CVGGA – Cuyahoga Valley Greenhouse Growers Association

Branding & Marketing

The Cuyahoga Valley Greenhouse Growers Association (CVGGA) was established in 2009 to provide a joint, unified voice for the vegetable, floral and herbal sectors of the Northeast Ohio greenhouse industry.

The vegetable sector includes growers of tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers.

The floral sector includes growers of cut flowers, potted ornamental plants, bedding plants and/or propagation material.

The herbal sector includes growers of herbs and providers of herb-related products and services.

All CVGGA growers offer products grown under glass or plastic. This commonality among methods of production and the recognition that all three sectors face many of the same issues led to the creation of the CVGGA as a vehicle for identifying and addressing shared concerns.

To engage as many of the region’s greenhouse growers as possible, the CVGGA is developing a brand name, logo and positioning statement for the Northeast Ohio greenhouse cluster.  CVGGA will capitalize on that brand via a comprehensive collective marketing strategy that uses group marketing tactics to aggressively target prospective buyers of multiple crops.  In this manner, CVGGA can support small-scale greenhouse growing communities and advise them on how best to work together to increase the value of the goods they sell.

A cooperative marketing program among small-scale growers who produce and collectively market has the advantages of presenting individual groups members as a single large entity.  Typically, plant and produce buyers like food processors and grocery and restaurant chains prefer to contract only when large-scale supplies can be guaranteed—a reality that has made value-added bulk commodity sales difficult for small-scale growers.

Branding the industry is as much about moving towards the creation of a collective identity for the industry as it is about selling more vegetables, herbs, bedding plants and hanging baskets.

Branding is not about getting the target markets of CVGGA growers to choose them over the competition.  It’s about getting prospects to see CVGGA growers as the only ones who can provide solutions to their never-ending need for fresh vegetables, plants and herbs.

Branding

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol, design or trademark, or a combination of them, connected with a product or producer and intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

Branding—to promote a specific product or product line as a brand name.

Brand management—the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line or brand. Brand management seeks to increase the perceived value of products to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity.  A brand is an implied promise that the level of quality people have come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the same product.

The objectives that the CVGGA brand will achieve include:

•    Delivers the message clearly
•    Confirms the group’s credibility
•    Connects CVGGA target prospects emotionally
•    Motivates the buyers
•    Strengthens customer loyalty

Success in branding requires an understanding of the needs and wants of customers and prospects. CVGGA’s brand management efforts will do this by integrating brand strategies through the group at every point of public contact.

The key to the CVGGA’s branding effort is to focus on the perspective of the customers—how businesses and consumers perceive and buy plants, produce and herbs.  If we understand how and why people buy greenhouse output, it should lead to correct conclusions on what our marketing and branding activities should be.

The CVGGA models its branding and marketing efforts after the activities of three groups:

Maumee Valley Growers Association (MVGA)

To help Northwest Ohio’s greenhouse flower growers face competitive challenges, a number of growers, with the assistance of university researchers, organized themselves as an industrial cluster under the umbrella name of Maumee Valley Growers (MVG).  MVG implemented a strategic branding and marketing campaign designed to encourage area residents to purchase more flowers from locally-owned greenhouses.  MVG, which is funded through a USDA grant managed through The University of Toledo in partnership with Bowling Green State University, Indiana State University and The Ohio State University, implemented a grower-controlled non-profit corporation called Maumee Valley Growers Association (MVGA).  This industry organization works with the universities on ongoing cluster activities, and will provide a focus for the industry when the original USDA grant funding ends.  To help Northwest Ohio greenhouses compete and grow, the MVGA enables local greenhouses to work together and share best practices to compete against national and pop-up greenhouses. The MVGA also helps local greenhouses improve their plants and services for Northwest Ohio gardeners

Ontario Greenhouse Marketers Association (OGMA)

Canada’s Ontario Greenhouse Marketers’ Association (OGMA) was established to increase awareness about the Ontario greenhouse sector and to increase aggregate demand for greenhouse produce. The OGMA was incorporated with the following objectives:

•    To promote the development, sale and export of agricultural products.
•    To provide educational opportunities related to agriculture and rural life.
•    To facilitate lines of communication between the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) and marketers.
•    To gather market intelligence.
•    To share in advertising funds.
•    To help improve market stability.

OGMA works cooperatively and collaboratively with OGVG, which was formed in 1967 and represents more than 250 members who produce greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers in Ontario, Canada. OGVG lobbies for, and conducts research on behalf of, the Ontario greenhouse vegetable growers. OGVG also promotes greenhouse vegetables through various media and trade shows.  Flowers Canada (Ontario) represents floriculture greenhouse growers and industry partners across Canada.

Great Lakes Herb Business Association (GLHBA)

The Great Lakes Herb Business Association (GLHBA) represents individuals and companies in the Great Lakes region who grow, wholesale, retail or conduct a business which is related to herbs or herb-related products and services, including teaching, writing, herb garden design and construction, research and product sales.  Membership in the GLHBA is open to all persons and firms engaged in the herb business in Michigan, nearby U.S. states and Canadian provinces.