Boost Christmas sales: make the most of free SfE promotional material

As the green industry prepares to enter its poinsettia peak, Stars for Europe (SfE), the pan-European poinsettia marketing initiative, has released its latest material. The campaign produces new content each year, available for everyone in the industry to use and bolster sales. It can be accessed via SfE’s websites, and SfE’s 2024 mid-season review offers an overview of what’s new. This year, there is exciting news on growth of the project, thanks to new EU funding.

The latest SfE promotional material for 2024 includes:

• New photos in a range of styles to suit the latest trends, including Golden Elegance, Modern Vintage Fusion, Country Chic in Blue, and Cosy Cottage Charm. There are hundreds of professionally-produced, high-resolution photos available for free download from the campaign’s online image library. Flower and plant businesses can use them for a wide range of purposes, including social media, website marketing, and creating printed posters and other point-of-sale materials.

• New videos in the form of three creative DIY decoration videos, which will be published on YouTube during the season and boosted by a Google Ads campaign. Sneak previews of the videos can be seen in SfE’s 2024 mid-season review.

• New PR material focused on this year’s strategically developed press release topics. Each year, SfE works with public relations experts to develop themes and texts that will appeal to media outlets across Europe. This year’s topics include poinsettia Christmas traditions, creative gifting tips, decoration ideas, and much more.

• Brand-new sustainability content tailored exclusively for those in the business of greenhouse-grown flowering plants. It forms part of SfE’s strategy through its EU funding, planned in alignment with the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP). It includes a new online sustainability knowledgebase, available in 13 languages, and a new series of technical columns written by horticulture experts. This aims to facilitate international knowledge exchange and amplify the voices of horticulture experts and respected green media, supporting growers and suppliers in their sustainability journey.

• SfE social media channels, in 17 languages, are now highly active. In many languages, they will be boosted throughout the season with strategic paid advertising campaigns. Industry personnel are invited to follow and share the campaign’s social content.

• New POS materials for retailers, including posters, banners, and care tags for plants. The print-ready layouts are available for free download in all campaign countries. In many countries, the materials are being centrally printed and distributed for free via collaborations with wholesalers and trade associations.

In June 2024, SfE started a new three-year EU campaign in 5 new countries, with an EU contribution of around 2.2 million Euros. This is a joint campaign for both Stars for Europe (SfE) and its sister project Pelargonium for Europe (PfE, which promotes geraniums). The new campaign is running alongside an existing three-year EU campaign in six Eastern European countries which started in 2023. This means that for the sales seasons of 2024 and 2025, SfE will be boosted by EU funding in 11 countries at once, the largest ever cohort.

• Target countries of new EU-campaign 2024-27: Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain
• Target countries of existing EU-campaign 2023-26: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia

Hot off the press! SfE’s sister project which promotes pelargoniums, Pelargonium for Europe (PfE), has just won 2.7 million Euros of EU funding for a new campaign starting in January 2025. Sign up to the PfE newsletters to be informed of updates, including tender opportunities.

Both SfE and PfE aim to boost sales and improve consumer product perceptions, overall aiming to strengthen the horticulture industry’s stability and growth. Winning this EU funding is a testament to the impact of the campaigns and their support for the sector.

In case you missed it, SfE’s latest mid-season review, presents in-depth results from the 2023 campaign, including a country-by-country report. Highlights are Europewide results of 4,137 publications in the media with a reach of 1.5 billion, as well as 5.3 million reached through the campaign’s own social media platforms, 79 thousand views of the campaign’s videos, and more than 100,000 printed POS materials distributed to retailers. Lookout for the end-of-year review in spring 2025 to see the final results of the 2024 campaign. Industry personnel can subscribe to campaign newsletters to receive it direct.

• Subscribe to SfE trade newsletters: https://mailchi.mp/7c03187f3781/starsforeurope
• View the 2024 mid-season review: https://mid-season-review-2024.sfe-trade.com/