It’s Not Skull Island
The original 1933 King Kong movie is a classic. Who can forget actress Fay Wray hanging from the top of the Empire State Building while a colossal gorilla [King Kong] is reaching for her? In fact, King Kong is so popular that another version was made last year to give the old story a fresh, new look.
Taking the Kong craze a step further, a few years back PanAmerican Seed introduced a series of coleus called Kong because of its extra-large leaves, and consumers have been drooling over it ever since. One garden center took that popularity and built a King Kong of its own. Employees at Otten Brothers Nursery & Landscaping, Long Lake, Minn., crafted a huge King Kong cut out and hung it from the greenhouse rafters right over a big bench of Kong coleus.
When I was there this past summer, I noticed that it really did grab customers’ attention. People were walking up to the “monster” to see what it was all about, and there he was holding this neat plant with huge leaves and tons of colors. People were picking up the plants and walking to the register with cash in hand.
Even other garden center owners and managers I was walking with at Otten Brothers were amazed at the unique display. They were taking pictures like crazy so they could take the idea home to their stores and possibly implement it.
This different display also puts a fun spin on the branding debate our industry is always having. The main thing that was being branded here was the name of the plant, not the breeder or grower. The garden center chose to focus on the plant, using Kong Kong to show that it is a big plant that has a lot of strength in the color department. The display didn’t take away from the fact that it was bred by one company or grown by another; it just emphasized the unique aspect of its name, and Otten Brothers took that name and ran with it.
Adding the well-known gorilla to a maybe not-so-well-known type of coleus really brought attention to the plant. It made the display fun and extremely eye catching. Customers were able to have a small chuckle while opening their wallets on the way to the registers, and the store got to have a little chuckle on the way to the bank.
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