28-29_Media Splash.qxp_Grid 19/12/2024 19:15 Page 2
Industry Publicity Focus
REACH FOR THE SKY BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Radio 4’s Today programme, ITV News and even a video shared on the Associated Press wire, the greeting card industry has banged the PR drum mighty impressively over the last few weeks, ramming home the message about the importance of sending Christmas cards as well as safeguarding a reliable and affordable Royal Mail. PG shares a rundown of just some of the coverage that reached 27.4 million people’s hearts, minds, ears and souls of millions in the crucial run up to Christmas. Plenty of people have popped up to write the obituary for Christmas cards of late but, in the words of Mark Twain, the reports of the death have been greatly exaggerated, as the greeting card community has been at pains to point out, clinching a stunning amount of publicity in the process. While largely orchestrated by the GCA’s PR maestros, Arena PR’s co-founders Nick Agarwal and Andrea Ross, the messaging has been delivered with aplomb and authenticity from publishers, retailers as well as the association’s head honcho, Amanda Fergusson. Following a few days after Paper Salad’s owner and GCA vice president Karen Wilson and Amanda were in the spotlight on BBC Breakfast, the UK’s most watched TV programme, Amanda then appeared on prime-time Sky News on 17 December, where she was invited to refute journalist Mel Hunter’s lengthy article in The Telegraph from the day before in which she wrote that this would be the last year she would be sending Christmas cards. 28 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Amanda, who also appeared on BBC Radio Wales last week, capped her discussion of how the very British tradition is part of the Christmas decorations, and that research shows younger generations are increasingly sending more cards, with handing a festive card to Mel, as well as one to news anchor Kay Burley, along with a birthday card too as it was the revered presenter’s big day.
Above: Media has proliferated since the typewriter ruled the roost, but spreading the word remains all important. Below: Sky’s Kay Burley with Amanda’s Objectables’ card. Bottom left: As one of the most watched TV programmes in the UK, clinching prime slots on BBC Breakfast at the start of December meant the footage of Paper Salad’s Karen Wilson (left) with BBC’s Nina Warhurst and GCA’s Amanda Fergusson was seen by 5 million members of the public at peak Christmas card buying time. Bottom right: Amanda (second left) with journalist Mel Hunter (left) and Sky News presenters Kay Burley and Gareth Barlow on the morning news programme.
And Amanda highlighted how people are spending more on single cards that have extra meaning – part of the £1.5billion greeting card industry that supports