Building the First Flower Brand
Courtesy of FLOWERBX
WHITNEY HAWKINGS
Building the First Flower Brand
By Bonnie Langedijk
The human connection to flowers goes back centuries. From birthdays to saying sorry to congratulating someone on their new home, we often let flowers do the talking for us. While flowers still play an integral part in our lives, the 30 billion dollar plus global floral industry has remained the same in a world that’s changed rapidly. CEO and founder of FLOWERBX Whitney Hawkings wanted to shake things up and bring the floral industry into the 21st Century. Her aim? To build the first global luxury flower brand, offering single-variety flowers at an accessible price point. Through her role as the Senior Vice President of Communications at Tom Ford, and before that as the Director of Creative Services at Gucci Group, Hawkings often looked for florists or suppliers that could offer a consistent flower experience across territories but failed to find a partner that was easy to work with, reliable and premium. From there the idea of FLOWERBX was born. Since then, the business has expanded beyond its London base, delivering flowers across over 20 countries. The brand has built a strong direct-to-consumer business as well as a flourishing B2B business, supplying flowers for the biggest fashion brands, luxury hospitality businesses and some of London's largest exterior floral installations. We spoke with the founder and CEO about how she launched her business, the importance of branding and why you shouldn’t want to buy a mixed bouquet.
Bonnie: You worked alongside Tom Ford for almost 20 years before launching FLOWERBX. What did it teach you about how the fashion set approaches flowers?
Whitney: It would be the day of the [Tom Ford] show and in the morning there would be a parade of flowers coming in. I would see Miuccia’s [flowers], she would send pale pink roses. Then I’d see Karl’s and they were white orchids.Then I’d see Calvin Klein's, they were always white calla lilies. They were always single stem bunches of flowers. When I was sending flowers, I always struggled to get a florist to do what Tom wanted, which was 20 white peonies with nothing else, 20 white dahlia’s with nothing else. So I thought how come the fashion world knows this is the most beautiful way to consume flowers? And how come it’s so difficult to get anyone to do this? In fashion, flowers are really a currency. It’s how people talk to each other. It’s how you say thank you. It’s how you say I’m sorry. It’s how you welcome the editors to Paris, to Milan, to London. Whenever I would have to get flowers for events across territories, I was trying to find a local florist who could fulfill and execute consistently. It was literally giving the brief, having the conversations, seeing the samples from fifteen different florists. Throughout that process I asked myself how come there’s no flower brand? So I, naively, had the endeavor to create a global flower brand, which now I can confidently say works.
“I dare anyone to say five HYDRANGEAS in a vase doesn’t look beautiful.”
That initial process you went through sounds so time consuming.
Whitney: And then the calling, and you’re spelling out your names, spelling out the gift message on the phone. Why is it so antiquated? Where when you order anything else you go online and you can do it at a red light practically. I wanted to create that experience like shopping on NET-A-PORTER or Ocado. I wanted to create an experience that makes you want to send someone flowers or buy yourself flowers.
Completely. Why do florists still take the traditional approach and mostly offer mixed bouquets?
Whitney: The way the traditional flower model works is you get whatever’s left in the store. They’re sitting on stock and they have to use it. So they try to make it look beautiful, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s not what I set out to do. I dare anyone to say five hydrangeas in a vase doesn’t look beautiful. I often go back to food. If you have the most amazing mozzarella and the most amazing tomatoes that are in season, you can’t make that bad.
FLOWERBX x Louis Vuitton. Courtesy of FLOWERBX
I couldn’t agree more. In overhauling that traditional business model that the floral industry is built upon, was it challenging to sell people on your idea?
Whitney: It’s hilarious, because I was pregnant with my third child when I started FLOWERBX. I remember going to Holland and meeting with suppliers and saying: “I’m creating this global flower brand,” and they would just think okay, lady. Now they bend over backwards for us because we’re one of their biggest clients. I think if I’d known how challenging it was going to be, I wouldn’t have ever endeavored to do it. In my whole business plan and the idea I forgot that it’s a perishable product. It’s dying before you even get your hands on it.
I never thought about that. Next to the single stem bunches, branding is key to the FLOWERBX brand. What were some of the key ingredients for the development of the brand? And how did you balance creating a clear brand identity while creating a brand that appeals to different groups of people.
Whitney: It’s a question I ask myself all the time. I want FLOWERBX to represent the best. Going back to NET-A-PORTER, it can sit with Converse as well as it can sit with Givenchy as well as it can sit with Cartier. To me, NET-A-PORTER represents the slick experience. I want FLOWERBX to represent that for flowers. It doesn’t matter if you want a thousand red roses or if you want a small bunch of sunflowers, it’s about the quality you’re getting.
