1-800-Flowers’ emotional marketing driver: Sympathy

1-800-Flowers, the florist and gifting company, has carved out a distinct emotional space with marketing efforts based around sympathy.

Ads that convey messages of happiness and optimism are a long-standing way for brands to foster positive emotional connections with shoppers.

1-800-Flowers, however, faces a different challenge: How to formulate campaigns that reflect sadder, more poignant, and harder-to-discuss feelings that accompany many of the most significant events in life.

“An important area for us, as a floral-and-gift company, is sympathy. How do you advertise in terms of sympathy? It's very difficult,” Jim McCann, founder/executive chairman at 1-800-Flowers, told delegates at the 2018 Techonomy NYC conference.

Jim McCann, founder/executive chairman, 1-800-Flowers

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