Feature Article
Branded!
How a Common Marketing Strategy is Changing the Way the Green Industry Does Business PART 1 – THE POWER OF BRANDING AND PLANT PATENTS By Dr. Amy Fulcher, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, Lauren Fessler, Extension Assistant, and Tammy Stackhouse, former Extension Program Assistant
Plant Sciences Department, The University of Tennessee Figure 1
Introduction
For generations Tennessee nursery producers have prided themselves on their ability to germinate seeds, root cuttings, and bud dogwood liners. However, new plant releases are now almost exclusively part of branding programs and associated marketing campaigns (Figure 1). For example, Bloomstruck® hydrangea in The Endless Summer® Collection was the official flower of Superbowl 52, which was fittingly played at US Bank stadium! What do these branding programs, their licensing agreements, and royalty fees mean for retail garden center operators, propagators, and others in the Green Industry? How do they impact your day-to-day business and your business’s ability to grow and stay relevant? Understanding the various benefits to producing branded plants in your nursery and ways in which a plant can be protected from unlicensed propagation is important in order to benefit from the advantages of these programs while avoiding monetary penalties or legal action. These topics are the focus of this two-part series on intellectual property in the Green Industry.
Just what are brands and the power of branding? According to the American Marketing Association a brand is “an intangible asset” and may be in the form of “a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or services as distinct from those of other sellers.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
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tennessee greentimes SPRING 2021
