Going AR with Bloomin’ Easy

Ellen C. Wells

This week’s CAST reminds us that plant breeders and branders are ever trying to innovate. Like the Bloomin’ Easy brand, for instance. Something new that they’re introducing this spring is giving consumers the ability to use Augmented Reality (AR) from their mobile device when deciding which of Bloomin’ Easy’s Top 10 varieties suit their spaces the best.

“As a younger brand, it’s important that we continue to differentiate and offer the market unique, premium value,” said the brand’s Consumer Marketing Manager, Madison House. “Young homeowners are already using augmented reality through retail experiences from Ikea and Nike—why not give them a fun try-before-you-buy experience with buddleias and hydrangeas?”

How’d they get this AR going? They partnered with the designers and developers at a company called Home Outside, founded by famed landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy. Home Outside uses the latest technology to make landscape design accessible to anyone wanting to create a simple garden layout. Bloomin’ Easy worked with Home Outside because they found value in the company’s ability to bring something that once seemed so out of reach well within the realm of possibilities for young homeowners.

As I mentioned, this AR technology is available for Bloomin’ Easy’s Top 10 varieties, which includes items such as Cherry-Go-Round reblooming hydrangea (a Retailers’ Choice Award winner from Cultivate’23!) and Grin and Tonic reblooming hydrangea (what a great name). GP