Archives for 2010

The International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market, a.k.a, Casual Market is less than two weeks away, and we are in full swing for everything that is furniture, trends and accessories related to casual and outdoor living. The Naples Club Chair from stylish and innovative Foremost Groups is part of a new collection that channels a West Indies feeling. Meticulously crafted of cast aluminum, then finished with hand-applied highlights to give depth to the color and look of the metal, the Naples Club Chair is sure to be a stand out at Foremost’s booth at Casual Market, number 8-4117.

Besides the beautifully detailed finish of the chair, we love the spacious, deep seating of this club chair. Extra thick, large cushions covered in high-quality Sunbrella fabric offer extra comfort in a clean, chic way. Its modern day durability makes it family and children friendly; it’s overall sense of style makes it worthy to be included in our “Sneak Peeks”. – Editors, this chair would enlighten your readers on some of the most incredible form-and-function outdoor seating for 2011.

~ Jeff

We are excited to begin our “Sneak Peek” series for The International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market (IFCA) with a new exhibitor to Casual Market, Philips Consumer Luminaires. Look for the LivingColors lighting product as the spotlight of the company’s exhibit booth. Just introduced in the U.S. during August, LivingColors is a cleverly-designed blend of a luminaire and light source offering up to 16 million color combinations to transform a room’s or space’s ambiance.

This revolutionary lighting product combines the latest in LED technology with the concept of colored lighting “painting” a room for different atmospheres. Whether it’s a warm yellow for a lazy Sunday spent reading or a vibrant purple to enhance the entertainment feel of a dinner party, individuals can save up to three favorite settings for easy use in the future. There is also a dimmable white light and an automatic color-changing setting as additional features. We can easily see LivingColors becoming popular with home owners, business owners and especially designers in the hospitality business. And the easiness of use with LivingColors plugging into any outlet and being controlled by a touch-sensitive remote control is yet another standout reason why we had to include this product in our “Sneak Peek” series.

If you’ll be at Casual Market, stop by Philips Consumer Luminaires’ booth 8-3009 to see LivingColors. Or, for now, find more information about LivingColors at: http://www.lighting.philips.com/microsite/living_colors/

And, stay tuned to our blog for our upcoming “Sneak Peek” posts!

~ Sarah Kate

September for us, here at Eberly & Collard Public Relations, signifies one very important market week- The International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market (ICFA) in Chicago, IL. Held from September 21-24, Casual Market offers the most complete range of collections in new furniture, accessories and trends for outdoor living. It makes sense then, why Casual Market is the only show endorsed by the International Casual Furnishings Association.

Our ECPR team is working closely with MMPI, the show’s well-equipped production company, to cover select products and innovative trends, as introduced or launched by some of the showroom owners and exhibitors who will participate. We will be writing pre-show “Sneak Peeks” and publishing them on our blog for attendees and members of the media. Many of our media contacts have requested this resource, as is our norm, so we are looking forward to reporting helpful information about our clients and many others in the industry. We hope everyone enjoys the posts!

Keep checking our blog for an ongoing series of product “Sneak Peeks” and for information released from MMPI about the market event leading up to September 21. Also, follow us on Twitter during the market, as we’ll be tweeting about products and trends from the Casual Market. Here are our social media channels:

· Blog: http://www.eberlycollardpr.blogspot.com/
· Facebook Fanpage: http://tinyurl.com/ECPR-Facebook
· Twitter: http://twitter.com/eberlycollardpr
· Flickr photo pages: http://tinyurl.com/ECPR-Flickr

So, think of our social media channels as a means to learn about 2010’s advanced and new products for the home and outdoor furniture and accessories industries. Members of the media whom may not yet have tapped into this resource, contact us if you would like to receive special articles, product profiles, photos, etc. directly.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Chicago!

~ ECPR team

Posting about all these options for soil amendments shown at IGC 2010 lately has caused me to really wonder about what happens underground – below the soil. When a fertilizer claims to “bring your soil to life”, what does that actually mean? I thought about this when writing this week’s post about Circle Organics. It’s truly amazing the complex development behind each of the company’s products and other companies from “Best of Products” we’ve previously featured. I see these products as part of this intrinsic system where amendments / fertilizers build up the soil, the soil builds up the plants, the plants build up our eco-system; it’s neat to think of these microbes and nutrients as a catalyst in this chain of feeding and sustaining the Earth. So, with that in mind, let’s move on to the actual “Best of Products”, featuring Pure Castings and Eco Boost from Circle Organics. These two products are %100 organic, meaning they are safe for families, pets and the environment and %100 beneficial to the soil in any lawn or garden.

Made from worm castings, Pure Castings is essentially the first step to healthy topsoil. Pure Castings is a developed blend of minerals, nutrients and living microscopic organisms. The castings are a result of a scientifically-developed diet of components known to promote naturally healthy soils and plants. For landscapers and consumers, the fact that the castings are odorless makes them pleasant to use in residential and commercial settings. For retailers, the castings provide a totally organic alternative to entice today’s green-savvy customers. The end result is fertilized topsoil that boosts healthy plant growth for any lawn or garden.

