On 17 January 2020, Johan Maas, deputy general director at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) and Henk Westerhof, chairman of the Royal Trade Union for Tree Nursery and Bulb Products (Royal Anthos) signed a contract under the European scheme for information and sales promoting actions of agricultural products.
Johan Maas on the left, Henk Westerhof on the right
European promotion program
Based on this contract, Royal Anthos will start in the United States on 1 February 2020 with the 3-year promotional program: ‘Flower Bulbs from Europe make you bloom’. The program focuses on promoting the sales of European flower bulbs in the United States. The total budget for this program is € 1.95 million. It has been selected by the European Commission under the Work Program 2019 and is funded by the EU for 80%, while Royal Anthos provides the remaining 20%.
Objectives of the program
The campaign has three objectives:
1. Create awareness with the aim of reminding more American households about the moment of purchase of a wide range of flower bulbs and bulb flowers;
2. Increase the level of knowledge about the use of flower bulbs in the garden, flower bulbs in pots and bulb flowers, such as tulips and lilies;
3. Increase the export of flower bulbs to the US.
The campaign
To achieve the objectives, the program consists of the following activities:
• A media campaign aimed at increasing consumer awareness
• A media campaign focused on education
• The organization of an annual event: "Flower Bulb Day"
• The organization of press trips.
The implementation of both media campaigns will be done in cooperation with the American PR agency, the Garden Media Group. The first event will take place on March 7, 2020 in San Francisco, where the first Flower Bulb Day will be celebrated with, among other things, the construction of a picking garden with 100,000 tulips.
Source: Anthos