aims of the new survey is to gauge what effect the recovering economy will have on the supply of labour. The study will also be looking at some of the upstream and downstream industries that support horticulture and provide further employment. In addition, an attempt will be made to put a value on the contribution that horticultural employment makes to local rural economies. The outcomes of the labour review will be available this autumn. ✽ |
National Strawberry WeekNational Strawberry Week took place from 6 to 12 June. The focus of the 2016 campaign, now in its ninth year, was on in-store activity, with a redesigned on-pack label with a competition, providing further engagement with consumers. Posters and shelf talkers also featured details of the competition, which resulted in increased participation with the week by both consumers and retailers. A set of other activities took place, including a schools competition, radio show sponsorship, advertising in the Irish Farmers Journal, PR activity and online advertising. The winners of the schools colouring competition were rewarded with a great day out at the Zoo, co-hosted by Agriaware. Four further schools that were runners-up in the competition each received strawberries for everyone in the class that entered. ✽ |
