Tiger Lily/Fair Trade vs. Contextual advertising!

While preparing a pdf version of an otherwise helpful article about Tiger Lily Flowers and other local Fair Trade shops in The Record yesterday ("Fair Trade stores growing in cachet in North Jersey,"), I noticed that on the final page, directly beneath my quote that answered the reporter's question  about consumer preferences, northjersey.com's contextual advertising algorithm had positioned an ad for a major online floral order taker/delivery business flacking their $19.99 design-it-yourself flowers-in-a-box. Writing this I realize that I don't dare write the name of the business, or I'll only be creating dynamic back-linkages to boost their site.  Don't you love the way the system works? 

Tiger Lily Flowers and Fair Trade in the News

 Tiger Lily Flowers and Fair Trade:
We be makin' da news. Again. Be sure to check out this article by Jim Beckerman of The Record:
 Fair Trade stores growing in cachet in North Jersey

Kudos to Teaneck, NJ for becoming the US's 21st Fair Trade Town!

Season's Greetings, Y'all

Greetings from the Shameless Commerce Division of Tiger Lily! The subject of today's post: how to advertise without being part of the seasonal inundation of toxic advertising? Just finished a mass email trying to let folks know what we have in the shop that's new, and I'm feeling sideways guilty about it. What's really a drag is when people you know in other social contexts write back to you with the dreaded UNSUBSCRIBE in the message header.

I would like to thank American Express, the proud sponsors of Small Business Saturday (if you missed it, it was the day after Black Friday, two days before Cyber-Monday). We had our slowest Saturday in months. Was this an anti-Amex backlash?

This capitalism thing can be a conundrum. So, any ideas about how to advertise the Tiger Lily lifestyle without actually advertising?

I'll think of something to send to the best answer. It'll be cool, I swear.

Locked in the refrigawator!

Some of my customers just aren't happy unless they can get a real close look at the flowers.

Tiger Lily leads a benefit instrument-making workshop at Chabbad House in Teaneck

Last month our friend, Rabbi Michoel Goldin invited us to Chabbad House in Teaneck to conduct a benefit instrument making workshop with his teen group. In advance we prepared kits for the construction of 35 mbiras (aka kalimbas or thumb pianos) to be donated to the children staying at Shelter Our Sisters - Bergen County's network of shelters for victims of domestic violence and abuse. A speaker from SoS gave a very moving talk about her own experience of domestic abuse while the group worked on their mbiras. Congratulations to Rabbi Goldin for his outstanding work in the community, particularly with this group of teens. Several came to the shop later in the week to help us finish up the mbiras that needed more work. This was a great example of Tikkun Olam ("repairing the world") in action.

Tiger Weddings is up and running. (Like a tiger.)

Our new website, Tiger Weddings, is up and running. We hope you'll take a look at the site and browse our bridal bouquet, centerpiece and ceremony galleries. Let us know what you think. We're looking forward to a busy wedding season with many brides who are trying to create wedding celebrations that are consistent with their values. We take our role in these celebrations seriously, and enjoy the process of helping couples infuse their weddings with a healthy dose of Style + Green. We're still one of the very few shops in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area that is consistently providing organic and Fair Trade flowers for weddings and special events.

Please feel free to send a link to our site to any prospective brides you might know. The Tigers are waiting!

Our thanks to Eddie Pagan from Buddha Beans Web Design for making it happen.

Happy International Women's Day (March 8)!

Happy International Women's Day to everyone!

As the floral industry is particularly dependent upon the work of women around the world, we want to take special care to recognize this day - one that is celebrated or honored in most every country except the US. This especially ironic, as much of the momentum for establishing this as an international occasion came as a result of garment worker's strikes in this country at the turn of the twentieth century. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on NY's Lower East Side (140 women working in sweatshop conditions perished because the doors were locked by the owners) was particularly inspirational for women at that time who fought for women's suffrage and decent working conditions. What a shame that because of such severe anti-socialist and anti-labor sentiment in this country that as a nation we cannot fully join with the the rest of the world in establishing this day as a unique annual and international celebration of women.

One way to promote women's struggles in developing countries is to buy and support Fair Trade. This is can help to ensure that the women working to produce the commodities we enjoy are not being exploited as workers or as women in the workplace.