As Online Foes Dry Up, Mother's Day Is D-Day for FTD, 1-800-flowers.com - rivals launch ad campaigns - Brief Article

Brandweek, March 26, 2001 by Kenneth Hein

As many of their online brethren have wilted and died, 1-800-flowers.com and FTD are girding for the biggest flower delivery day of the year, Mother's Day.

The two will be going head-to-head with off- and online advertising assaults that are poised for the last week of April.

1-800-Flowers.com will launch a TV spot, via Pedone & Partners, New York, shouting one simple message: "Mother's Day is May l3."The camera will pan across its special "Mother's Embrace Bouquet" as well as its other gifts, such as azalea plants and food items. The phone number and Web address will serve as the call to action.

Placement includes cable and network TV. Direct mail and online advertising will support. The company will also sponsor Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right during the weeks leading up to the holiday Tag: "Flowers are just the beginning."

FTD will break a new print ad, per DDB, Chicago, that shows a glamorous-looking mom in an evening gown holding the "Embrace the Sweetness of Life" bouquet. The tag "Wow. Mom," plays off the fact that wow upside-down spells mom. Print targets newspapers plus Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, GQ, Maxim and Parade.

From April 30-May 13,FTD will reprise its "Into Your Arms" TV spots which ran for Valentine's Day The spots will run on cable channels like A&E,TBS and TNT during prime time and on weekends, The ads employ the "Be a hero" tag, which has been FTD's umbrella campaign for more than a year. Though the FTD ads flag its site, FTD.com's standalone support includes just online and direct-mail efforts.

A lot's at stake because Mother's Day is "make or break in terms of profits," said Caroline Barni, spokeswoman for FTD, Downers Grove, III.

Competition has thinned out as many of the online pure plays have passed. Last year, there were 20 players in addition to these two rivals. This year, PC Flowers and Proflowers.com are just about the only competition left.

FTD, with 16,000 stores offline, said its yearlong media outlay will match last year's $40 million-plus. 1-800-flowers.com claims its spend will surpass that of its rivals.

Competitive Media Reporting, however, shows 1-800-flowers.com spent $8 million from January-November 2000 compared to FTD's $18 million.

In May 2000, 1-800-flowers.com spent $1.2 million compared to $500,000 for FTD.