The Pohly Company
The Pohly Company publishes premium consumer magazine for National Garden Center Consortium

BOSTON, April 16, 2007 — The Pohly Company of Boston, and ECGC of Charles Town, West Virginia -- a consortium of leading U.S. independent garden centers -- have developed a premium communications program delivered as a new custom published gardening magazine for select ECGC customers. 

The first issue of the full-color, glossy magazine has been mailed to 110,000 customers of three of the consortium’s members.  The publication will also be distributed on-site at participating garden centers.  The magazine, called Inspirations, will provide ideas and inspiration around interior and exterior design.  Customers are chosen on the basis of repeat purchase and membership in the garden centers’ clubs and are primarily female, ages 35-65 with high household income.

The magazine program enables individualized content for each participating garden center member, including a versioned cover.  Of the 32-page folio, 16 pages are “common content” shared by all members and 16 pages are “versioned content” specifically highlighting content of interest to the customers of each member.  The publication is also supported by advertising revenue from manufacturer suppliers to the consortium as well as regional advertisers from each member’s local area.

“Our garden centers are year-round resources for indoor and outdoor lifestyle, offering patio furniture and lighting, landscaping services and holiday decorations as well as plants.  It was a natural extension of our marketing efforts to create a publishing program that will take our products and services directly in to customer’s homes.  Inspirations will not only extend our brand, but it will provide a customized merchandising opportunity to each of our participating garden center members,” said ECGC’s Executive Director.

The Pohly Company is responsible for the magazine’s strategy, editorial, design, distribution and advertising sales. “ECGC came to us with the challenge of developing a high-end lifestyle magazine that would be a valid publication in its own right, while also supporting each member’s customer communications needs through versioned content.  The Inspirations program is a classic execution of targeted customer engagement and is therefore a great fit for our talent and expertise,” said Diana Pohly, president of The Pohly Company.

The participating ECGC members are English Gardens in Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor, Mich. areas; Homestead Gardens in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets; and McDonald Garden Centers, which operates throughout eastern Virginia.

ECGC, incorporated in 1996, is an alliance of 12 leading independent U.S. garden centers, which are multi-generational, family-owned and operated companies from Boston to Seattle.  ECGC’s members represent 73 retail locations. 

The Pohly Company is a diversified marketing and publishing services company that specializes in engagement marketing and customer communications.  Services include communications consulting and market research; custom publishing; media sales and consulting; and design communications. The Pohly Company is also the publisher of Fuel, a bi-monthly newsletter for marketing and communications professionals that focuses on unconventional ways in which to reach and influence key customer groups.

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