Digital bytes

Where digital meets reality

Spring Meadow Nursery grabs tons of feedback from social media and uses it in the real world.

Last spring, Proven Winners ColorChoice Flowering Shrubs rolled out an ambitious social media initiative: The Shrub Madness Plant Playoffs.

From March 3 to April 4, the basketball tournament-style bracket moved through six rounds of competition on Facebook.com/PWColorChoice. The event started with a field of 64 of the most popular shrubs, and used popular vote to determine the winner of each match. Competing plants and their tournament seed status were determined by the Plant Selection Committee, a panel of horticultural experts. Facebook fans of the brand were encouraged to vote in each matchup.

With more than 35,000 Facebook fans, the PW ColorChoice Facebook page has a very strong audience. The competition was fierce, as proponents of particular plants were not shy about praising their favorites. The voting public had the opportunity to score one of five grand prizes: a collection of the last four plants standing, known as the Floral Four. Dozens of additional prizes were awarded throughout the playoffs, as well.

The finals matched Let’s Dance Diva!, a Michigan-bred reblooming big-leaf hydrangea with pink or blue flowers, against Pinky Winky, a Belgium-bred panicle hydrangea with cones of pink and white flowers. Let’s Dance won the title of inaugural Shrub Madness champion by a tally of 176-111. Overall, Let’s Dance has received more than 1,500 likes.

Visitors to Spring Meadow Nursery, in Grand Haven, Mich., can see a visual representation of that social media traction. The wholesale nursery, which developed many of the shrub varieties seen in the bracket, has many of the plants from the Shrub Madness competition in its display garden. Taking it a step further, the nursery printed special tags for each plant detailing its popularity on social media. Spring Meadow’s PR and marketing specialist, Shannon Springer, says it’s a way to show visitors to the nursery which plants are buzzing on social media.

Let’s Dance Diva’s win came as a surprise to the Spring Meadow staff, Springer says. The hydrangea was the No. 8 seed in its bracket of 16, and faced some tough competition on its way to the championship. Look for the second annual Shrub Madness this spring.