Fresher than Fresh with Ryan Black of Jet Fresh Flowers
Ellie is back for the second episode in the NextGen podcast series, spotlighting floral professionals under forty — and this one is a marketing masterclass. Her guest is Ryan Black, Marketing and Media Director for Jet Fresh Flowers in Miami and SAF's 2022 Marketer of the Year. The two met at SAF Next Gen, where Ryan spoke on a panel about expanding your brand, and this conversation digs into his past, his present, and an exclusive look at what's next.
From a desk in the corner to four brands
Ryan is a fourth-generation flower guy — his grandfather had a place on New York's 28th Street, where his father built his own flower career before the family moved to Florida in 2000. The first months of Jet Fresh were literally his dad alone at a desk in the corner of a building: no employees, no warehouse. Almost 15 years later, the company spans four brands — Jet Fresh Miami, Jet Fresh Growers (the boutique farm in Ecuador), Jet Fresh Global Trading in Quito, and the psychedelic Hippie rose brand.
Ryan's own path wasn't a straight line. One of five brothers, he earned a degree in computer animation with a graphic design minor, ran a side business building websites and logos, and worked part-time in the warehouse before his dad offered him the graphic design job. In the early days there was no website and no plan — just building the essentials, flyers, email blasts, and videos where you could barely hear anyone over the cooler fans.
Betting on video before anyone else
Ryan's first big focus was YouTube. As a B2B wholesaler, Jet Fresh had a niche where "social media is not really designed for that" — which is exactly why no competitors were doing it, and exactly why it worked. There was never a formal marketing plan or brand identity guide (he still doesn't have one — "don't put an artist in a box"). The first few years were winging it and figuring out where the audience was. That instinct-driven approach eventually earned Jet Fresh SAF's Marketer of the Year, backed by a proposal full of statistics proving the work actually converted.
Storytelling is only as good as your story
Asked what separates successful brands, Ryan pushes back on the trendiest advice in marketing. Storytelling is the hot direction every consultant recommends — but "that's only as good as your story." You need a good story first, and you need to be able to back it up, especially in an industry this personal, where everybody already knows everybody. The other ingredient: characters. Jet Fresh's videos work because its salespeople are passionate one-takers who know the product like the back of their hand. Not everyone wants to be on camera — Ryan himself doesn't — so his advice is simple: find your stars. There's got to be one.
His other creative rules of thumb: trust your gut, and study what everyone else is doing so you can do what they're not. Walking the Flor Ecuador trade show, he deliberately catalogued what every booth had in common and focused elsewhere. He also mines his personal interests — pop culture, fashion, nostalgia — and channels them into flowers, which is why so much of Jet Fresh's content feels effortless and relatable. Not everything lands: an early trade show booth spelled the company tagline in flowers, and nobody could read it.
What's next: building the team, Fresh Fest, and Name That Rose
Now managing a growing creative team, Ryan is candidly learning to delegate: "It's hard for me to take my hand off the wheel and let someone else drive." His next step is building a team so he can focus on big-picture growth — they joke that Jet Fresh is "a marketing team that sells flowers now."
And the exclusives: in 2023, Jet Fresh will host its own event, Fresh Fest, bringing vendors and customers to Miami. Also coming in 2023 is Name That Rose volume three — the gamified rose-identification app that started as an internal sales tool and became an industry favorite. The new version returns to both app stores with free play and a three-strikes tournament mode, a global leaderboard, and unlockable rose cards covering a list that's grown from about 200 varieties to more than 400.
Key takeaways
- Storytelling only works if the story is good, true, and provable — invest in the story before the telling.
- Look for the channel your competitors are ignoring; being first in an empty space beats fighting in a crowded one.
- Your best marketing assets may already be on payroll — find the passionate "characters" on your team and put them on camera.
- Observe what everyone else is doing, then deliberately do what they're not.
- Growth means delegation: build a team you trust so you can step back and steer the big picture.
If you aren't already, follow @JetFreshFlowers on Instagram and YouTube, and discover more at jetfreshflowers.com.