Keeping flowers and local florists on the forefront of consumers' minds this Mother's Day sums up the result of Teleflora's "America's Favorite Mom" months-long promotion, says Teleflora Chairman Tom Butler, AAF. The contest for moms captured numerous headlines in newspapers and magazines, not to mention five back-to-back spots on the Today show, and a primetime TV special on NBC.

"For the 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, Teleflora wanted to go above and beyond how America traditionally celebrates motherhood by creating an unprecedented multi-media and marketing promotion," Butler says in a press release. "The America's Favorite Mom program has been an extraordinary success for Teleflora and its member florists and has created a whole new paradigm in the floral industry on how to drive tremendous sales and profits for our member florists."

Each of the 15 semi-finalists heard the good news via a delivery of flowers from a local Teleflora florist, and they were featured on the Today Show during the week prior to Mother's Day. The five finalists received $25,000 while the remaining 10 received $10,000, and all of the moms (with the exception of the two military moms currently stationed in Iraq) were flown to New York City, courtesy of Teleflora. "The families were overwhelmed," says Butler. "Some of these stories were from people who could really use the money."

On Sunday, Teleflora, with the help of the primetime special's hosts, Donny and Marie Osmond, announced that Patti Patton-Bader of Pasadena, Calif., took in the most votes from America to capture the title of America's Favorite Mom. The winner's son, Brandon, nominated her for the grand prize and told the story of her work with the company she founded, Soldier's Angels, an organization that sends care packages to deployed soldiers. (The Teleflora contest received about 20,000 nominations total.)

Patton-Bader and other semi-finalists from across the country, received bouquets from their local Teleflora florists. The local florists designed and delivered a series of arrangements to each recipient's home so it would look nice for the taping of the TV special, Butler says.

"In every [video] shot of each of those moms, there are flowers all over the house, shown on camera," Butler says. "It was fantastic, and the cooperation we had from the local florists at the homes of the finalists was superb."

Tony De la Torre, co-owner (and go-to deliveryman) of Edeleweiss Flower Boutique in Santa Monica, Calif., delivered the arrangements to Patton-Bader's home over the weekend. De la Torre says that when he knocked on the door, Patton-Bader opened it to find him and a crew of TV cameramen all looking at her. Her reaction, De la Torre says, was shock, and a question: "What's this?" He directed her to look at the oversized card telling her she was a finalist. Patton-Bader's next reaction? She left De la Torre waiting at the door, he says, and ran to the refrigerator to get him an Oscar Mayer Lunchables snack pack and present the deliveryman with a surprise of his own — as only a nurturing mom would do. The florist says that he really enjoyed playing a part in giving the winner her flowers, and he jokes about the snack, saying he felt like telling Patton-Bader, "gee, thanks, mom!"

In addition to providing the grand-prize winner's bouquet (and four to six other arrangements for the winner's home for filming), Edeleweiss Flower Boutique's designer and co-owner, Elizabeth Seiji, AIFD, made all of the bouquets featured on the NBC special, including Marie Osmond's hand bouquet and the arrangements in the Osmonds' dressing rooms.

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

Previous Article    Next Article