1-800-FLOWERS.COM And Westwood One Join Forces To Initiate A National Dialogue About Sympathy

NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 1-800-Flowers.com, together with Westwood One, has launched a fully-integrated nationwide initiative to educate, engage, and connect individuals around the difficult subject of expressing sympathy. The "Celebrating a Life" campaign, which kicks off this week, is designed to create a platform for thoughtful dialogue about navigating through the many cultural and social sensitivities that factor into offering caring support during times of loss.

Spanning radio, digital, social media, and video, the "Celebrating a Life" campaign will address emerging and challenging topics surrounding sympathy and grief, including the appropriate use of social media to express condolences, the meaning of sympathy flowers, how to best offer support for loss in the workplace, writing sentiments for remembrance cards, and the cultural considerations for paying respects. Westwood One will ask its listeners for feedback and opinions in order to gain insights for additional areas of discussion. A new online destination at www.1800flowers.com/sympathy-articles will provide ongoing resources for all topics discussed during the campaign and provide a forum for those needing advice and guidance in times of loss.

"1-800-Flowers.com has long been a trusted partner in helping those coping with loss and we've witnessed the eternal challenges experienced over what's appropriate to say or do, as well as the evolution in the ways sympathy is being expressed," said Jim McCann, Founder, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. "Increasingly, the celebration of one's life has become the ritual of choice, rather than the ceremony of mourning one's death. With its extensive national reach and ability to thoughtfully connect with its audience on sensitive topics, Westwood One will help drive and ignite this important conversation about coping with loss in modern times."

"We're proud to collaborate with 1-800-Flowers.com to help facilitate, and be part of this very human conversation," said Mary Berner, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cumulus Media, the parent company of Westwood One. "Radio is an accessible environment for listeners to explore a wide variety of topics, while providing a trusted communication platform to discuss the more challenging topics. Westwood One enables 1-800-Flowers.com to have a 1:1 conversation about coping with loss while reaching almost a quarter billion Americans a week."

The national dialogue will be anchored by Westwood One syndicated radio talent John Tesh and Lia Knight during conversations each week on the hosts' respective shows. Tesh's Intelligence for your Life radio show discusses everything from the secrets to improve relationships and personal growth to boosting brainpower and longevity. The Lia Show plays the best of today's country music and brings country's A-list of stars to stations across America every night. Lia's upbeat, genuine personality has made her a star with her fans. Both nationally-syndicated radio hosts are trusted friends for their listeners and these relationships have made their shows safe havens to discuss a variety of sensitive topics.

This initiative is the first of its kind for 1-800-Flowers.com and Westwood One. The fully-integrated campaign features on-air programming, including branded content vignettes, live reads, discussions and interviews. In addition, shareable social videos will help illustrate various campaign topics. For example, Tesh tackles grief in the workplace and how to appropriately express condolences to a colleague in the video found here: https://web.1800flowers.com/john-tesh/.

About 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. is a leading provider of gourmet food and floral gifts for all occasions. For the past 40 years, 1-800-FLOWERS® (www.1800flowers.com) has been helping deliver smiles to customers with gifts for every occasion, including fresh flowers and the finest selection of plants, gift baskets, gourmet foods, confections, candles, balloons and plush stuffed animals. A 100% Smile Guarantee® backs every gift. 1-800-Flowers.com was awarded the 2017 Gold Stevie "e-Commerce Customer Service" Award, recognizing the brand's innovative use of online technologies and social media to service the needs of customers. The company's Celebrations suite of services, including Celebrations Passport® Free Shipping/ No Service Charge Program, Celebrations Rewards® and Celebrations Reminders®, are designed to engage with customers and deepen relationships as a one-stop destination for all celebratory and gifting occasions. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. was named to the Stores® 2017 Hot 100 Retailers List by the National Retail Federation and was also recognized as the 2017 Gold Winner for The Golden Bridge Awards for the company's groundbreaking implementation of an artificial intelligence-powered online gift concierge, GWYN.   The Company's BloomNet® international floral wire service (www.mybloomnet.net) provides a broad range of quality products and value-added services designed to help professional florists grow their businesses profitably. The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. "Gift Shop" also includes gourmet gifts such as premium, gift-quality fruits and other gourmet items from Harry & David® (www.harryanddavid.com), popcorn and specialty treats from The Popcorn Factory® (www.thepopcornfactory.com); cookies and baked gifts from Cheryl's® (www.cheryls.com); gift baskets and towers from 1-800-Baskets.com® (www.1800baskets.com); premium English muffins and other breakfast treats from Wolferman's® (www.wolfermans.com); carved fresh fruit arrangements from FruitBouquets.com (www.fruitbouquets.com); and top quality steaks and chops from Stock Yards® (www.stockyards.com). Shares in 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, ticker symbol: FLWS.

About Westwood One
Westwood One, the national-facing arm of Cumulus Media, offers audio products to reach listeners whenever, wherever they are. Westwood One is a trusted connection between audio companies, advertisers, and audience — with 8,000 broadcast radio stations and media partners who reach 245 million weekly listeners. The company's portfolio features premium content with iconic, nationally syndicated media, sports and entertainment brands including the NFL, the NCAA, the Masters, the Olympics, Westwood One Backstage, the GRAMMYs, the Academy of Country Music Awards, and the Billboard Music Awards. For more information please visit www.westwoodone.com.

SOURCE 1-800-FLOWERS.COM

Related Links

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