It’s said that the first step in rallying a large group of people toward one single goal is to define a common ground.  

During the month of October, breast cancer awareness is the one common ground that is at the forefront of the industry’s promotional efforts. Beginning with the supply of products, through the promotional materials and on to our individual sales teams, there is not one other single promotion that touches the emotions of our customers as much as honoring a friend or family member who has battled breast cancer.        

Individually, fighters deserve to be commended for their own battles, collectively, the numbers are staggering:

• Each year 300,000 people are newly diagnosed with breast cancer, with a new case of breast cancer diagnosed every two minutes.

• Currently, there are 2.8 million people living with diagnosed breast cancer, not including those who have undiscovered cases.   

• The annual number of those currently living with breast cancer in the United States alone equates to the entire population of Chicago.

• Statistically, those living in North America have a higher risk of breast cancer than any other continent.

As supermarkets continue to seek a core relevance among potential customers, there’s no doubt a pervasive disease such as breast cancer calls on each of us to develop our best products, create our most skilled merchandising programs and execute our best marketing campaigns to show support for our customers, our community’s medical providers and many of our own friends, families and employees. Here are some ideas:

• Color. Generally, the color that has been used to represent October’s Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives is pink. From a visual standpoint, pink is a great standout color among the other displays, which become primarily jewel-tone as fall approaches. However, a display of 100 percent medium pink can create a washed-out look and become visually counterproductive. The impact of a Breast Cancer Awareness display can be visually enhanced by using many different shades of pinks, along with evenly placed accent colors.

• Variety. Even though fresh-cuts are the largest percentage of sales in most supermarkets, one will find that a super-dynamic display includes a wide array of categories — bouquets, bunches, stems, arrangements, balloons, containers, foliage and blooming plants.  

• Multi-Channel. There are many faces of breast cancer and an optimized display should represent gifts for each of these potential needs — male, female, home, hospital, celebration, get well, support, caregiver, and in the worst cases, funeral and grave memorials.  

• Giving. Most important, many organizations are creating Breast Cancer Awareness programs in which a percentage of their sales are donated to fund research, provide low-cost mammograms and assist in getting the message out about early detection. Indeed, this is where the retail world joins the consumer world in a most significant and common ground.

Cindy Hanauer is the owner of Grand Central Floral in Jacksonville, FL. She can be reached at [email protected] or 1-844/MYFLORAL (1-844/693-5672), extension 700.