TOCA Talk – Spring 2023

TOCA Talk is proudly sponsored by EnP and Advanced Turf Solutions.

EnP has been Engineering Optimal Plant Health™ for nearly 30 years, manufacturing specialty fertilizers
under two brands: Foliar-Pak, and Age Old Nutrients.

Advanced Turf Solutions (ATS) is a green industry distributor that provides fertilizer, pesticides, grass seed, ice melt, and
more to professionals in the golf, lawn care, and sports turf markets.

 

Because EnP and ATS professionals believe that collaboration and the exchange of ideas are essential for innovation, they are proud to support the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA).

Thank you, members of the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association, for supporting this industry through your information, education, and outreach.

 


Portland, Maine hosts TOCA Annual Meeting

Don’t delay. Register today for the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) Annual Meeting, April 25-27, at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, Maine. When making your hotel reservation, add the meeting dates (April 25-27) and the group rate will appear. Make reservations prior to April 2, to receive the discounted TOCA room rate.

 A Silent Auction will be held during the TOCA Annual Meeting. Proceeds support educational programming for TOCA. Even if you are unable to attend the 2023 TOCA Annual Meeting, you may donate to the auction. Find the auction form and more details here. If you have questions, contact Kyle Wieskus at: kyle@cornerwindowcommunications.com or 952-758-6340.

Tentative Agenda

Tuesday, April 25
7 a.m. – Golf at Nonesuch River Golf Club (Contact Jon Kiger at jkiger@turfnet.com if you would like to play golf.)
2 p.m. – Board meeting (open to all members)
5 p.m. – Informal gathering in hotel bar
6 p.m. – Off-site gathering at Seabags, light dinner catered by Luke’s Lobster

 Wednesday, April 26
8 a.m. – Welcome and Introductions, Scholarship and Internship
8:30 a.m. – Environmental Communicator of the Year, Volunteer of the Year
9 a.m. – Education Session: Trade Show Engagement
10 a.m. – Break
10:15 a.m. – Keynote: Digital Tools
11:45 a.m. – Box lunch and change for tour
12:15 p.m. – Board bus for tour of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
3:15 p.m. – Depart to Silent Auction hosted at Rising Tide Brewery
4:30 p.m. – Arrive at Rising Tide Brewery for auction and social time, music by Jim Sharkey
7:30 p.m. – Evening on own

Thursday, April 27
7 a.m. – TOCA Fun Run/Walk
8 a.m. – Breakfast
9 a.m. – Nancy Drapeau, vice president of research at CEIR – Center for Exhibition Industry Research
10:15 a.m. – Break
10:30 a.m. – Panel Discussion: Trade Show and Event PR: What Editors Want You to Know, with Panelists Christine Menapace, Scott Hollister, Guy Cipriano and Seth Jones
11:45 a.m. – Awards Luncheon
2:15 p.m. – Group picture in TOCA T-shirts
2:45 p.m. – Break
3 p.m. – “Podcasting: Easy Entry, Not So Easy Execution,” presented by Peter McCormick, TurfNet
4:30 p.m. – 2023 TOCA Business Meeting
(All formal programming completed by 5 p.m.)

Friday, April 28
Unsanctioned TOCA Event at Fenway Park


TOCA seeks scholarship applicants

The Turf and Ornamental Communications Association Foundation scholarship deadline is quickly approaching. Applicants have until April 1 to apply for the $2,500 scholarship, which will be awarded this fall to an undergraduate college student pursuing a career in green industry communications, such as, but not limited to, careers working for trade publications, newsletters or companies/marketing agencies that promote the golf course, lawn and landscape, sod and nursery/greenhouse, sports turf or maintenance industries.

To qualify, students must major or minor in communications or a green industry-related field, such as horticulture, plant sciences, botany, agronomy and plant pathology, with the intent of using his/her communication skills as part of a career path. The applicant also must demonstrate an interest in using this course of study in the field of communications on a regular basis.

Additionally, applicants must have an overall grade point average of 2.5 or greater and a 3.0 in the major area of study (based on a 4.0 scale). Students enrolled in the fall of 2023 can apply for the scholarship. Eligibility, as determined by the TOCA board of directors, extends to two- and four-year program students attending institutions that offer turf management curriculums and communications.

For more details and to apply, click here.

The Publishers’ Scholarship is supported by Golf Course Management, Total Landscape Care, GIE Media, North Coast Media and Group C Media.


Elyse Kann accepts TOCA internship with Sod Solutions

The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) named Elyse Kann, an Auburn University sophomore, as the 2023 TOCA intern. The marketing and finance major will work with Sod Solutions sales, marketing and customer service teams to understand the company’s four business units and learn about the turfgrass industry.

Additionally, Kann will shadow and learn about multiple roles at Sod Solutions. Some of these roles include educational content writing and editing, marketing content, creative and strategy development, and customer service communication and problem solving.

Over the past three years, Kann created social media marketing content – focusing on graphic design and videography. Recently, she developed an interest in content writing for marketing campaigns. The past two summers Kann worked at a golf course. She remarked, “I love being out on the course and I find such beauty in the care and maintenance of that particular landscape.”

Kann’s previous internships include project intern for Lead Abroad in Barcelona, Spain, and marketing and product innovation intern for Qwasi Technology. Furthermore, she served as the historian-reporter and marketing manager for Zeta Tau Alpha.


