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Industry Issue
Left: Oh no, Eric (GBCC) has been mistaken for Donald Trump! Right: Brexit cropped up in Brainbox Candy’s portfolio! Below: Cartoonist Oliver Preston is up for covering politics, but when it comes to publishing his artwork on his cards he goes for cartoons with a broad stroke rather than specific politicians or time-specific issues. Below right: One of the Dean Morris cards that is feted as one of Scribbler’s best sellers.
will see an increasing amount of satire in the form of greeting cards aimed towards the leading populist protagonists, after all let’s face it, they are somewhat of an easy target!” On the cartoon front, a few of Matt’s observations have made their way out of the Telegraph and into the licensed Woodmansterne range, while Oliver Preston (of Beverston Press) has also made mention of parliamentary happenings on a few of his card designs. Currently working on a new set of political playing cards, Oliver points out that while politics provide a rich territory for cartoonists looking to supply newspapers, products with a longer shelf-life, such as greeting cards, can come a cropper.“Our last political playing cards for 2010, made a small profit (not large) due to the fact that a large number of the people in the packs lost their seats (Balls, Miliband, Cable, in fact most of the Liberals) which curtailed their saleability. I am not going to make that mistake again, so with Brexit we have two years, and maybe I will steer clear of politicians who may not be around in a few months (what with the French and German elections!) So, politics is good fertile ground, but it has to be done with a broad stroke.” Lee Keeper, creative director of Woodmansterne and CardMix agrees that while the Have I Got News for You range is a very successful range for CardMix, “it was always a gamble staying ahead of the curve and keeping designs relevant.” A case in point in a card design shows David Cameron with Angela Merkel, which is now hopelessly out of date post Brexit. “Brexit may mean Brexit, hard or soft, but the best performing designs always had rude food or comical pets at the heart of the ranges’ success, proving that enduring cards are enduring cards sticking to classic themes!” Rude food and comical pets? Isn’t that politics by any other name?! Onwards to the hustings!
A Historical Spoonerism Tony Spooner, founder of Emotional Rescue (who sold his shares in the publisher several years ago) ‘fondly’ recalls the days in the mid 1980s when it was de rigeur to buy a Dope on a Rope card/Christmas decoration which was a die-cut card that depicted PM Margaret Thatcher, Labour leader Neil Kinnock and US President Ronald Reagan, among others, with a rope around their necks. “In addition to the Dope on a Rope range we also had great success with our Spoof range which featured politicians and trade union leader Arthur Scargill. “One reason we did these design was that I personally was happy to politicise our products in a way that many larger publishers would not be.” Some 30 years on and as Tony points out, “Once again there are some ‘larger than life’ political characters” on the stage, yet the market is rather conservative, with a small ‘c’! “Every Tory leader post Thatcher has been rather dull, but now politics have become interesting again,” believes Tony. Drawing on the benefit of his experience in co-running one of the most successful humorous greeting card publishers of all time, Tony added: “Good greeting card designs are those that touch people and connect one with another. Politics are once again being talked about openly and so as such I predict that we will be seeing more designs that touch on the political side of life.” Above and right: Blasts from the past from Emotional Rescue’s archives.
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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