Completely. In the beginning, how did you get FLOWERBX in front of the right people?
Whitney: The connections I had were invaluable. They were also not just connections, they were friends. I had this enormous fear of leaving Tom. If you work with someone amazing for 20 years, that’s your entire identity. You become Whitney who works for Tom, or Whitney who works for Gucci. I had to think about: Who am I? And do these people even actually like me? They like me because I can get them on the front row or get them into the show. People say fashion people are fickle but they’re also very loyal. They got behind it from the beginning. It’s also a better product. So why wouldn’t you buy FLOWERBX? You can have as many friends talk about you as much as you’d want but if you don’t have the right product, and people can’t see the quality and the value then the hype fades fast.
You’ve mentioned NET-A-PORTER a few times and Nathalie Massenet was one of your early supporters. How did you meet and how did she get involved?
Whitney: We were six months in, and realized we were onto something. But in order to grow meaningfully we needed people. It was unsustainable to grow without someone on customer service. It was me answering the phone. We needed to scale it, and in order to scale it we needed money. When I initially had the idea, Nathalie had come to my house for dinner. The next day she sent hydrangeas wrapped in brown paper. They were clearly from the market. I thought, she’s the chicest, richest, most fabulous lady and she knows this is how I want to get flowers. In my head I already had the idea, but it crystallized it. She said: “If you’re going to raise money, come to me.” I had such a different mindset then about raising money. I was that little girl asking dad for money in a way, not actually seeing it as an opportunity for them to make more money. So I went to her, tail between my legs asking if she was really serious. She brought on Carmen Busquets who was one of the early founders of NET-A-PORTER and Mark Sebba who had been the legendary CEO of NET-A-PORTER. I had this amazing first funding round. Not only because of the money, but because of the names and the experience they brought to the table. They were pivotal in those early days to give the idea credibility.
And to what you said earlier, those meaningful relationships can really grow your business into something.
Whitney: Whenever I speak to younger founders they always ask about that first funding round. Not everyone is lucky enough to have Nathalie as their one name, but find a name that’s going to give your idea and your business credibility. What I didn’t understand is that they just follow everyone else, those money people. Who is in? Who else is in? It’s like grade school.
FLOWERBX x Annabel's. Courtesy of FLOWERBX
FLOWERBX x Annabel's. Courtesy of FLOWERBX
And you wouldn’t expect that in finance. Since then, the business has grown so much. What are some of the key values that you fall back on while growing that business?
Whitney: Fundamentally, we are delivering beauty. That’s our entire purpose. As we scale, the beauty and the quality [of the product] has to be the core of what we’re doing. There’s such a temptation when you’re growing to skimp on quality or to get better margins by buying lesser quality flowers. Sustainability is also one of our core values. I love it when the team even checks me. We were talking about Valentine’s products last year, and I asked whether we should sell preserved roses. We literally get hundreds of requests to do them. The team said no, and they were right. Our values give us a framework for decision making at every level of the business. From customer service to our drivers to me to the management.
Yes, they always push you in the right direction. Going through that growth as a business your role as a founder changes with it. What was that transformation like for you personally?
Whitney: Honestly, just fake that confidence. I have been out of my comfort zone everyday since I started FLOWERBX. I didn’t know how to raise money. I didn’t know the lingo on fundraising. But I knew enough that I didn’t want to go in there and sound stupid, so I did my homework. I also don’t know how to not do something 100 percent. There’s that TED Talk about pretending that you’re the biggest person in the room. And you’re supposed to physically stand there with your arms out
Yes, it’s about taking up that space.
Whitney: Exactly. Mentally you have to pretend to be this person for you to slowly become that person.
It’s so true. You have to push yourself outside of that comfort zone. That’s how you constantly learn and evolve.
Whitney: It’s like exercise. You don’t feel like doing it, but when you do it you feel amazing. It’s uncomfortable for an hour, but afterwards you feel so much stronger. It’s about flexing those muscles.
Completely. I was reading this book by Michael Jordan’s old coach and they called it 'flexing your IDGAF muscle.
Whitney: What’s it called?
He’s written two books, so one’s called Relentless and the other is called Winning. They’re great books if you need to get into the zone.
Whitney: Okay, I’m ordering now.
With that, I think we live in a world that glamorizes entrepreneurship. As a founder do you ever feel like you have to be this figurehead or example for others?
Whitney: I really have a lot. We’re more well-funded and more established now and I feel confident we have a product that will and should survive. But we’re also going into unprecedented times globally. Seven out of ten businesses won’t exist on the other side of it. Navigating that is terrifying. I don’t have it all figured out. It’s difficult when you’re a leader and you have to give everyone else confidence. Then there’s the flip side of that which is, I will not let it fail. I have put too much into this.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
