TRUE. today

15 December 2009
Just decided to throw in the towel. Bob Janmaat (1-800-flowers) does not have time to see me this week. Sounds like a 'long-term-no'. Decided not to go to NYC tomorrow, although flight and hotel have been paid. Will tell Elizabeth to return the two crates with Tjep. designed displays and to throw away the rest. Will tell Pablo (Excellence) to send two more boxes to 1-800 and then send the flowers (with the TRUE. seals) to their customer in Germany. Who knows what will happen in the future. Today it is a TRUE. farewell.
It hurts.

TRUE. today

I have learned to live with disappointments and the image of the bottom of the pit brought my The Santa Maria Still Sails (1990) to mind. When I graduated from university (1983), my MA thesis had been on the Canadian writer Matt Cohen. A First Reconnaissance I had called it, knowing there would be more to come, as I was caught by the magic of Cohen's voice, language and stories. I started teaching in The Hague and besides developing all sorts of teaching material I continued digging for Cohen's soul in his diverse writings. A year later my thesis won me a grant to go to Toronto for a year to do research for a dissertation, which I worked on in my spare time in the following years. It was defended and published when I had already entered the rose business.

"John, in your PhD thesis you have researched the old-new-old spiral in the works of Matt Cohen. But what about this pattern in your own life? You started in the academe of teaching, then ventured into the roses. When will you come back?", my promotor, professor August J. Fry, asked in his speech. I'm back, yes, but not in the same spot as before. Indeed, a spiral.

In their search for their true selves, Matt Cohen's protagonists are on an existentialist quest in which they have to hit the bottom of their pit. Then, by tapping a deep ritual, such as wailing for some of his Jewish characters, they come to terms with their ego and climb up again.

I held my grandfather's gold pocket watch, the only thing he possessed before his marriage. I had started wearing it a few months earlier and by itself it had started running again. My grandfather had never given up. Son of an alcoholic father he had to start working at 13, managed to start his own flower nursery, married the love of his life, lost his first and third sons, overcame terminal cancer, lived off charity during that time, lost more children, his wife and his sight, but never looked back, always discovering new talents. My hero.

What was/is the problem with the brand? Nothing. The rose is fantastic, name and packaging very stylish, the consumers that have had it, come back for more. The bottleneck is getting to the consumer. I had focused on the top florists, now in trouble. In all the discussions on control in the flower supply chain, I have always said that the power is shared by the owner of the variety and the retailer. Controlling the first, should I now also work directly with the consumer? Internet. The success of e.g. Bol.com in Holland. I could take over the risk of the florists and let them carry out the logistiscs. But getting into the Google 'flowers New York'-top 5 would cost me some $ 5,000 per week. For 500 flowers that does not make any sense.

The watch ticked on, softly, beautifully.

1-800-flowers.com. When I started my quest, I had spent a few weeks in and around New York, talking to all possible parties involved in the flower industry. Bob Janmaat, purchasing director with 1-800-flowers, had been one of them. Despite the negative stories I had heard in from the producers in Latin America, I was impressed with their operation. Bob had taken his time to show me the ins and outs and was very interested in getting a high-end addition to their product lines. Would he still be there? Would they still be interested?

When I reached Bob's voice mail, my first question was answered and the second within an hour after sending my announced email. Two hours and three emails to Excellence later, there were two boxes of TRUE. roses on their way through the 1-800-flowers' logistic system, on their way to vaselife testing. Confident, I decided not to cancel the trip I had booked to see the florists and arrange storage of the TRUE. materials.

A new chapter.

TRUE. today

Again long time, no blog addition.
In the beginning of this year, two other top Manhattan florists showed interest in the TRUE. concept: Surroundings Flowers and L'Olivier. Elizabeth Ryan planned to start selling in September as well, so together with Roses and Blooms and Floralies the TRUE. five would take care of the now steady production of Excellence Roses (Colombia).

Together with the TRUE. five we would start small-scale advertising and for the rest let the product do its own promotion, the advice and experience of Jan Ooms (Roses and Blooms). In the summer I shipped two pallets of PR materials in preparation and managed to get the two pallets of TRUE. gift boxes which had been stored by Delaware, all into the store of Elizabeth Ryan. "Getting ready to rock'n roll", as she would say.

Come September, no clear "yes" to join in. "Price" now being an argument. I decided to cut the advertising part of the price and offer at cost price (production price + transport), just to make TRUE. available to more consumers. All this time, the TRUE. five had received flowers and all continued to be excited about the TRUE. performance. No orders.

