Oct 6, 2017

It’s Time to Petal It Forward By Tim Hodson

This Wednesday, Oct. 11, the Society of American Florists’ 2017 Petal It Forward program will take place.

As of Oct. 5, approximately 300 Petal It Forward events were scheduled to take place in 273 cities and in all 50 states as well as Canada.

Petal It Forward is a “random acts of kindness” flower giveaway where consumers receive two bouquets — one to keep and one to share — to demonstrate that flowers make people happy. These individuals are encouraged to post on social media about their experience using the hashtag #petalitforward. The campaign’s goal is to raise consumer awareness of flower power through news coverage and social media posts.

“We are ecstatic by the outpouring of support and enthusiasm by industry members who are supporting Petal It Forward and bringing it to their communities,” said Jennifer Sparks, SAF’s vice president of marketing. “This is a great opportunity for the floral industry to come together for a common goal to promote flower power in a big way. There will be a lot of smiles going around as the country experiences the powerful emotions of giving and receiving flowers.”

At one of the many events, Dümmen Orange will be partnering with Kroger’s Columbus (Ohio) Division and the Gems Group to spread happiness by randomly giving away 700 bouquets of flowers along High Street in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The bouquets are being donated by Jardines de los Andes.

This event represents all levels of the cut flower supply chain. Dümmen Orange is a flower breeder and supplier, Jardines de los Andes is a grower, Gems Group is a marketer and distributor and Kroger is a retail merchant.

In California, Taylor Farms and Sakata Seed America, along with Kitayama Brothers and Green Valley Floral, will be surprising individuals on the street with two flower bouquets. The teams will be handing out flowers near Taylor Farms’ headquarters in Salinas.

You and your company still have time to participate in Petal It Forward program. You can go learn more about it at www.safnow.org.

You also can participate virtually. SAF is coordinating a Petal It Forward “Thunderclap” campaign and urges industry members to take part in and amplify the message on social media. Thunderclap is a crowdspeaking platform that helps people be heard by saying something together.

Will you Petal It Forward on Oct. 11?

— Tim

P.S. The deadline to apply for the 2018 GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year scholarship is one week away. Click here to find out how to apply.