Greetings Today

Independently audited, ABC circulation of 6,089

The impartial voice of the greetings card industry October 2015 Issue 2 Volume 17

2016 CALENDAR & DIARY COLLECTION

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The Home of Licensed Calendars, Diaries & Greetings Cards Danilo Promotions Ltd | Waltham Abbey | EN9 1AS | 01992 702 900 | danilo.com | sales@danilo.com /DaniloCalendarsUK

@CalendarsUK

/DaniloCalendars

contents

REGULARS 05

Leader

the team

23

Licensing and pictures are all in the timing, plus Window On The World.

06

News

10

Meet The Newbies Windles-sponsored focus on industry newcomers.

14

Alina’s on the case while Neil is looking to be direct in the sales agents’ view of life.

39

People, Exhibiton, Licensing, Supplier and General, it’s all here and there’s more online at www.greetingstoday.co.uk

John Ryan

It’s All About Sales Retail Advice Independent retail advisor Henri Davis looks at trade shows.

40

Vox Pop Publishers are at the heart of the industry, hear their opinions on current issues.

43

Spotlight & Gifts Spotlight A selection of this month’s latest releases.

Looking to America for inspiration in retailing isn’t the best idea, says John.

● Jo Barber’s On The Shop Front returns next month

Cover Story

38

Danilo are masters of the licensed product and look ahead to their upcoming releases.

18

Licensed Cards, Associated Products & BLE Preview

44

With BLE on the horizon, licensing is the big news for this issue, Moonpig’s Sarah-Jane

52

Mother’s Day & Feminine-Themed Cards Mums really do get the best deal with cards and gifts from the kids, as a survey shows.

ONLINE

Hand-Finished Cards The handmade and hand-finished touch adds value and a point of difference to a product.

Autumn Fair Review A pictorial look back at the NEC event.

01442 289940 (direct)

Group Editor Mirella Anstey mirella@lemapublishing.co.uk Group Advertisement Manager Ryan Horwood ryan@lemapublishing.co.uk Publisher Mark Naish mark@lemapublishing.co.uk

Top Drawer Review

Managing Director Malcolm Naish malcolm@lemapublishing.co.uk Circulation Manager Robert Thomas robert@lemapublishing.co.uk

Keep in touch - follow us:

Tweet all about it – the story of the show in pictures and Twitter feeds.

Porter explains how it works for them.

36

Advertisement Manager Gareth Liddiatt gareth@lemapublishing.co.uk

Production Director Paul Naish paul@lemapublishing.co.uk

FEATURES 12

Editor Tracey Bearton tracey@lemapublishing.co.uk

52

@greetingstoday

Your Shout https://www.facebook.com/ greetingstodaymag

Finding new markets can be dead good – as Inspired Goodbyes talk about the Ideal Death Show.

Go to our website - www.greetingstoday.co.uk - for all the up-to-date news and we also expand on Mother’s Day & Feminine Themed Cards and Hand-Finished Cards in our online features.

HOTSPOT

NEW ranges abound but there are many long-standing collections that are always hitting the hotspot and deserve recognition. In our new hotspot section Greetings Today will feature some of these each issue.

June Griffiths, Richard Griffiths Houseplants, Knaresborough, North Yorks: “Both Camilla & Rose and Spring Chicken from Peartree Heybridge are very good. I’ve sold them ever since they first came out as I’ve known Mike Partridge at Peartree Heybridge a long time.

You know people like them because you can hear them chuckling away in the gift room.

If I had to choose, I’d probably say Camilla & Rose edge it, but they both go very well. They’re definitely still worth stocking!”

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PUBLISHING

Lema Publishing Ltd 1 Church Gates, Wilderness, Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 2UB

Telephone: 01442 289930 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

At the heart of retail Greetings Today is independently audited with an ABC circulation of 6,092 (July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015) Subscription per annum: UK £60 (free for people in the greetings industry), Europe £80, ROTW £100 A member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 3

Poppy Red 100gsm quality colours… don’t settle for less Over 32 colours ALWAYS in stock 6 stock sizes of Envelopes & Cello Bags Stockists of Fleck Kraft 110gsm Bespoke sizes & printing available

Contact our Sales Team on 01274 518 890

www.yorkshireenvelopes.com Supplier of the year 2015 Manufacturing envelopes for over 30 years

IMPACT

Part of the Pukka Pad Group

leader Editor Tracey Bearton

T REALLY is all about the timing when you’re taking a picture.

I always take two shots of people for my trade show reviews having been caught out when I first started here – just as we were about to send the magazine to print I noticed a certain Blue Eyed Sun boss had his eyes closed.

Thankfully I’d got a different picture that could be substituted to spare Jeremy Corner the indignity of looking half asleep in the mag.

I’m always aware of this now so apologies to everyone who has to put up with me snapping away – I really am only thinking of you!

Having just come away from both Autumn Fair, Top Drawer Autumn, and Scotland’s Trade Fair Autumn, photos have been very much on my mind.

And, with this being our Licensed Cards & Associated Products issue as well as Brand Licensing Europe looming, licensing is very much to the fore too so imagine my glee when I discovered this perfectly-timed image on my Facebook feed.

Little Robyn Wilkie has no idea she allowed dad John, my old workmate, to capture a classic image with her Minnie Mouse helium foil balloon, it was just one of those moments when everything aligned.

Mind you, while John was celebrating his great shot, we’ve been debating in the office whether it’s an Amscan licensed balloon, Qualatex, or possibly Disney Store.

Robyn, who’s just celebrated her first birthday, is proof you really can catch them early with licensed products, as the second pic of her as Supergirl shows.

Good luck to all the publishers looking for new licences at BLE, and also to those designers trying to get their greetings characters and artwork on to a wider range of products.

On a completely different tack, I think I’ve found a card occasion that no one has covered yet – university baby brain!

I’ve seen cards with jokes about baby brain, baby showers, empty nest syndrome, hot flushes and goodness knows what other events I’ve never

● Cartoons by James Whitworth T: 07872 013943 – jameswhitworth@mac.com www.whitworthcartoons.com

I

experienced but can sympathise with however, uni baby brain is a completely new phenomena for me.

Caused by my baby starting uni for the first time, as the older one didn’t go I’d never realised quite how it affects your whole life trying to get everything sorted, and how distracted you get. I forgot all sorts of things, including going to a work-related anniversary party in Birmingham. Oops!

Talking of new occasions, Save The Date is a well-known wedding staple but what about Save The Date for a golf event?

Lema Publishing MD Malcolm Naish is already on the case for the 2016 Annual Greetings Today Golf Classic so he’s been sending out Save The Date emails for June 14.

Malcolm said: “The 12th Greetings Today golf day has a change of venue for 2016. We’re moving to Puckrup Hall, just a few miles from Tewkesbury, and easily reached from the M5.

“It’s a Hilton Hotel course with the hotel just a few yards from the first tee, enabling us to have the drinks ready as everyone comes off the 18th.

“The date is Tuesday, June 14, 2016 – that’s giving plenty of notice so we want no excuses about holidays clashing or, as one unreasonable golfer told us for this year’s event, that he had to cancel as his wife had gone into labour and he was in the process of taking her to the labour ward!

“Golf is much more important so please put this date in your diaries now.”

Send your views and submissions for the magazine to: tracey@lemapublishing.co.uk Tel: 01442 289930

Want to appear in ?

NOV/DEC FEATURES: Bestsellers & Trend Forecasts Occasions Cards Suppliers To The Greetings Industry Distribution Focus Charity Cards NOV/DEC COPY DATE – OCTOBER 20

WINDOW ON THE WORLD PAUL and Mags Ballard are just putting their feet up for a well-earned rest as they have retired having run Serenade in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, for almost 15 years, and been members of the Cardgains buying group throughout.

The couple took over the shop on June 26, 2001, when they bought the established Cascades store and set about changing the name to Serenade and putting their own stamp on it with a major refit to make more retail space and introduce many new products.

They stock greetings cards from most of the major publishers such as UK Greetings, Hallmark and Carte Blanche, and also have popular photographic cards from local snapper Helen Davies.

On the gifts side there are Terramundi Money Pots, Willow Tree and Tatty Teddy

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and, as with many greetings stores, they also specialise in balloon decorations – particularly the art of putting a bottle of Champagne or soft toy inside the balloon itself.

Now the Serenade story has a new chapter as Paul and Mags retired at the start of September, so new owners and sisters-in-law Charlotte and Joanna John are getting used to being greetings and gift retailers.

Charlotte said: “We knew it was up for sale and we’re a local family so we wanted to keep it going – it’s been a part of the community for 15 years.

“We’re not changing things immediately, we’re settling in first but we’ll be staying as Cardgains members!”

T: 029 2052 2424 www.serenadecardiff.co.uk

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in the news news in brief Inspiring campaign ONE OF the greetings successes of the year, Inspired Goodbyes are bidding to expand from their speciality of sympathy cards with the September 23 launch of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to publish a book to help children understand bereavement. It’s Not Fair has been written by publishers Helen Lawson and Sophia Lucop-Leech because children don’t always know how to behave after bereavement, and they’re hoping to raise £10,000 in 29 days to fund the project.

Going social to fill post INTERVIEWS have begun for the chief executive’s post at the Giftware Association and they are now using social media to widen their search following the departure of long-serving Isabel Martinson. GA Chairman Michael Papé said: “It’s crucial that we appoint the right person, even though the process may take longer than we would like.” Anyone interested in applying should go to www.ga-uk.org

Delivering love and smiles SMILES are a great way to aid healing and The Art File helped boost the Greeting Card Association’s Thinking Of You Week by delivering batches of cards to their local hospital.

The GCA campaign to create a wave of love, caring and happiness through encouraging people to send a card a day during the week of September 21-27 went very well.

Awareness of the event soared in what is only its second year – the Art File delivered cards to the children’s wards (pictured right) at The Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham for the children, nurses and doctors to join in; retailers like Harriet & Dee in Didsbury (top left), and Earlybird Designs (bottom left) in Stoke Newington, London, held competitions and set up window displays, while publishers including Hallmark, Soul UK, Carte Blanche, Laura Sherratt Designs, Raspberry Blossom and Love From Lemonade ran promotions on stock.

The Royal Mail launched a special postmark for the week which saw Sending Cards Raises Smiles stamped on everything going through the post – six million items a day.

T: 020 7619 0396 www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk

Hanson goes to Hollywood

Booked for success

WHILE the soggy bottom drama plays out on TV screens, one Hanson White card has risen to the top for Great British Bake Off Judge Paul Hollywood. Card Connection’s Great British Cake Off card, originally created for UK Greetings’ Hanson White Giggles range, clearly tickled the famous baker’s fancy when he popped into Wingham Newsagents, near Canterbury, as he was seen to write out and post the card there and then.

Make a date to save bees A NEW calendar has been launched to help save the amazing bee with all profits going to Buglife, Europe’s only charity idedicated to invertebrates conservation.

Bee-utiful Bee has close-up photos of bees on flowers with interesting facts and illustrations.

Order in the buff!

BRAINBOX Candy are pleased, nay ecstatic, to announce the launch of their brand spanking new dedicated trade site, www.brainboxcandytrade.com The new website is also optimised for phones and tablets so, as co-founder Mark Williams said: “You can order on the bus or in the buff, or both if you so desire, you cheeky rascals, you!”

IG wrapping up contracts INTERNATIONAL Greetings have said trading has got off to a good start in the first quarter of the year after winning contracts with the likes of Coca-Cola for their Santa and Universal Studios for their Despicable Me film. In their trading update the company, who make crackers, gift bags, greetings cards and stationery, said they are on track to meet market expectations and are in good shape to tackle volatile foreign exchange movements.

Website celebrations THE TYPECAST Gallery are celebrating their double nomination in the Henries Awards by unveiling their brand-new ecommerce website. Founder and director Cheryl Matthes said: “All card and print ranges can now be viewed and ordered online.”

Sex – and colouring – sells THE FIFTY Shades Of Grey sequel and adult colouring books have been credited in a pre-close trading update with boosting WH Smith’s profits above the £121million expected. However analysts believe underlying sales at their High Street outlets are likely to have fallen by about four per cent compared with last year. The update was issued as WH Smith’s preliminary results to August 31, 2015, are due to be announced on October 15.

6 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

Party like it’s 1995 CELEBRATING 20 years of fun, frolics and good business was the reason for a big party at Cinnamon Aitch’s Birmingham HQ on Friday night.

Founded by Sara Burford and Sarah Danby back in 1995, the team followed up a successful Top Drawer Autumn with the party at their Custard Factory base.

“We had a lovely evening,” Sara said, “with a fine balance of industry folk, family and friends – topped off with an amazing Cinnamon Aitch Hello Sunshineinspired cake.”

Sara is pictured, left, with Sarah, right, and their team of Susie, Andree and Lucy.

T: 0121 773 6833 www.cinnamonaitch.co.uk

HAVING already booked her place as a greetings and gifts success, artist and Wrendale Designs director Hannah Dale is branching out as a children’s author.

Hannah announced the official launch of Mr Hare’s Big Secret, her picture book for two to five year olds, on September 23 as well as her second coffee table tome Flying The Nest, both of which feature the animals well-known from her greetings cards.

She has always wanted to produce a children’s book and, now having Amelia, Lara and Oliver with husband and business partner Jack, she began writing the tale of Mr Hare while on holiday last year.

“I’m absolutely thrilled about the launch,” said Hannah, “it was a pleasure to write and illustrate and I feel incredibly privileged to be given this opportunity.”

Mr Hare’s Big Secret is published by Words & Pictures at £11.99 and Flying The Nest is published under the National Trust imprint by Pavilion Books at £8.99 and both are available from Wrendale stockists.

T: 01652 680253 www.wrendaledesigns.co.uk

Just too rude for male prudes WETWANG, Cockermouth and Bell End are some place names deemed too rude to be left uncensored at the WI’s Centennial Fair – but the furore saw Lesser Spotted Images’ naughty names plastered across the news.

The row broke out when two male organisers at the Women’s Institute’s September event in Harrogate told publisher and photographer Dominic Greyer his merchandise for his second book, Lesser Spotted Britain, had to be covered up.

“It was a male organiser deciding what the women could look at,” Dom told Greetings Today, “the women found it ridiculous and patronising, and many were having a laugh at these guys’ expense.

“One of the guys said his neck would be on the line if they weren’t

covered up because the WI’s president was coming round the fair.”

“They’d asked me to do the fair, and hassled me about it until I caved in, then this happened – but it’s ended up in the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph and on the BBC news website, it’s been all over the news and my book has now gone to number two in Amazon’s photographic book chart!”

WI members took to Twitter, one said “Oh the censorship thing did have us rolling with laughter – we’re just so delicate!”, and Cottonopolis WI tweeted “At the fab @Lesser_Spotted stand at @theWI fair but shocked to find he’d been censored

by MEN who run the event”.

