Sharknado 2: Flornado

So we can’t get back the 2 hours spent watching Sharknado on the SciFi channel (and we’re not totally sure that we want to), but we can make a short sequel… Sharknado 2: Flornado, a Tornado of Flowers at Stein Your Florist Co.

Stein Your Florist Co. employees Jessi and Chris are ready to start another day at work, but when they walk into the store they are hit with, what else, a Flornado!

We adapted some of the best/worst lines from Sharknado for our “actors”, grabbed the biggest fans from our greenhouse and gathered a ton of petals for our sequel.

Here’s the dialog breakdown: 

Sharknado:  "Sharks. I never saw that coming."
Flornado:  “Flowers. I never saw that coming.”

Sharknado:  “Sharks in a tornado. Sharknado. Simply stunning.”

Flornado:  “Flowers in a tornado. Flornado. Simply stunning.”

Sharknado:  “They took my grandfather. So I really hate sharks.”
Flornado:  “Flowers helped cheer up my grandfather. So I really love flowers.”

Sharknado:  “Instead of letting live sharks rain down on people, we’re going to get in that chopper and throw bombs into the tornados.”

Flornado:  “Instead of letting live flowers rain down on people, we’re going to get to work and arrange flowers in a vase.”

Sharknado:  “We’re going to need a bigger helicopter.”

Flornado:  “We’re going to need a bigger vase.”

Perhaps not as epic as sharks in a tornado, but pretty close ;)

 

Steins Makes Viral Videos

During the busy Mother’s Day rush we heard from our friends at Society of American Florists (SAF) asking for a bit of our insight on making viral videos for their June 2013 issue of Floral Management, which is all about online presence, social media and all things tech for the floral industry this month.

While we consider ourselves no experts in this field, we were happy to share what we do know… besides, all the fun we had making our “Gangnam Style” parody, “Oppa Stein Your Florist Style”, how could we keep what we do know a secret? 

Floral Management writer Mary Westbrook sent us a few questions and we were thrilled to read our response when the magazine’s digital issue was released on June 1^st. Since then we have been invited to speak at SAF’s 129^th Annual Convention in Phoenix, AZ as a part of their panel on social media in September!

MASTER THE ART: MAKE A HIGH QUALITY, VIRAL VIDEO

Jennifer Kelly, Stein Your Florist Company, Philadelphia
Mastermind behind recent videos, including a “Gangnam Style” parody.

Our videos get the best response when we hit current events and relate them back to flowers. We keep our eyes on the Internet and TV and try to strike while the iron is hot.
Our Canon Vixia HFG10 captures great HD footage, easily connects to a computer with a USB port for editing, and is simple to use. A tripod will keep the picture from shaking. We’ve also used our iPhones for videos -- that’s what we did when Hurricane Sandy hit our area and the shops were closed (with the camera inside).
To edit, we use Windows Live Movie Maker. It’s simple to use and was already installed on a few of our computers when we purchased them, so there was nothing extra to buy. Audacity is a free editing software that really improves video quality by getting rid of humming refrigerators and ringing telephones.
We upload finished videos to YouTube and then post to our blog and social media channels and send out an email blast. Out stores also have large flat screen TVs connected to computers where our customers can check out our videos as well as photos of our work… but social media spreads the word best.
Stein Your Florist on YouTube:  www.youtube.com/user/SteinYourFlorist

Nutcracker Christmas Stein Style

We love the Christmas holiday season here at Stein Your Florist, one of our favorite times of the year! The store is filled with beautiful poinsettias, the scent of pine fills the air, the ribbons and bows (and staff) are covered in glitter and everyone seems to be filled with the spirit of the season!
 

Changing up our window display for the holiday was a fun little project… Using our beloved dress form and some inspiration from “The Nutcracker” we created a pair of sugarplum fairy dancers. One is wearing a bodice of white poinsettias with shimmering green fabric and a tutu of Christmassy pine.

 

The other is dressed in lace and sparkles with a tutu of pine that is covered in poinsettias, sparkling twigs and Christmas ornaments.

We finished our display with boxes of presents, shimmering trees and sticks, hanging icicles and, of course, a few nutcrackers.

 

Our nutcracker inspiration didn’t stop with our window display. Stein’s administrative professional Johanna donned a tutu of her own and pranced to the “Waltz of the Flowers” in our YouTube video Afterhours at the Flower Shop, Nutcracker Christmas. Just a little something to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas from Stein Your Florist Co.

 

 

Videos Build The Philly Shop's Star(dom)

SAF’s Floral Management – December 2012
Hands On – Tips, Trends and Tactics for the Savvy Retailer
First Hand Account

Videos Build The Philly Shop's Star(dom)




WORK IT - Jennifer Kelly picked up an “Elvis”
 wig to transform her father, Patrick Kelly,
into PSY, the South Korean pop star behind
the surprise international hit “Gangnam Style,”
for a YouTube video that’s gotten more
than 5,400 views.