Similar to Pure Castings in its derived formula, Eco Boost is a liquid soil amendment that seeps further than the soil and into a plant’s roots. This highly concentrated product includes 13 varieties of Endo/Ecto Mycorrhizae- a complex and diverse blend of living beneficial microbes comprised of more than 40 varieties, totaling 13.89 million plus CFUs per fluid ounce. Also, notably, this includes several different types of Archaea. It also includes liquid humates, proteins, amino acids and even, yucca and North American sea kelp. In action, these powerful ingredients increase a plant’s health and therefore its ability to resist drought, disease and pests.

Clearly, these products are deserving of “Best-of Products” status. – Media members, let us know your questions, comments and needs for source insights, photos or articles.

~ Sarah Kate

Creative, new container ideas are always a welcome idea for folks in the garden industry. And, we all know how beneficial these creative ideas are to spark consumer interest and sales. At IGC, we were particularly smitten with Clesen Wholesale’s incredible selection of products for making beautiful containers year-round. Clesen Wholesale offers a range of seasonal plants, flowers and decorations to garden centers and professional landscapers. They company also custom grows a variety of other plants to truly offer a gamut of choices. What makes Clesen’s options stand out is not only the fact they are seasonally appropriate, but also they are an eclectic mix of plants (like vegetables), flowers and synthetic decorations.

Pictured below is a fall container from Clesen. Perfect for decorating homes, businesses, hotels, etc., Clesen’s fall selections include magnolia, oak leaves, artichoke, sorghum, yarrow, and more, all embodying fall’s classic color scheme and earthy vibe.

For those garden centers and landscapers planning ahead for winter, Clesen also has beautiful products that work in extreme weather conditions. Branches, evergreens, wreaths, garlands, and the newest introduction, snow berries make for wonderful wintry wall or door hangings, containers or beds. The snow berries are all-natural, white berries and made from a plant similar to sugarcane, yet they are tolerant of cold temperatures and wet weather. Handmade and hand dipped into red, gold or silver paints and finished with a shimmer, the berries are one of Clesen’s items that will spruce up any outdoor arrangement for those colder days that are around the corner.

For more information about Clesen Wholesale and pictures of products, and for retailers wanting to make orders, visit: http://www.clesen.com.

~ Don and Jeff

To continue our “Best of Products” from the IGC Show, we are not straying far from the topic of our last post. It was evident at the show that marketing and packaging are taking more of a front seat for garden retailers; therefore, it has become a high priority for manufacturers to re-think many options about a product’s look, container and package description. Jolly Gardener, a division of Oldcastle Lawn & Garden, has met this challenge head-on. For 2010, the company introduced the line of premium soils that would not only visually draw customers to the products, but also help them clearly understand the solutions the products provide.

According to Kevin McDonald, vice president of sales and marketing, the company conducted consumer focus groups and found that consumers are still confused when shopping the potting soil category. With this in mind, they designed the new packaging to be easy-to-understand and with high-level shelf appeal. These products all ranked high marks in our “Best of Products” series, and here’s why…

Jolly Gardener Premium Potting Mix is regionally-formulated with high quality ingredients to be the ideal base mix for indoor and outdoor containers, window boxes, and planters. The mix includes a controlled-release fertilizer that feeds plants up to four months, encouraging plant growth and continuous, beautiful flowers all season long.

Jolly Gardener Premium Moisture Mate Potting Mix contains the same quality elements as the Premium Potting Mix. It also boasts polymer crystals to help prevent over- and under-watering of plants, which is one of the biggest concerns among consumers. In addition, the mix includes plant food that feeds plants up to four months.

Jolly Gardener Premium Garden Soil is specially blended to promote strong root growth for robust fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. This mix includes plant food that feeds up to four months, encouraging growth of nutritious, edible plants and healthy, plentiful flowers.

These three mixes are but a taste of Jolly Gardener’s amazing products. We’ll keep this post live for some time, so it will be available for when “packaging” starts to show up on 2011 EdCals.

~ Sarah Kate

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

Joanne Klappauf, founder of Common Ground Distributors, intimately knows the ins and outs of buying books. Speak to her, and you quickly discover she is a bibliophile through and through, and that this passion has fueled her success of providing books to retailers across the nation. “Having worked in retail bookselling in the past, I especially understand what a buyer goes through day-to-day when ordering books. Knowing the challenges of your customers is the heart of any service business,” Klappauf explains. She believes it is important to know customer expectations and needs even before one places an order. This kind of synergistic relationship cements a strong foundation for selling the right books to the right retailers.

Common Ground has been distributing books for almost 25 years from its warehouse based in Asheville, NC. The book categories the company offers are diverse, spanning a wide range of specialized interest subject-matter and a long list of publishers. Thus, the company’s name is a tell-tale of its overture. Klappauf says green titles are an emerging category of books with broad interest sought by retailers and end-consumers. Other categories include interior design, garden design, cooking, nature, children’s picture books, and gift books such as those of inspiration, humor and animals. But, in all these categories, criteria for the chosen books are simple and twofold: quality and salability, meaning, “The overall book package has to be as wonderful as the content.”

