RESUME
Name: Charles Anderson
Position: President
Firm: All-America Rose Selections, 288 Market St., Suite 1400, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 348-2731; www.rose.org; canderson@bco.com.

Do you have a response to this article? Send an e-mail to Todd Davis.

All-America Rose Selections has long been know in the industry as an organization dedicated to promoting superior rose varieties. However, it's not that well-known to the general public. AARS hired public relations firm Ruder Finn to try and change this. I spoke with Charles Anderson about the new marketing direction AARS is going

Q. Do you think AARS has been successful in promoting superior roses to consumers in the past?

A. While we've done a good job at promoting individual AARS winners each year, ensuring they receive recognition for their individual attributes and appeal, we need to focus more on building and promoting the AARS brand and its significance to consumers.

We have to be more aggressive about educating and promoting the AARS trial program, in which newly hybridized varieties are put through a rigorous two-year testing process to ensure they meet the high standards of the AARS and are among the best roses introduced into the marketplace. Participants in the trial program are tested on a variety of criteria including overall quality, ease of growth, disease resistance, scent, size and color. The trial program is the basis for the overall value of the AARS brand.

Q. Do you think most of the gardening public knows what AARS does, and what an AARS award means?

A. Unfortunately, neither the AARS organization nor the AARS designation is well-known to the general public, although it does have some reach within the core gardening community.

Again, our mission is to educate consumers and retailers by building awareness of the organization, the trial program and AARS winners through new marketing programs and strategic public relations efforts. We want both the experienced and novice gardener to recognize that the AARS designation signifies the best roses for American gardens.

Q. What was the process for choosing a new public relations agency, and what new ideas do you think it will bring?

A. The AARS was looking for a public relations firm that could help us refresh the AARS brand to appeal to both experienced gardening enthusiasts as well as a younger generation of hobbyists, and to educate the market about the value of the AARS designation.

Our intent was to update the AARS brand with a consistent look and feel and messaging across the complete line of communications, from our Web site to brochures, catalogs, and plant tags. We wanted an agency that could support all of these programs with strong media relations skills to help us build relationships with the gardening and general consumer press.

A. Do you foresee Ruder Finn changing the image of AARS?

Q. Over the last year, Ruder Finn has helped us refresh the AARS brand, making it more contemporary and meaningful to today's gardening enthusiasts. We've updated our marketing messages, we're educating growers and retailers about the AARS brand and the value of the AARS designation, and we're making it easier for retailers to communicate the value to their customers.

Q. What new media will AARS use to try to promote the organization and the winning roses?

A. We continue to target the traditional garden trades and columnists but see a real benefit in expanding that outreach to include more mainstream lifestyle and consumer publications, local and regional daily newspapers, online resources, vertical media, and broadcast outlets.

Not only are we busy pitching story ideas, but we are really focused on building stronger relationships with the garden media and educating them about the brand and the AARS winning roses.

Q. Do you see the AARS name and logo being promoted more than the individual winning roses in the future?

A. The AARS is committed to building a strong brand and organization, which means promoting the AARS designation first, the value it offers consumers, and secondarily promoting the AARS winning roses.

Q. What are you doing to educate garden writers on new, improved roses?

A. As we move into 2005, Ruder Finn and the AARS are working closely to develop a strong media relations campaign that will put the AARS in front of garden writers and lifestyle writers from a broad range of publications, reinforcing the organization, what we do and how it benefits consumers -- their target audience.

You can expect us to be more proactive with the garden writers through targeted media tours, targeted broadcast outreach, special mailings, and a sampling program featuring the AARS winning roses.

Send this article to a friend

Enter your e-mail address:


Enter your friend's e-mail address:


Click the image below to send:

© 2002 Branch-Smith Publishing