Ramiro Penaherrera is taking what marketers of breakfast cereal have always known and applying it to flowers: Get the kids begging for your product and the adults are more likely to take a bite and make a buy.

Ramiro Penaherrera, founder of Flowers For Kids, presented a workshop to 19 children with the help of its host, Karin's Florist in Vienna, Va. on June 12.

Some Virginia parents are likely now on the receiving end of the petal pitch after 19 children recently got their hands on some roses, carnations and knowledge about why flowers make the best gift at one of Penaherrera's Flowers for Kids events.

At SAF Plam Springs 2007, Maris Angolia of Karin's Florist in Vienna, Va., met Penaherrera, a grower and manger of Flortec Flowers in Ecuador, who founded Flowers For Kids in 2004, and was sold on bringing the program to her shop.

She invited Penaherrera to give a presentation to a group of local children. Penaherrera also got to do a little show and tell, using the June 12 event to showcase the program to visiting officials from a Japanese wholesaler association, Japan Eco Line Flower System Association (JELFA), who are interested in bringing the program overseas.

With cameras rolling (by the Japanese visitors) and children and parents seated before him, Penaherrera explained how flowers make people happy, shared some easy care tips and gave everyone a chance to participate by making their own bouquet to take home.

"Our goal is to educate children and get the parents into the flower shops," Penaherrera says. "We have the best product in the world, we just need to market it better."

Encouraged by the reaction from all age groups, Angolia, who's now certified to teach the class, says she's excited to keep the program going at her shop.

"The parents and grandparents who brought their children said they were thrilled," she says. "This will be great for Girl Scout troops, youth groups and science classes at schools. We're definitely going to do this again."

Reviews were equally encouraging from the exchange students. JELFA representatives say the presentation only heightened their interest in bringing the program to Japan. "We enjoyed it a lot," says Kazuta Aoyama of Kaneya Co., LTD.

For more information about becoming a certified Flowers For Kids instructor, you can visit the program's Web site.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 

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