Greetings Today by Lema Publishing

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in the news news in brief

All spaced out WHAT am I going to do with all this space – that’s the question Jill Perkins is asking since she and business partner Jan Morley finally decided to stop packing their Perkins & Morley cards themselves. “We’ve just started using Clacton-based PPG (Picpacgo) to store and send out our products,” Jill said, “and it’s wonderful! I no longer open cupboards and have cards fall out, and I’ve regained a spare bedroom. The only thing left is a roll of bubble wrap, and my rescue pooch Barley Moe is able to cross the room without falling over boxes.”

IG are growing strong GROWTH across all regions is the news in the latest trading update from IG Design Group, formerly International Greetings, with partyware and licensed stationery helping sales in the UK. The August 30 report on the three months ending June 30, 2016, also showed first quarter trading is in line with management and market expectations and benefits are being delivered from capital investment projects, with the Beds-based group on track to deliver against market expectations for the full year with opportunities for incremental growth in the second half of the year.

Talking to the wall boost for TOYW A WHOLE wall of cards was a talking point at Top Drawer to boost Thinking Of You Week with all mail sent which over September 26-October 3 being stamped with a special Royal Mail postmark. Exhibitors at Top Drawer were on board with a special display for the third outing of the initiative organised by the Greeting Card Association, where the idea is to send a card to a diﬀerent person each day over the week. GCA CEO Sharon Little, pictured at the show with Cleere Scamell of organisers Clarion Events, said: “We had about 90 entries for the TOYW display, all are member publishers who were exhibiting here and they’re designs that best express the event’s spirit. “We were flooded with entries and lots of people were stopping by the display so it’s had a two-fold eﬀect – promoting TOYW to a lot of people who were taking leaflets and also driving buyers to members’ stands at the show.” With more than six million letters sent each day with postage stamps, Royal Mail again supported the initiative with a special postmark on all stamped mail across the week saying: “It’s Thinking Of You Week! Send a card to raise a smile.” Stephen Agar, head of social mail, said: “There’s nothing better than receiving a card in the post and opening it up to find out who sent it. Cards spread happiness and joy in a way that can never be matched by emails and texts. We are really pleased to be marking the campaign with a special postmark.” Technology was a way to bring the good old greetings card to the fore as both UK Greetings and

Hallmark released videos to boost the event The UKG message within their video, available on YouTube, was: “It’s easy...all you need is a card and a pen! Let’s all get involved in this brilliant celebration of all things thoughtful by sending cards and encouraging family and friends to do the same.

Over at Hallmark they conducted a study of 1,200 respondents with Censuswide which showed 66 per cent of Brits said receiving a handwritten card or letter shows the most thought when it comes to sharing an emotional message while only nine per cent enjoy receiving an appreciative email and just eight per cent think a soppy text is the most touching method. In response to these findings, Hallmark created an emotional new video depicting couples, mothers and sons and grandfathers and granddaughters telling loved ones what they think of them.

Colouring craze boost RETAILERS WH Smith are on target for a strong year as their pre-close update was bolstered by the craze for colouring books for grown-ups and spin-oﬀs such as extreme dot-to-dot. The August 24 update showed they are expecting results for the year to August 31 to be “in line with expectations” thanks to a solid set of results, especially on their travel business side. The uplift in adult spend on felt tips and colouring books has helped deliver “particularly strong” stationery sales and is expected to have a positive impact on the retailers’ High Street profit performance

Hard work ‘wasted’ THE head of the Jersey Retail Group has told ITV News that the hard work of the island’s tourism company is being wasted by shop owners who don’t want to stay open late. David Elliott, said Visit Jersey are bringing “a lot more people” to the island and the High Street is busy with visitors in the evening but he is concerned that by 6pm: “We still have a lot of shops that close. At 9am the High Street is very quiet and yet most of the shops are open. At 5:30-6pm there’s a heck of a lot of people around and a lot of shops are closed. We’re just trying to remember customer service – that’s what it’s all about, being open when our customers are

Boost to literacy A DOWNLOADABLE pack for schools was launched by Hallmark for International Literacy Day following research that greetings cards and shopping lists can help teach children to read and write. The survey commissioned in August by the publishers revealed 40 per cent of five-year-olds in the UK enjoy sending cards because it allows them to practise their handwriting, while 37 per cent of under 12s said they like receiving cards to practise reading. World Literacy Foundation Jade Lane said: “The study clearly shows children want to practise their reading and writing using traditional methods, such as greetings cards. “

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Enjoying a cuppa COFFEE and cake were enjoyed by everyone at Nigel Quiney Publications as they helped raise £112 for the Macmillan cancer charity. The official date for the event, the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, was September 30, but the Saffron Walden-based publishers got their treat in a week early with some of the firm’s excellent home bakers giving

the Great British Bake Oﬀ stars a run for their money. The World’s Biggest Coﬀee Morning is Macmillan’s biggest fundraising event for people facing cancer when they ask people all over the UK to host their own events with all donations on the day made to the charity – last year alone they raised £25million.

www.coﬀee.macmillan.org.uk

Chocs away! IF ONLY every Friday was like this – that was the response from the team at Abacus Cards when they received their bumper £150 Hotel Chocolat hamper from UK Envelope Centre as the lucky winners of the August promotion where customers went into the draw taking delivery of 50,000 envelopes during the month. UK Envelope Centre director Joanne Jeﬀerson said: “We really appreciate all the support our customers give us and wanted to run a promotion that would show this – it was important to us that the lucky winners could share the prize with their whole team.