Tahoma 31 Swiss Army Knife

Gardner Award Best Copywriting for a Display Ad – Commercial Publications

By Stacie Zinn Roberts, founder of What’s Your Avocado? Marketing & Public Relations

 

Please describe your project.

The project was a full-page ad for my client, Sod Production Services, and their product, Tahoma 31 Bermuda. This grass, developed by Oklahoma State University, is the most cold-tolerant bermudagrass on the market, but it also has a long list of features and benefits. The ad depicts a Swiss Army Knife transformed from its traditional red into Tahoma 31’s blue brand color. The knife has the Tahoma 31 logo engraved on it. Arrows radiating from the extended arms of the knife point to short subheads that name each of the product benefits and short descriptions of those benefits. To bring it all together, the headline of the ad says: Like This, But in a Bermudagrass.

 

What were your main objectives in developing this project?

The main objective in developing this ad campaign was to quickly and succinctly convey that the product has many benefits without getting bogged down in a long bulleted list. I also wanted the ad’s target audience (sports turf managers, golf course superintendents, golf course owners and builders, and other related turf industry pros) to understand that the grass could be a tool to help them overcome challenges like cold, drought and wear. Additionally, the product’s main competitor focuses on just one attribute (drought tolerance) in their ads. I also wanted to show that Tahoma 31 could handle drought and much more.

 

What influenced your approach?

Influencing my approach was the desire to draw a straight line from the usefulness of a Swiss Army Knife to the usefulness of the grass as a tool, not just a turf, that solves problems and helps turfgrass managers overcome challenges. I wanted to speak to the issues they face and offer a solution to those issues. Once I came up with the campaign idea, the next step was to order replicas of the knife to give out at trade shows. This made the campaign jump right off the page and into the hands of potential customers. It’s been highly effective.

 

What do you think stood out in your winning entry?

The writing was crisp and to the point. The reader doesn’t have to wade through long blocks of text. They can glance at the ad and get it immediately. I compared my client’s product to an iconic brand that everyone knows and the comparison strengthens the message.

 


October Issue of Lawn & Landscape

Gardner Award Best Single Issue

By Brian Horn, Kim Lux, Jimmy Miller, GIE Media

 

Please describe your project.

Our October issue is one of our largest page counts of the year and contains one of our most-read features – the State of the Industry (SOI) report. The report is a mix of research and stories, produced by Brian Horn and Editors Kim Lux and Jimmy Miller, which recaps the past year in the landscaping industry and also looks ahead to the future. We also have a larger art budget, especially for the SOI report, so Art Director Stephanie Antal can work with an illustrator to get very creative and detailed illustrations.

 

What were your main objectives in developing this project?

With so many pages available, we try our best not to have any fat in the issue. We want every story to have at least one tidbit a reader would find useful and could apply to help their business. While that is our approach for every issue, it is especially key to our October issue. One thing we can do in October is let stories breathe more with increased word count and more space for art.

 

What influenced your approach?

Nothing specific, but one factor that poses a challenge is the amount of travel we do around the time we are also working on this issue. We have a few conferences and trade shows, including one we host, along with some other trips. So, not only is it our busiest time from a production standpoint, but also from a travel standpoint. We must be very efficient and deadline oriented when producing this issue.

 

What do you think stood out in your winning entry?

The SOI report provides a very detailed look at the pains and successes landscapers have experienced through the season, and how they think their market and business will perform next year. We did a nice job of getting the perspectives from different landscapers, whether that was the size of the company they own, the services they provide or their location. The illustrations are laid out nicely with a good mix of art, copy and research.

 

Overall, the issue has a little bit of everything – fun features, articles specific to a certain service or product, event coverage from our own Lawn & Landscape Technology Conference, and more. We also had two other “State of” reports – Fall Cleanup and Business Management Technology. These more focused research projects complement the broader State of the Industry report well.


Twice the Work, Half the Workers

Gardner Award Best Management – Commercial Publications

By Christina Herrick, North Coast Media

 

Please describe your project.

For Landscape Management’s October 2021 cover story, I wanted to look at the state of labor in the green industry. It seemed like every green industry business owner I talked to struggled to keep up with both the demand for work and finding enough workers to fulfill the jobs booked.

 

What were your main objectives in developing this project?

I want to say turning the article in on time because I know the fellow TOCA members reading this will relate. Otherwise, I really wanted to take as objective a look as possible when it comes to labor. From conversations for past stories and data from Landscape Management’s LM150, I knew the industry was in a good spot in terms of interest in services. But, I knew labor and filling roles within an operation were challenges. I also knew the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) listed labor as one of its top two issues, so I wanted to be sure to talk about H-2B and the work NALP does.

 

What influenced your approach?

I enjoyed talking to Josh Flynn, CEO of Seabreeze Property Services in Portland, Maine. When he talked to me, he told me how one of his sales representatives likened the state of the industry to a Porsche without gas. I started to think about the dichotomy of hot and cold and how that could apply to the green industry.

 

What do you think stood out in your winning entry?

Perhaps my approach in organizing the story with advice. This story could easily turn into a complaint fest. However, I knew there probably wasn’t one solution to the labor crisis. So, I thought trying to organize the content around a positive note would be more effective and helpful.