The Conforti Collection Delivers Holiday Wishes to Shoppers and Retailers

Sarasota, Florida – December 25, 2008 – The Conforti Collection, an exclusive line of floral keepsakes is pleased to announce the winner of the $5000 Holly Berry Holly Days Sweepstakes, Kristi Merrick of Evansville, Indiana.

The Conforti Collection was established in 2007 by Arthur Conforti, a flower shop owner in Sarasota, Florida. Designed as a branding initiative for local floral retailers, the line of keepsake collectibles are created to compliment fresh flowers. Conforti believed that by offering something unique to customers, like a flower arrangement in a collectible keepsake he and other shop owners could gain and retain market share.

Understanding the importance of co-branding, Conforti went after partners such as Lenox and Fitz & Floyd to help design and create the line. This year’s second in a series, Fitz & Floyd Holly Berry Ornament follows the same guidelines as previous pieces: it is delivered by a local florist with a beautiful arrangement in a collectors box and a numbered certificate of authenticity. “It’s the perfect gift,” says Conforti. “You have a stunning and festive floral bouquet and a gift that will be kept for holidays to come.”

Featured on LocalFlowerShop.com, a leading online floral directory, The Fitz & Floyd Ornament was available at over 150 florists nationwide. Although this holiday was the third time a Conforti Collectible was featured on LocalFlowerShop.com, it was the first time the gift was part of a $5000 Sweepstakes.

Conforti created the program, “to keep up with the extreme sales promotions being thrown at customers from every direction this year.” He admits that when he first had the idea he wondered how he would fund the promotion and then he remembered that all the dealers of The Conforti Collection were in the same boat, they too needed a unique way to compete this holiday!

With a few phone calls and the support of other local florist from across the country, Conforti was able to put the opportunity together and began promoting it! The idea paid off, with most shops reporting that once they mentioned the automatic entry into the Sweepstakes, their ornament sales went through the roof!

On December 22^nd, all participating shops submitted their local winners to The Conforti Collection who selected the Grand Prize winner, Kristi Merrick. Merrick purchased her Ornament from Zeidler’s Flowers, Gardens and Gifts in Evansville, Indiana as a get well gift for a neighbor. “I have been shopping at Zeidler’s since I was 16 years old,” said Merrick, now in her 50’s. “I had no idea I might win!”

“I couldn’t believe it either,” says Conforti, “I really felt the holiday spirit when she told me she had been supporting her local flower shop for over 35 years! That’s the type of loyal customer you really are happy to reward with a gift like this. And to be able to provide a great experience and story for Zeidler’s, an industry peer, is even better!”

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Fitz and Floyd Holly Berry Ornament

Have you seen the front page of www.localflowershop.com? The picture of the Holly Berry Ornament is absolutely gorgeous, don’t you think?

 

We think so too! It is a Conforti Collectible and it is just the second item in the series. Last year Fitz and Floyd was commissioned by Arthur Conforti to create a Limited Collectors Edition of only 5000 pieces named The Fitz and Floyd Snowy Sleigh Ride and after number 5000 was made the item was RETIRED. This year the same is true for the Holly Berry Ornament Candy Jar, making these two items truly precious to the avid collector.

 

As an added bonus, when you send this beautiful, hand-painted gift to your family or friends or corporate clients you are entered into our sweepstakes to win $5000. Entering to win the sweepstakes is as easy as making a purchase from one of our participating shops. If you want to know which of our select member shops carry the ornament, just click http://www.localflowershop.com/codifiedSearch.cfm. Enter your recipient’s zip code, click the pink SEARCH button and then call the shop that is listed. If you enter a zip code and no shop appears, contact us and we will do our very best to help assist you find a local flower shop that can design and deliver this one of a kind gift for you. Not all shops have this special item, only select shops across the country so to ensure availability place your order early!