What the Chelsea Flower Show can teach us as Marketers.

As marketers, what can we learn from the success of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show on this week?

Unless you are a gardener you probably can’t understand the raving fan base it fosters.

Many talk about their ‘passion’ for gardening and it is this passion that the RHS taps into when it creates their gardens you can visit throughout the year and their seasonal garden shows.

History of Chelsea

The first show was held in 1862 and has had a number of locations until moving to its current site, the Chelsea hospital, in 1912.

The only disruptions to it being held were during the two World Wars.

Originally, it was free for members to attend, but the popularity of it became its nemesis.

Increasing crowds each year meant that the biggest problem was to many people in a small space.

In 1979 visitors increased by 6000 people and by the following year crowds were so big, they had to shut the gates to stop people coming in.

So how did they remedy this in the years to follow?

1. They extended their operating hours by opened at 8am to 8:30pm taking advantage of the increased light in May.
2. They reduce the entry price for non members after 4pm to encourage people to attend when there were less crowds.
3. A one way system was introduced to better manage the flow of visitors into the pavilion.

By 1980 numbers were so large again they had to close the gates once more and the following year saw a 40,000 per day visitor capacity and for the first time members were charged to enter.

This resulted in an immediate drop in attendance and a struggle to sell tickets and threatened the future of the show as they had to advertise in national newspapers to increase ticket sales.

Panic began setting in and options of moving the show to a bigger venue, and reducing it to plant sales only were amongst the things considered.

In the end, an expansion of the programme was what rescued it.

In 1993 (for example), the Hampton Court Flower Show was added to the list and that helps satisfied members and exhibitors concerns, by providing more opportunities to exhibit and increased market size.

Other successful marketing ideas added in the late 90s and early 2000s have contributed to its success.

1. A cap on attendees (157,000 people) limited by the site size, is making it more enjoyable as it is less crowded than it could be (even though it does get very crowded in peak times).
2. All tickets are to be purchased in advance.
3. The show length was increased from four days to five with members only days for the first two.
4. Media partnerships with the BBC see them run a seven day, two programmes a day, extensive show in primetime to showcase the exhibitors and plants on display.
5. New breeds of plants and trends are launched during it and it is the equivalent of fashion show week but for gardens.
6. Awards and medals are presented to exhibitors judged by an industry panel of experts.
7. Many members of the royal family attend each year with 2023 being the first year for many that did not have Her Majesty the Queen visiting following her death last September.

Here’s the Top 9 Marketing lessons we can learn from the Chelsea Flower Show.

1. Tap into your customers passions, in this case gardening.
2. Have a yearly membership fee and give them free entry (which occurred until 1998 for Chelsea) to your events.
3. Increase your capacity where possible, in Chelsea’s case they increased opening hours each day plus added an extra day each year to enable more people to attend.
4. Cap attendance numbers and only sell tickets in advance. This creates an exclusivity feel and FOMO if you don’t buy beforehand.
5. Give members their own exclusive visiting days so they don’t have to attend on days with the general public.
6. Obtain exclusive TV, DVD and book deals plus have brand merchandise for sale.
7. Have an award and prize system so sought after that people are desperate to win and therefore increase competition helps raise the profile of the event.
8. Have brand ambassadors that promote their attendance to their audience, in this case royal patronage plus the attendance of the Royals and celebrities on press day on Monday creates large amounts of publicity and free advertising on TV, online and in daily newspapers.
9. Pick a yearly theme for exhibitors to work around. In 2022 the Platinum Jubilee for the Queen was the theme and exhibitors were encouraged to create exhibits to celebrate this

The marketing ‘machine’ that is the Chelsea Flower Show can teach us a lot of lessons, but the most important for me?

When faced with adversity they chose to grow and expand, instead of contracting and 25 years later, this seems to have been the winning formula with the show going from strength to strength every year.

Personal Note:

Despite both being Australian, my mum & I have gone together to the Chelsea Flower Show twice. Once in 2018 when I first lived here and last year (2022). We are both keen gardeners and we love the flowers and the exhibits.

I didn’t get a ticket this year as I didn’t want to go on my own, but I am feeling left out, after watching the BBC program each night and regretting my decision of not going! 😔

Definitely getting a ticket next year!

• *All photos are by me from the 2018 & 2022 Chelsea Flower Show.

Michelle is a speaker, author, content marketer, historian and mother of 3 boys.

After 25 years in business and as the ‘Content Marketing Queen’ for the past 12 years, she has helped countless small businesses understand and develop their content strategies and focus on a customer first approach.

In 2017, Michelle and her husband John entered the world of ‘crypto’ and they have been involved with a number of Web3 companies including, Bolt.Global, Switcheo, Quantstamp, Emsany and until October 2022 Michelle was the Head of Marketing for GhostMarket.io an NFT trading platform.

Michelle is co-host of the Web3 By Three Podcast, a weekly show which talks about current stories in the Web3 space and how it applies to B2B marketing, sales and operations. The show is recorded live every Wednesday at 4pm EST/ 9pm UTC on LinkedIn, Youtube & Twuitter Spaces.

Additionally, Michelle is Founder of Web3ContentLab, an education centre and marketplace where business owners can create and offer digital utility tokens (NFTs) for their businesses and be ready to ride the next internet wave. It will be a ‘No Punk’ Zone!

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