Each cohort of 10 participants is tasked with bringing a new product to market. Their responsibilities will include choosing a name, conducting market research, calculating commercial viability, capturing photography, building design briefs, communicating with the press, and pitching to buyers, all under the guidance of some of the most esteemed industry mentors.
The programme is fully funded thanks to the financial support from Westland, Beekenkamp, Poppelmann, Floramedia, the BPOA, BALI, and especially the headline sponsor, Bred by Peter Moore.
YPHA Launch Success Challenger Olivia Blackburn writes: "On 2 August the Green and Blue Teams arrived at British Garden Centre Studley for the latest instalment in the YPHA Launch Success Challenge. The day focused on design and social media, to teach us the skills needed to market our new Begonia. Firstly, the Green Team took the opportunity to explore the garden centre to understand BGC’s brand and layout; we immediately begin to envision where our Begonia might be displayed.
"We then launched into a brilliant Design Workshop with Jennie Kwan – Head of Creative at Hyve. She guided us through lots of creative content, including logo design and colour palettes, as well as brand guidelines and signage. Understanding the practicalities of logo design, such as the readability of font and colouring was particularly interesting to understand. We then debated on the colour-scheme for our team brand identity with Jennie’s insight.
"After lunch, we sat down with Eve Kerrigan – Content Creator at BGC. She first gave us a background on BGC and the company brand. We then learnt about how to create engaging content, as well as tips and tricks to succeed with social media algorithms. Finally, we went out into the garden centre and began filming content that would be great for BGC to include in the Begonia’s launch. Eve was even kind enough to model for some snippets. We were also assisted in throughout the day by Nick Mathias – MD at Floramedia, and Natalie Boynton who brought this challenge to life. Both Nick and Natalie guided us through important considerations for our label, and the team has come away with a much stronger idea for our brand design and the content we want to create. Happy Plants even sent us all away with a new Begonia, to start creating content at home."
Challenger Molly Parkin's account:
"Since our meeting at The Hyve Group for Product Branding and Business Development seminars, the Blue Team’s group chat has been buzzing with ideas for the launch of our brand new Begonia.
"On 2 August we were able to meet in person again at Studley Garden Centre. On arrival, we split into our teams and had our first masterclass with Eve Kerrigan, Content Creator at British Garden Centres. Eve shared her industry expertise and provided us unparalleled advice on how to use social media platforms effectively in order to advertise and entice consumers to buy our Begonia. Together we were able to create a content strategy and calendar which will help us to generate scroll-stopping reels and posts so that we can build a strong social media presence. Using Eve’s tips and tricks, we were able to practice filming content for our begonia and understand the techniques that can be used to make it more engaging.
"In the afternoon, we were fortunate to meet with Jennie Kwan, Head of Creative at The Hyve Group, and Nick Mathias, Managing Director of Floramedia UK, for a design workshop where we began to draft the foundations for our plant label. We were able to tap into their vast knowledge of plant labelling and design in order to nail down our many ideas and come up with a clear product story and vision that we are proud to represent. When designing, we took into consideration the effect of colour, text and icons so that our label could be eye catching and stand out within a garden retail setting.
"Following this meeting, The Blue Team have been busy discussing further ideas and preparing to pitch our brand name, story and designs for our Begonia to industry experts in October."