When Jennifer Kelly sees that latest sensation on morning TV or hears about a cause that needs support, she takes action… with a video camera. Kelly, whose family owns Stein Your Florist, is one of the masterminds behind an impressive and growing catalog of videos – some of them poignant and other hold-your-sides funny – starring staff members from the 125-year-old business’ two shops in Philadelphia and Burlington, NJ.

In recent months, the prolific florists-turned-filmmakers have produced an anti-bullying public service announcement, a timely update about shop operations during Super Storm Sandy and spot-on parodies of both the South Korean hit “Gangnam Style” and a Brad Pitt commercial for Chanel No. 5. (You can see these videos, and many more, on the shop’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/SteinYourFlorist.)

                The videos, Kelly said, help define Stein Your Florist as a local business with personality, and keep the shop top-of-mind among customers year-round, rather than just during the holidays. For the lighthearted “Gangnam Style” video, Kelly’s father, Patrick, donned a black wig and danced alongside his designers, sales staff and family members. The video was shot at Stein’s shops and at a family member’s house over the course of a few days. And thanks to some savvy thrift-store finds, the total cost, including costumes and flowers, was less than $300. After a quick edit, Kelly posted the parody to YouTube, the shop’s website and social media pages; she even created a “Gangnam Style” board on Pinterest with hilarious behind-the-scenes pics.




PERFUME PARODY - Stein Your Florist was on the same
comedic wavelengths as Saturday Night Live in October. Both
the flower shop and the late night show created parodies of
Chanel No. 5 commercials that feature a rugged and
rambling Brad Pitt.

At press time, “Oppa Stein Your Florist Style” had racked up more than 5,400 views on YouTube, but that figure isn’t the only return on investment that the shop is tracking. By jumping on fast-moving topics of conversation, promoting causes that matter to their staff and encouraging people to have a little fun, the Kelly family has created a professional team that’s not only open to new ideas, but ready to act on them quickly – before a trend moves from hot to ho-hum. And that environment, Jennifer and Patrick Kelly said, is good for business.



                “Keeping our name in front of our customers and potential customers is key, and when we can do that in a fun, different or innovative way, it really generates a great positive buzz and helps us stand out,” Kelly said. “There aren’t too many people these days who want another piece of junk in their mailbox from a company attempting to hawk their wares, but they seem to love when we put on some wacky costumes and dance like fools out on the street corner in front of our stores for the camera.”

 

Oppa Stein Your Florist Style, Our Gangnam Style Parody

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard South Korean rapper Psy’s infectiously catchy hit song “Gangnam Style,” seen the awesomely entertaining and popular music video, and maybe even busted some of his signature horse-riding dance moves.



Patrick "Psy" Kelly poses with Steins designer Jennifer,
video editor and director, and our mystery
yellow suited dancer.

Gangnam is a district of Seoul, Korea that Psy has likened to Beverly Hills, CA, with lavish lifestyles and posh people. The music video is a comical antithesis of Gangnam’s actual swag with its humorous dance, fashion and lyrics. The song is about the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild.



"Psy" with one of his supporting actors

After seeing Psy’s live performance on the Today Show we found ourselves constantly dancing and singing around the shops (the English words as well what we are sure was an unfortunate butchering of the Korean ones). A week after catching the Gangnam Style fever with no cure in sight, we decided to film our own “Gangnam Style” parody, “Oppa Stein Your Florist Style!” Our flowers have a certain swag ;-)

The original video features scenes around the Gangnam district, while ours features our shops, staff, and, of course, flowers.



Patrick gets his unruly Elvis wig Gangnam styled.

Patrick, Stein’s owner and operator, took on the role of Psy, donning an Elvis style wig and some funky colored suit jackets from the local thrift stores. While his dance moves aren’t nearly as on point as Psy’s, he made up for it with lots of energy and beautiful flowers.

"Psy" posing with some of his
dance crew.

The rest of the Steins crew was excited to fill the supporting roles, help behind the scenes, design bouquets, film and edit our spoof. It’s amazing we captured any footage where we weren’t laughing!



Our mystery yellow suited dancer.

One of our top designers, who asked to remain nameless, dressed as the yellow suited dancer. The disguise was so good that people that know her didn’t even recognize her and passers-by stopped in their cars to take pictures.

"Christine" models with the other ladies while
"Psy" screams at his favorite thing... flowers.

We were short one female dancer the day we filmed our version of Psy’s yoga scene, so we convinced Chris, one of our newest employees, to dress as “Christine” in a cute black dress and big curly black wig to do a little bouquet modeling and dancing for us. He’s such a good sport!



Elevator dancer Pat C.

We would like to thank the extra dancers from the community that showed up on the scene while we were filming to do the horsey dance with us… We found ourselves to be attracting quite a crowd while dancing outside the store on the corner of Frankford and Princeton, we must have looked like a flash mob!

 

We had an amazing time filming our parody and we hope you enjoy watching it!! And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, you never know what we’ll be up to next!