Those words appeared in 1928 in the inaugural issue of one of our first communications programs aimed at consumers. That first edition of Lawn Care® magazine reached 5,000 consumers and was likely considered an aggressive marketing effort at the time.

Today, our messages make hundreds of millions of impressions a year through advertising, in-store displays, the Internet and – yes – through Lawn Care® magazine as well. Soon celebrating its 80th anniversary, the publication now reaches nine million homes a year, providing them with some of the same type of ‘know how’ that our founders communicated decades ago.

Indeed, consumer relationships have always been key to the success of ScottsMiracle-Gro. That is why we continue to seek opportunities to reinvest in our brands and increase the rate of advertising spending whenever possible. In fiscal 2006, for example, spending on advertising and consumer-focused promotions with our retail partners increased by 18 percent. The result? Consumer purchases of our products reached new records and increased 10 percent during the year.

Our experience shows a clear correlation between advertising spending and sales growth. The chart shown on the following page demonstrates how consumer purchases of our new LiquaFeed® product corresponded with weekly changes in advertising spending. We have a similar response in several other product categories as well.

Over the past three years, total advertising spending has increased 41 percent to $137 million. That increase has allowed us to put additional spending behind key products such as Turf Builder® Plus 2®, Ortho® Bug B Gon Max®, Ortho® Home Defense® and Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil. Consumer purchases of those products over the past three years have increased 18, 39, 44 and 79 percent, respectively.