Announcing an open call to tender for PR & marketing activities in Eastern Europe

Pelargoniums & poinsettias to be boosted in Eastern Europe with new EU funding

For 20 years the Stars for Europe (SfE) initiative has been supporting poinsettia sales across Europe through PR and marketing, while its sister campaign, Pelargonium for Europe (PfE), launched in 2016 to do the same for pelargoniums. Over previous years, they have won EU funding as solo projects, allowing greatly increased activities and impact in target countries.

Thanks to recently winning a new round of EU funding, 2023 will see the launch of a combined PfE and SfE EU campaign worth around 1 million Euros. It will target six new Eastern European countries for the first time: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.

PR and marketing agencies in any of the target countries are invited to tender to take part in the campaign by submitting a proposal. The project calls for agencies with specialisms such as consumer lifestyle products, flowers and plants and/or EU-funded promotional project work.

· The new campaign will run for three years, from 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2026.

· The total budget available through the tender opportunity is 120,000 Euros per country.

The project aims to promote and secure long term poinsettia and pelargonium sales by targeting end-consumers and supporting the green trade. The campaign comprises promotional activities such as public relations, media collaborations, digital and social media marketing, marketing support for retailers, and point-of-sale materials.

Pelargoniums and poinsettias are important products for the green industry all over Europe. Both are seasonal ornamental plants which complement each other, as when the poinsettia season ends, the pelargonium season begins, and vice versa. A large proportion of Europe’s horticultural growers produce both plants, and due to their characteristics, they are often both produced and sold locally in Europe.

Through core industry funding, the PfE and SfE campaigns currently run in 22 European countries, aiming to support producers, retailers, and the wider horticulture sector, strengthening the industry’s stability and growth. As such, the campaign teams are thrilled to bring this boosted funding to six new countries for the first time.

· SfE’s breeder members are: Dümmen Orange, Selecta one, Syngenta Flowers, and Beekenkamp Plants.

· PfE’s breeder members are: Dümmen Orange, Elsner PAC, Florensis, Selecta one, and Syngenta Flowers.

· Interested agencies can apply to tender through an online process via this application form: https://form.jotform.com/pfesfe/2023-26-eu-tender

· The deadline to tender is 4 January 2023, 5pm CET.

· The final selected agencies will be informed in February 2023.

· For any questions, contact the project team via tendering@org-intern.info

· Please note that communication within the PfE / SfE network will be in English.