T: 07932 086581 http://lesserspotted.myshopify.com/

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in the news news in brief Birds battle recognition A BATTLE between two sparrowhawks, their talons locked in deadly combat, is the dramatic subject of photographer and greetings publisher Robert E Fuller’s latest prizewinning shot. The photograph, taken by the Yorkshire wildlife art publisher as background research for a painting he was planning, won highly commended in the animal behaviour category of the prestigious 2015 British Wildlife Photography Awards on September 25.

DVD-CARDS The perfect card and gift in one!

Coffee and cake – yum!

WHEN A happy hysteria fills UK Greetings’ Dewsbury showroom and staff race to be part of the buzz, there’s only one thing that could cause such excitement – cake!

Staff filled their boots, bags, hats, and just about any cake-carrying receptacle with lots of delicious treats on September 23 as UKG hosted a Macmillan Coffee Morning with the event also featuring craft, jewellery and book sales, sweepstakes, a pub quiz, a raffle and an auction to raise a total of £1,207.

Scoring triple success THE PROUD owners, Andy and Marilyn Bean, of the Card Gallery in Wimborne are celebrating a hat trick of recent successes – becoming Cherry Orchard’s second shop of the month after being named as Retas finalists, and setting up their own transactional website www.thecardgallery.eu As the Shop Of The Month for July, they now go into a grand draw with a prize worth £1,000 up for grabs.

Joining the 100 MANTONS Cards have been named as one of the 100 firms which will be celebrated

by Small Business Saturday on December 5, and also featured online during the 100 days leading up to the event. Set up in 2013, Small Business Saturday is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign that operates as a nationwide promotional and marketing tool for owners to use to benefit their company.

Firm raise £¼m to take on Moonpig AFTER just four weeks of trading, the Papier online platform for creating personalised greetings cards and invitations have raised £250,000 in start-up capital to take on household name Moonpig. The London-based business, founded by former management consultant Taymoor Atighetchi, claims to be an “upmarket” take on the online offering currently available. “We work with leading designers and illustrators to create the cards,” said 26-year-old Taymoor, “compared to the likes of Moonpig, which use cheesy designs, no one would be embarrassed to send or receive our cards.”

Sam’s a calendar girl STAY With Me hitmaker Sam Smith is releasing an official calendar for 2016 and wants to make it “extra special” for fans as he used to work in Clintons. Working with licensed calendar specialists Danilo, Sam posted a picture of his black and white version on his Samsmithworld Instagram account, commenting: “Soooo I’m officially a calendar girl. It’s so weird coz I used to work in Clinton Cards and see all the calendars, so I wanted to make this extra special.” Within 24 hours the post had racked up 123,000 likes and more than 2,300 comments – so it looks like Danilo are on to another winner!

For those milestone Birthdays and Anniversaries 40th (1976) 50th (1966) 60th (1956) 70th (1946) 80th (1936) Each card contains a superb DVD with real archive film of the highlights of the year.

Gifts are write on THE LONDON Stationery Show has joined the Giftware Association with event director Chris Leonard-Morgan saying: “The importance of gift retailers to the stationery sector is becoming more and more obvious.” The 2016 London Stationery Show takes place on April 26-27 at London’s Business Design Centre during National Stationery Week, which runs from April to May 1, and World Stationery Day is on April 27.

Hit behind bars CHAZ Muircroft is doing his bit to keep love alive behind bars – he’s just sent a big parcel of his humorous greetings cards to a prisoner desperate for something different to send to his girlfriend. Cartoonist Chaz and graphic designer Dave Baker run Chaz & Dave Designs in Bedford, where they recently received a hand-written letter from prisoner Roger Long in HMP Bristol. Chaz said: “I was surprised so I sent him a big batch of cards for him and his cell mates to share!”

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C N E SA A R EA Remaining stock, retail value £25,000

LE

REVENUES are up eight per cent at Card Factory to £161.4million and they’ve given shareholders a nice little earner with a special dividend of 15p per share – returning £51.1m of excess cash. The specialist retailers of greetings cards, dressings and gifts announced their interim results for the six months to July 31 highlighting the group’s strong cash generation which led to the special dividend plus an interim dividend of 2.5p per share, up from last year’s 2.3p. The business highlights include 36 new stores being rolled out, bringing the estate to 800, and they’re on track for a further 14 by the year end.

CL

Nice little earner

Offered for just £4,000!

ENQUIRIES AND SAMPLES:

t: 01794 367633 e: mail@newmediagreetings.com www.greetingstoday.co.uk 7

licensing news

people news ● CAROLINE Weaver (pictured) has left her post as Head Of Product & Marketing at Andover-based publishers Gemma. Current Marketing Manager Shelley Boyd-Platt will be taking on the position of Acting Head Of Product & Marketing for the foreseeable future, working with CEO David Wesson and Licensing Director Tim Rudd-Clarke. ● SOPHIE Greenwood has moved to Marks & Spencer to look after their card buying, gifts, stationery and Christmas decorations after 18 months at the WH Smith group. Sophie was previously the card buyer at Tesco, and her WH Smith role is being taken over by her right-hand man Henry Wickham. ● AFTER three years of penning poetry, Jessica Bumby has moved from the editorial department at UK Greetings to become PR and Digital Media Manager, taking over from Lorna Bunnell who recently left after three years with UKG. Jessica spent a year in advertising admin before moving to UKG as an editor. ● BLUE Eyed Sun MD Jeremy Corner rose to the #BeatTheCEO challenge in the Great North Run on September 11 by finishing the half-marathon six minutes ahead of Sage boss Stephen Kelly at 1hr 45mins. Jeremy was one of 250 customers and staff from the business software firm Sage to run in a bid to raise £75,000 for Cancer Research UK, and he finished 4,342 out of more than 57,000. ● YOUNGEST franchisee Daryl Perkins (pictured), 27, is Card Connection’s Franchisee Of The Year, having owned the Nottingham territory for two years. Regional franchisee awards went to Peter & Sharon Smith, Northern; Daryl Perkins, South Wales & Central; Andy Burchell, Southern; Gabriel McGeown, Ireland; Andy & Vicki Thompson, North & Scotland; Paul & Jenny Davis, Anglia & Midlands. ● RICHARD and Karen Humphrey have been awarded the Heid Sulley Commemorative Cup by Card Connection. The award recognises tenacity and team spirit and the North Devon franchisees have been helping run the Plymouth area and MD Michael Johnson said they showed “unparalleled work ethic".

Lifetime gong for Laurence THE MAN behind the licensed calendar industry was honoured by his peers when Danilo Promotions founder and chairman Laurence Prince picked up the Honorary Achievement Award at the Licensing Awards.

Having started the UK’s first licensing business back in 1978, Laurence is known as The Calendar King, and tweeted that he was “delighted to have won” after being presented with the award at the ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

In his acceptance speech on the night Laurence, who has just published the 37th Cliff Richard calendar, said: “This industry has been good to me. It's an industry I love and have grown up with – I'm 69 this year. I appreciate that the licensing industry has given me this award – it’s just fantastic, thank you.”

Danilo also picked up the trophy in the Best Licensed Paper Products Or Stationery Range for their Despicable Me greetings cards, calendars and giftbags range.

The September 15 ceremony was hosted by actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong, pictured right with Laurence – with the latest Superman actor Henry Cavill making a surprise appearance as a guest speaker, leaving ladies in the 1,400-strong audience of retailers, licensees, licensors and suppliers swooning.

Now in their 10th year, The Licensing Awards are supported by trade association LIMA and this year’s headline sponsor was Brand Licensing Europe. They celebrate the achievements of all aspects of the industry from retailers to products, licensed properties to marketing expertise. The full list of 2015 winners is on their website.

www.thelicensingawards.co.uk

Who you gonna call?

IF YOU’RE calling for Ghostbusters it will be Rocket Licensing on the end of the phone as they are managing the UK and Ireland licensing campaign on behalf of Sony Pictures.

Ghostbusters is back with a highprofile reboot and all-female cast that’s scheduled for July 2016.

For the first phase of the UK licensing campaign Rocket, who are also managing the Classic Ghostbusters campaign, are targeting publishing, apparel, nightwear, underwear, social stationery, stationery, confectionery, gifts and homeware.

T: 020 7207 6243 www.rocketlicensing.com

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Home Based (Southern England) The Company The Original Poster Company is a leading supplier of greeting cards to the convenience retail market, established in 1991.

The Role You will be responsible for leading and developing a team of franchisees that supply our products to convenience stores, post offices and card shops across a given region. You will motivate, mentor and coach each of your franchisees on all aspects of the business, in particular prospecting, merchandising, journey planning and above all else, business development to maximise the franchisees sales.

The Person The ideal candidate will have experience within the greeting card, convenience retail or related FMCG industries and possibly have previous management experience.

The Benefits In addition to a competitive basic salary, bonus, company car, mobile phone and other benefits, you will be offered an opportunity to become part of an excellent team working with a strong and supportive management team.

WE ALSO HAVE FRANCHISE TERRITORIES AVAILABLE IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS AROUND THE UK FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN RUNNING THEIR OWN BUSINESS.

Contact: andrewc@originalposter.com

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supplier news Printers make the finals FOUR greetings card printers have made the shortlist for the 2015 Print Week Awards with both Windles and Sherwood getting two nominations each in a record year for entries.

Windles Group – who are almost at the end of their threeyear project for a purpose-built, environmentally-sustainable factory – are one of three finalists in the Environmental Company Of The Year category.

They also join Loxleys Print, The Sherwood Group, and Woodmansterne Publications in the Social Stationery Printer Of The Year category, and Sherwood are among four finalists in the FMCG Packaging Printer Of The Year section.

All entries were judged by an esteemed group of industry experts who analysed and scored each one with its supporting material to arrive at the list of finalists.

The winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Monday, October 19.

Cash for Heroes ANOTHER stellar performance has seen Carousel Calendars’ licensed range of Help For Heroes dated products raise £56,677 for the worthwhile charity helping the UK’s wounded service personnel and veterans.

Carousel, who have a wealth of experience working with the UK’s leading charities, have published and distributed the Help For Heroes calendars and diary for the past five years, raising a staggering total of £238,954 overall.

And they’ve achieved it using a different approach to charity funding within the dated sector – rather than a pure royalty rate based on net receipts Carousel apply a donation of £2 from every planner, wall calendar and diary sold, and £1 from every slim calendar sold, with all titles featuring the bear illustrations of Bryn Parry, who established the charity with his wife Emma.

T: 01603 677315 www.carouselcalendars.com

www.printweekawards.com

Strategic alliance NOTTINGHAM-based greetings cards printers The Sherwood Group have announced a strategic alliance with point-of-sale specialists KMD Company.

The alliance will broaden both businesses’ range of products and services and aim at developing point of sale and luxury packaging, designed and produced in the UK and China. KMD will utilise Sherwood’s Smartcentre innovation hub for high-quality digital print of prototypes and short run of packaging and POS and Chinese production facilities for larger production volumes at competitive prices.

Sherwood CEO Jeremy Bacon said: “We have a shared passion for creating innovative products for our customers. Sherwood have been interested in developing the POS and display market for a number of years. It’s a rapidly-growing part of our business since our investment in the Smartcentre innovation hub last year”.

www.sherwoodgroupuk.com www.kmdcompany.co.uk

WE LOVE * PRINT &

FOIL&EMBOSS&FLITTER&DIE-CUTS &VARNISHING&FOLDING&FINISHING & ALL OF THE OTHER MAGIC WE BRING TO YOUR CREATIONS WWW. THEIMAGING CENTRE.CO.UK

*

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meet the newbies Sett on family career path PROFESSIONAL artists have been in Lynsey Whelan’s family for three generations so setting up her own greetings business draws on that experience, especially as her greataunt’s landscapes were often turned into Christmas cards.

“Because of my father’s passion for painting and nature,” Lynsey said, “I was putting colour on paper, sticking leaves on card, squidging clay at a very young age.

“As soon as I could hold a pencil my father and I would draw plants, fish and pets and he inspired me with the idea of telling a story though art. Between us we produced lots of little picture books for our own amusement.”

While studying for her BA (Hons) degree at Birmingham Institute Of Art and Lynsey worked in greetings card shops and became passionate about a career in cards and associated stationery design.

She added: ”During 2012 I married Tom and got very excited about designing all the associated stationery. My family and friends were so enthusiastic with the designs I knew it was the right time to start my career as an illustrator.”

Lynsey set up The Badger’s Sett while still working in a school art and technology department, originally offering bespoke wedding stationery as well as a wedding design and hire service, and has now expanded to include cards.

She said: “I wanted the notion of family and friends at

The Badger’s Sett’s heart. Card giving and receiving is something we do to show appreciation and love to the people in our very own sett. ”Having grown up in a city I find it very inspiring and lots of my designs have urban wildlife within them. We live in one of the houses that surround a wood – sometimes, if we’re lucky enough, we cross paths with the wildlife. I also feel there is a demand in the market for a blend of British wildlife with the vintage element I’m so passionate about. ”Since we had our baby boy Wilfred, now 10 months old.

I’ve had more inspiration than ever, painting and drawing whenever he’s napping. I have also returned to children’s storybooks which have expanded my illustrative style to include a more fun and colourful narrative. ”I tend to paint traditionally in watercolours and acrylics, then apply mixed media later. I feel it’s important the design expresses the thousand words the sender wishes to say.”

T: 07703 858229 www.badgerssett.co.uk

Animals with Bells on

Seeing it through

SISTERS Lizzie and Clare’s life-long love of animals began at a very early age growing up among the family pets.

With a home filled with cats, dogs, ponies, sheep, chickens and a naughty little lop-eared rabbit, they developed lasting friendships with their furry friends.

Always there to listen, never judging and keeping all their secrets, the animals never failed to prompt a smile.

Combining this love of animals with art, Lizzie and Clare started creating home-made greetings cards for family and friends which turned into The Little Bells earlier this year.

Their first range The Trinkets is based on the animals that inspired them, and the girls create cute, hand-illustrated cards.

All the cards are printed in the UK and designs are available in sets of three, and they are producing bespoke designs for retailers and a local hospice.

GETTING back to work after having children is what led Allie Fisher to set up her own publishers, launching with her first show at Top Drawer Autumn in September.

Allie worked as a freelance textile designer for more than 10 years,, selling designs worldwide through agents to fashion houses, furnishing companies and for paper products.

“I stopped designing to concentrate on raising my three children,” she said, “My return to work and a desire to be creative again led me to designing and publishing my own collections of greetings cards under the name Allie Fisher Design.

“As a print designer I found that after the design had sold, especially overseas, I’d seldom see them as a finished product. Now I want to see my designs through from concept to product and will later be producing large-scale prints to complement the card ranges.

Notecards and party products are now in the pipeline for Spring Fair, along with an expanded collection that will include more Mr & Mrs greetings, which so far are proving very popular.

Lizzie and Clare said: “We’re delighted to see our characters come to life and to be able to put a smile on people’s faces.” www.thelittlebells.com

WHAT’S NEW AT WINDLES?

10 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

World’s Biggest Coffee Morning – Windles Group joined the public and businesses around the UK supporting Macmillan Cancer with their World’s Biggest Coffee Morning on Friday, September 25.

