YPHA teams discover their Launch Success challenge
YPHA’s students are divided into teams to compete for the right to launch a new and yet to be named Begonia. Read the reports by two of them.
YPHA’s Launch Success Challenge continues with London Masterclasses
By Clou McEvoy
Following the success of their recent trip to the Netherlands, the 10 participants of the YPHA’s Launch Success Challenge recently made their way to London for Phase 2 of this exciting new programme.
Hosted by The Hyve Group building in Paddington, the delegates finally discovered their team mates for the remainder of the challenge. The original 10, will now work in two groups of 5 to market and develop their all-new Begonia variety; pitching their strategies to a panel of industry professionals in October.
Brand Identity with Instagram’s Mr Plant Geek
During the masterclasses, both teams had the incredible opportunity to pick the brains of Michael Perry (Mr Plant Geek Ltd) Natalie Boynton (Happy Plants Ltd) and Liz Dowling (Liz Dowling Marketing); whilst they began to craft the identity of the all-new Begonia.
The teams considered the interconnected importance of brand narrative, vision, and target market, whilst starting to develop concepts for their Begonia’s potential name.
Strategic Marketing with Jane Lawler
The second session of the day commenced with Jane Lawler (STV International Ltd, HTA, GIMA), where both teams had time to unpack the defining factors, development, and delivery of their upcoming product.
About the masterclasses, LSC delegate Clou McEvoy said: “The branding and marketing skills and strategies discussed in today’s masterclasses were eye-opening, and highlighted key themes that are going to be essential when developing our marketing campaigns later in the programme. Hearing experienced horticultural professionals talk in detail about these subjects was a treat, and hugely helpful!”.
The Next Steps…
The next stop for the Launch Success Challenge will be a trip to British Garden Centre Studley, for each team to finalise their design brief, and work on content creation.
Clou continued, “It’s safe to say that we all left the building buzzing with ideas, (many of which we now need to untangle!) but we’re all very excited to move a little bit closer to our pitch to the panel come October”.
The delegates extend a big thank you to the generous sponsors who have made this project possible: Peter Moore, British Association of Landscape Industries, Beekenkamp Plants B.V., Westland Horticulture Ltd, Pöppelmann TEKUR, British Protected Ornamentals Association (BPOA) and The Garden Centre Association (GCA)
This brilliant new project is being delivered in collaboration with: Michael Perry, Liz Dowling, BBC Gardeners' World Events, British Garden Centres, Happy Plants Ltd, Glee Birmingham Show, Jane Lawler, Boyd J Douglas-Davies.
Article 2
Laura McArthur’s view
YPHA Launch Success Challenge teams announced during London marketing-focussed day
Having witnessed first hand the work that has gone into creating Begonia 4684 on the trip to The Netherlands at the start of July, the Launch Success delegates have met up again at the Hyve Group building in London to learn more about the identity and commerciality side of marketing.
Teams announced…
The two teams were announced on arrival and both groups will now work in competition to each other to pitch their marketing ideas in October to sponsors and representatives of everyone involved in the challenge.
There is no doubt that the masterclasses throughout the challenge are not something that any horticulturist would expect to learn on any horticulture or landscaping course and yet these are skills and requirements used in most workplaces across the industry.
Delegates this time round discussed brand identity, target demographic considerations, market research and commercial limitations with Business Development Consultant, Jane Lawler, and Michael Perry along with Natalie Boynton highlighted the importance of plant names and branding for product identity.
A whole new perspective
LSC delegate Laura McArthur said of the event, “Not only is this challenge teaching me so much about the unseen side of horticulture, but I am also learning more about myself and how I can contribute to working within a team positively under tight deadlines with the helpful coaching of Liz Dowling.
I thought I knew the ins and outs of the industry having worked across a variety of sectors but seeing the real scale of it, particularly on the trip to The Netherlands, puts it all into a whole new perspective for me.”
What’s next for the delegates as they now work head-to-head on the race to launch Begonia 4684 to the market?
On Friday 2nd August, the delegates will head over to Studley Garden Centre, part of British Garden Centres, for a back-to-back hands-on day of workshops with Jennie Kwan, Head of Creative at Hyve group and Eve Kerrigan, Content Creator at BGC.
In the meantime, the two groups will be putting into practice everything they have learned so far and work together in their respective teams to collaborate their ideas from the previous encounters.