Former Proven Winners national spokesperson Josh Schneider talks about his new company, introducing new plants and the changing role of growers.

Q. Why did you think that this would be a good time to start a new company?

A. Garry Grueber of Kientzler/InnovaPlant Germany and I have worked together for a number of years as part of the new-plant team for Proven Winners. We spent a lot of time visiting breeders and working with them to develop new varieties that are market-friendly. In talking with the breeders and others, it became increasingly clear that the existing structures were not working for the plethora of products that we were being offered. Not every plant lends itself to being sold through the normal young plant or unrooted cutting model and made available to everyone. We were becoming frustrated in the attempts to repeatedly fit a square peg into a round hole.

Garry and I talked about forming a new company outside of the existing structures to serve the breeders' interest from an objective and independent position. We both believe that independence will allow us to truly manage the products through the entire market channel rather then treating them all alike.

Working on bringing the Wollemi Pine to market was really the watershed event for both of us. We couldn't put this exciting product through any established system in the network. We had to create a completely new way of bringing the plant to market through a new network of growers and retailers.

As we began to develop the plan for the Wollemi Pine, it allowed us to see new ways of managing products of all kinds. We felt that the time was right for us, both personally and professionally, to step out and give our full attention to this new idea and others. Garry, in partnership with the Kientzlers, has formed a new company in Europe, and I have done the same here in the United States to serve the North American market.

The founding of Proven Winners in 1992 really shook up the industry. It's amazing how no one really saw the whole vegetative craze coming and I don't think that anyone could have seen back then just how fundamentally it would change the industry. The industry is ripe for another revolution. We hope to be leading it.

Q. What can your company offer that's not already available?

A. We will be offering new ideas and attractive, profit-making services for everyone in the supply chain. We offer breeders a package with which very few can compete. From lab services like initiation, multiplication, mass propagation, virus and pathogen elimination to a very strong international network of distribution channels. These all serve to protect the plants as they make their way to market.

We have a strong history of building partnerships with the breeders we work with rather than just representing their plants. We can help them come up with new breeding ideas, source germplasm to breed with, develop new programs as well as managing the trials process, patenting, licensing and royalty collection processes on their behalf.

One of our most exciting ideas is to work directly with the retailers, whether they be large national chains or groups of independents that have aligned for purchasing power. We want to offer unique products, marketing concepts and ideas to retailers that can be exclusive to their market channels. By that I don't mean giving an exclusive petunia to Home Depot, but offering some of the more innovative products and programs in a way that doesn't allow the tendency of "lowest common denominator" to govern the product price and lifespan.

One of the real challenges from a product management perspective is getting new plants exclusively to independent garden centers. Because they aren't affiliated with thousands of other stores, they can't move enough volume to justify an exclusive. Organizing groups of independents around a given product or family of products can allow some great plants to be offered exclusively through these garden centers. This would allow the garden centers to have a stronger market position and, at the same time, defend the value of the products and extend their productive lifetime on the market.

Q. Why do you think the Wollemi Pine would be a good fit for the North American market?

A. The Wollemi Pine was thought to have become extinct around 9 million years ago and was present in the fossil record. While out hiking in a very remote part of the Wollemi National Wilderness in Australia, park ranger David Noble encountered the plants growing in a steep ravine. The plant was later identified as a completely new species and named after David Noble, Wollemia nobilis. It's part of the family of Norfolk Island Pine, Araucariaceae.

There are less than 100 trees left in the wild. In the course of coming up with a plan to rescue the tree, in conjunction with the National Botanic Garden, the Australian government carefully took cuttings of the remaining trees and began propagation. The government partnered with a nursery to commercialize the trees once sufficient numbers were available and the research had been done on how to grow them. In effect, the discovery of the tree was the botanical equivalent of finding a dinosaur still alive on Earth.

The concept is for the sales of the Wollemi Pine to generate revenue to go to the preservation and restoration of native habitats and plants in North America and Australia. The tree is very versatile, easy to grow and hardy, having survived several winters in the Smithsonian Institute gardens in Washington, D.C.

The first several thousand trees are selling in Europe this summer for more than $1,000 each for relatively small specimens. The reintroduction of the Wollemi Pine is a great way for individuals to bring a great plant into their garden and at the same time contribute to a worthy environmental cause. It also creates excitement among the general public in our industry. That isn't the easiest thing to do outside a small population of plant nerds.

In North America, we have partnered with National Geographic to bring the trees to market. They will be sold this winter through the National Geographic holiday catalog and on its Web site (www.nationalgeographic.com). In spring 2007 the trees will be sold under the National Geographic brand at selected independent garden centers.

Q. It seems that more plants are being patented and growers are paying royalties to produce them. Do you think most growers understand the importance of these royalties and the impact they have on the breeders' abilities to commercialize more plants?

A. The bottom line is important to everyone. But I think that sometimes it's easy to blame royalties disproportionately for a reduced bottom line. Royalty is sometimes a generic term used to mean, a fee to the breeder, a marketing fee and a label fee. The fee that goes to the breeder is extremely important to funding their future work. Breeders aren't getting rich off of royalties.

If you consider what a petunia is worth at retail, lets say $4, and the royalty is $.06, the breeder isn't getting much of a share of the final price of the plant. Often people don't think about the actual value of a new variety. Truly new and exciting plants can cost a lot of money to develop. We all need to recognize that and support breeders in their work to bring us the next great plants.

