Just this past week, garden center retailers and industry product and service companies from many related professions flooded Chicago, IL for the 2010 Independent Garden Center Show, commonly called IGC. One company represented was Conrad Fafard, Inc., the third largest manufacturer of packaged growing media for professional ornamental growers and retail outlets in North America. Fafard, a Syngenta subsidiary, unveiled a unique brand “look and feel” at the show. Featured were transformed retail-ready packaged products. “The new bags are dramatic, distinctive and definitely differentiate us from our competitors,” said Chris Sexton, Retail Market Manager.
The fresh, new packaging illustrates Fafard’s brand position, represented by the slogan “The Science Behind the Art”, which draws on a combination of a strong science background and consistent reputation for high-quality mixes. 
Pictured left to right are the redesigned products: Complete Planting Mix, Organic Potting Mix, Complete Container Mix, Professional Potting Mix, and Complete Potting Mix. One of our clients, an IGC owner for more than 25 years, took one look at this photo and said his customers would be drawn to the consistent color palette and large, bold product names.
According to Sexton, the new brand positioning and renewed retail strategy inspired the renaissance of Fafard premium retail soils, which are sold exclusively in IGCs. In addition to the mixes pictured, Fafard will be releasing specialty plant mixes with a similar new brand style – Seed Started Potting Mix, African Violet Potting Mix, Cactus & Succulent Potting Mix, Orchid Potting Mix, Fafard Horticultural Perlite, Premium Top Soil, and Premium Compost. These beneficial mixes with new, simpler looks are intended to stand out in garden centers so consumers can more easily understand their applications. The new branded appearance – and the fact Fafard is working diligently to make garden product choices easier and better for consumers – left our team fully agreed to include the new packaging in our “Best of Products” series from IGC.
Fafard is a division company of Syngenta, one of the world’s leading companies dedicated to bringing plant life to full potential.
Members of the trade media, keep Fafard’s new packaging in mind for your next stories on the topic. We know we will for our next applicable byline article that touches on the benefits of consumers using the same quality mixes used by professional growers.
~ Don
