Pennington Relaunches Smart Seed Lawn Products Featuring Patent Pending, Industry-Leading Technology

Today Pennington Seed ("Pennington”), one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of lawn, garden and turf care products and a subsidiary of the Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ: CENT, CENTA) ("Central”), announced the relaunch of Pennington Smart Seed products. The relaunch of the Smart Seed portfolio, the brand’s drought-resistant, environmentally conscious lawn seed products, is the result of two years of in-house research and consumer insights studies to ensure the suite of Pennington products are more reliable, effective and easy to use.

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Pennington relaunches Smart Seed Lawn products featuring patent pending, industry-leading seed technology and new branding (Photo: Business Wire)

New and Improved Seed Technology

The Smart Seed portfolio was originally created with sustainability in mind. For more than a dozen years, lawns using Pennington’s Smart Seed products have saved up to 30% or more water year after year compared to ordinary grass seed. Smart Seed can deliver on its claims for the life of consumers’ lawns because Pennington hand selects cultivars of grass that have been verified by the Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance (TWCA) to conserve more water compared to traditional varieties. While the Smart Seed products have continuously provided water saving benefits to consumers, the brand realized it could be doing more to enhance and improve the grass growing experience.

The first step in relaunching Pennington’s popular Smart Seed products was to innovate the product to help produce greener and more fertile lawns. Leveraging insights learned through Pennington's NexGen Turf Research, one of the largest, private grass seed research facilities in the United States, the team focused on how to further improve the product’s germination and efficacy for better, more consistent results. The new Pennington Smart Seed products feature the brand’s patent-pending fertilizer-enhanced seed coating system proven to speed seed establishment and promote greener grass.

"At Central, we are committed to creating and building brands that consumers love with products they can trust, and Pennington is a great example of this promise,” said J.D. Walker, President, of Garden Consumer Products at Central. "With so many new consumers entering the category, it was important to us to transform our Smart Seed offering so homeowners have everything they need in one convenient bag – now our consumers can spend less time worrying about how to take care of their lawns and spend more time enjoying them.”

Products in the Smart Seed portfolio include both traditional variety mixes (Perennial Ryegrass, Bermudagrass and Kentucky Bluegrass), as well as specialized blends or mixes that are customized to specific regional climates, varieties include: Sun & Shade, Dense Shade, Northeast Mix, Midwest Mix, Pacific Northwest Mix and Pennsylvania State Mix.

Consumer Ease and New Branding

For the last 12 years, consumers have trusted Pennington Smart Seed products to grow resilient, environmentally friendly lawns, however consumer research found that shopping for lawn care can be overwhelming and confusing.

Pennington approached the relaunch with consumer usability in mind. Previously, each Smart Seed product had its own brand expression. The new portfolio of products has been simplified so it is easier for consumers to find the exact grass seed varietal they need and recognize the trusted Pennington brand. Each bag features detailed planting instructions, including new digital integration and links to relevant content on social media platforms, such as YouTube. Retail websites will now feature enhanced content for each step of the lawn growing journey.

The relaunch is supported through Pennington’s "Smart That Never Fails” campaign, which will come to life through a new commercial that will appear across radio, national broadcast networks and on Hulu.

About Pennington

Some people look at a lawn as a place that requires mowing, edging, seeding, fertilizing and more – in short, as a chore. Pennington sees the lawn as an outdoor living space for making unforgettable memories and they’re dedicated to ensuring that your lawn is ready for any occasion. They’ve been at this for a long time, beginning in 1945 as a small seed store on Main Street in Madison, Georgia. They’re proud that their founder Brooks Pennington Sr.’s spirit of entrepreneurship is still with them today driving them to make the finest grass seed, soil amendments, fertilizers, and wild bird seed that money can buy. From baseball games, parties, water balloon fights or playing fetch with the family dog, millions of homeowners have relied on Pennington to set their lawns and gardens as the stage for lifelong memories. To learn more, please visit https://www.pennington.com/

About Central Garden & Pet

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENT, CENTA) understands that home is central to life and has proudly nurtured happy and healthy homes for over 40 years. With 2020 net sales of $2.7 billion, Central is on a mission to lead the future of the pet and garden industries. The Company’s innovative and trusted products are dedicated to help lawns grow greener, gardens bloom bigger, pets live healthier and communities grow stronger. Central is home to a leading portfolio of more than 65 high-quality brands including Pennington®, Nylabone®, Kaytee®, Amdro® and Aqueon®, strong manufacturing and distribution capabilities and a passionate, entrepreneurial growth culture. Central Garden & Pet is based in Walnut Creek, California and has over 6,300 employees across North America and Europe. For additional information about Central, please visit the Company’s website at www.central.com.

¹ The seed varieties in Pennington Smart Seed represent years of research and breeding bringing grasses to their full potential for water conservation. Once established, Smart Seed grasses require up to 30 percent less water year after year compared to ordinary seed

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