The troops poured in to eat cake, drink coffee and make donations to the charity box., raising the handsome sum of £113.27 in our 30-minute coffee break, with donations still coming in. It was fun, rewarding, great to have a quick out of the office and factory catch up, and delicious!

Thank you to our lovely Emma for arranging it so we could all be part of this event helping a fantastic cause.

meet the newbies WORMING THEIR WAY INTO OUR HEARTS

WORMS have always been the gardeners’ friends and they’ve become great mates of everyone at Windles too as they not only recycle our canteen food waste, but generate incredible liquid feed for plants!

Windles Group founder and MD Bruce Podmore is well known for his environmentallyfriendly view of both life and business so, as part of the building of our new factory, he’s been determined to include as many eco aspects as possible.

For 21 months Windles have been the proud owners of a wormery – such a lovely word!

So our worms are looking forward to celebrating their second birthday at the new factory.

We like to share what we know, to help others and, with the knowledge that people have been impressed to learn about just how amazing these wriggly little creatures are, we thought we’d share some of our worm wisdom with you all.

The wormery converts food waste from our canteens into rich organic compost through the natural action of worms feeding. A wormery is something that anyone can have in their garden and requires little maintenance.

Dead organic matter becomes high-quality worm-cast compost (vermicompost) and nutritious liquid feed (leachate).

The wormery should be located where a relatively stable temperature can be maintained, out of direct sunlight and preferably frost-free and don’t let it get soggy and wet as the worms don’t like it. What they do like is a similar room temperature to us people.

If there are high levels of citric waste – which happens mostly during the Christmas season when people eat lots of satsumas – use an anti-acid lime mix. Alternatively add crushed eggshells, which are essentially calcium oxide, as adding these has the same effect. Worms thrive best at a broadly-neutral pH level, around ph7.

There are 28 species of earthworm native to the UK of which three are particularly suitable for composting. We strongly believe that Eisenia Fetid, or Tiger Worm, is the best as it survives in a wider variety of conditions and has a bigger appetite so they deal with more food waste.The typical life span of a tiger worm is six months to two years.

Worms breed rapidly so when a wormery is operating as it should be, the population will

“I’ll always have a natural love for patterns and tasteful colours and love to combine them in a minimal way – simplicity with beautiful colouring and patterning runs throughout the ranges.

“Having launched at Top Drawer with a positive reaction and orders from my target market of tasteful interior and gift retailers, I’ll now develop the ranges further and am looking to exhibit again at Top Drawer in January.”

T: 07710 470079 www.alliefisherdesign.com

NEW MEMBERS THE latest publishers to join the Greeting Card Association include: LOLA DESIGN LTD GRAFFEG LIMITED Amanda Mountain 24 Stradey Park Business Centre, lola.designtrade@hotmail.com Mwrwg Road, Llanelli, SA14 8YP www.loladesignltd.com Matthew Howard 07796 692559 or 07456 488595 matthew.howard@graffeg.com www.graffeg.com CELTIC MYSTERY 01554 824000 Angie Latham info@celticmystery.co.uk ELAARA ISLAMIC GREETING www.celticmystery.co.uk CARDS 01684 591052 or 07773 220428 Elaara House, 76 Croft Gardens, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, HD2 2FL THE BADGER’S SETT Faaezah Qureshi Lynsey Whelan info@elaara.com info@thebadgerssett.co.uk www.elaara.com www.badgerssett.co.uk 0800 246 1382 or 07460 716 132 07703 858229

renew itself and you shouldn’t need to introduce new ones.

Clever evolution means worms never overpopulate as they regulate their reproduction based on their environmental conditions, the space available and the food supply. Pity mankind hasn’t learned this trick yet!

Worms shouldn’t be overfed when you start off a wormery. Let them settle in and partly decompose the food waste initially.The first few weeks are the slowest and you should generally only feed them a couple of handfuls of a week when you first set it up. Once the worms are established and the food is in the correct state for the worms, you can increase the throughput.

A handful of waste takes just a few weeks to compost but you need to build up a good amount of compost to make harvesting it easy and worthwhile.

Typically it takes around a year to fill the wormery with compost because the majority of food waste is liquid content which is released from the food and comes out of the tap as the liquid feed.

Initially the liquid fertiliser takes around 10 to 12 weeks to start coming through and it’s then tapped off every three to four weeks.

A well-established wormery will be fine left for up to a month or so, although the Windles Wormery attracts regular visitors.

All in all, worms give out more than they get. Somehow, in the gut of the worm, decomposing vegetative matter comes out more nutrient rich than it went in.Vermicompost, or worm compost, is seven times more rich in plant nutrients than compost created by bacteria and fungus.

The worms have been a fantastic addition to our family at Windles Group. We’ve been learning so much from these creatures that have been worming their way into our hearts as we bring what used to be common sense to rural folk, back into our everyday culture and company operating policies.

Working with a manufacturer who cares about the world around us can only give customers confidence that we care about them too.

When Windles Group move from Long Crendon to our fantastic new home at Thame, our worms will definitely be coming with us.

Paws for thought LAUNCHED in July, WildPaws are an animal photography business with an online shop featuring their very own range of cards as well as pet toys and treats.

Run by Catherine and Nathaniel, with a lot of help from Wilbur the two-year-old Jack Russell, their card selection is focused around pets and nature as that’s what they love to photograph.

The couple are both videographers, and Nathaniel is also a film editor so they also film pet events, such as Woofstock UK, and put their images on canvas prints and jute bags.

Catherine said: “We use genuine photos, there’s no Photoshopping of party hats on dogs or glasses on cats here.

We’ve always been animal obsessed – at one point we had nine pets, now it’s just Wilbur, rabbits Miles and Lily, Penny the guinea pig and goldfish Guinness.

“For years we’d been taking photos of our pets and using them on handmade cards for family and friends – everything from our dog in a Christmas hat, our

bunny with a football scarf on and even our guinea pigs under the mistletoe!

“We dreamed up WildPaws on a short break to Oxfordshire with Wilbur last summer. After many a scenic walk and plenty of photos, we imagined what it would be like to do just that for a living. In January 2015, we decided to go for it and enrolled in The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme which helped develop our skills and build our confidence to make WildPaws a reality.

“We’re just lucky we have such patient pets – they’ll do anything for the promise of a treat!”

T: 07827 159224 www.wildpaws.co.uk

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Something for everyone

COVERSTORY

Ranges for the new year are well in hand and licensing experts Danilo have plenty to shout about. From Shopkins and Paw Patrol, through Star Wars and Marvel to Doctor Who and Gogglebox, retailers really do have the chance for a complete product offering across all ages.

T

HERE’S something for everyone with the brandnew offer from Danilo who have secured a fantastic range of licences from a plethora of popular brands – which they are supporting with some amazing promotional activity.

Shopkins

SHOPKINS are super cute, fun, small characters that live in a big shopping world. There are cute fruits, sweet treats, party foods and more!

Inspired by items from each aisle in the supermarket and housed in adorable little shopping bags, each Shopkin will bring non-stop shopping fun to youngsters.

There are more than 140 different characters to collect and trade, including rare, ultra rare, special and limited edition characters that feature special finishes and are grouped by different sections of the supermarket from Sweet Treats and Frozen Food, to Baby and Stationery.

Danilo are publishing the 2016 calendar, card range and wrap: including more than 15 card designs for ages five to nine and female captions plus small and medium gift bags, roll wrap and two-sheet two-tag packs.

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They have everything from Disney, Good Dinosaur, and Paw Patrol through to Marvel, Star Wars Episode 7, and Thunderbirds – plus the new signing of classic brand The Beano.

Danilo have also seen their Minions range nominated this year at both the Henries and the Licensing Awards plus the products have set new sales records for the company.

Licensing Director Trevor Jones said: “We’re delighted that for 2015/16 we have the strongest set of licensed brands we’ve ever had.

“And with so much promotional activity happening to support these great titles, we’re hoping for another successful year.”

DISNEY The upcoming releases encompass an amazing range of Disney titles for 2016, appealing to a wide audience from young children to adults with the likes of Disney’s Frozen following on from its success as the number one selling calendar for 2015.

There’s also Frozen Fever, Fairies and Princess as well as new Pixar films such as Inside Out, Good Dinosaur through to older titles such as Marvel’s Avengers and the upcoming brand-new Star Wars Episode 7.

Product-wise Danilo are delighted to offer quality embossed diaries this year plus a leather-effect premium A5 Marvel Diary and even a Light & Sound Star Wars Desk

‘

We have the strongest set of licensed brandss d we’ve ever had

’

Calendar – with light-saber light and sound when you press the button!

Danilo have had a great level of promotional productivity with more to come, including: ● Cinderella DVD released in August – new calendar for 2016. ● Star Wars Week and Force Friday on September 4 where the new Episode 7 calendar cover was revealed. ● Avengers Age Of Ultron DVD released on September 14. ● Descendants – UK movie premiered on September 25 on Disney Channel UK. ● Good Dinosaur coming out in UK cinemas on November 27.

Other fantastic titles that Danilo have for the new year, and where they will also be running promotional activity, are: MUSIC TITLES ● 5 Seconds Of Summer – both an A3 and Square Calendar this year as well as new range of greetings cards, October 23 sees their new album launch ● The Vamps – another popular title for Danilo with a great response to their card range, including sound card, plus they will have a 2016 calendar. The Vamps have a new tour that started September 22 plus are planning single releases over October and November.

TV/FILM TITLES ● 2016 looks set to be a Minion-mad year.

In addition to the cards, wrap and bags they

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COVERSTORY

already do, Danilo are publishing the 2016 Calendar, Family Organiser, premium A5 spiralbound diary, mini-calendar and slim calendar.

The new Minions Movie DVD launch will be on November 16. ● Doctor Who – Danilo have both the classic and new series 2016 Dr Who Calendars, plus mini-calendar, desk block calendar, desk easel calendar and diary. The new series with Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor hit screens on September 19. ● Paw Patrol – new for Danilo for 2015/16, they are publishing the cards, wrap and bags from the TV show which has quickly evolved into one of the biggest pre-school franchises on the planet. A third series has been commissioned. ● Mr Bean – there’s a new greetings card range for this year and Danilo joined in the celebrations of the character’s 25th anniversary starting on September 14 on Facebook with joint promotional activity.

● Gogglebox – another great new range for 2015/16, Danilo are publishing the greetings cards and 2016 Calendar. Britain’s favourite viewers are now back for series six on Channel 4. ● Thunderbirds – Danilo have the official 2016 calendar and greetings cards for Thunderbirds plus cards for Thunderbirds Are Go. September 30 saw their 50th anniversary and an official app launches in October to accompany the show’s second series. ● Ted 2 – Danilo have a 2016 calendar and will be launching a cheeky Ted greetings card range in time for the DVD release of Ted 2 on November 23. ● The Beano – this is another brand-new title for Danilo where they are focusing on a retro range of greetings cards aimed at adults and an additional juvenile range.

T: 01992 702900 www.danilo.com

Star Wars:The Force Awakens

THE Force Awakens will be the first film in the planned third Star Wars trilogy after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm in October 2012.

Scheduled for release on December 18, Episode 7 of the Starr Wars franchise will see the return of key characters such as Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.

Danilo are publishing the official 2016 Episode 7 Calendar, Desk Easel Calendar and Premium A5 leathereffect diary and they also have a brand-new Light and Sound Star Wars Desk Easel Calendar in classic Star Wars style.

Force Friday – September 4 – saw The Force Awakens official merchandise launch which included the 2016 calendar and diary imagery. The response to Force Friday saw the #ForceFriday and #StarWars hashtags trending on Twitter and Facebook all day.

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JOHN RYAN RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

Deep in the heart of card shops T

RAVELLING to Austin in Texas recently it was hard not to anticipate a good time.

There are many who extol the virtues of this non-Texan-like Texan state capital and, if you like sounds, Austin proudly proclaims itself as the “live music capital of the world”.

All this and it’s hot, very hot – which tends to mean a trip to a mall every now and then, if only just to cool down in the ubiquitous icy air con.

Here the good stuff comes to a bit of a halt however as the experience of wandering around an Austin mall is a bit like that anywhere in the US – uniformity served up with a heavy slice of blandness, right down to the inevitable food court of the sort that disappeared from modern UK mall retailing years ago.

Perhaps nowhere is this more the case than when it comes to greetings cards. Without being churlish enough to name names – principally because the big brands are in this country as well as the US – the lowest common denominator rule seems to have been applied when creating these stores.

Here’s how it goes. There are loads of cuddly toys and silvered inflatable balloons with cheery messages at the front of the shop, followed by display gondolas that run up to the slatwalls, into which numerous clear Perspex trays have been dropped.

The outcome is dull and pretty much serves as shorthand for the all-American shopping centre experience – pleasant, but unexciting.

Enough of the US therefore and back to Blighty.

Surely we can do better than this?

Well, in some instances we certainly can and it tends to be the independents that lead the charge in this respect.

But look at many of the majors, Clintons

Looking to the US for inspiration when it comes to creating winning store interiors might be time wasted says John Ryan. ● Remember the Alamo – the Texan landmark sticks in the mind more than the shopping experience

‘

The lowest T common denominator rule has been applied

’

perhaps, and what might be seen there in Solihull is broadly the same as is likely to be encountered in Springfields, Ohio, despite the fact that Clintons’ head office is in Essex.

Two thoughts spring to mind. Yes, Clintons is owned by an American company and this certainly has some bearing on the way some of the newer stores look, the ones with the cherry red and cream fascia, but impersonal, nondescript design has long been its Hallmark – another US implant in the UK, but you knew this.

So why, when there’s a whole world of possible options as far as store design and fit-out are concerned, has the UK chosen in too places to follow an inglorious example that is some 3,000 miles distant?

John Ryan is Stores Editor at Retail Week where he’s worked for more than a decade covering store design, visual merchandising and what makes things sell in-store. In a previous life he was a retail buyer.

T: 07710 429926 twitter: @newstores

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The answer, sadly, may well be corporate inertia and sloth. It’s a whole lot easier to look at an offthe-peg, more or less, store design and implement it across a chain than to create something fresh and different that has a chance of standing out.

This is why so many card stores provoke little more than a long-suffering sigh – it’s the result of not putting enough love into the process of creating a store that shoppers will wish to shop.

Fortunately, and here we really do part company with those across The Pond, our small independents and bigger ones like Paperchase, Blott and Scribbler all go their own way when it comes to fashioning winning greetings card store interiors and provide object lessons in doing so.

Back in the day, many retailers made the partholiday, part-business trip to the US to glean ideas about how they might do things better.

On the evidence of what’s out there at the moment (and this has been the case for some years), the best thing that might be done is to stay home, or maybe take a look at the efforts of our European cousins instead.

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Th brand The plays on

LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW

● Moonpig Studio Pets

The month of October is all about licensing with BLE the big show for this time of year, and the Greetings Today’s annual licensed cards and associated products feature. Here Moonpig’s Sarah-Jane Porter explains how licensing works for them.

L

ICENSING and brands are a huge part of the greetings and gift industry these days, with film, TV and characters being extremely popular among both adults and children.