For retailers ordering books, Klappauf suggests considering the specifications such as the colors, sizes and shapes. Prior to ordering, it is helpful to visualize how the books will look in the space in which they are to be sold. Then, when the order is received by the retailer, she recommends displaying the books upright and facing outward with their covers clearly showcased for consumers to view. Other ideas for retail display include grouping like books together and cross-merchandising various books with related products. ”It’s simple and powerful; retailers can increase book sales by creating unique environments,” according to Klappauf.

Her advice rings true in Common Ground’s other location, a permanent showroom at AmericasMart Atlanta. The environment is soothing, and the books are stimulating. Klappauf had glass walls with broad, wood columns put in surrounding the space to encapsulate the area and help reduce noise. Her concept was to create a cozy sitting area for buyers to examine prospective purchases.

Hundreds of covers jump off the shelves like a colorful Dr. Suess tale in the children’s section, a new gardening title featuring magical-looking plants, a beloved Paula Deen gracing a southern recipe book hot off the presses, and a large design book boasting famous Hollywood interiors. The sections are organized in a maneuverable manner so buyers might round the shelf of books about breath-taking homes to discover a neighboring shelf lined with books about cabins, barns, tree houses, and western lifestyle.

Once retailers or designers do choose books, orders can be placed in the showroom, online through Common Ground’s website, or by phone. It could be an order for one book or 50. With no minimums or limits, Klappauf ensures the process is a solid means to match customers with the most applicable selections. Klappauf calls it hand-selling, the ability to know the books as much as possible to suggest personal favorites or trendy titles to customers. It is something on which Common Ground prides itself. “It’s one of the many fun parts of bookselling,” she says with a smile.

With books evolving in the current marketplace from e-books read on handheld devises to the surging importance of photos versus words, Klappauf believes there is still a place on the shelf for printed books. No doubt, beautifully bound books filled with engaging visuals and page-turning adventures can help retailers build desirable inventories that entice customers in ways unlike any other product.

~ ECPR Team

Here, we offer two “Best ofs…” in one post. Some plants are made for the shade; others work perfectly in mass plantings; but, these two of our favorite plants from OFA Short Course 2010 look stunning in containers and are too stylish to go unnoticed. And, as professionals in the garden industry are always searching for novel container plants, both of these beauties would showcase well in any garden retail store and on any magazine’s pages.

The Alcea Spring Celebrities varieties from American Takii boast large, semi-double to double flowers with long bloom times. Bred by Sahin, this series offers new colors – Crimson, Lilac and Pink – as well as favorites like Carmine-Rose, Lemon, Purple, White, and Formula Mixture. Hardy for Zones 6-9, these Hollyhocks like living in full sun and are quite drought tolerant. They attract butterflies and other beneficial insects. These plants are sure to grab the attention of consumers. What else would we expect from Takii? The company continues to develop some of the most garden-worthy varieties in the world. For grower cultural information, see the company’s website.By the way, our congratulations to Takii for its recent 175th anniversary. Our warmest and best wishes to Takii for another 175 years and more!

For more information, visit Takii’s website.

Known for their “magical” breeding abilities, the folks at Terra Nova Nurseries have created the world’s first trailing Heucherella. Two plants in the new Falls series, ‘Redstone Falls’ and ‘Yellowstone Falls’, debuted at OFA as exciting new options for garden centers and nurseries to consider for their busy spring 2011 seasons. With classic Heuchera-style, lobed leaves made more delicate through a mix of Tiarella, these leafy plants are sure to make a statement when planted in a tall or uplifted container.

For culture details and other insights, check out the website. Keep up the incredible breeding work, Terra Nova. You never cease to amaze us and the grower industry.

Part of Our “Best of NHS Products & Innovations” Series…

The National Hardware Show in May was home to thousands of companies showcasing new or innovative products, and one such product caught our eye. It is called The Original Adjustable Door Hinge, and it’s distributed through EGS Hinge LLC. Created to solve the problem of doors that stick when being opened or closed, The Original Adjustable Door Hinge has the ability to adjust a left- or right-handed door up or down and side to side. This truly is a simpler solution than unhinging, sanding, planning, re-painting, and re-hanging a problematic door, which is something all of the contractors out there have been seeking all along.

Doors can stick in the frame or against the floor for a number of reasons: a house is settling, expansive soil conditions, foundation concerns, humidity, poor craftsmanship, new floor installation, a remodel, or even too many layers of paint. Affordable and practical, The Original Adjustable Door Hinge is worth its salt as it can be adjusted anytime to rectify any of these problems. The difference between this product and a typical door hinge lies in The Original Adjustable Door Hinge’s threaded bolt – instead of a smooth pin – allowing the door to be adjusted by the hinge. And, this product is crafted out of high-quality steel or stainless steel and is available in five interior finishes and four exterior finishes.

We think this product is a perfect fit, in more ways than one, for home improvement and trade-based magazines’ “Best Products” sections for 2010 and 2011. For more information about The Original Adjustable Door Hinge, feel free to leave a comment below or visit the company’s website.

~ Jeff