On New Year's Day we need your help with the Rose Parade. The floats will be completed, the cameras will be rolling, celebrities will be ready and the pageantry will begin for the 126th Rose Parade.
Where do you come in? Help us via social media to spread the word about the the Cal Poly "Certified CAGrown" float and the "Certified CAGrown" VIP vehicles, sponsored by FTD.
There are over 40,000 stems of California's finest flowers riding on the float and the VIP vehicles. We want this on camera, and we want Al Roker saying, "Wow, look at those gorgeous California Grown flowers!"
The parade is broadcast on NBC, CBS and HGTV. For New Year's Day, invite some social media adept friends over,
make a strata the night before, maybe add a Mimosa or Bloody Mary to the mix and make sure you are logged into your Twitter account. Don't have a twitter account? Find some millennials, and get them on board!
Use @RoseParade then add hashtag: #CAGrown, then add a media celebrity to the mix.
Below is a list of Twitter handles for all the TV personalities covering the parade. First, "follow" them, then start encouraging them to mention all the #CAGrown flowers in the parade and the Cal Poly float.
CBS:
Gayle Anderson @ktlagayle
KTLA @KTLA
HGTV:
Drew Scott: @MrDrewScott
Jonathan Scott: @MrSilverScott
Nancy O'Dell: @NancyOdell
Josh Temple: @joshtempletv
HGTV: @HGTV
NBC:
Al Roker: @alroker
Hota Kotb: @hotakotb
And its not too early to start! I already encouraged Drew Scott to find the CAGrown flowers, and have been retweeted twice!
Here is are two examples of what to post:
Hey @AlRoker mention those 40,000 #CAGrown flowers. @RoseParade
@MrDrewScott Check out the Cal-Poly Certified #CAGrown float. @RoseParade
You can also engage in conversation that the host/TV personality is already having about the parade. Make sure you engagement is authentic and meaningful. We don’t want any of them to feel like we’re spamming them.
The other part of the equation, and the easiest part, is to retweet posts you see that mention #CAGrown. You can type the "#CAGrown" hash tag into the "search" bar in Twitter, and see all the action, then just click retweet.
Last year, a small group of us used this strategy and Josh Temple from HGTV replied to CCFC's Special Events Coordinator, Kathleen Williford, by saying that he had just seen the Cal Poly float.
The above TV personalities are followed by well over a million people. Engaging these media personalities is a very effective way to help promote California Grown flowers and create awareness for our flower farmers.
Check out the official
Press Release for more info.
We can do it!
In the parade's earliest days, the flowers came from the flower fields nearby. The elaborately decorated parade carriages showed off the great variety of everything California soil and farmers could grow, even during the dead of winter. Today, the celebration of California-grown flora continues with the annual Rose Parade, and also through the work of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), which is dedicated to sharing and preserving the agricultural beauty of California. Each year, the CCFC honors and certifies floats that keep the tradition of using local flowers alive. 
In the parade's earliest days, the flowers came from the flower fields nearby. The elaborately decorated parade carriages showed off the great variety of everything California soil and farmers could grow, even during the dead of winter. Today, the celebration of California-grown flora continues with the annual Rose Parade, and also through the work of the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), which is dedicated to sharing and preserving the agricultural beauty of California. Each year, the CCFC honors and certifies floats that keep the tradition of using local flowers alive. 
