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NEWS Louie fame for UK publishers
TOP STORY
GCA’s Centenary Christened New logo and initiatives galore planned for association The GCA (Greeting Card Association) has kicked off what will be a whole programme of centenary celebrations and initiatives by unveiling a whole new look to its branding. “Greeting cards are all about celebrating and marking life’s events and moments, so it is wholly appropriate that we celebrate the GCA’s own significant 100 year milestone,” said Amanda Fergusson, chief executive of the GCA, who revealed the new logo at the recent GCA Speed-dating with Dragons event. “This new updated logo is just the start, we are working on a whole programme of initiatives and activities that we will be sharing in the coming weeks and months and we will be encouraging publishers, retailers and suppliers to embrace the opportunity to get involved in celebrating our wonderful industry’s ongoing evolution,” Amanda added. She explained that the centenary was deemed ideal timing to give the GCA’s branding a makeover. “Being a pre-eminent creative industry, the Council felt it was important that we update our 20 year old branding, while retaining the heritage and having some
continuity with our existing logo,” she added. The new logo was arrived at following a design brief being issued to all Council members’ teams as well as the GCA hub’s creative resource. Some 30+ submissions were made, which then went to a vote among Council members and the GCA hub team. The design that received the highest number of votes, and has therefore been adopted as the new livery, remains largely true to the colours of GCA’s existing logo, with the association’s three letters depicted in a contemporary lower case font format. While for the duration of this year, the logo will feature wording that acknowledges the GCA’s centenary, from the start of 2020 this will be dropped and the branding will make no reference to the heritage. A branding ‘toolkit’ is in the throes of being developed which members and associate members will be encouraged to use. The new logo will be uploaded onto the GCA website for members to download. Above: While this year will see the logo incorporating the GCA’s centenary, from the start of 2020 a pared back version will be adopted. Left: GCA’s ceo, Amanda Fergusson holding the new GCA logo.
£1,000 ‘Woody’ prize for Just Cards It was a normal Monday morning in Just Cards, the St Ives, Cambs-based indie owned by Tom and Maureen O’Connell until their Woodmansterne sales rep Chris Duplock rang to tell them the good news, that they had won a fabulous £1,000 treat, as winner of the publisher’s Spring Fair prize draw. “It was such a wonderful surprise!” Tom O’Connell exclaimed to PG, having heard that he and Maureen can now take their pick of any of Woodmansterne’s Five Star Days and experiences, which span a wide range of treats, from hotel trips away to adventures galore. To add extra colour and excitement to Woodmansterne’s tropical-themed stand at the show, Kate Leach, the publisher’s head of marketing explained that as part of its Spring Fair activities, “all customers placing an order went into the prize draw with the chance to win the £1,000 prize. As well as having lots of great new products this was clearly an attractive incentive as we collected loads of entries!” “The only tough bit is deciding where to go or what to do - at the moment a trip to Paris, Rome or Istanbul are looking the favourites!” said Maureen. Above: This is not the first time the O’Connells have been winners as Just Cards won a Retas greeting card retailer award a few years ago! Left: One of the Rumba designs in the new Woodmansterne range.
Rosie Made a Thing, Ohh Deer, Laura Sherratt, Sally Scaffardi, Laura Darrington and Lagom are among the UK greeting card publishers to have reached the finals of The Louie Awards 2019, the US counterparts of The Henries awards in the UK. The creativity of UK publishers did not go unnoticed by the US judges of the Louies, resulting in British card designs being feted among the 165 specific card designs that have been officially announced as finalists by the US Greeting Card Association that owns and organises The Louie awards. Think of Me’s transatlantic set-up (the founders Dan and Freya Kane now live in California, though the fulfillment is still handled in the UK) is clearly providing the best of both worlds as one of the publisher’s designs is in the finals. Other finalists include several US brands that are well-known on UK shores, including Avanti (distributed in the UK by GBCC) and Up With Paper (distributed in the UK by Noel Tatt and Northern Lights). In addition, Quilling Card, which has just signed a distribution deal with UK company East West, also reached the finals with one of its intricately hand-created designs. The winners will be announced at The Louie Celebration -Speakeasy Soirée, which will take place on Sunday 18 May at 26 Bridge in Brooklyn, New York. The Louie Celebration will coincide with Noted: The Greeting Card Expo, the brand new greeting card trade show that is being organised by the US Greeting Card Association. It will take place May 18-20 in Brooklyn Expo Center in Brooklyn. Top to bottom: A Lagom design (distributed in the US by Calypso); a Laura Darrington card (distributed in the US by Notes & Queries); a Laura Sherratt design; a Quilling Card (distributed in the UK by EastWest) and a Sally Scaffardi design (distributed in the US by Notes & Queries).
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