The announcement of sending invoices with the flowers gave instant reactions: "not yet". Again, Jan Ooms provided the clues to my confusion: after an initial big drop in sales after the outburst of the financial crisis, the summer had not been as bad as feared, but the normal market restoration after the summer recess never came, despite the signs of recovery of the economy. The florists are facing a post-summer turnover drop of 25 to 30%. Everybody is scared to death and not prepared to undertake anything new.

I thought that I had hit rockbottom earlier on, but I realized that my now 18-year-old dream and 3.5 years of active pursuit were on the verge of a rude awakening and halt.

TRUE. today

NY400


A few months ago our Prince and Princess of Orange opened New Amsterdam Village, exactly 4oo years after we founded New Amsterdam, now New York. At least, that is what has generally and therefore historically become accepted. A great opportunity to reconquer New York, not by disregarding the natives, but by bashing them on the head with roses. TRUE. A new invasion led by the Prince rather than the street-by-street guerilla we just started.


But, alas, 400 years proved just too short for TRUE. Too late to get a booth, too late to decorate a royal entourage, too late for Renny Ramakers, owner of Droog and artistic heart of the festivities, to pay any attention.

TRUE. today

A well-planned quick trip to the Big Apple, discussions with several florists, in person and by phone afterwards and ultimate disappointments: another lesson in branding. Yes, they were all impressed with the flower's beauty, opening and vaselife and, no, they were not going to place an order.

Lessons learnt:

1. Recession & retail in flowers: (a) lay off some staff, work more than full-time yourself; (b) buy cheaper flowers, extend your payment times; and/or (c) act as a victim of the bad guys, hide in a corner, hoping the financial tornado will pass.


2. A rare few see some glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel. Why? Florists like Jan Ooms and Elizabeth Ryan work hard, very hard, make no concessions on quality and look for opportunities.


3. Because of the big quality issue, now past, I have been focussing too hard on the flower rather than the total brand. The florists that received the gift box get the full picture and see not another (superior) rose, but a completely new product with a new marketing strategy.

Today I met with Engin Celikbas, MD and 'the gun' of KesselsKramer, advertising home of Diesel(R), Bavaria(R), Absolut(R), Nike(R), Bol.com(R), Ben(R) and more. Capable hands. Very. Engin's message: conquer New York street by street. With 500 flowers per week, create a market from the bottom up, together with the participating florists.

Leaving the KK church in Amsterdam I felt excited, not because this approach means more time and more investments, but because this means learning to build a brand from the bottom up, detail by detail. It made me think of my grandfather (whose lifestory I told to a few classes this week), learning to draw at 82 and, after turning blind, picking up a harmonica for the first time in his life and learning how to play it at 87.

The Parable of the Talents. Da Vinci. My Opa.

....... TRUE.

TRUE. today

More months later. On a daily basis, not much happened. But in sum, a lot.

First, Excellence shipped the TRUE.-to-be roses to a German client for a few months, just to get a feeling with the product. The excited German wished to continue, but knew he would only recieve the flowers temporarily. Nevertheless, his feedback was very important. Bernardo (Heliflor): Vielen Dank!

Then: time for a NYC shipment. No doubt, this was going to be a process of getting all the details right. So, fully unforeseen, I could write to all those involved two weeks later:

Faith. "What a concept!," my Canadian hippie-friend Garth would say. TRUE.

We Dutch are pretty good with faith. Absolute faith in God for the Protestants among us and trust in only ourselves for all of us. We're a sceptic bunch of control freaks.
The more amazing that (1) I never lost faith in the rose variety I obtained 3 years ago and (2) I have had to rely on others to make this variety work.

10 Days ago Excellence sent the first two boxes from Bogotà to Manhattan after having worked on the variety for over a year. The shipment got delayed and arrived in Manhattan last Thursday. On Friday, from Liverpool Street Station in London, I called the recipient, Roses and Blooms. Jan Ooms (a Dutchman!) gave me goosepimples when he said that he had never seen such beautiful flowers. TRUE. TRUE. TRUE.

Today, 4 boxes (80 flowers each) are on their way, regular shipments start.
In the meantime, the world has changed. Dramatically for the flower business in New York, with half of the florists in financial problems.
We must go back to our shared faith in beauty and the appreciation of true beauty.

This rose will not solve today's crisis. But it will definitely make you feel good. TRUE.

Tomorrow I fly to Manhattan. A week ago Jan delivered TRUE. bouquets to a number of selected florists. Time for me to hear their reactions and see if we can add more TRUE. retailers, as Excellence continues to amaze us with the increasing numbers of TRUE. flowers.

My daughter Fienie (8) and son David (7) just gave me a new bag and toothbrush for the occasion. All gung-ho for the Big Apple.