Mr Fothergill’s gearing up for growth with Gen Z campaign

Seed company Mr Fothergill’s has announced plans to double in size over the next five years. CEO David Carey is planning to target a new campaign at ‘Gen Z’ shoppers to grow the business to £100m, after leading a buyout backed by private equity last year.

“We’ve commissioned research that people become interested in gardening in their mid-20s, but there are a lot of barriers to entry in terms of knowledge and skill,” explains Carey. “We are launching a campaign that specifically targets those gardeners and encourages them to get into gardening, even if they have no space.”

The campaign, which goes live this this month,is headed up by TV gardener David Domoney. It will encourage people to join a “windowsill revolution,” says the brand.

“It’s great to be working with the team on this campaign. Growing plants on the windowsill is many people’s first experience in gardening and it really couldn’t be easier. Growing herbs and salad leaves indoors has many benefits, including feeding the family with fresh, healthy, and flavorsome produce, generating excitement at the first signs of germination, and the true happiness at watching it grow before our eyes,” says Carey.

Two thousand adults took part in Mr Fothergill’s research, which it says has identified an emerging trend that people have a desire to get into gardening, but are being put off by perceived challenges. The majority (66%) want to do more growing, but feel they are stopped from pursuing it more by a lack of time (39%), not having any outdoor space (37%) and not knowing enough about how to do it (35%).

Despite wanting to do more, one in four don’t believe they have the right equipment to successfully grow their own, while 23% are “too frightened of bugs and spiders to get their hands dirty.”