Industry:
home and garden
capabilities:
brand strategy
Brand Positioning
Copywriting
growing gratitude through greenery
the situation
For many urban-dwellers, green space is prized but hard to come by. Enter Via Citrus, a new start-up in the plant retail category delivering high-quality, Florida-sourced citrus trees directly to consumers.
The passion project of two New York-based insurance execs, the fledgling company had its product, packaging, and supply chain all sorted and ready to go. However, in a crowded and varied retail market spanning everything from home improvement warehouses, to gardening centers, to luxury arrangements and cut flower delivery, Via Citrus needed more than a superior product to stand out.
My challenge was to create a brand and develop the strategic positioning that could build a movement. Partnering with the company leadership, I set out to prove to consumers that a company selling calamondin oranges was about more than calamondin oranges.
the solution
Through interviewing stakeholders, conducting market research, and examining the competitive landscape and emerging brands both in and outside the category, I developed insights into what was missing in the market, and subsequently, the value Via Citrus was primed to provide.
My Approach
- Helped the founders clarify their purpose: to bring everyday moments of accomplishment and gratitude to consumers.
- Created ownable positioning focused on the message that Via Citrus is about cultivating growth through greenery.
- Expressed using brand messaging, "Grow something different" and "Grow life green."
- Identified and staked a unique positioning for Via Citrus among an industry full of subject matter experts.
These principles shaped our communication to consumers that plant care is self-care. Additionally, the messaging highlights how one of the key differentiators of Via Citrus, its fruiting plants, reflects its belief that for true fulfillment, life should feel like living, not just maintaining.
the results
Via Citrus soft-launched in November with a strong brand foundation, ready to establish itself as more than a passion project, and a true player in the gardening category.
The company's brand proposition that life should be about cultivating abundance, not merely netting neutral has already garnered interest at WeWork offices in New York. The calamondin oranges have found homes in this co-working community that believes in creating “a world where people work to make a life, not just a living,” where “success is measured by personal fulfillment, not just the bottom line.”
Next up for the company is a pop-up retail space coming soon in February, where Via Citrus will continue its quest to help people live sustainably and mindfully.
New York Transplants, but Florida Boys at Heart
Danny grew up working on his father’s farm. In the winter, he’d walk the orange groves with his dad, draping and irrigating the trees to protect from the incoming frost.
Not too far away in south Florida, Charley spent his Saturdays in the office with his old man. He’d help file insurance claims before Charley Sr. fulfilled promises of trading volleys on a clay court.
For both of us, childhood was warmed by Florida sunshine and the smell of citrus groves.
Life Beyond the Cloud
Years later, avenues replaced orchard groves when we moved to New York. Our office jobs meant endless subway commutes and conversations about capital. Life was lived behind a screen and uploaded to the Cloud.
Growing restless of apps and quarterly earning projections, we wanted something real to show for our experiences. And so in a city of concrete and glass, Charley wandered down to the flower district in search of something green. Nestled between rows of fiddle leaf figs and ficus trees, he found it. It was smaller than the trees Danny had shown Charley, but its vibrant leaves and delicate fragrance were unmistakable.
It smelled like home.
Charley looked for the tag, his other hand already dialing Danny’s number.
“Hey...do you know of a Record Buck Farm? In Florida?” He heard laughter from the other end.
“Dude, that’s my dad’s farm.”
And so the seed of Via Citrus was sown.
Plant Care is Self-Care
Via Citrus delivers cocktail citrus trees directly to your door. Peel back the box for your very own piece of our childhood. Through Record Buck Farms, we’re bringing some of the lessons we learned under Florida sunshine back to the big city. We hope the moments you spend caring for your citrus tree—the dirt-under-fingers feeling of accomplishment, the fragrance that fills your home, the peel and fruit used for cocktails and cooking—become moments that are hallmarks of a life well-lived.
There are seasons for hard work and late nights, for learning and finding our footing. In a world of endless calendar reminders and deadlines, it’s about remembering where we came from as we work to create the legacy we’ll leave behind. In service to this, a portion of every Via Citrus purchase goes directly back to the farms that first nurtured your plants.
Grow Life Green, Via Citrus
Just as we want your growing calamondin tree to bring you continual fulfillment, we also want to create a new source of sustainable income and local jobs for farmers in the United States. Via our citrus trees, we envision a network of farms that are paid fairly for their high quality plants, and whole communities from Florida to New York that feel the satisfaction that comes from nurturing something real.
We believe life should be about cultivating growth and gratitude. So bring life back to life, Via Citrus.