If you walked into any sort of industry think tank today you
would likely hear people discussing ideas to “reach Generation Y”. It’s true of
every industry out there. Everybody knows that in the next ten years purchasing
demographics are really going to start shifting. Some industries are looking to
just maintain engagement. Anybody in the technology industry is sitting pretty
right now. They are nailing the younger demographics, whereas in the
horticulture and agriculture industries we are really trying to find a
foothold. We want to engage these younger consumers. We want to be able to
connect these people to gardening. We try marketing with social media and we
develop apps for mobile devices. Sure we are picking up some new followers, but
are we really seeing a swing in the amount of Gen Y individuals who are
interested in gardening or farming? Are we merely catering to the same audience
that we had before?
I know that I have talked about Generation Y before and
about how we really need to focus on what I’ve deemed the “new consumer”, but
today I want to take the discussion back to getting younger individuals
involved with what I will call “green activity” (not necessarily environmental,
just activity associated with plants or food production). What are we missing that the rest of the world
is offering people? What aren’t we doing to get new faces in those garden
centers? We have Facebook pages and Twitter profiles but if our only followers
are people that are already loyal supporters and avid gardeners, we aren’t
achieving what we wanted to through those channels.
I’m going to say it plain and simple. The reason why more
people aren’t interested in “green activity” is because we’ve made things in
our industries boring. We aren’t exciting, and if people are excited it may
simply be for other reasons (the whole GMO debate). To non-plant people gardening
is boring. It’s a waste of time and money. Sure you and I may think the latest
color of geranium is breathtaking, but to the average Gen Y individual it’s
just another flower. Honestly sometimes to me it’s just another flower. I can
actually understand how people get bored. When I used to listen to kids in
college talk about plants (using Latin names that I’ve never heard of) it often
seemed like a foreign language and I’d zone out. I’d lose interest.
You know what people don’t lose interest in? Shark Week,
South Park, Taco Bell. They don’t lose
interest in these things because they are edgy. Honestly sometimes things get
pretty crazy. That’s what these industries need. We need to do something crazy to break us out
of the shrinking consumer sphere that we seem trapped in. We are too reserved
when it comes to getting our ideas out there. I mean I’ll admit there have been
some attempts to get something going. Those guys who did “I’m farming and I
grow it” were on to something, but that flash has died and nobody carried it
on.
If we really want to
reach the younger generations we have to become something that we’ve never been
before. We have to be risqué in a way. We have to create content that makes
people go “Woah I can’t believe they just said that”. We can’t sell plants like we always have. We
have to make something of it. Honestly we need to take more risks! I’m not
talking about the risks with growing more or less or changing products, I’m
talking about taking the risk of offending someone. Too often I feel we are so
reserved that we will do something someone will find distasteful. I’m not
saying we should go nuts, but hey selling plants that “Kick Ass” might not be a
bad idea. It’s a thin line but it seems right now we are staying as far away
from that line as possible. In order to sway any of those younger people into
gardening we have to walk right on that line. Look at the Oscars this year. You’re
telling me that Seth MacFarlane wasn’t a simple ploy to get Gen Y individuals
(especially males) to watch the awards show? Whether or not it succeeded is in
the air, but at least they took the risk!
Just thought I’d open up a can of worms tonight. I’d be
interested in hearing what people have to say on the topic. I’m not saying that
the hort and ag industries need to become the bad boys of the business world. I’m
just saying it might be ok to get our first tattoo.
Reach Me!
