A basketball win for his alma mater inspired Nic Faitos to reach out to fellow alumni with a rose giveaway.
Consider Nic Faitos king of the spontaneous promotion.
When Winter Storm Stella pounded New York City with seven inches of snow on March 14, the owner of Starbright Floral Design immediately sensed an opportunity to score some impulse sales. He emailed the shop’s 42,000 subscribers, announcing that inclement weather forced him to close the shop, but that anyone who ordered via the website and used the code SNOW would receive a 30 percent discount.
“Worked like a charm!” he said. “We came in the next day and had made $7,000.”
A few days later, Faitos watched his alma mater, the University of Florida, take on the University of Virgina in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Florida Gators had a phenomenal game, winning 65-39, which advanced them to the Sweet Sixteen, held at Madison Square Garden, just a few blocks from the flower shop.
Jubilant with his team’s performance, Faitos decided to throw a weeklong Florida Gator celebration leading up to the March 24 game. “There’s a huge Gator fan base in New York City and I am trying to tap into it,” he explained. (According to the Gotham Gators, the local UF club, more than 12,000 alumni live in the area.) Faitos decorated the shop in school colors (orange and blue) and offered free orange roses to anyone who came in the shop and shouted “Go Gators!”
“The louder they yelled, the more roses they got,” he said.