And, with Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) coming up fast – the UBM Advanstar-organised show runs at London’s Olympia from Tuesday to Thursday, October 13-15 – it’s the time of year when thoughts turn to the next big thing.

It’s not all about greetings publishers looking for brands to feature on their cards, there are many artists and designers from the industry keen to get their work licensed on to other products – this year’s exhibitor list includes Alex Underdown, Belle & Boo, Carte Blanche, Claire Louise, HartDeco, Licorice Trading, Paper Rose, Sarah Ray and Two Little Boys.

Publishers like Danilo, Gemma, UK Greetings, Hallmark and Moonpig are renowned for their licensed offering – and have become masters at picking the right licences.

Exactly how they do it is a closely-guarded secret but Sarah-Jane Porter, Head of Licensing for Moonpig’s parent company Photobox Group, has let Greetings Today in on a few secrets: “BLE is a really important show in the licensing calendar for us, not only for sourcing new licences and attending licensor presentations but meeting with existing licensors/agents all under one roof is a great opportunity.

“The Moonpig licensing and design team will attend every year and manage around 10 meetings a day subject to licence screenings.

We generally divide and conquer so we have a broader perspective on the show and make sure we get the most out of it as a team.

“Previously print-on-demand or personalised products have been perceived as a bolt-on to many greetings card publishers’ contracts without a real thought to the means or strategic approach to fulfil the rights granted.

“At last year’s BLE I really felt that times were changing and licensors are engaging a huge amount in digital businesses and realising the value of the personalisation category as a separate opportunity to that of the High Street

‘

supply chain. This change in development is, of course, great news for a company like Moonpig.

“We currently hold around 50 licences covering hundreds of properties so we really look for brands that complement our current portfolio as well as filling some of the gaps we have.

“We’re conscious that we don’t want to commit to licences just to tick the box of saying we have it. Everything we take on, we want to execute to its full potential and work on a partnership level. We’re also looking to partner with brand owners that realise the potential of our category and the breadth of products we offer.

“Over the year the two key events for sourcing new licences are BLE and the Vegas Licensing Expo where licensors and agents use the events as a launch pad for new properties and brands. Outside of these events we rely on licensors updating us on any new brand developments as well as attending licensee days.

“We also work with a couple of trend forecast companies which are great for highlighting any new trends that we can then research independently which reflect the specific trend.

“Last year our BLE discovery was Studio Pets

By Myrna, licensed by Lisle Licensing. This was a new brand to the show and one all of our team picked up on when we debriefed back at the office.

“As we’re a print-on-demand retailer we don’t have the lengthy product development leadtimes that most retailers have so we’re able to react quicker to the market’s demands. As a result we were able to launch our first range of Studio Pets products in March this year and have added to the range throughout the year.

“Our customers love cute cats and dogs so this has been a successful partnership this year – the other great thing about Studio Pets is that creator Myrna Huijing has developed video and animated content together with the photography which has enabled the brand to be one of our hero collaborations for our soon-to-launch video cards, which really brings the brand to life!

“We’re looking forward to seeing what’s at this year’s BLE – hopefully another great discovery.” www.brandlicensing.eu

Our customers love cute cats and dogs so this has been a successful partnership

’

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FAB FOUR LINE UP THE FOUR finalists for Brand Licensing Europe’s annual License This! competition have been revealed – and now have the task of getting ready to present their concepts to the judges in front of an audience.

Now in its sixth year, the challenge offers those with brand-new creative concepts the opportunity to break into the global licensing industry and the final takes place on the last day of the show.

The finalists now competing for the £6,000 prize, which includes a fully-furnished stand at BLE 2016 and LIMA membership for one year, are: ● Natu Natu, presented by Fran Bravo – an ecofriendly, cross-media project which features small, fantastic creatures and aims to help promote a more ecological way of life. ● OiDroids, presented by Jonathan Klemenz – popout and build collectable cardboard robot toys, aimed at the pocket money sector, each with quirky detail and full of personality. ● Victoria Spunge, presented by Stuart Simpson – an animation series in development about the sweet, smart Victoria Spunge age 6½ and her visits to her Grandpa, the eccentric inventor Albert Custard age 66½. ● Wussywat, presented by Simon Quinn and Simon Rolph – Wussywat The Clumsy Cat is a 2D animation series for three to five year olds, currently airing on CBeebies, about a curious and clumsy cat discovering the world with his animal friends.

THE SPLICE OF LIFE BLE HAS teamed up with The Society of Product Licensors Committed to Excellence (SPLiCE) to present a new series of panel discussions in the Licensing Academy this year.

The three panels will address Anti-Counterfeiting, Social Accountability and Direct To Retail and are breaking new ground for Brand Licensing Europe with the discussion of issues that affect both consumers and licensing professionals.

It’s the first time the trade association have brought their insights to the UBM Advanstarorganised event that takes place at London’s Olympia from October 13-15, and includes a specialist Art & Design sector.

Kimberly Kociencki, CEO at SPLiCE, said: “For years now we have been sharing best practices in the US. It’s a significant pleasure to be opening up the floor at BLE and to the European licensing Industry.”

Kimberly will moderate the 45-minute sessions which will feature top level presenters, and host a question and answer opportunity at the end of each.

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LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW

How do you see each day?

CHANGE the way you see each day with the brand-new range of calendars and diaries designed

by Carousel Calendars and distributed by Otter House under licence to WWF UK. It’s all about showcasing the natural world in all its beauty and diversity as the titles reflect the challenges to the incredible world we live in. Explore the world every day with fabulous images and learn about the species featured through the year.

There are two different styles of diary – Wild & Free pocket diary and Endangered Species A5 diary – and four themed calendars – Slim Engagement Calendar in Tigers and Young & Wild, and Square Tabulated Calendar in Endangered Species and Fragile Earth – all produced on FSC papers.

Vivian Nutt, Head of Licensing and Retail, WWF UK, said: ‘We’re really pleased to be able to offer more titles and formats in diaries and calendars for 2016 that reflect WWF’s mission of people living in harmony with nature.

“It’s really important to have our bestselling products conveying the value of the natural world and using the Earth’s resources fairly by being produced on FSC papers.’

Martin Rees-Davis, Head of Licensing, Carousel Calendars and Otter House, added: ‘We’ve really enjoyed bringing together the dated stationery for WWF and working with such a great organisation doing worthwhile projects for endangered animals and their habitats. We’re thrilled that we are contributing to this vital work around the world.”

T: 01392 826482 www.carouselcalendars.com T: 01392 824300 www.otterhouse.co.uk

Folk can’t get enough of Harold WINNER of last year’s Henries Award for Best Licensed Range, Harold’s Planet from Clare Maddicott Publications has once again been nominated in the category this year – it seems folks just can’t get enough of this bobbly-nosed character.

Despite being conceived more than 16 years ago by his creators, husband and wife team Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar, this endearing character stands the test of time as the range, now at more than 70 cards, is constantly refreshed with new designs and revamps.

The latest additions are a selection of milestone birthday cards covering the major ages 18 to 100 in a newer size format of 158x183mm, the bold and bright designs carry the positive Harold take on the world.

Printed on art board, the cards are blank inside for the sender’s own message.

T: 01638 569050 www.maddicott.com

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LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW LICENS

Time to get collecting i g SUPERHEROES will be the first range of Hallmark’s new collectable Itty Bittys plush toys to be released in the UK – expanding their licensed offer that already includes Star Wars everyday and Christmas cards.

Having enjoyed enormous success in the US and Australia, Itty Bittys land on UK shores from the beginning of October and are designed to appeal to children and all fans of comic books, films and iconic TV shows.

The first ranges available to UK collectors are Super Heroes, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Scooby Doo and The Wizard Of Oz, and Hallmark will be

continually releasing new Itty Bittys to ensure collectors have a constant supply of new characters to purchase.

One of the first characters to go on sale in the UK will be Batman, currently the top selling Itty Bitty in the US, and the range includes Superman and Wonder Woman.

With Star Wars there’s a freestanding display unit that allows Hallmark to make a big statement about the Christmas range as the new movie - Star Wars: The Force Awakens – comes up for release in December.

The everyday cards include a detachable wrist band that make battle sounds when waved and the festive range features activity sets, build your own character model and pop up cards.

Timeless classic and contemporary art cards

T: 0800 902 0900 www.hallmark.co.uk

Going with the rhythm TOMCAT have just started their fifth year of business by licensing the colourful art of Rhonda Davies to create a beautiful new card range called The Rhythm Of Life.

The deal positions Rhonda’s work alongside Erika Oller’s Going With The Flow and Vicky Mount’s Call Of The Wild ranges.

Tomcat’s founders Merv and Lynne Thomas ensure the art of each artist they license from has a unique, humourous slant and each range complements the others.

Licensing allows Tomcat to minimise in-house costs, stay up-to-date and keep pace with current tastes.

T: 01243 837300 www.tomcatcards.co.uk

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Tel: 01373 462165 Email: sales@mgml.co.uk

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LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW

Key players combine cards and gift formats MUSEUMS & Galleries have been key players in the heritage and fine arts sector of the licensing industry for many years, and are remarkable for combining licensed card ranges with a well-considered array of gift stationery formats.

MGL have enjoyed a licensing relationship with the British Library dating back to the company’s origins 30 years ago. Today the licence is flourishing and covers a range of branded greetings cards and Christmas cellopacks, boxed notelets, giftwraps and poster wraps, and gift stationery including notebooks, journals, writing sets and bookmarks.

Other key fine art licences include the V&A, British Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, and the Wedgwood Museum.

Over the last couple of years, MGL have built on this to explore opportunities in more contemporary art licensing – the company’s vibrant Mezzanine and Art Of Print ranges have been very popular, as has the outstanding range of colourful art cards by contemporary collagist Jane Robbins.

However, the remarkable trend of 2015 has been MGL’s publishing of the British Library’s authoritative Alice In Wonderland imagery.

The much-loved book by Lewis Carroll celebrated its 150th anniversary this year with the milestone event definitely turboboosting sales of Alice merchandise far beyond their perennially buoyant levels.

MGL explore the world of Alice in depth with greetings cards, a mini cube box of notelets, a gift wrap, a set of three mini notebooks, and an elasticated journal.

T: 0116 230 4197 www.museumsgalleries.co.uk

Bringing magic to mantelpieces UK GREETINGS are continuing to bring magic to mantelpieces across the nation with the beautiful Disney Quotes range, featuring timeless wisdom from iconic characters.

Disney lovers are spoilt for choice, as Creative Manager Ben Whittington explained: “There are so many magical quotes from Disney, each one unique. With this in mind I worked with some of our most talented hand-lettering artists, each design featuring the work of a different designer to showcase these quotes in a unique and lovingly crafted manner.”

With a special Disney-themed envelope and gold foil sicker to accompany each design, the range is – to quote Mary Poppins – “practically perfect in every way”!

Another exciting UKG licence, Studio Pets

By Myrna launches in January 2016, featuring playful pugs, cuddly cats and even a doe-eyed deer – animal lovers watch this space.

T: 01924 465200 www.ukgreetings.co.uk

Find your favourite Great way into ABACUS recently teamed up with BBC Earth publishing to publish a licensed range of 24 stunning British Wildlife cards from the popular TV programme Springwatch.

The cards feature wonderful shots of British wildlife as seen on the Springwatch and Autumnwatch series and the show also provided Abacus with the fascinating information on each featured animal, insect or bird, which can be found printed on the reverse of each card.

All the 160x160mm cards are blank inside and cellowrapped with clear BBC Earth Springwatch-branded labels.

Already proving a big hit with retailers and their customers, the range backs up the fact that we are indeed a nation of animal lovers and so far in the popularity stakes, the adorable hedgehog is the runaway bestseller, followed by the equally adorable fox cubs. You can select your favourites by viewing all 24 Springwatch cards the Abacus website.

T: 01638 569050 www.abacus cards.co.uk

IF YOU’RE not an artist, photographer or graphic designer then licensing images is a great route into greetings card publishing.

As Ilona Benjamin from the Alternative Image Company explained: “Whatever your interest, there will be a picture library able to supply you with a wide range of imagery.

“If, for example, you’re looking for performing arts images, there are specialist picture libraries that hold hundreds of thousands of both historical and contemporary photographs and illustrations featuring dance, classical music, ballet, film and theatre.

“If, on the other hand, you’re looking to build ranges across a wide spectrum of subjects, you’ll find the archives of a general picture library more useful.

“A good place to start is the website of the British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies – the trade association for picture libraries in the UK.”

T: 020 3478 4804 www.altimageco.com

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LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW

Successful at being inept TWO LITTLE Boys are returning to BLE 2015 with their License This! winning property How To… For The Inept.

Following successful partnerships with Carousel Calendars and Portico, their much-expanded range now includes How To Be Annoying, How To Have A Bad Day and the ubiquitous How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse.

Witty, tongue-in-cheek, albeit entirely useless instructions on 21st century problems that inflict modern man, the property is enjoying success on Facebook with posts regularly reaching 60,000.

BLE stand J53 – T: 020 8400 3606 BL www.2littleboys.co.uk www.2litt

A world of musical worms SARAH Ray’s illustrations are full of quirkiness and fun together with appealing humour – this is a world of musical worms and dancing rabbits after all!

As well as working with a variety of clients on commissioned illustrations such as Bloomsbury Publishing and Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sarah has an award-winning range of cards which are sold throughout the UK. Discover her unique characterful world at BLE as Sarah is currently looking to expand on licensing her designs and welcomes new opportunities.

BLE stand J1H www.sarahray.co.uk

Looking for life outside cards HARTDECO are independent greetings publishers founded by illustrator and designer Fiona Hart who is taking her designs to BLE for the first time.

HartDeco boast a diverse range of original designs, characters and images which are just begging to branch out and escape the confines of their kraft envelopes and cello bags.

Fiona, who trained at Winchester and Central Saint Martins before working for several years in advertising and marketing, works in pen and ink and watercolour or gouache and said: “This is our first time at BLE, where we aim to find an exciting life outside of greetings cards for our original images.”

BLE stand J1A – T: 07894 354320 www.hartdeco.co.uk

Going social for interaction INCREASED use of social media and the building and launch of two new websites for general art work at www.marilynrobertson. com and her trademarked brand Catitudes at http://catitudes.co.uk have helped artist Marilyn Robertson interact better with the end users of her work.

At BLE Marilyn will be launching a new series of fashion-related illustrations alongside extensions of her existing styles.

Also, in response to client requests, Marilyn is offering new surface pattern designs and design capability to complement her illustrative art, and she said: “The future’s bright, the future’s rainbowcoloured!”

BLE stand J2 – T: +44 (0)1949 860621 www.marilynrobertson.com

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LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW

Hoping to see designs evolve DURING her seven years of publishing Claire Louise greetings cards, founder and designer Claire Hill has been approached by several companies at trade shows about licensing her art on to other products.

“We try to cover various art subjects from children, wildlife, floral, fashion etc,” Claire said, “with a fashion textiles background it has always been one of my goals to have my designs printed on to many products in the hope of creating a Claire Louise brand.

