Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers, a Certified American Grown Farm, has earned the 2018 Marketer of the Year Award from the Society of American Florists’ (SAF) Floral Management magazine for its successful efforts to bring protea to the national stage.
Certified farm Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers received this year’s “Marketer of the Year” award from the Society of American Florists’ Floral Management magazine.
Flower farmer Mel Resendiz and Diana Roy, business manager for Resendiz Brothers and a past chair of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), accepted the award Sept. 14 at the SAF Annual Convention in Palm Springs, California.
The Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers team with Dwight Larimer of Design Master, the sponsor of the $5,000 prize money.
The prestigious award recognizes a unique, innovative and successful marketing effort that increased the overall sales volume of cut flowers. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize.
In presenting the award, Floral Management’s Editor in Chief Mary Westbrook noted that Resendiz Brothers’ myriad marketing efforts put protea on the national scene, creating real, growing demand for a product that was previously virtually unknown in the U.S.
Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers will be featured on the front cover of Floral Management magazine.
How?
Resendiz and Roy took advantage of every marketing opportunity they could find, including hosting an American Grown Field to Vase Dinner on their Fallbrook, California farm, participating in SAF’s Petal It Forward campaign, bringing protea to the floral designs at the annual First Lady’s Luncheon and donating protea to Rose Parade Floats.
They also used their passion, flower knowledge and thousands of incredible photos to share protea with wholesalers, designers and consumers garnering media coverage with an estimated value of $1.7 million.
Every effort, big and small, was designed to increase consumer awareness, influence floral trends and drive sales of the previously anonymous protea.
In accepting the award, Roy thanked Resendiz Brothers customers who have made protea part of their daily inventory as well as floral designers who are incorporating protea into their arrangements. She also announced that Resendiz Brothers is collaborating with farmers from around the world to bring new protea varieties to the U.S. market.
Mel Resendiz welcomes guests to his farm during the American Grown Field to Vase Dinner in April. Photo by Carrie McCluskey Photography.
“So many of our marketing efforts are about the education process and making sure that people know these flowers are grown right here in California. We’re proud that many of our marketing tactics were tied to supporting the homegrown flowers message,” Roy said. “I see winning this award as a boost for California flower farmers and for floral designers who are meeting the requests of consumers who are now seeking out protea.”
Mel Resendiz with Harry VanWingerden of Myriad Flowers on the Miracle Gro float during the 2016 Rose Parade.
As the Marketer of the Year Award winner, Resendiz Brothers’ efforts to promote protea will be the cover story for the October 2018 issue of Floral Management.
Previous winners of the award, now in its 25th year, include the American Grown Field to Vase Dinner, an app that drives customer loyalty and engagement, a re-imagined florist’s business in Pennsylvania and a campaign by Lane DeVries of Sun Valley Floral Farms to engage and encourage the floral industry to celebrate Women’s Day.
For more information:
AmericanGrownFlowers.org
916.441.1701
info@americangrownflowers.org
www.americangrownflowers.org