To understand a brand, experience it.
To understand a client, become one.

Developing, branding and launching a product gave me enormous insight into what clients deal with and why they make certain choices (and not always the best ones).

Why the name Plant Tonic. When I think of fertilizers I think of chemicals. Chemical fertilizers burn the biome of the very soil they are meant to improve. I wanted to stay as far away from the word fertilizer as possible and still have people to immediately understand what this product does. It is mostly experienced growers who understand soil health beyond the basic nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratios. I wanted to make it easy for everyone, including newbies, to understand and succeed.

From a branding perspective the word “tonic” evokes the health tonics one might find at local pharmacist of the late 1800’s. (As an aside, my great, great, grandfather was one.) This is in keeping with the branding of my garden kits which would have been very much at home in any victorian greenhouse. I can almost see the tins intricately wrapped and gifted to people with carefully saved seeds from a kitchen potager.

Kelp. It is one thing to inspire people to grow more food, but even more important, we wanted to help them succeed at it. We needed to do more than just sell people seeds. So how about a product that not only has one ingredient, but that ingredient is only four letters long. As well, kelp has beneficial micronutrients beyond the usual NPK, including: iodine, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, and chlorine. In fact it has been used by master gardeners for generations. Even better, it is almost impossible to use it in a way that would not benefit plants, so it is perfect for people just learning to grow. It was simply a matter of convincing people to try it.

When test marketing a product you want to put out the best package without breaking the bank. At the beginning of this journey I was able to source glass bottles from a local supplier that had a very authentic, medicine bottle look and feel. I have a bit of background in marine biology so I was aware of the German illustrator and biologist, Ernst Haeckel. I took some liberty with the imagery as it is not the same species of kelp (but hey, Victorians were not always exacting in their representations simply due to what was possible). I created a label following the style of the 1800’s medicinal bottles that could be quick printed on standard label paper.

Supply chains break, more often than you think. Even before the pandemic, our greatest challenge has been supply chain issues leaving us scrambling for packaging alternatives. The original glass bottle was discontinued by our supplier after a couple years. I searched for alternative suppliers and none had anything quite the same.

I ended up with a glass bottle from a supplier in the US. The shape was good but I had a real hate for the oversized, childproof caps that literally left our hands aching when we bottled product. I redesigned the labels with a die cut that reinforced the wave of the type when the bottles were placed side by side and to fit better with the bottle shape. Life was good and sales were climbing.

Then we ran into a new issue - we had some breakage with Canada Post (their insurance does not cover breakage) and, after the first couple years, UPS started to consistently deliver cases with broken bottles. In all cases this was not due to poor packaging, the boxes would arrive smashed as well. After we lost 27 cases of bottles to breakage (2700 bottles sent to the landfill!!) I had to concede that plastic might actually be more environmentally friendly.

So bottle number three was an amber PET bottle from the US supplier. Much less expensive, not easily destroyed, and less weight for shipping. PET for the win! Plus the 4000 labels we had already printed would fit.

Then the pandemic hit and supply chains crumbled. After the bottles being on backorder for a six months we had to switch to a smaller, not so great bottle and a quick & dirty label, simply to be able to fill orders with something. Everybody was very understanding, we were all dealing with the same issues.

Going directly to the source is not always so easy either.
After the bottles being on backorder for a year I decided that we would have to look to China. The fact is, all the bottles originated in China so realistically we would be reducing our carbon footprint since they would ship directly to us rather than to a supplier in the US and then to us.

But dealing with language barriers would prove to be challenging. After one major issue where they claimed I had approved for them to make the new mold which resulted in the need for a new mold at additional cost, I learned to very clearly define what an approval would look like and the exact words I would use.

I am very happy to say that we have now completed the design and manufacturing process and are now the proud owners of 2-3 years worth of bottles to get us through the supply chain slowdown. (Bonus - our existing labels still work)

The new bottles are unique, light weight and enhance the apothecary feel we were going for.