Plan for a Successful Season in Your Retail CenterCount on Proven Winners to Help

M A YA P R I LM A R C HF E B R U A R YJ A N U A R Y

It’s easy to host a fundraiser for breast cancer research when you order our FREE Pink Day toolkit online. It creates great customer goodwill and helps a great cause.

Add fresh content to your website through social media. Proven Winners can help. Visitour Facebook page for more information.

The summer issue of Proven Beauty launches this month. Engage your customers by adding a link on your website to this online magazine.

Certified employees make better dancers.

What Proven Winners is doing for YOU.

What YOU can do with Proven Winners.

TV campaign is in full gear reaching 100+ million potential gardeners.

Proven Winners continues to fill the 1000s of requests for Gardener’s Idea Books.

Raise your hand if you like free

advertising.

J U N E

Advertise your garden center and promote sales by ordering copies of the Gardener’s Idea Book,customized with your message and contact information to be sent to your customer list.

Add a link on your website to the Early Spring issue of ProvenBeauty, the Proven Winners’ online magazine, and give customers more reasons to come into your retail center.

Get ready for the new season by ordering comfortable, professional apparel that helps customersidentify the Proven Winners experts on your staff.

Order FREE 1500+ branded = radiocontainers promotion

iGarden Certification provides simple, thoroughtraining for your staff and priority placement for your garden center in our online retailer listing used by customers.

Proven Winners adappears in lifestylemagazines, including: Birds & Blooms.

I always carry a watering can and

an Idea Book.

Proven Winners connects with consumers, retailers, and growers by responding to 1000s of calls, emails, and social media contacts.

Each year, our national combination and the P. Allen Smith Platinum Collection varieties are consumer favorites. Be ready by placing orders with wholesalers by March 1.

The Spring issue of ProvenBeauty launches this month. Direct gardeners to innovative ideas that will increase sales by posting a link to Proven Beautyon your center’s website.

Our Outdoor Living Extravaganzasget gardeners excited for the upcoming season. Promote nearby Extravaganzas in your garden center to capture some of that excitement, which translates into sales. San Diego area – March 3Grand Rapids, Michigan area – April 14 Washington, DC area – April 21Edmonton, Alberta – May 12

Proven Winners adsappear in lifestyle magazines, including: Birds & Blooms, Chicagoland Gardening,Country Gardens, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Martha Stewart Living, Midwest Living, and Southern Living.

Radio campaigns begin in 7 cities, including:Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC, Dallas, TX, Houston, TX,Los Angeles, CA, Raleigh, NC, and San Diego, CA.

The Proven Winners team responds to calls and emails from 1000s of consumers requesting Gardener’s Idea Books.

Capture your customers’ attention and add color and design savvy to your garden center by using Proven Winners POP.

A plant giveaway promotes your business and creates goodwill in your community. Order your“We Grow Smiles” kit to make it easy.

Order complementary products, like Proven Winners Premium Potting Soil, Plant Foods,and WaterWise® kits, to increase sales and make your garden center a one-stop shop for customers.

If you’re located in Michigan or the Washington,DC area, promote the Extravaganza near youand gain customers and sales.

Radio campaigns begin in 15 cities, including:Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Hartford, CT,Kansas City, MO, Minneapolis, MN, New York, NY,Philadelphia, PA, Portland, OR, Salt Lake, UT, SanFrancisco, CA, Seattle, WA, Toronto, ON, Vancouver, BC, and Washington DC.

Order POP. Holder not included.

Hundreds of gardeners use our online retailersearch to find out how to get to the nearest Proven Winners garden center.

Proven Winners adsappear in lifestyle magazines, including: Better Homes & Gardens, Canadian Gardening,Canadian Living,Chicagoland Gardening, Country Gardens, FineGardening, Horticulture,Martha Stewart Living, Midwest Living, and Sunset.

A container workshop positions your staff as expertsand brings gardeners into your garden center. OurBloom Box contains everything you need to organize, promote, and execute your workshop.

If you’re located in the Edmonton area, promote the nearby Extravaganza on May 12 to gain customers and sales.

Radio campaign begins in Edmonton, AB.

I like pizza, but plants prefer

this food.

TV campaign is in full gear reaching 100+ million potential gardeners.

Proven Winners hosts the Wherever You Grow blog, which features ideas from regional garden writers across the U.S. and Canada.

New and updated

With the Quick Response Code technology on our tags, customers can use their smartphones to scan the QRCs and instantly view growing tips, design ideas, and ratings for our plants. Be sure the tags are visible in your displays to take advantage of the sales this technology can provide.

Turn over to see how to make the most of your Proven Winners partnership in the second half of 2012.

Plan for a Successful Season in Your Retail CenterCount on Proven Winners to Help

N O V E M B E RO C T O B E RS E P T E M B E RA U G U S TJ U L Y

What Proven Winners is doing for YOU.

What YOU can do with Proven Winners.

D E C E M B E R

Our traveling team of marketers, horticulturists, and retail experts will host FREE Roadshow seminarsacross the U.S. and Canada to assist retailers in increasing profits and achieving success. Contact Proven Winners to find the Roadshow near you.

Proven Winners will present our innovative introductions for 2013 at OFA. We’ll also have experts available to assist you in making decisionsfor your garden center based on the latest trendsin marketing, retailing, production, and consumer research.

