Over 5,000 entries came flooding in for the HTA’s National Garden Gift Voucher Design a Christmas Card Competition 2013.
The competition, which ended on 14 October, included a new ‘Schools’ category which gave members the opportunity to link up with their local communities and encourage a younger demographic to visit their store.
HTA Marketing Manager Tony Stacey comments: “With fantastic displays of point-of-sale material in stores and the new ‘Schools’ category, we managed to greatly increase the amount of entries received this year compared to 2012 with over 5000 entries received. Participating stores made excellent use of the school letter and press release templates provided in the marketing pack to drum up publicity and interest in their local area.”
He continued: “This competition gave garden retailers a great excuse to get out into the community. Over 180 schools took part, and all of these schools were contacted directly by an HTA member. We hope to continue encouraging these local relationships going forward, and keep garden retailers at the heart of their communities”.
Participating members were able to customise the elements and quantities of their Point of Sale packs. This reduced waste, ensured members received the exact quantities required and improved cost efficiency.
The winning designs were:
Public category: Jessica, 11 years old, Didcot. Entered via Root One Garden Centre near Wallingford. She will receive £150 of garden goodies and also get to see her festive design printed and used nationwide as a National Garden Gift Voucher Christmas card – which will be on display in over 2,000 garden retail outlets around the UK.
Schools category: Erin, 11 years old, Newtown Primary School. Entered via Milestone Garden & Leisure, Newtown St Boswells and wins £1000 National Garden Gift Vouchers for her school. Erin will also get to see her festive design printed and used nationwide as a National Garden Gift Voucher Christmas card.
The regional winners were:
South East – Isobel, 9, who entered at Perrywood Garden Centre
Midlands – Emma, 12, entered at Planters at Bretby
Scotland – Iona, 11, entered at Dobbies Kinross
Northern Ireland – Abbie, 6, entered at Castlerock Garden Centre
North – Matthew, 7, entered at Cowell’s Garden Centre
Wales – Carys, 10, entered at Ferndale Garden Centre
South West – Amelie, 9, entered at Fermoy’s Garden Centre
Each regional winner will receive a £50 National Garden Gift Voucher.
The two winning designs have been printed and are now available to National Garden Gift Voucher stockists as part of the Christmas voucher wallet range. You can order them online at www.htamembers.co.uk or call 0118 930 2092.
