Hillier Garden Centres.

Hillier Garden Centres is one of the most trusted names in British horticulture – but with growing competition and a rapidly evolving audience of emerging gardeners, the brand wanted to reach new customers.

The challenge was to create a campaign that not only showcased Hillier’s seasonal product ranges, but also encouraged people to visit centres, shop online and sign up to the Hillier Gardening Club.

We needed an influencer strategy that would deliver:

• High-quality, cost-efficient reach
• Authentic educational content
• Monthly visibility across the gardening calendar
• Clear, measurable performance vs benchmark CPV and CPE targets

• Drive new customer visits to Hillier stores and the online shop
• Build ongoing awareness across home, gardening and lifestyle audiences
• Promote seasonal ranges and monthly plant highlights
• Increase Hillier Gardening Club sign-ups
• Deliver efficient CPV and CPE results across the campaign

To meet Hillier’s objectives, we delivered an always-on influencer programme spanning the full year – not just the peak gardening season.

1. Seasonal, multi-creator campaign structure

We partnered with a mix of gardening and home creators, including: Gardening With Cara, Life Outside for Me, The Gardening Geek, Home By Emily, Mel’s Little Garden, Our Wandsworth Home and The Accidental Gardeners.

This ensured diverse reach and authentic, expert-led content. Creators were briefed to produce content with strong CTA’s to Hillier Garden Centres and the online shop, or Hillier Gardening Club sign-ups.

2. Spring and summer activity

• The Gardening Geek – Anthony headed into his local Hillier garden centre to film an in-store reel highlighting the benefits of signing up to the Hillier Gardening Club. To drive action, he ran a competition encouraging viewers to sign up for the chance to win a Hillier gift voucher – combining education, footfall and sign-ups in once piece of content.
• Life Outside For Me – Sharon delivered a “plant of the month” series over six months, talking followers through the gardening seasons. Each reel spotlighted a different Hillier plant, sharing practical planting tips and directing viewers to the online shop to purchase their own – creating repeated, high-intent touchpoints with new customers.
• The Accidental Gardeners – Vici created a pollinator-focused reel packed with simple, actionable tips to attract bees and butterflies using Hillier plants. The content encouraged audiences to shop Hillier both in-store and online, with a strong CTA to sign up to the Hillier Gardening Club for ongoing gardening advice and inspiration.
• Mel’s Little Garden – Mel created a step-by-step container planting reel focused on a low-maintenance, shade-friendly display, showcasing Hillier’s wide plant range alongside compost, tools and planters, highlighting that everything needed can be found in store or online.
• Gardening with Cara – Cara ran a four-part “grow along with me” seed sowing series aimed at beginner gardeners and cut-flower fans. Cara broke the process down step by step, encouraging followers to purchase seeds and gardening essentials directly from Hillier’s online shop.
• Her Country Living – Lucy shared a post and stories announcing Hillier’s presence at BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, running a competition to win two tickets. Viewers were encouraged to follow Hillier on Instagram, with an additional entry available for those who signed up to the Hillier Gardening Club, helping drive both awareness and follower growth.

3. Autumn and winter activity

• Gardening with Cara – Cara returned later in the year to showcase hardy winter plants in a reel, demonstrating how gardens can still deliver colour and texture throughout the colder months, and encouraging viewers to shop Hillier both in-store and online.
• My Hampshire Garden – Alex headed into her local Hillier garden centre to film an in-store reel showcasing how Hillier’s winter plant range can brighten the garden during the colder months. She then followed up by showing the plants planted in her own garden, offering planting inspiration while encouraging viewers to visit Hillier in-store.
• Home by Emily – Emily took her audience on a “come shop with me” trip to Hillier, positioning her local centre as a destination for Christmas trees and festive decor. The reel followed the journey from store to home, finishing with a beautifully styled Christmas tree.
• Our Wandsworth Home – Luci created a festive styling reel showcasing Hillier’s Christmas decorations, showcasing how Hillier products can transform the home for the festive store and encourage purchases online.
• The Gardening Geek – Anthony returned to his local Hillier centre to film a winter-themed reel, focusing on seasonal gardening jobs and how Hillier plants can keep gardens looking beautiful year-round, while reinforcing the value of joining the Hillier Gardening Club for expert advice.

The influencer programme delivered strong, consistent performance across the year, meeting efficiency benchmarks while supporting Hillier’s wider objectives of driving awareness, footfall and online discovery.

Over the year, the campaign delivered:

• 84,676 total views
• 4,082 total engagements
• Average CPV: £0.07
• Average CPE: £1.26
• Hillier’s Instagram grew by 30.9%

These averages were used as internal benchmarks throughout the campaign, allowing us to assess performance fairly across creators. A significant proportion of content met or exceeded benchmark performance:

• Multiple creators delivered CPVs well below the campaign average, with some content achieving CPVs as low as £0.01-£0.03
• Several creators also outperformed the average CPE, delivering highly engaged audiences at £0.29-£0.60 per engagement
• Even where CPEs were slightly above average, content continued to drive meaningful interaction and high-quality engagement within a highly relevant gardening audience

Impact for Hillier

The campaign successfully supported Hillier’s wider business objectives by:

• Driving new customer awareness across gardening and lifestyle audiences
• Encouraging in-store visits through localised, in-store filmed content
• Driving online discovery of Hillier’s plant ranges and seasonal products
• Promoting Hillier Gardening Club sign-ups through education-led content
• Reinforcing Hillier’s position as a trusted, year-round gardening expert
• By activating creators across spring, summer, autumn and winter, Hillier remained visible at key decision-making moments throughout the year.