Be sure to stop by our booth to pick up our2013 catalog, to talk with Proven Winners staff, to network with others in the industry, and to register for giveaways.

At IGC, we share what we know about the gardening public to help independent garden centers boost business.

Proven Winners lets you know all about our new introductions for 2013 through extensiveadvertising in trade publications. With this information at your fingertips, you can begin making your buying decisions for the coming year.

Water keeps plants fresh. Our blogkeeps your website

fresh.

Colorful POP gives your garden

center a lift.

I loved dancing in the Flash Mob at

OFA last year.

I have a suggestion for the

next national combo.

Take advantage of our free store consultations with Judy Sharptonin the booth at OFA.

Use ourWe Grow Smiles campaign kit. It’s a great way to liquidate less-than-fresh plant material andgain some great PR at the same time.

Refresh your garden centerby changing out your displays. Decrease the number of benches in your sales areas, widen the aisles, and restock with fresh, hot summer colors in larger sizes. Proven Winners provides some additional inspirationwith fresh P.O.P. And don’t forget to refresh your hanging baskets and containers for additional sales opportunities.

Visit public garden trials either at local greenhouses or universities to gauge all-seasonperformance in your area. Contact Proven Winners for locations near you.

You’ve spent a lot of time designing your fall and Thanksgiving containers, so don’tforget to promote them on your website or electronic newsletter. And let us know whatworks for you this fall, so we can create more programs and marketing materials to assist you next fall.

Proven Winners identifies consumer buying trends that can help you target sales, and we share those ideas with retailers via our website, newsletters, and marketingmaterials so you can create Thanksgiving, and other holiday-inspired, combinations that gardeners are looking for.

Add Diamond Frost® to poinsettia pots to add value and create a unique product.

Offer a fall container design workshop at your garden center. It will be perfect for moms who now have a little more time for themselvesand who are looking to freshen up their outdoorspace for the new season. Maybe you have materials in your current Bloom Box kit that you can customize and use, or contact Proven Winners to order a new, updated version.

Set up yourFall Magic display

Our marketing team is busy designing new POP optionsthat you can use to energize your garden center while at the same time educating consumers and cross-selling products.

The fall issue of Proven Beauty launches at theend of the month. Engage your customers by adding a link on your website to this online magazine.

Starbucks knows the value of three price points –tall, grande, and vente. You can use that strategy this month, too, as you begin planning for Thanksgiving containers. By offering invitinggroupings of three sizes of fresh, fall containers of Proven Winners plants, you provide lots of options at different price points, which means more sales potential for your garden center.

?What will the 2013 Proven Winners national combo be? Each year, we compile suggestions from growers, retailers, and our team of plant experts to decide which of our varieties make the best pairing, performance-wise, color-wise, and otherwise to create the combination that will be the next big hit with consumers.

A back-to-school Smiles Campaign couldmake every returning teacher at your local schoolhappier. What a great way to say thank you tothese hard working community leaders. And, you probably have some stuff you don’t want to water any longer!

We’re designing next year's Gardener’s Idea Book, so that it will be ready for you to use as a promotional piece in the early spring. Put it into your marketing plan now, so you’re ready for 2013.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month,which makes it a perfect time to host a Pink Day celebration. Order your FREE Pink Day toolkit online and bring attention to your garden center and to a great cause.

Promote fall planting of shrubs and perennials to your customers. Most gardenersknow that fall is a great time to plant bulbs, but they may not consider it a prime time for other planting. Create a display of varieties from Proven Winners’ newly expanded perennialline and ColorChoice shrubs and promote their fall planting. It will educate customers and encourage sales.

Planning for next year's Outdoor Living Extravaganzas is well underway as we line up locations, speakers, giveaways, and set the agendafor these popular consumer seminars. ContactProven Winners to find out where the 2013 Extravaganza events will be held and how you can promote them to bring sales to your garden center next spring.

Need ideas for new combinations that you can offer to your customers? Our container design book for growers and retailers includes dozens of these beauties as well as planting diagrams and tips to ensure your success.

Know the top-rated plants. Proven Winners hasreceived thousands of plant ratings from consumersand have added this information on our retailersites by region, so you know what is most popularwith consumers in your area.

Our monthly e-newsletters for retailers provide helpful information on trends, promotions, and new plant introductions. Use this time at the end of the year to look back on the season’s issues as you make plans for 2013.

Be sure your customers get the gardening message all yearlong by carrying a supply of Proven Winners calendars. The 2013 version will feature beautiful photographs of popular Proven Winners plants at the front door, on the patio, and in the landscape. Every time gardeners turn to a newmonth, they’ll be inspired to take a look at what Proven Winners’ plants are available at their garden center.

Include a link to the Proven Winners Wherever You Grow blog on your website to keep your content fresh. You’ll capture the attention of those serious gardeners who visit in the off-season months to get inspirationfor their garden planning for next year.

We’re getting ready for the January 2013 trade shows: National Green Centre, Jan. 6-7; Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, Jan. 9-11; Green & Growin’ Trade Show, Jan. 14-18; Mid-America Horticultural Trade Show, Jan. 16-18; and Central Environmental Nursery Trade Show, Jan. 21-23.