(Flower) Marketing

I haven’t talked about what I’ve found at the flea markets lately because I haven’t found anything worth talking about. All I’ve picked up are a few odd bodies, some non-H-R minis, and a few books. I think I’ve spent more on produce than I have on horses. (Which is not hard, considering how expensive produce is this year.)

I don’t think the market is tapped out, as much as it’s going through a weird funk right now. In the meantime, I’m trying to pay down a few bills - and stockpile a little cash for some bills to come. (Though I will admit to spending a little bit too much time looking at group lots on eBay - I need that horse-buying fix!)

Apparently there’s a new, non-Mesteno-based series of Classics on the shelves of Walmart right now, but I haven’t had a chance to stop by one yet to get all the info. They appear to be a mix of repackaged older releases and some Gift Sets, with all the usual accessories, Companion Animals, and creepy dolls. Mid-States (Rural King, et al) may have something similar going on, too, but so far nothing but a few vague listings - no pictures, no descriptions - are showing up on the Rural King web site.

Rather than talk about things that do not exist, let’s talk about something that does:

Yeah, I broke down and bought a couple of those Breyer Blossoms thingies. They had a bunch of them in the Pit this year, all of the releases through July, at the non-club price of $25 each.

I was going to get one of each of the three molds used in the program until I remembered that I rather liked the October horse Calendula, on the Johar mold. I’m enchanted by the notion of a model horse that’s intentionally orange, and not merely a failed chestnut. So I just bought the April (the Morgan Mare) and the May (the Warmblood Mare), and will bide my time until October.

I like the series more in person than I did in the photographs (this is never a surprise) though not enough to want to buy up the entire series, yet. They seemed to be selling modestly well in the Pit, though most folks who were picking them up were doing it strictly on a "and just one, for my birth month" basis.

A few months back, Reeves ran an ad for the Breyer Blossoms in the USA Weekend/Parade supplements that come with many Sunday newspapers. The target audience for this ad was not the hobby, obviously, but people who wouldn’t have otherwise thought of buying a Breyer as a gift.

And who knows? Once they get one, maybe they’ll get another. And another, and another…

More on Reeves' marketing strategies another time, when I have the time.