“We’re exhibiting at BLE this year to see if we can meet companies that would like to see our designs evolve on to different products in the interior, gift and fashion sectors.”

BLE stand J42 – T: 07715 373344 www.clairelouise.eu

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Let’s get started with Chef & Sue START Licensing Agency will be showcasing Chef & Sue, the creation of well-known artist Ann Edwards that appears in Waitrose newspaper every week in a comic strip providing a unique view on life covering topics such as food, drink, gardening and well-being.

“Chef & Sue is an ideal property for greetings cards , social stationery and giftlines,” said Stat Licensing’s Ian Downes, “it has a voice and a sense of humour.

“We’re keen to talk to licensees who are looking for an original concept that has a strong identity, great humour and weekly exposure.

Ann’s comic strips are very topical – so much so there’s even a specially-prepared BLE version!

Start Licensing also represent Olly The Little White Van, Asterix, The Beano and Jacqueline Wilson.

BLE stand F040 – T: 020 8337 7958 www.startlicensing.co.uk

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LICENSEDCARDSASSOCIATEDPRODUCTS&BLEPREVIEW

Life in the country Different properties on show THE Copyrights Group will have a number of brands on display at BLE, all available for licensing.

For The Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady there were new design treatments delivered in May and July 2015 adding to the extensive artwork bank so partners now have the freedom to create contemporary or more traditional looks to suit a variety of product.

Designer, creator and artist Shinzi Katoh is known for his delightfully-charming and simple designs – there are more than 10,000 SKUs

featuring his work, across multiple categories with a new range of stationery in development with Portico Designs in the UK. Infant property Bunnies By The Bay has a cast of colourful characters and different personalities this gender neutral, story-rich brand that saw Deva Designs launch a new plush and gifting range in the UK this spring, with new baby social stationery and wrap products set to launch in 2016.

BLE stand G40 – T: 020 3714 1181 www.copyrights.co.uk

Boofle gets cuddly new pals FOLLOWING a fabulous year, further success is on the cards for DRi Licensing’s greetings and publishing brands in 2016 as they continue to flourish.

The cute and endearing knitted pup Boofle is set to gain some new cuddly friends this autumn – a little rabbit called Wuvley, Dash the Dachshund, Orlando the wise owl and a cheeky little mouse called Mouse will join him on his range of greetings cards, gifting, calendars and diaries.

World-famous bunny Miffy celebrated her 60th birthday in June with a whole host of events and Hype’s extensive range of Miffy birthday, age and Christmas cards and gift

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wrap has new exciting initiatives in the pipeline.

It will be a monumental year in 2016 for Roald Dahl with the celebrations of the centenary of the author’s birth plus a new licensing direction has been put in place focusing on three key book titles – The BFG, Matilda and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

There are new style guides for each delivering a fresh and modern look with greetings cards from UK Greetings as the first products to market using the new styling.

BLE stand C010 – T: 020 3757 2170 www.drilicensing.co.uk

PUBLISHERS Alex Underdown Art are run by sisters Alex and Winnie and based in Ireland where Alex designs unique and fun-themed greetings cards reflecting life in the country.

They currently license their designs to companies in the UK and Europe for giftware and stationery and decided to exhibit at BLE having had lots of interest at Spring Fair this year for licensing.

Winnie said: “We’re really looking forward to the show with a view to getting lots more interest from around the world for Alex’s unique style of artwork, as well as learning more about the licensing industry.”

BLE stand J10 – T: +353 870 915907 www.alexunderdownart.co.uk

Exciting and vibrant designs TALENTED artist Kate Knight has been involved in the licensing industry for 13 years and built a reputation for producing exciting vibrant designs that are commercially successful.

Companies from all the main market sectors have collaborated with Kate and they have invariably voiced their appreciation of both the quality of her artwork and the flexibility she adopts when working to their briefs.

Stand J37 – T: 07813 147966 www.kateknight.co.uk

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IT’S ALL ABOUT SALES

I

On the case ALWAYS say one of the hardest aspects of being an agent is the logistics of actually getting all your samples from car to shop.

And, although we can rely more on good catalogues and iPads making life that bit easier these days, it is often as important as ever to transport all your samples into the shop for the customer to see, especially when promoting a new range.

Samples don’t just compromise cards, stationery and giftwrap but we may carry a few gift lines too – candles, scarves, bags, jewellery, the list goes on.

So rather than feeling like a mule – and looking like one too, laden down with boxes and bags – how do we get all this into the shop and without taking over the place too?

Over the years I’ve tried many different forms of transporting samples. I started off a long time ago with one small bag (those were the days) yet very quickly that turned into two, which turned into a suitcase, into a case with wheels, to boxes on a trolley – where I was once asked by a passerby

● No samples needed – on Little Dog Laughed’s Autumn Fair with designer Anna Danielle (right) and Amanda Ormond once if I was delivering frozen food – then it was back to bags again.

It’s a tough one with the aim of making my job easier for myself.

As we all know a range of cards, which is fundamentally just sheets of paper, weighs an absolute ton when all piled up and, more often than not, you can arrive at a store to be told the buying office is right up on the top floor.

Smiling sweetly I say “that’s fine’” yet inside my heart sinks and I’ve gone a whiter shade of pale at the thought of lifting 10 ton boxes up many flights of stairs.

You definitely don’t need a gym membership if you’re a card agent!

By the time you’ve got up there you feel like you have done a day’s work before you’ve even started.

It sounds like I’m having a right old moan here but I’m not really as there are many advantages to being an agent with different ranges, however, It’s just one of the physical consideration we have to take on board when taking a range on. How easy or difficult will this range be to move around and show.

In my everlasting search to find the perfect agent case, I had to laugh when I saw the Coolpeds electric scooter one pictured advertised in one of the Sunday papers.

At a mere £386 this is surely the future – great for getting round the trade shows too!

Can I be direct?

D

IRECT orders are probably one of the sticky subjects between agents and their publishers.

There are many different policies among publishers regarding direct orders. Some pay their agents on all orders for their geographical area regardless of how they came in; some pay a reduced commission, some don’t even advise you when an order has come into the office directly.

It can be really frustrating for an agent as you cover a large area and customers sometimes need to top up their card stock before your scheduled service call. Actually, it’s highly likely, as the odds of you timing a service call exactly at the moment they will need cards are quite slim. Often when you’re making your calls the response is “we’re okay at the moment, can you give us a call in a couple of months”. But then they have a rush on cards and stock is suddenly depleted.

Retailers deal with many agents for their products so might not always remember who their agent is for every range so it’s easier for them to ring a top-up order through to the office as they can get the phone number off the brochure or cards.

And they can place their order straightaway rather than making an appointment and waiting for

● Order, order – Neil with Emily from Macmillans, Penwortham, who always calls to stock up the agent to arrive. Many publishers these days also have fully transactional websites which is another quick way to place an order.

Some publishers are really good and send you a copy of the order as it’s entered into the system, which is invaluable for an agent as you can update your customer records and schedule in your next service call.

It’s wasted effort ringing your customer the week after they’ve just ordered and also looks like you are not in communication with your own publishers.

Publishers often send out special offers direct to customers with the office number prominently displayed, so it seems unfair to penalise the agent

when a retailer takes up the offer and rings direct.

Also when agents are making service calls or following up promotions they often don’t get to speak to the buyer, and have to leave a message.

Shop staff will just pass on that X has rung from Y greetings cards which can then prompt the buyer to ring the company to top up or take advantage of an offer – so even though the order comes in direct the agent has played a part in generating the sale.

It’s the same as when we’ve travelled to an appointment and left a brochure, but come away without an order through no fault of your own.

Sometimes a customer needs a little time to go through brochures you’ve left with them, or just aren’t ready to place an order straight away.

Sometimes it can feel like you’re in competition with your publisher rather than working as a team!

Over time, customers hopefully build up a good relationship with you and ring or email with top-up orders and in return you ensure they’re kept up to date with the latest new products, deals and offers.

Here’s hoping more publishers appreciate that their agents really are working hard on their behalf and be transparent with direct orders – and it would lovely if retailers who need top-up orders could remember to call their agent and make their day ;)

Neil Anthony (Reil (Reil Agencies, T: 07766 736254) and Alina Clark (T: 07906 792420) are experienced independent greetings industry sales agents in the North West and North East of England respectively. Each month they share their experiences of life on the road. www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

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MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMEDCARDS

Mum’s the word Mums really are appreciated by their children as a new survey shows – with both sons and daughters keener to spend out on treats for her than for their dads.

S

ORRY dad, it looks like kids do have a favourite parent – daughters spend nearly £7,100 on gifts for their mothers over a lifetime, more than double what they spend on their fathers.

A new infographic commissioned by Quidco reveals the spending habits for children towards their parents and the results show that, as well as Mother’s Day being a significantly bigger celebration than Father’s Day, both sons and daughters favour mum over dad with gifts.

Daughters spend an average of £7,087.22 on gifts for their mums over a lifetime, more than double what they spend on their dads, a new report has revealed.

The detailed study for cashback and voucher code website Quidco saw researchers look into spends on gifts for both parents over the course of their lives – with daughters emerging as the most generous towards their mothers.

The survey revealed mums can expect to be taken on shopping trips, enjoy spa days and receive spontaneous gifts throughout the year as well as on birthday, Christmas and Mother’s Day with their daughters picking up the bill.

But the results are less than favourable for dads who, by contrast, can expect to receive gifts worth only £3,200 from their daughters over their lifetime – mainly for Christmas and birthdays.

The study, carried out among 1,508 adults, revealed that overall both daughters and sons are more likely to spend money on their mum than their dad.

The reports shows that daughters routinely spend close to £200 a year on mum, including an average of £37 on Christmas presents, £29 on birthdays and £20 on Mother’s Day. It also emerged daughters are almost twice as likely to take their mum out for a meal or surprise their mum with spontaneous gifts, than sons are.

Additionally, daughters shell out around £30 a year every year on a meal for mum and a similar amount on an annual ‘mum and daughter’ day out.

However dads will only receive presents worth £108 from their daughters each year – with only £24

‘

being spent on them at Christmas, £19 on their birthday and as little as £14 on Father’s Day. Over half – 53 per cent – of the daughters polled said they were more likely to spend quality time with their mum than with dad, and they are less inclined to forget important dates for either parents such as birthdays and anniversaries than sons are.

Quidco MD Andy Oldham said they see more of an interest in loans for gifts for mum than dad: “The study has demonstrated what our own shopping data was also telling us, that mums come out on top when it comes to special occasions and treats from their kids.

‘Indeed, we see a much bigger spike of people coming to site for cards and gifts in the run up to Mother’s Day when compared to Father’s Day. “Obviously, spending is not always a measure of which parent is favourite, and there can be no substitute for a thoughtful gift, regardless of price tag.”

The study also revealed that dad’s special dates are the most likely to come and go unnoticed, with 20 per cent of daughters admitting they had on occasion forgotten their dad’s birthday or even Father’s Day. Fathers can expect their sons to forget their special days more frequently than daughters, with 30 per cent of sons admitting they’d forgotten.

The report shows that overall, sons spend £6,377 on mum, but just £3,233 on dad over their lifetime.

And more bad news for fathers is that 85 per cent of daughters said they were closer to their mum than their dad – and 80 per cent of sons agreed they were closer to their mum.

The survey’s findings are echoed in the greetings industry where the GCA’s Market Report 2014 confirmed that Mother’s Day remains the biggest spring seasons cardsending event, with a value of £50.4million and an average retail price of £1.71 against an overall average of £1.44.

Both B sons and daughters favour mum over dad d with gifts s

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’

Information and images from www.quidco.com www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

We’ve got 64 brand new, super duper 'Sew&Sew’ designs for you, all available right now.

Birthdays, occasions, milestone ages and relation birthdays - they‘re all covered! Printed onto cotton-feel board with matching cotton-feel envelopes, and a big juicy jewel to finish.

They’re ‘sew’ gorgeous!

Wendy Jones-Blackett Ltd. - (0113) 2888468 - www.wendyjonesblackett.co.uk

MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMED

Just sew good AT WENDY Jones Blackett their refreshed Sew & Sew range is 95 per cent feminine and they also have lots of Mother’s Day designs in their various collections.

Their popular Sew & Sew collection has 64 brand-new designs featuring more feminine imagery with a contemporary look, and the 175x125mm cards are very touchy-feely with their fine embossing and thick, cotton-textured board.

In the Quicksilver range there are 12 130x130mm designs for Mother’s Day y 2016 in a variety of styles and colours, including ding another doggies design – last year’s Basset Hound version was the best seller! er!

Fresco sees 10 Mother’s Day cards in a variety of 155x155mm styles, foiled and d hand-finished with swarovski crystals.

There are five luxurious Mother’s Day designs in the 180x180mm Happy range, foiled and embossed with a blank insert and d vailable finished with either bows or gems.

And finally there’s the Mother’s Day Collection 2016 with 40 designs in a variety off captions, sizes and finishes, so there’s plenty to choose from for the new season.

T: 0113 288 8468 www.wendyjonesblackett.co.uk

Contemporary take on tradition

Reach those milestones EVEN ladies have milestone birthdays, though they might not want to admit it, and Reback Cards are extending their Idomatik range to cater for them.

The designs are aimed at the female audience and each card celebrates a landmark year, including 16 and 40.

T: 0845 257 0455 www.redbackcards.com

ALWAYS Sparkle’s popular Defined For You collection launched at PG Live and features a number of female titles that are perfect for any special occasion and particularly Mother’s Day. With cards for mum, mummy, grandma, nana, granny, sister, daughter, auntie, wife and friend, they offer a contemporary take on traditional words and sentiments designs.

Printed on finely ribbed white card stock and metallic hot-foil stamped in various colours, the cards come individually cello-wrapped with a metallic silver envelope.

T: 07940 726842 www.alwayssparkle.co.uk

Every finish known to mankind PORTFOLIO Cards have many designs suitable for feminine and Mother’s Day with the embossed and foiled T’Too range while Collage by Christopher Vine has every finish – foil, glitter, emboss, pearlised board – known to mankind!

All Portfolio cards are blank inside and come individually cello-wrapped with an envelope.

T: 020 8960 3051 www.portfoliocards.com

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Mother’s Day 2016 As part of our Spring 2016 package, the Mother’s ’ Day collection comprises of 14 cards and is a mix of our 4 most popular current ranges and the upcoming slim ‘Velvet Moments’. Packages will be limited so call 01423 563740 to reserve one now.

MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMEDCARDS

gorgeous everyday greeting cards

beautiful mother’s day for 2016

Brimming with sentiment and style THE STRIKING and graphic Cornflower range has inspired a six-strong Mother’s Day range for spring 2016 from Cinnamon Aitch.

These six square designs sit alongside 10 cards inspired by the bright and gaily-coloured imagery of Hello Sunshine and Gypsy ranges – brimming with sentiment and style there’s a greeting here for all mums, mothers and mummies everywhere.

These square cards are stylishly modern, with graphic floral designs printed in a sophisticated soft colour palette, and the elegant embossed surfaces and die-cut details are lovingly hand-finished with message tags, nickel eyelets and natural yarns.

