With the countdown to Mother's Day in full gear, several companies are disparaging flowers to try and promote their own products. SAF has sent letters to De Beers, Philips Electronics, Angie's List, Hilton Hotels Corporation, ButterflyPhoto.com, Reveal MedSpa, CarePages and Shoe Carnival asking that they promote their products on their own merits and remove any negative remarks about flowers from their respective advertising campaigns.

Expanding its offerings, 1-800-Flowers.com announced it has acquired DesignPac Gifts, LLC., a designer and assembler of gourmet gift baskets, gourmet food, gift towers and gift sets.

New to the lineup this June at the Houston School of Floral Design are classes taught in Spanish. The new offerings come at a time when a number of students are requesting non-English instruction, says the institution's new proprietor, Jim Lerdal.

From The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to Ladies' Home Journal, the positive power of flowers has been making big news.

On Monday, Philadelphia area florist Chris Drummond, AAF, got what most businesses only hope for: almost seven minutes of airtime on a local TV news program promoting flowers for Mother's Day.

It's that time of year again: pre-holiday test order stories abound, just in time for Mother's Day. One such television news story that aired in the Washington, D.C. market could give a shot in the arm to local florists.

Legendary journalist Helen Thomas, known throughout her 50-plus-year career for her incendiary questions in the White House Press Briefing Room, recently sparked a floral movement.

Walter Knoll Florist in St. Louis is capitalizing on the power of a contest to increase store traffic during the mother-of-all-floral-holiday weeks.

Florists will have yet another online marketing channel for brides to choose from, with the launch of the Web site, New Bride USA.

Men are making a hefty increase in spending on their wives for Mother's Day this year — from $90.70, last year, to $108 this year, according to a Discover® card survey.

They may not make up your core customer base, but a new report suggests teenage boys are looking for love — and old-fashioned, flower-giving romance.

• "Keys to Communication" by SAF's PFCI featuring Sharon McGukin, AAF, AIFD, PFCI: July 7, 2-3 p.m. in Chicago, in conjunction with the AIFD National Symposium.
• SAF Palm Beach 2008: Sept. 17-20, 2008, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.

The sale of FTD was the most clicked story from last week's E-Brief. The other top stories involved the admission of wrongdoing by The Melting Pot, AT&T and Converse disparaging the floral industry to promote their products, grocery florists reporting a sales increase and a florist's creative as well as timely Mother's Day promotion.

Now is the time to add newspaper and radio commercial advertising to your marketing mix. Check out the Marketing Tips and Tools page of the SAF Web site for a library of more than 50 radio commercial scripts, as well as pre-designed print ads that are ready to send to your local newspaper's advertising department...just add your shop's name and phone number!

Close to 54 percent of respondents to last week's e-poll indicated they were pre-booking about the same amount of fresh product and hardgoods for Mother's Day 2008 as compared to last year.

Sales Figures for APW/PSW According to Post-Holiday Survey

SAF APW/PSW Online Survey of retail florists, 2008. Based on 246 responses (response rate 9.4 percent). Preliminary data.

Preliminary results of SAF's Administrative Professionals/Professional Secretaries Week (APW/PSW) post-holiday survey of retail florists indicates the economy and a general decline in the observance of the holiday have taken a toll on florists' sales this year. So far, just over half (51 percent) of responding florists indicated sales declined from a year ago. About a quarter of shops noted increased sales or sales unchanged from a year ago. When asked the reasons for the lackluster sales for APW/PSW, six in 10 florists noted the national economy — the same proportion that indicated a general decline in the observance of this holiday.