50-51_UK Greetings.qxp_Grid 04/07/2024 09:23 Page 2
In conversation with…UK Greetings
POSITIVE HERITAGE UK Greetings made the most of its prime position at the recent PG Live show for two significant collections, each with a different kind of heritage at their heart. Camden Signature is a fresh new take on its longstanding brand while Age Friendly Vibes is a positive spin on how our own ageing features on greeting cards. PG was there to lap up the positive vibes. Age is just a number – but according to The Centre For Ageing Better, ageism is considered to be the widest form of discrimination in Britain, with half of people aged over 50 in England saying they have experienced age discrimination in the last year – and greeting cards have played a part in that with so-called humorous quips or sometimes ill-thought through editorial leaving the recipient feeling somewhat emotionally bruised by references to their ageing. Given a prominent position on UK Greetings’ stand at PG Live was the first showing of its Age Friendly Vibes card collection, the culmination of a collaboration with pro-age advocate Jan Golden to create a statement collection of greeting cards which celebrates the positive aspects of ageing. As Sandi Parisi, UKG’s creative director and newly appointed D&I sponsor, 50 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Above: The UK Greetings stand at the recent PG Live at which Age Friendly Vibes and Camden Signature were officially launched. Below left: One of the age positive designs from the Age Friendly Vibes range. Below right: In something of a two-way street Dave Martin and Hannah McDowall worked with UKG to gain a better understanding of greeting cards from the publisher and in turn to explain about the ageism issue.
explained: “In our extensive research to find pro-age creative voices, we kept coming back to the brilliant Jan Golden and Age Friendly Vibes. She has managed to champion and celebrate getting
older without being preachy or patronising.” Having been inspired three years ago at the age of 60 to create a line of age-positive cards, Jan is thrilled to be working with UKG, “It was a pleasure to work with Sandi and her team on this collaboration! I’m excited to see this range of clever, inspiring, and thought-provoking cards that celebrate age distributed in the UK.” The UKG collection, which is published under the Kindred brand is part of a wider D&I journey the publisher has embarked on to ensure its ranges are reflect modern values and remain relevant to the consumer. It was Canopy director Dr Hannah McDowall and Dave Martin, from the Centre For Policy On Ageing who first raised the alarm bells with PG and the GCA with their concerns of how ageing has been/is reflected on greeting cards. Dovetailing into UKG’s extensive consumer insights, Canopy also shared its own research which claimed that 70% of older people wanted cards that celebrated getting older with positive messages, and the same number wanted designs that were funny or clever about ageing, but not negative or stereotypical. While 50% of those asked said they dislike