Prior to joining the Horticulture Club, I would often see information about their annual Valentine's Day Sale through email. Here are previous advertisements done within the last two years.
The ad above was published in 2021.
The ad above was published in 2020.
As a reader, I was confused as to why it was called "Annual Valentine Rose Sale" despite having more than one option for flowers. What I learned later after joining, was that the club was primarily selling bouquets instead of individual flower stems which I believed was not being expressed enough to their target audience. I used my experience as a bystander to reflect on what the committee needed to slightly adjust when I became a member.
When I joined Horticulture Club, I was invited by Darcy Bonds to join the Rose Sale Committee by the Committee Chair. Darcy Bonds is a junior in Horticulture with an emphasis in Greenhouse Research. She would later be elected to become the Horticulture Club's President while I simultaneously would become the Promotions Co-Chair. She was sad that the previous two years were met with low-profit numbers - part of it was due to Covid-19. Both of us had the vision to transform this committee into something bigger than the years prior. Darcy had former experience as she was a regular committee member since her freshman year until she become the Chair in her junior year. She has technical and logistical strengths, whereas I have creative and artistic ones. Therefore, we balanced each other well and our efforts proved it. This sale became the most successful one in the club's history; by selling out of our entire stock through the preorder form in less than 24 hours of sending the email advertisement. We had to order more flowers just for the sale event, and we sold out again within a few hours! We had to cut the event a day short!
Here is the email advertisement that I created that we sent out to ISU's student body and staff. I also included close-ups of the ad and copywriting:
I used Canva to design the advertisement. I kept the design simple and only included the most important information about the event. Not many ISU students read their emails. We decided it would be best to put the rest of the details in the text below for those who are interested. The information on the prices would be featured in our preorder form, website, and Instagram. The color scheme was chosen to match Horticulture Club's down-to-earth style and the rosy theme of the holiday. For the copywriting, I used what I learned in my Business Communications college class to write in a professional tone that would appeal to those who read it.
Becoming involved in promoting this sale was the most thrilling experience I've had so far with putting my artistic and communications skills to use! The best part was seeing the exciting impact it had on the committee as we prepared our customer's orders, and how it financially supported the club!
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