Q. How has the role of the grower changed in today's marketplace?

A. The days of growers dominating all of the decisions for the entire marketplace are over. Growers are a very important part of the chain, but are, in effect, manufacturers. What would the logic be in having the manager of a factory who makes designer clothes for Ralph Lauren as the person who also makes the decisions on packaging, pricing and merchandising at Macy's? He may be very proficient at running a factory, but it's not likely that he's an expert in fashion, marketing, merchandising and logistics.

Retailers like Macy's make the decisions on pricing and display. Design professionals at Ralph Lauren make the decisions on pricing, packaging and design based on their studies of consumers.

By asking growers to assume all this responsibility we force them into a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation that they are very unlikely to be successful in. In some instances, working directly with retailers will allow everyone in the market chain to focus on what their specialty is. I don't know many growers who think that they are marketing and design geniuses and I don't know a lot of retailers who would want to deal with the challenge of growing medium pH rise with calibrachoa either.

Each area has strengths and we want to build on those strengths. Specialization is very important in the future. We feel that in the process of truly managing a product we will put the appropriate focus on each area of the channel and not compromise anyone's profitability but, in fact, enhance it.

Q. Why haven't growers been able to get more money for their product?

A. Retailers should have a greater role in a given product's value and price rather than simply the cost of production doubled or some other formula based on costs plus a small margin. For years I have said that we underestimate the perceived value of our products because we tend to view them through the eyes of growers rather then consumers. How much more does it cost to make designer clothes and accessories than it does to make equivalent knockoffs? Not much more, but the difference is in perceived value.

The perception of the final consumer matters, and the only perception our industry worries about is the perspective of the growers. The floriculture market is mostly set up to drive the price of every new plant right down to the lowest possible level as quickly as possible.

Witness the case of Winter Rose poinsettia. This was a plant that consumers were willing to pay two to three times more money than for a traditional poinsettia. How quickly did the price for this unique product come into line with other, less-profitable varieties? One year, maybe two or three at most.

We have to stop focusing on the production-driven model and start considering that there might be a better way forward that preserves the value of our products for a longer time. Breeding new varieties is difficult and challenging work that is very labor- and time-intensive. We must stretch the product lifetime over a greater span of time. It's no longer profitable to reinvent the wheel every year.

Q. How do you think growers could improve their efforts and relationships with retailers?

A. Growers have to actually be willing to take input from their customers. I hear from retailers all the time that they have trouble getting this product or that one. There needs to be better communication between the two. Growers need to partner with their retailers and support their efforts. Often the growers don't talk to their retailers at all.

Growers need to make time to visit retailers during peak seasons and to help a few customers and walk a mile in their customer's shoes. Sometimes it's too easy for growers to forget about who is actually buying their plants. I find that its strange that our industry as a whole is less interested in the final consumer of our product and what she wants then we should be.

Smart growers are working with retailers to find out what their customers want and trying to develop partnerships to promote plants and programs. Mass customization is becoming more and more important. Take a look at www.converse.com to see how consumers can go online and design their own shoes for $50.

Q. Based on your experience, how do you rate the marketing efforts of the ornamentals industry?

A. Our industry has a lot of room for improvement. Part of this goes back to a "jack of all trades, master of none" situation where growers are forced to be an expert in everything from the product's inception through to its final sale. But part of it is simply a fundamental misunderstanding of what marketing really is.

We have the market that we have as an industry despite ourselves. We are allergic to spending money on promotion because it's not such a tangible thing and you can't really see it. In our industry many people feel that marketing is overvalued and that we spend too much on it. I think just the opposite is true.

We have beautiful product that makes people who use it healthier and happier. But we sell that product in ugly pots on the ground with very little packaging, promotion or even explanation.

Our industry lives by the motto, "If you grow it, they will come." But those days are over. We must get better if we want to survive in the new marketplace. The consumer craves information and success and we have to find efficient ways of delivering those things to her.

I still hear growers debating the value of a tag. If we can't agree that a tag with good information and plant photo will help sell plants then we are speaking different languages. I believe this is part of the reason retailers need to be more involved in the whole process. They are the ones interacting with the customers who use our products.

It's a damning fact that growers have to do most of the marketing that is done in the industry. This should be more and more a function of the retailers. However, part of the problem there is that many retailers are also growers. Both are very important functions but they require very different skill sets and they aren't always compatible with one another's goals.

As an industry e have to find a harmonious way to move forward with retailers making more decisions and not forcing growers to read their collective minds. There is no sense in duplicating efforts. If we can work together to get more information to the consumer and make it easier for her to buy our products, then everyone benefits.

Q. What does the ornamentals industry needs to do to generate more interest in its products?

A. We have been preaching to the choir. We are trying to sell more product through the same market channels at the same prices during the same seasons. How many more plants can any garden center sell during Mother's Day weekend?

We have to step outside our comfort zones and sell more products in different seasons to different consumers. There are niches out there that we haven't even considered for programs.

Where are the programs for Latin- and African-American women, for gays and the handicapped? There is purchasing power that we are ignoring because we are too focused on the same audience at the exclusion of others.

If we actually start looking at where the opportunities are rather then simply hoping to sell the same customer one more marigold, we might find that there is more business out there than we thought.

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© 2006 Branch-Smith Publishing