Andy Sturgeon’s established links with the media push the face of his company into the eyes of the many. Sturgeon is a television presenter on many BBC gardening broadcasts and also writes a garden column for the Daily Telegraph. Combine this with his regular and successful show gardens at Chelsea Flower Show and you have a man who is frequently in the media eye. This in turn promotes his business as he is able to demonstrate his skills to a wide audience of people and stimulate business for his company.
 |
| Sturgeon on film (sjr60, 2006) |
This has made Andy Sturgeon a brand. He is seen through a box. People know the kind of design he is capable of and this pins down his target market. His media exploits are an important part of his business marketing and limits the amount of marketing his company have to do.
I believe the way Sturgeon is branding himself limits his prospects. Show gardens, created for a number of different events, are what he is well known for because these are the things that are projected most commonly by the media eye. Sturgeon is great at creating show gardens, but these are not real gardens. The plants combinations are from plants that would naturally flower at different points in the season, the plot has no context to relate to and the garden is also designed to be viewed from outside and not necessary relate to how a person would feel once within the space. I know that Sturgeon does think about the experience from within the site (BBC, 2010), but in a Chelsea garden, it isn’t necessary for this programme to work, therefore allowing this to slip lower down the list of priorities and for things like planting to rise to the top of the list as the ‘prettiness’ of the garden is what really counts.
 |
| Sturgeon's company logo (Andysturgeon, 2010) |
I think he is unintentionally branding himself in the wrong way. People see Sturgeon’s company as one that is only able to create designs within a box, his roof gardens are a good example of this, they are spaces which often relate very little to context.