The cards are in bright pinks and fun mustards, featuring adorable creatures and whimsical flowers, all hand finished with a combination of shaped buttons, sparkly gems, die cuts and, of course, wiggle eyes.

From a cheeky little monkey and a gaily patterned chirpy bird to an elegantly modern floral, there’s a sentiment here for all to express

love and appreciation for that most special person.

Cinnamon Aitch’s new Piccadilly range features 44 elegant black and white, delicately handdrawn illustrations for birthdays, occasions and female relations.

This luxuriously feminine collection, softened with photographic details of beautiful flowers in bloom is hand-finished with shimmering silver gems, refined little black ribbon bows and embossed silver foiled lettering.

Additions to the magical Sascalia range include beautiful dreamlike floral designs in brilliant and vivid colour.

Hand-finished with pretty little buttons, and jewel-coloured sparkly gems, there are vibrant and colourful greetings for birthdays and occasions.

All the cards are C6, individually cello wrapped with silver or colourcoordinating envelopes and sold in sixes at £1.25 each trade, £2.99 RRP.

T: 0121 7736833 www.cinnamonaitch.co.uk

Adorably big hit

(e) sales@realandexcitingdesigns.co.uk (t) 01223 207 080 (f) 01536 401 031

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THE ADORABLE little creatures featured on the Pippi & Me cards are a big hit with people of all ages, but they are especially popular with the ladies.

There are cards for specific occasions, and lots of endearing pictures that convey any number of personal messages, while many of the 125x125mm designshave a feminine touch so also make

special and unique Mother’s Day sends.

With five per cent of all Pippi & Me profits going to charity, whatever your message may be, we challenge you not to smile!

T: 07540 637424 www.pippiandme.com

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MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMEDCARDS

Mother’s Day 2016 Buddi Bunni

Going for the Good Life POCKET Typewriter have launched an amazing new The Good Life collection of cards for Mother’s Day 2016 inspired by beautiful floral gardens.

Full of colour and pattern and paired with natural kraft envelopes they really hit on the current trends.

The Good Life collection is also being launched into their everyday cards and the Cottage Garden print from it will also be available in three sizes of gift bags and an A5 notebook, all available to pre-order online.

Buying these co-ordinating products will provide a stand-out display for Mother’s Day and offer that perfect gift.

Pocket Typewriter’s Leckie Presley said: “We have seen floral patterns and prints trending alongside the ever still-popular Scandi look of natural materials and bright colours. Our Good Life Collection brings these two trends together perfectly and sits in harmony with our popular Krafty Collection.”

Cool Britannia

Sweet Tweets

T: 0115 931 2772 www.pockettypewriter.co.uk

Knit & Purl

Celebrating trials and tribulations GINGER Masala is a fun humour range that celebrates the trials and tribulations of the modern woman living in the world today.

The 6x7in range tackles issues for those ladies from the ages of 21 again to 39 and 120 months – there’s something here for all women to associate with, embrace and then laugh about!

T: 07725 882178 www.jellynbean.com www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

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MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMEDCARDS

Meet the Ladies Who Love Life BERNI Parker has designed femininethemed cards for many years and her Ladies Who Love Life range is extremely successful.

The square art cards are all handdrawn using coloured pencils and watercolours, the range has over one hundred designs including everyday, ages, birthday, occasions and relations.

The designs feature ladies having fun and enjoying all aspects of everyday life with friends with a subtle humour that everyone can relate to, cards that will always make your friends smile.

Many of the illustrations involve mums and daughters enjoying time together so Mother’s Day cards are a natural addition to the range.

Berni also has the delicate Whisper On Wings range which is beautifully feminine and includes Mother’s Day titles.

T: 01299 406098 www.berniparkerdesigns.com

A small yet varied range AT JONNY Javelin they have a small Spring Package for 2016, which incorporates just 14 Mother’s Day titles.

MD Jonny Spears said: “We haven’t tried to make the package too big because we get mixed reports on the success of the season each year, so we think we’ve put together a small, yet varied range.

“We’ve got some strong female images which we’ve been able to use in this year’s collection. The bulk of the package is Velvet designs, but we’ve also included some Fudge & Friends, Days To Remember, Secret Garden and our new Velvet Moments.

“Mother’s Day is very early this time, just a few weeks after Valentine’s Day so here’s hoping the public can stop kissing in time to buy a little something for their mummies!

“We’ve got some strong feminine ranges out there at the moment – Velvet, Days To Remember and the new Secret Garden are going very well for us.

“We’re working on a new style of Velvet called Velvet Moments, which is a slimmeddown 9x5in version. The verses are shorter, the layout is different and the price-point drops to £1.79.

“These will be released in January but will be available for pre-selling before the turn of the year.”

T: 01423 563740 www.jonnyjavelin.co.uk

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Inspiration is all around AT WORDS ’n’ Wishes they find their inspiration for feminine and Mother’s Day from everyday events and those trends more specific for the time of year.

They specialise in using unique styles and formats, soft emotive imagery and clear verse edit that evokes nostalgia and sentiment represented in modern day living.

With their beautiful, classic imagery, the Words ’n’ Wishes Mother’s Day collection offers

conventional, cute and traditional styles complimented by our meaningful and poignant verse.

The collection adds luxury value with quality finishing which appeals to the tastes of Words ’n’ Wishes’ traditional consumers and their strong sentiments show each mum how much she is loved and appreciated, mirrored with warm and heartfelt images.

T: 01942 233201 www.words-n-wishes.co.uk

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MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMEDCARDS

Fresh, vibrant and with Panache REAL & Exciting Designs continue to create the most beautiful, contemporary feminine designs for their greetings cards – with topselling collections and a brand-new range in the works, feminine designs are fresh and vibrant at RED. Launching later this year, Panache is a beautiful new range of artistic designs by Sarah Curedale with a selection of female birthday titles.

Featuring delicate watercolour artworks including marbling and jewel effects, this exciting new range will be finished with silver or gold foil and embossing.

Bijou is another RED female collection with a stunning monochrome and soft pink palette and delicate informal designs making a chic, boutique collection that’s feminine and fashionable, featuring the things girls love most – cake, cocktails, shoes and handbags. Cards are printed on a gorgeous pearlescent board and finished with sparkling iridescent flitter; another unique feature is a

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bespoke black and white striped envelope.

Woodland Wonderland’s illustrated images feature delicate flora and fauna, birds and woodland animals in an intricate and detailed style.

Printed on a unique corrugated board, these beautiful cards are finished with a shimmering gold flitter and wrapped with a gold pearlescent envelope with Mother’s Day designs now available for 2016.

Papier D’or’s well-established range of elegant designs takes inspiration from luxury product packaging, fabrics and accessories, in subtle, sophisticated colour palettes finished with coordinating foil and embossing, with some cards also featuring a glittering flitter finish. Printed on a luxury textured board, Papier D’or cards also available in Mother’s Day titles.

T: 01223 207 080 www.realandexcitingdesigns.co.uk

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MOTHER’SDAY&FEMININE-THEMEDCARDS

Eclectic extensive collection

Art becomes you

MINT offer an eclectic and extensive range of feminine designs, ranging from pretty and classic, to contemporary and fun, in general and relation sends.

Launching this December, Mint are building on the success of their fantastic Jackpot range by releasing a selection of female designs with their bold, on-trend monochrome and bright colour palette that is hugely impactful.

Finished with warm gold foil, embossing and high-gloss UV varnish, the typographic designs feature fun and complementary phrases and will be available in general birthday and female relation titles for a fresh, contemporary new look from Mint.

Cool Britannia is a classic bestseller which also features many feminine designs in its freshly updated style. New artists have developed the collage artworks with subjects such as floral bicycles, gardening, tea parties and cakes, topped with bunting, butterflies and flowers. In lively feminine tones, these lovely cards are finished with embossing and delicate, glittering flitter.

To enhance the choice Mint are also developing their cute Buddi Bunni character and newlook Sweet Tweets characters – and watch this space for a brand new luxury range of feminine designs coming soon!

Mint also have a varied and expanded collection of Mother’s Day designs for 2016 with the adorable Buddi Bunni, the cute character developed from Mint’s Knit & Purl range, making his entrance for the season.

Further additions to Mother’s Day include the whimsical Sweet Tweets in a new size and soft pastel colour palette combined with kraft, plus cuddly, knitted additions to Knit & Purl, and fresh and floral Cool Britannias. There’s something for all of the lovely mums everywhere!

BLUE Eyed Sun have launched four lovely new ranges of Mother’s Day cards for 2016, Beauty, Pincushion, Impressed and Knit Wit, all based on artworks by artist Jo Corner.

Beauty is based on original watercolour paintings and printed on beautiful thick board, the range includes nine Mother’s Day designs, which all come cello-wrapped with a red envelope at £1.04 trade each, £2.25 RRP. Pincushion is based on original hand stitched artworks and the 12 designs are all lovingly hand-finished with jewels and wrapped with a 165x165mm envelope at £1.25 trade each, £2.99 RRP. Impressed is a delicate new range of cards that’s handmade with love and clay in the UK. There are 11 delightful Valentine designs that all come wrapped with a 102x147mm envelope at £1.25 trade each, £2.99 RRP. Knit Wit is based on original hand-knitted artworks and this colourful, eye-catching new range includes eight Mother’s Day designs that come wrapped with a red 130x179mm envelope at 83p each, £1.99 RRP. All Blue Eyed Sun’s cards are printed on high-end boards from sustainable managed forests and are blank inside, cello-wrapped with an envelope and sold in sixes.

They are available to order through their easy-to-use, trade-only website, their 2016 spring brochure and team of sales agents across the country who can visit with samples and help choose the right look for your shop.

T: 0116 230 4197 www.mint-publishing.co.uk

T: 01273 823003 www.blueeyedsun.co.uk

Pick out the best of three ADORN by Saffron is a range of 11 beautiful handcrafted cards to celebrate those really special occasions in life that require something exquisite and memorable, and has just been extended into Mother’s Day and Valentines.

The pretty pastel Nicely Said Mother’s Day range is, as the name implies, a set of six contemporary cards that feature fun and individual appropriate wording with thoughtful page three captions. These fun new design are additions to the highly-successful Nicely Said birthdays and occasions range..

Belle Fleur is a gorgeous range of delicate handpainted watercolour floral greetings cards covering mum, wife, grandma, sister, thank you, and special

birthday ages 40 to 90 and also now has Mother’s Day designs.

All three ranges are 160x160mm and have handfinished detailing – Adorn featuring embroidered, sequined and beaded fabric adornments on beautiful white linen-textured board with silver foil background details and satin ribbon tags, while Nicely Said and Belle Fleur have sparkling coloured shaped gems.

T: 01932 888338 www.saffroncards.co.uk

SEE MORE ONLINE AT www.greetingstoday.co.uk Abacus, Allihopa, Bonnie Blackbird, Brainbox Candy, Cherry Orchard, Coulson Macleod, Hallmark, Happy Nut, Hotchpotch, I Love Nice Cards, Lorraine Stylianou, Miss Magpie Fashion Spy, Laura Sherratt Designs Ling Design, Nigel Quiney, Peartree Heybridge, Sweet Design Studio, Talking Pictures

HANDMADE&HANDFINISHEDCARDS

Handy advice All that glitters really can be gold as bits and pieces of flitter and tip-ons can be used to add something special to a greetings card design, lifting it out of the ordinary – and there are as many different ways as there are publishers.

F

ABRIC, flitter, buttons and bows, eyelets, pencil shavings, string, tags and tip-ons – these are just some of the many bits and pieces added to greetings cards to give that handmade or hand-finished look.

Along with the intricate hand-folding required for origami-style 3D cards, hand-finished products have always been around and seem to be increasing in popularity as consumers look to reflect their rediscovered love for crafts with interesting and different designs.

From big names such as UK Greetings with their Expect More... range combining embellishments and beautiful finishes pluss eloquent editorial, through Blue Eyed Sun artist Jo Corner starting her works offff with hand-stitched artworks that she turns into graphic card designs then tops with hand-placed ed d jewels, to the nickel eyelets that Cinnamon Aitch use and the wooden hearts and stars on Love From Lemonade’s latest Head In The Clouds range, there really is something for everyone.

And designers often manage to come up with something lovely out of rubbish, turning what would otherwise be thrown away, into a beautiful piece – Ruth Jackson is a perfect example, turning the shavings from sharpening pencils into all manner of simple but very effective greetings.

Scraps of fabric are the starting point for the tartan and textured cards by Marion at Embroidered Originals, while torn layers of paper are what Berni Parker makes use of to give her Whispers On Wings fairy designs a 3D appearance, then she personally finishes them with more.

Still on the subject of fairies, newbie Sue Coleman uses scraps of fine netting to put the final touch to her Flicker Wings range, while fellow newbie Madelaine Hanman Murphy is even more pragmatic, using the bits left over from her main job of handmaking porcelain buttons to decorate cards for her new venture as a publisher with Waterloo House Porcelain.

Bexy Boo makes good use of old wooden Scrabble tiles, while the Vintage Playing Card Company do exactly what their name suggests, making greetings cards, gifts, clocks and pictures from old packs of cards.

‘

Designers D often ft come up with something lovely out o off rubbish

’

On the folded paper and laser cut front The Art File have recently mastered these techniques with their Roar and Form ranges, while Pulp are renowned for their concertina 3D shapes, and Talking Pictures are the retailers’ favourite for handmade.

Hand-applied glitter is a favourite, and one which James Ellis take to the extreme with their classic Shakies range where confetti is mixed in for a fun shakeable design.

Getting crafty is definitely a good trend to be part of, however, with the breadth and depth of what’s already available, you might need to stretch your imagination to find something different!

WHAT THE RETAILERS SAY Denise Pitch, Gossip, Great Wakering “We’ve only been open 16 months and I think things should be flying out and worry when they don’t. But I don’t think we’re doing too badly.

It was our first Mother’s Day and we went with Talking Pictures, Ling and Second Nature, plus we got some ourselves from the wholesalers.

We have Yours Truly – and Talking Pictures of course – for hand-finished and a local artist supplies us with some as well.”

Neil Burden & Paul Gibbs, Humbugs of Towcester & Cardstop, Bletchley “We had quite a few publishers last year for Mother’s Day with Great British Card Company and Ling our biggest sellers, and Talking Pictures go well for handmade.”

Jewels join stitching BLUE Eyed Sun have launched a gorgeous new range of 24 new designs called Pincushion based on beautiful hand-stitched artworks by textile artist Jo Corner.

Hand-finished with jewels, the new 160x160mm designs include open birthdays and key occasions captions like baby, anniversary, new home and engagement and all come cello-wrapped with an envelope and are 160mm square.

Blue Eyed Sun’s cards are available to order through their trade-only website, their 2015 Summer Supplement and they also have a team of sales agents across the country that can visit retailers with samples and help choose the right look for your shop.

T: 01273 823003 www.blueeyedsun.co.uk

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HANDMADE&HANDFINISHEDCARDS

Fresh as a daisy THINGS are certainly as fresh as a daisy with the stylishly modern Cornflower collection from Cinnamon Aitch, with 42 new designs bringing the range to 60.

