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The Hive Advertising Creates a New Buzz
for San Francisco Botanical Garden
(SAN FRANCISCO, 8 September 2005) –San Francisco Botanical Garden Society (SFGBS) is proud to announce the launch of a new advertising campaign to raise public awareness of San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum (SFBG) – a horticultural treasure located in the heart of Golden Gate Park. The campaign was made possible by the generous donations of The Hive Advertising and Clear Channel Outdoor. The agencies’ combined contribution of pro bono work, advertising space, and installation is valued at over $170,000. The ads will start to appear on Monday, September 12 and will be seen on billboards and transit shelters in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose.
 Created pro bono by the talents at The Hive Advertising, the campaign is designed to attract visitors to the Garden to see what’s in bloom. The first in a series of ads places a two-hundred-year-old botanical print by Georg Ehret of a Magnolia Grandiflora with quirky movie-poster graphics inviting visitors to see what’s ‘showing’ at the Botanical Garden. “We used the ‘Now Showing’ tagline to get people excited about visiting the Garden and to let them know that the garden provides an ever-changing experience,” explains David Knox, The Hive’s creative director and co-founder. “We wanted to convey that the Garden is a place to come back to, time and time again, to see what’s happening now.”
The Hive is an independent San Francisco-based advertising agency co-founded by DeeAnn Budney and David Knox in January 2003. Trained in traditional big agency environments Budney and Knox decided to create a smaller, more hands-on environment where they could service clients that they truly liked and were eager work with. Their clients include The Gymboree Corporation and Knight-Ridder Digital. “ We were so happy to develop a campaign to help the Botanical Garden gain awareness in San Francisco,” said Budney. “The Garden is such a treasure, and we saw it as an opportunity to connect residents with this beautiful, peaceful place in their own city, a place they may have forgotten was even here.”
Clear Channel Outdoor in collaboration with VIACOM has donated 130 outdoor advertising spaces, including billboards and transit shelters where the new ads will be displayed. "The sheer beauty of these ads make this an exciting project for Clear Channel to support,” explains Michael Colbruno, Vice President for Governmental Affairs, Clear Channel Outdoor –N Cal. Division, “but it is also important to support this significant cultural and educational facility that reconnects the public with the glory of nature."
“We could not have accomplished this without the generosity of these agencies,” said Michael McKechnie, SFBGS Executive Director, “The creative efforts of The Hive and donated space from Clear Channel Outdoor have made this is a real breakthrough for the Garden’s ability to serve the Bay Area public in a broader way. As well as raising public awareness, we’re hoping the posters will show that this treasured public garden is welcoming and accessible to everyone.”
San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum (SFBG),located in the heart of Golden Gate Park, is a living museum covering 55-acres with over 7,500 varieties of rare and unusual plants from around the world. The Botanical Garden includes twenty-six separate gardens featuring Mediterranean, mild, temperate, and tropical mountain cloud forest flora. Visitors can explore the gardens at their own pace with the aid of interpretive signs, plant labels and self-guided walking tour brochures, or join in a free docent-led tour offered daily. SFBG also offers monthly plant sales of rare and usual plants from the Garden’s own collection, educational programs and workshops, special events, a book and gift shop, and the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture, one of the finest horticultural resources in the nation.
San Francisco Botanical Garden Society is a non-profit community-based organization founded to support the public garden at San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum. The mission of the Society is to create a community to actively support the Botanical Garden with fundraising, promotion, and advocacy, and to provide outstanding botanical, horticultural, and environmental education opportunities for people of all ages. For further information about San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, their programs and events, and membership and volunteer opportunities, the public may call (415) 661-1316 or visit the web site at www.sfbotanicalgarden.org.
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