Spread Some Social Good & Improve Your Brand Awareness With #Petalitforward
On October 11th 2017, don’t be surprised if you get approached by a complete stranger with flowers and a smile!
In 2015, Ogilvy PR and SAF (Society of American Florists) partnered together in promoting local florists as the go-to source for the flower purchasing needs while at the same time educating the consumer on the emotional benefits flowers have on a person's everyday life and attitude in general.
They wanted to show that there’s still something very special about giving and receiving flowers from complete strangers. It’s an emotional connection that drives us not only to improve our own self esteem, but share that happiness with others.
Here was their initial strategy:
On behalf of the Society of American Florists, Ogilvy conceptualized and implemented a campaign in response to new data showing the positive emotional benefits of flowers.
Who knew that 88% of Americans reported that giving flowers makes them feel happy? With this data in mind, The Petal It Forward team partnered with local florists, assembled a street team and hit the streets of New York to spread happiness the best way they know how, with flowers.
4,000 bouquets were given to 2,000 lucky people. One bouquet was his or hers to keep and another one was to share with someone who needed a lift. Those who received a bouquet were asked to share their flowers across social media using the hashtag #PetalItForward.
This ended up with shops in over 44 cities and 27 states participating in an event that garnered over 1.1 million impressions.
Now the #PetalItForward tradition has grown even bigger with more shops in more cities nationwide participating in the event.
What was once just an idea to bring smiles and promote the floral industry to the public has changed into a national day of Social Good for florists around the country.
#PetalItForward isn't just about getting your shop's name out there anymore. It’s about showing what lengths a local florist will go to in bringing a smile to someone's face and brightening their day.
It’s about exposing the consumer to the human side of the floral industry because it’s not just about buying flowers for someone, it’s the smile from the person handing flowers to them that you can’t AND won't get from flowers delivered in a box.
Here’s some tips to make the most of your #PetalItForward day
Make sure you have a tag for your shop on the flowers you’re giving out with the hashtag #PetalItForward and also your social media handles. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, or whichever ones you want to share.
Most times it’s easier with just the first 3 mentioned but more and more people are on different platforms depending on their personal interests.This makes it easier for people to tag your shop after getting their flowers. You can then search later for the hashtag itself or you’ll see notifications on your shop's social media channels.
Take LOTS of pictures.
Take so many pictures that you’ll be asking yourself what you’re going to do with all of them and it might not still be enough. Sometimes it’s easier to have someone with you so they can take the pictures and post to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in real-time. Part of the fun in the day is watching people's reactions as it happens!
Use Facebook and Instagram live.
Besides being able to let your fans and followers watch you hand out flowers and smiles to strangers, both of those platforms give preference to using that medium and you’ll get a better reach. Be sure to go live for more than just a couple minutes so your followers can be alerted to your live broadcast.
Instagram stories is also a great way to get the word out and you can also tag your location & use hashtags so people searching specific locations or tags will see your story even if they aren't one of your followers.
Stop by local businesses in the area to drop of bouquets.
Some of the best advertising is still word of mouth and who better to give a recommendation than other local businesses in your area. It’s not only starting a great relationship with the owners & employees when they think to order flowers but also new customers being made from a personal recommendation.
Fun facts about flowers to share.
For more than 5000 years, people have cultivated flowers although there is no known reward for this costly behavior. In three different studies we show that flowers are a powerful positive emotion “inducer”.
In Study 1, flowers, upon presentation to women, always elicited the Duchenne or true smile. Women who received flowers reported more positive moods 3 days later.
In Study 2, a flower given to men or women in an elevator elicited more positive social behavior than other stimuli.
In Study 3, flowers presented to elderly participants (55+ age) elicited positive mood reports and improved episodic memory.
Flowers have immediate and long-term effects on emotional reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory for both males and females. There is little existing theory in any discipline that explains these findings. We suggest that cultivated flowers are rewarding because they have evolved to rapidly induce positive emotion in humans, just as other plants have evolved to induce varying behavioral responses in a wide variety of species leading to the dispersal or propagation of the plants.
Remember that #PetalItForward on October 11th is a day to do more than just promote your shop and the floral industry.
It’s a day to bring smiles to people that aren't expecting them, to make new friends at businesses in your local area, and give people the experience only receiving flowers can give.
Thanks to DVFlora & SAF for some of these great photos and the support.