Blooming with hand-finished touches, embossed flowers, message tags, nickel eyelets and natural yarns, new titles include ages, relations and occasions.

The sophisticated designs have tactile embossed finishes and die-cut details, combined with a striking colour palette that appeals to both men and women.

Cinnamon Aitch are certainly proving to be green fingered as the Cornflower range just grows and grows.

Whisper among paper ALL BERNI Parker’s Whispers On Wings fairy designs are made using torn-out layers of handmade paper along with various layers of colour on top to give them a three-dimensional appearance.

The designs are specially photographed for printing to keep the look and then the cards personally handfinished by Berni herself using a variety of beautiful hand-made papers and tissues sourced from around the world and then finished with glitter and a jewel to give them a little sparkle.

T: 01299 406098 www.berniparkerdesigns.com

T: 0121 773 6833 www.cinnamonaitch.co.uk

She deserves more IN THEIR quest for the perfect card, UK Greetings launched their Expect More… initiative which resulted in a range of exquisite card designs, featuring stunning embellishments, beautiful finishes and eloquent editorial.

UKG understand that, while no two women are the same, they have one thing in common – they’re all special. The selection of stunning designs therefore caters for every taste, making each card something to treasure.

These affordable little luxuries featuring female captions are available now in UKG’s core line, and will be introduced into 2016 seasons.

The consumer will come to expect more – because she deserves more.

T: 01924 465200 www.ukgreetings.co.uk

What’s in a word

Buttonholing a new venture WATERLOO House Porcelain greetings cards are a new venture for Madelaine Hanman Murphy, a ceramist for 20 years whose day job is individually making unique porcelain buttons, hand-glazed and fired in her kiln at her seaside studio in Essex.

Madelaine has always had an interest in drawing, and her range of Valentines, Mother’s Day, Christmas and Everyday reflects a charming mix of porcelain and illustration.

Porcelain is a robust material, providing a pure surface on which to apply colour or texture, creating a pretty button or shape that looks lovely on the card and can be a keepsake when detached.

T: 07545 375246 www.waterloohouseporcelain.com

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OFF THE back of the success of their In A Word range, the Handcrafted Card Company are launching a female range in the same vein called Spread The Word.

With 70 cards in the range, they are printed and hand-finished in the UK on pearlescent pinstriped board with gem embellishments.

Sold in packs of six, each card is cello-wrapped with a fuschia, blue or silver envelope at £1.04 each trade, RRP £2.50.

T: 01782 639733 www.thehandcraftedcardcompany. co.uk

Wooden it be lovely LOVE From Lemonade’s new Head In The Clouds range is the perfect choice for spring 2016 and everyday too.

Full of fun with LFL’s signature cute and quirky illustrations, these designs are set to reach new heights, with bright splashes of colour and handfinished with cute little real wood hearts and stars.

All printed on a good quality FSC board and wrapped in a cello with a white recycled envelope.

T: 07833 089098 www.lovefromlemonade.co.uk

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HANDMADE&HANDFINISHEDCARDS

Helping chaps choose IT’S A recognised fact that when men have to choose cards for their female relatives or partner, they spend far less time in comparison to women in making their choice.

With 14 everyday birthday and 14 occasions cards, the recently-launched Stitchlings collection from Soul will help any chap make a winning choice!

Designed by Mei Fields, Stitchlings features simple line drawings using a pop of colour and hand-embellished with jewels.

T: 01235 537888 www.souluk.com

Knee-deep in tip-ons, sequins and gems THE TALENTED Talking Pictures design team live and breathe handfinished cards, being knee deep in tip-ons, sequins, gems, flitter and foil.

The long established brand who have been part of the Ling Design family since 2008 have been mastering the art of the hand-finished card for well over 20 years, producing classic ranges such as the award winning Stardust and ever-popular Henriesnominated for 2015 More Than Words, together with an everchanging array of new ranges all beautifully crafted to the highest standard.

Two stunning new ranges are being launched this month, both with a £3.15 RRP and individually wrapped with a white pearl envelope.

Delightful is a fresh delicate range featuring pastel-coloured pretty icons enhanced with a swirl of flitter and a sprinkling of gems.

Sherbet features text in a spiral at the centre of the design with bold icons and brightly-coloured flitter, foil and sequins.

T: 0845 450 1815 www.talking-pictures.co.uk

Dedicated to female birthdays Lucky 13 added to range THIRTEEN new designs have been added to Fay’s Studio’s popular In The Wild range of 145x145mm cards, printed on to embossed board and hand-finished with iridescent glitter. Each card is blank inside and comes wrapped with a recycled fleck kraft envelope.

Publisher Fay Martin said: “The range is ever expanding as I’ve been keen to add to my wildlife illustrations and new range of prints which will be available when I next exhibit at Spring Fair in February.

T: 07817 412086 www.faysstudio.com

HOTCHPOTCH’S Morello range has 12 brand-new 154x154mm designs dedicated to female birthdays.

These luxury cards are proudly handmade in the UK with the finest quality crystals, sequins and textured board.

T: 020 8941 0126 www.hotchpotchpublishing.com

Guffaw and giggle COCKADOODLE Design have gone from strength to strength this year with their quirky new 3D cards, and they are delighted that they have been nominated as a finalist in the Henries Awards for best handmade range.

All designs are 100 per cent handmade from scratch by designer/publisher Pauline Swindells and aim to make you guffaw and giggle!

T: 07792 862140 www.cockadoodledesign.co.uk

Laser-cut for men Small and charming PEARL & Black are a charming small cooperative of UK-based artists talent-spotted by founder Caroline Bartl, who create inspired, handmade greeting cards.

Pearl & Black cards are always lovingly sourced, and handmade in the UK using eco-certified and FSC papers from the Lake District.

Set up by London-based artist and designer Caroline to help the host of designers show off their witty and appealing work.

T: 020 7435 3352 www.pearlandblack.com

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CARD Connection have launched a new handcrafted, laser-cut card by their dedicated in-house design team for the Tall Handmade format.

Creative director Kelly Courtenay said: “Laser cutting is a popular style and only reserved for our luxury, top-end price points due to the complexity and delicate detailing. We have four other laser-cut designs across our birthday and occasions ranges, but this new design will be the first male offering.”

The exclusive new design is available through the UK Greetings’ subsidiary’s network of franchisees.

T: 01252 892300 www.card-connection.co.uk

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Hallmark, Embroidered Originals, James Ellis

AUTUMNFAIRREVIEW

Buzz, buzz buzz Birmingham in September was of exhibitors and buyers as for Christmas and the start NEC was buzzing with plenty programme as well as on the

Emma Hawkins, Fenwick buyer for Newcastle & York “This trip is for my Christmas card department for lastminute things that I haven’t found anywhere else. I’ve found one new one for Christmas and one I’ve bought from previously but for new cards that I like, and I’m looking at My World with their bespoke range. It’s quite a smallish show so I’ve been here a day and a half. I’m checking if we’ve missed anything for this Christmas, it’s a little bit late but you have to keep your eyes open.”

Paul Urban, Cherry Orchard “It’s been very good, it’s been quite positive with our new products and the mugs and everything. Lots of new accounts too – it’s probably our best Autumn Fair for five years.”

Sian Ellis-Thomas, RetroCo “It’s been quiet but you do have to keep being here and we have products to launch.

Cardgains always do a good show – we can’t afford to do two big shows and Cardgains facilitate us being here at an affordable price.”

the last big gathering they looked to stock up of the new year, and the going on in the seminar trade stands.

Louise Kay & 13-week-old Catherine, buyer for Bennetts, Ashbourne, Derbys “We are a department store but the card buying is my favourite thing. I’m doing orders for now and some Christmas cards that I’ve not done yet – but the panic is starting to set in because I’m also looking for what’s new for spring.

Catherine’s already been to Harrogate and been doing the ladies’ fashion buying with me. Over the three days we’re here we get to see things for new orders and order with current suppliers. I’m always looking for new ones though and I do like the Holy Mackerel ranges.”

Ian Bant, Penny Kennedy “The show is good, we’re doing pretty well, it’s fairly buzzy. We’ve had some fairly small orders but a lot of them are retailers stocking up. It’s the first time I’ve done this show and it’s been good – and we’ve a good position right at the front that’s worked well.”

Lucy Tobson & Kali Stileman The Square Card Company “We haven’t done this show for five or six years so we thought we’d give it a go again and yesterday was bloody brilliant!

We’ve done lots of orders, everyone is so friendly, and it’s been a really good show – that was only the first day!”

Sarah-Jayne Mercer, Seedlings Cards “We were a bit worried about doing the show because we haven’t done one for a long time but it’s going really well. We’ve taken orders, taken lots of inquiries, lots of new stockists coming on for a look. Our relaunch is going well.”

Claire Hill, Claire Louise, & Nathan Hitchcock, Big Nat Agencies “The show has been good, it’s been quite positive and Sunday was very busy, the time flew by. Lots of existing customers are coming back to reorder and we’re starting to sell some new gifts and doing well with lots of new ranges.”

Berni Parker, Berni Parker Designs “It’s been really good, it’s kind of bit like the old days. The footfall has been brilliant – I couldn’t even get a seat in the café for lunch yesterday! We’re really pleased with the show.”

Jeremy Corner, Blue Eyed Sun “People are buying here and we’ve had a very good show. On Monday we got two new countries, Portugal and Spain, we got distributors there and that takes us into 17 countries now. We’re having a really fantastic time of it internationally.”

Mark Williams & Ben Hickman Brainbox Candy “It’s been good. We’ve got a new range that’s not rude, it’s just silly British humour. And our new spring seasons has done really well, people have been ordering them in advance, and some Christmas orders.”

Sarah Hopkins & Katie Meeke Holy Mackerel “The show is very good, very buzzy.

It’s an important show for us because it’s the show where people aren’t just expecting new launches, they come because they need new stock.”

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TOPDRAWER TOP DRAWERREVIEW REVIEW

Top of the pops

As almost the final gift and greetings trade show of the year Top Drawer Autumn is known as the place for buyers to pick up many of those last-minute and different design-led items for the big festive sales season, and it didn’t disappoint, as these pictures and tweets from in and around the event prove.

● Lanther Black

● Dean Morris Cards and Greetings Today

● Buddy Fernandez

● Lesser Spotted Images

● Noi Publishing

● Alljoy Design

● Redback Cards

● Roisin

● HartDeco

Cafferty

● Eleanor Stuart

● Bluebell 33

on Aitch

● Cinnam

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● Caroline G

ardner

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday ● ????????????

RETAIL ADVICE WITH HENRI DAVIS

Keep the faith A

T THE time of writing I’ve been at Autumn Fair and will be about to visit Top Drawer – it’s a busy couple of weeks and I’m always interested to hear both exhibitors’ and retailers’ reasons for attending or not attending trade fairs.

As a retailer, I believe our job is to find interesting new products that are relevant to our customers which will encourage them to come into our shops rather than those of our competitors and hopefully spend some money.

For a product to be relevant it must be the type of thing they would expect to find in my shop, at a quality that is consistent with my other products and at a price they are prepared to pay.

If I don’t visit trade fairs, how am I going to find this product in a timely way that means I can stock it while it’s new and before my competitors have it?

I don’t have much time to spare and it’s expensive to travel to fairs, especially with hotel costs, but unless I give myself time to get out and see new products ultimately my ranges will suffer and sales decrease as my competitors overtake me.

Blue Eyed Sun MD Jeremy Corner published a blog last year which included useful calculations – if a retailer spent £500 in expenses to attend a show at which he found only one new supplier, he’d need to sell £1,000 of stock from that new supplier to make the visit pay for itself, assuming a 50 per cent gross margin.

As an independent retailer you may still be being visited by reps and agents as well as using websites, catalogues and emails from existing suppliers to keep up with what’s new.

I know some retailers are happy to find new products and suppliers online because they don’t like travelling and/or want to save money. Online research is important as is reading the trade press but, for me, the only place to find new publishers is at trade fairs.

I believe there’s nothing to replace being able to feel the texture and thickness of the card, appreciate the quality of print, look at the envelope and inspect those little details that make all the

Are trade fairs still worth it? That’s the question Henri Davis has been exploring as the last big shows of the season have been held. difference as to whether my customers will buy the card or not.

However, you shouldn’t be going to every show – just as you need to find relevant products you also need to identify the relevant show where the type of publisher you want to see is exhibiting.

Then, if you prepare well, making sure you know what’s sold well or badly for you and why, it becomes much easier to identify the cards that are worth stopping to look at and those to walk past.

Looking at this from the publishers’ perspective the issues are very similar – just as retailers need to know who their customers are so they can select appropriate cards, so publishers need to have a clear idea who their target retailers are as this, in turn, will dictate the end consumer, thereby the sorts of

● Having no idea what to consider when designing a stand. ● The logistics of organising everything. ● Not having material to support selling eg catalogue, sell sheets, website order form. ● How to take payment. ● Should you expect to cover costs with orders at the show or over a longer period. ● Confidence to be able to sell at a trade fair and discuss business terms. ● Childcare, school holidays and proximity to home.

Some visited shows before booking, but all appreciated the support and advice shared between exhibitors.

In his blog, Jeremy created a financial model for a publisher too - if the bill for exhibiting is £2,000 then for a 50 per cent margin they need to take total

cards and imagery they want to stock, the quality and features they’re looking for and the price they want to sell the cards for.

Once a publisher knows who their target retailers are they can decide where is best to exhibit. This may be influenced by the time of year, location and type of show as well as recommendations from fellow publishers – if you don’t exhibit how will retailers know what cards you have to offer?

A number of new publishers were happy to tell me their considerations when deciding to exhibit.

Time and cost were mentioned many times but what interested me more were the comments I’d not really thought about such as: ● Scared about what, when and how to do it.

orders of £4,000 to cover their costs.

If they take orders of £1,000 at the show and pick up 25 leads, typically five will turn into new accounts afterwards so if each spends £200 that’s an extra £1,000. Ongoing these new customers should spend £500 a year and will continue to be customers for around five years bringing in £12,500 over the total period.

They also found an agent and a distributor. In reality if you don’t have a catalogue, website, agent or distributor trade fairs are your only route to market. Without them a publisher will find it very difficult to sell cards in the volume they need to grow the business.

Leaving the show I saw a publisher I know well, they said it was their best Autumn Fair for a long time and they’d found several new customers. I know they’d doubts about exhibiting as the last few shows had not been that good.

It’s important to keep the faith, if you believe your target retailers are likely to be at the show you need to be there too and, as buyers, we can’t expect to find great new products if we’re not prepared to put in the leg work ourselves!

‘

Nothing replaces being able to feel the texture and thickness of the card

Henri Davis is an independent retail advisor to businesses in the cards, gifts, stationery and heritage industries, combining 30 years of retail experience with her knowledge of trends and consumer motivation to analyse markets and identify new opportunities. Having worked at Habitat, Next, WH Smith and the National Trust, she now works with many small and medium-sized businesses, including multi-site retailers, national and international manufacturers and suppliers and is currently vice-chairman of the Giftware Association, the first woman to hold the post. www.henridavis.co.uk

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

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VOXPOP

Publishers are right at the heart of the greetings industry, designing and supplying cards for everyone to enjoy.

