vlam – stop and smell the roses

colourful content campaign prompts flanders to start planting
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Carpe diem. Stop and smell the roses – with a smile and a trowel. This is what Local green (Groen van bij ons) invites people to do: add more green, more colour, more life. With content marketing via an interesting blog, floor stickers, plant sticks, social media, online advertisements, videos and playful actions throughout each season, we paid tribute to the Flemish flora and prompted Flanders to start planting en masse.

Flanders' Agricultural Marketing Board (VLAM) promotes regional produce, including native flowers and plants. The organisation wants to convince more Flemish people – from novice planters to plant experts – to bring green into their homes and gardens, and called in our experienced team (again) to accomplish this. They planted the seed; we let it bloom into a colourful activation campaign. And this is how the ‘Stop and smell the roses’ campaign was born.

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the umbrella structure? a content platform!

The content marketing strategy’s umbrella structure was a content platform or blog on the website of Local green (Groen van bij ons) , which we designed in line with the campaign subject. We developed campaign images and drew up a content marketing plan, including the main communication moments and channels. Our team took care of the creative concept, photography, design (both digital and in print), branding (including an independent logo), tone of voice and colours, content, planning and roll-out of the campaign across the different channels.

the campaign

We should stop and smell the roses, every day. On Valentine’s Day, for example, we invited love-struck Flanders to participate in a contest to win a free stay at Atelier Turquoise in Ghent, enhanced by floral artist and host Charlotte Everaert. In March, we inaugurated the gardening season with a video full of gardening advice and tips & tricks to prepare your garden (and yourself) for spring. Around Easter, some micro influencers revealed their floral brunch table, and on Mother’s Day we encouraged sons and daughters to give their mothers a (hand-picked) flower bouquet thanks to our inspiring blogpost.

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During the Indian summer, we highlighted some terrace plants by means of a travelling terrace. We went to several shopping centres in Flanders and provided the shoppers with a green space to relax. Through a photo contest on social media with the hashtags #plukdedag (stop and smell the roses) and #groenvanbijons (the green around us), people were able to expand their plant family with a free cyclamen (a colourful plant, perfect for autumn).

Trees and shrubs were next up in November. We encouraged people in Flanders to indulge themselves in nearly 50 Flemish garden centres via online ads and social media posts. There, we distributed posters, floor stickers and plant sticks. Because planting a tree means seizing the future. What else do we have in mind? A lot of digital content to encourage our wide target audience to give flowers to their loved ones during the holidays. We bet your host will brighten up as soon as they see the bouquet!

the result

The online platform was a hit, and Groen van bij ons’s Instagram and Facebook page were brimming with activity. Our harvest: a great deal of high-quality traffic to the website and Flemish garden centres and a lot of new plant lovers.

have a look at other campaigns for vlam

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