Greetings Today chats to a few to hear their opinions on issues of the day.

Claire Williams & Karen Wilson, Directors, Paper Salad

Laura Darrington, Owner/Designer, Laura Darrington Designs

‘

www.papersalad.co.uk T: 0161 427 0001

How would you sum up the attitude in the greetings card industry at the moment?

It’s quite buoyant for us, we’re doing particularly well and have grown year on year on year. We had lots of positive feedback at Autumn Fair.

Is any occasion or category currently seeing growth?

Baby shower is doing well and we’ve just brought out cards saying Hello Sunshine, You’re Amazing, Yippee, that sort of thing. They’re a bit different and can be used for any occasions and don’t take up much room in the shop.

With big films like Minions, Jurassic World and the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, if you’re not involved in licensing do you take inspiration from these, say using dinosaurs or robots in designs?

We have done a little bit with superheroes and princesses where we did a blue one instead of pink and we did that because of Elsa from Frozen.

We licence our designs out for gift bags and boxes and even clothes.

What’s currently trending or of interest in the Licensed Cards & Associated Products, Mother’s Day & Feminine Themed Cards and/or Hand-Finished Cards genres for you?

In hand-finished we have Trio which is patterned inside and folded over, that’s, and for Mother’s Day it’s Mother Hen where the words go down very well.

Describe Paper Salad in three words.

Original, bright, sparkly.

’

www.lauradarrington.co.uk T: 0116 284 9660

‘

How would you sum up the attitude in the greetings card industry at the moment?

Overall it’s still positive, it’s been very steady. Summer can be temperamental overall with buying patterns, but the business comes in eventually.

Is any occasion or category currently seeing growth?

Easter is definitely increasing, Mother’s Day is about the same, Valentines has taken a bit of a decrease.

With big films like Minions, Jurassic World and the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, if you’re not involved in licensing do you take inspiration from these, say using dinosaurs or robots in designs?

Probably on the kids’ side there are definitely subjects that follow through – but dinosaurs have always been popular and often it’s just that a design you do anyway happens to fit in with a theme. It keeps them on the forefront.

What’s currently trending or of interest in the Licensed Cards & Associated Products, Mother’s Day & Feminine Themed Cards and/or Hand-Finished Cards genres for you?

Strong colour palettes are trending at the moment, and clean lines and fresh colours for spring. It’s definitely coming back to a more handfinished and more traditional look.

Describe Laura Darrington Designs in three words.

Colourful, fresh, eclectic.

James Greenwood, Coloured Pencil Monitor, Jelly N Bean

‘

www.jellynbean.com T: 01423 871881 How would you sum up the attitude in the greetings card industry at the moment?

I’ve only been back in it since January after having three years off from greetings cards, I’ve jumped back in. In my view it’s all got a bit samey, which is why I’m trying to do something different. I started in 1996 when I first attempted to produce greetings cards, then got out when I sold my shares.

Is any occasion or category currently seeing growth?

From what I’ve been hearing at this show, the area that’s growing is rude cards – and I don’t do them. People say they don’t necessarily like them but they sell. I think it’s a growth area but I’m not sure as I think it’s probably against the integrity of my company. I like to make people

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smile and giggle, that’s it. And it would be just another one getting on the bandwagon.

With big films like Minions, Jurassic World and the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, if you’re not involved in licensing do you take inspiration from these, say using dinosaurs or robots in designs?

Not at all, I’m doing my own thing. I have done licensing in the past, in previous jobs.

It’s very difficult with licensing because they can be short-lived and only get one bit of the cherry – with Star Wars I’m not sure it’s going to happen again. I try to take my inspiration from the world around me. One of my ranges is based on my other half so I have endless inspiration.

What’s currently trending or of interest in the

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Licensed Cards & Associated Products, Mother’s Day & Feminine Themed Cards and/or Hand-Finished Cards genres for you?

Ginger Masala is my female range based on my other half, she does know about it. It does go well for me. Sometimes things are a bit of a slow burner and people who have it sell it well.

It’s in the Peartree Heybridge mould, Camilla & Rose and Spring Chicken, but they’re aimed at the 50-plus age and I’m bringing the humour down a decade or so. On the trends front we are seriously a nation of alcoholics. I know my cards say a lot about my lifestyle but I was in my local card shop recently and about threequarters of the cards in the store were about alcoholics – doesn’t that tell you something?

I think that’s really just following what we like and know. I don’t think it’s jumping on a bandwagon, it’s just life. It’s a massive trend.

Describe Jelly N Bean in three words.

Tongue in cheek

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If you are an artist/cartoonist/illustrator/verse writer or image library and would like to be part of this feature contact the Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289930 / gareth@lemapublishing.co.uk for more details

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Artists’ directory

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 41

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Product & services directory greetings card publishers & Party product suppliers To advertise call Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289940

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Finding new markets is always worthwhile, Helen Lawson talks about Inspired Goodbye’s second foray into the Ideal Death Show.

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IF YOU’VE been to any of the major gift and greetings card trade shows recently the chances are you’ll have been accosted by either me or my business partner Sophia Lucop-Leech asking if you sell sympathy cards.

Well, had you attended this year’s Ideal Death Show in Winchester you’d have had an extra opportunity to be accosted by us because we were there too, pictured right.

The name is a little silly, I know, but it’s designed to get your attention.

The organisers are passionate about encouraging people to talk about the inevitable in a more modern way, which is exactly the angle we’re coming from on the sympathy cards front.

Of course, none of us wants anything to happen to the people we love but, when it does, all of a sudden you have to plan a funeral – where do you start?

A little known fact is that you’re pretty much free to do a funeral u however you want to. You don’t have to organise it b byy numbers from the catalogue in the nearest funeral director. You can do whatever’s appropriate forr you and your family and e to o there are people out there help you. This is why the t’ss Ideal Death Show exists. It It’s to showcase the natin ng possibilities and it’s fascinating.

We were there with our memory books, remembrance jewellery and, of course, our very different sympathy cards – it’s always worth searching out new markets!

Other exhibitors included a company that will place your loved one’s ashes inside a firework display. Imagine that!

Someone else hand paints beautiful coffins with bespoke designs and another firm were showing their miniature Viking Long Boats, pictured, you can send out to sea with the ashes inside.

Forward-thinking funeral directors, celebrants, vicars and the like were there and members of the public were also welcome. Many passers-by strolled in after

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seeing the unusual motorcycle and New York taxi hearses parked outside.

Every other profession has an awards ceremony and it seems right this one does too, so later that d do evening we dressed up and e ev headed over to the Good he Funeral Awards.

Fu Hosted this year by Ian Lavender, better known as La stupid boy Pike from TV’s stu Dad’s Army, pictured with Da D uss top, they recognise u diff di d iifferent areas of the profession including best p r funeral best gravedigger and funera funera fun erall director, dire irecto ir cto t r be b embalmer of the year.

We hope to be nominated next year in the Best Bereavement Resource category – we’ll keep you posted.

This was our second time at the Ideal Death Show and we’ll absolutely be there again next year. The people that go are warm, funny, fond of a glass of wine and very good at what they do, just like folk you meet in the greetings card industry.

We love that we get to work with people from all walks of life so, if you’re near the Ideal Death Show next year, do pop in. It’s dead good. Honest.

T: 0161 667 5762 www.inspiredgoodbyes.co.uk

Many strolled in after seeing the unusual NYC taxi hearse outside

T: 0844 357 6091

Make every occasion count with greeting cards from Abacus Cards Limited, The Studio, Oaks Drive, Newmarket, Suffolk,CB8 7SX t: 01638 569050 f: 01638 569051 e: info@abacuscards.co.uk w: www.abacuscards.co.uk

42 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

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● All opinions expressed in Your Shout are the personal views of the named writer. We can’t promise to print everything we receive – especially not if it could land anyone in a libel court! – but we will read through everything submitted for consideration. If you have something to say please email your thoughts to tracey@lemapublishing.co.uk

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A selection of this month’s latest releases

spotlight

Product & services directory greetings card publishers & Party product suppliers To advertise call Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289940

● THE HENRIES-nominated On The Shelf range from the Typecast Gallery is inspired by British packaging design and was extended for Top Drawer to include an ice cream selection.

Bringing the range to more than 60 designs, these new ones complement the existing Fab Friend with the classic favourites, Rocket, Cornetto and Twister.

At the show they also launched their new 122x167mm range Retro Specs that’s printed on fine textured board and sold wrapped with brown fleck envelopes.

T: 01202 849566 www.thetypecastgallery.co.uk

● FOR THE very first time The Square Card Company are offering cards that can be personalised by the customer with their own handwritten message on the front in any language, for any occasion.

Bubbles is a range of 70 of Kali Stileman’s strongest designs, mainly animals including tigers, dinosaurs, owls and flamingos, each with a blank white speech bubble above the artwork for the personalised message.

The big bright and bold artwork was originally created by collage and then printed on thick textured watercolour paper.

At 175x125mm these are Kali’s largest cards yet – and not square either – that come wrapped in a foiled “write your message here” cello explaining the concept. Trade price £1.05, RRP £2.50

T: 01305 848899 www.kalistileman.co.uk ● INTRODUCING Stargaze, the latest collection from Lizzie Chancellor has gorgeous, watercolour-inspired 150x150mm cards printed on FSCcertified 300gsm board from the Lake District.

Lizzie designs her contemporary, sophisticated cards at her London studio to make people smile, expressing her bright and happy personality in all her designs, and proudly produces all her cards in Britain.

T: 07913 921282 www.lizziechancellor.com www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 43

PRODUCT & SERVICES DIRECTORY GREETINGS CARD PUBLISHERS & PARTY PRODUCT SUPPLIERS To advertise call 01442 289930

spotlight ● RELEASED in the summer, this set of four Gift Tag & Sticker Sets extends Museums & Galleries successful range of V&A gifting products which launched at the beginning of the year.

Matching the four patterns already available as gift wrap, gift boxes, gift bags and tissue paper, the Gift Tag & Sticker Sets provide customers with the chance to finish any gift in style.

Each set comprises six printed luggage-style gift tags with coloured twine and eight matching parcel stickers, in a neat euro-hooked cello pack for ease of display. The price is a gift too – trade £1.66, SRP £3.99.

T: 0116 230 4197 www.museumsgalleries.co.uk

A selection of this month’s latest releases

● GOING large is the name of the game for Earlybird as they’ve just launched six new cards to add to the existing nine designs in their 210x210mm large range.

There are two thank you, two leaving, a birthday and a baby card featuring their trademark style of graphics and eye-catching typography.

Designer Dominic Early said: “Shops kept asking us for our bestsellers as large cards, so we thought we’d be silly not to do it.

Customers want larger cards when people are leaving work to have a baby, or a large ‘congrats on your baby’ card for lots of people to sign.

“We’ve always done well with the leaving cards this size so it made sense to increase the options.”

T: 01227 765372 www.earlybirddesigns.co.uk ● WISHES is a new, stylish, traditional/ contemporary verse range from OPC with 12 designs in the collection, each featuring artwork from a diverse selection of illustrators, complemented by a heart-warming verse.

The 152x152mm cards have a £1.99 SRP and are printed on high-quality textured board, finished with coloured foil and supplied with white ribbed envelopes.

T: 01932 267300 www.originalposter.com

Designs that will get your customers coming back for more!

Life quotes to make them laugh out loud

All our designs are tried and tested in an award winning store Ramblingmansion.co.uk contact@ramblingmansion.co.uk

44 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

● BRAZILIAN illustrator Ana Strumpf is creating exclusive greetings card designs for UK letterpress brand Prelogram based on black and white publicity photos of four Hollywood screen legends of the 1940s and 50s – Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Katharine Hepburn.

Each photo is reworked in Ana’s signature style using bold colours and patterns to restyle them.

The cards are created using analogue relief presses rather than digital technology. Traditional printing impresses Ana’s designs onto the images, giving the work a crispness and definition that is unachievable with modern digital presses.

T: 020 7193 2119 www.prelogram.com www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

gifts spotlight A selection of the latest gift releases and deals

PRODUCT & SERVICES DIRECTORY GREETINGS CARD PUBLISHERS & PARTY PRODUCT SUPPLIERS To advertise call 01442 289930

● YANKEE Candle have launched a limited edition collection of candles and accessories to celebrate Halloween with a Witches’ Brew and Candy Corn scents in jars, wax melts and monster, skull and pumpkin votive holders.

For autumn, there is also the food and drink-inspired Sweet Treats range features rich, indulgent, creamy scents and vibrant, colourful, fruity fragrances, with Vanilla Bourbon, Gingerbread Maple and Cranberry Twist.

And for winter Yankee Candles have the limited edition Crimson Flurries collection using the Scenterpiece Easy Meltcup Warmer system. Available in 24 different festive fragrances including Candy Cane Lane, Christmas Cookie, Christmas Eve, Cinnamon Stick, Sparkling Cinnamon and Sparkling Snow.

T: 0117 316 1200 www.yankeecandle.co.uk ● AT SAUNDERS Displays they always get excited when a customer purchases their balloon frames for corporate events, weddings, parties, and much more.

The pictures they have been sent by clients show just some of the creations that have been fashioned just from the basic base and pole – from arches and hearts to numbers to letters.

Customers have been going to Saunders Displays for more than 40 years drawn by their competitive prices and the fact there’s not much they can’t handle.

T: 020 8594 7221 www.balloonframesbysaunders.co.uk

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● FLAME Tree Publishing have expanded their range of popular foiled journals in the build up to Christmas.

Featuring new designs from surrealist artist Octavio Ocampo, alongside classic artwork by Vincent Van Gogh, Willam Morris, Gustav Klimt, and Japanese woodblock master Hiroshige, these masterpieces of art are brought to life by the stunning print quality.

The covers are printed on foil in five colours, embossed then foil stamped.

Wiith a back pocket for scrap bits, two ribbon bookmarks and a magnetic seal on the side, these foiled journals make a great gift, or a treat for yourself.

T: 020 7386 4700 www.flametreepublishing.com

Saunders Displays Point of sales display stands for every retail environment.

Tel: 0208 594 7221 www.saundersdisplays.co.uk

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bags

envelopes

OVER 30 YEARS SERVICE TO THE GREETING CARD TRADE

BAGS from

Wrapid Producers of high clarity, high quality bags for over 30 years direct to the greeting card and stationery trade sales@wrapid.co.uk www.wrapid.co.uk 01274 220 220

Polypropylene & biodegradable bag specialists

GREETING CARD

Over 40 years quality service to the trade Hotfoiling also available

T 01206 396209 E sales@badgerconverters.co.uk www.badgerconverters.co.uk

46 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

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gift manufacturers

print services

INDEPENDENTLY AUDITED & LARGEST CIRCULATION To find out how

can help you just call 01442 289930

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“Celebrate ” s r a t s e h t h t i w

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