Progressive Greetings October 2021

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Freshly designed and updated for all of your seasonal displays - from Christmas, Easter, Eid, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and Valentines Day - greeting cards for those special yearly events.

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Congratulations cards for a variety of celebrations - from Wedding, Anniversary & New Home, to graduation, promotions & exam results - we have a range for all special occasions.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Your favourite places in the World, printed on high quality greeting cards.

Find locations on your doorstep, or from the other side of the globe the choice is yours.

GENERAL EVERYDAY CARDS A range of thoughtful cards for any day of the week. From thank-you cards, blank inside, or just a little note to say hello.

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From The Editor

ON THE CARDS So, the countdown to Christmas 2021 has started in earnest.

Admittedly it is a nail-biting one, after the vagaries of last year’s festive run-up nothing could have prepared us for the traumas of this year, notably the severe stock issues, with even the most savvy of suppliers and forward-thinking retailers bracing themselves for being caught short, whether due to production nightmares, overseas shipment troubles, transportation headaches or most prosaically, a shortage of cardboard boxes! By comparison Father Christmas, Rudolf and the gang have it easy, just scheduling those ready packaged door-to-door ‘down the chimney’ deliveries!

We are however all having to accept there are some things we just cannot control. As someone who lives my life never more than a few centimetres from a ‘to do’ list this has taken some doing, but no doubt like you, I am getting better at those ‘deep breath’ moments.

One of these was the day before The Henries, our esteemed industry ‘big night’. Having taken place online last year (which was good, but not the same when wearing your slippers!) it was full on for the big comeback party. Some 500+ tickets sold, a cracking Boogie Wonderland theme, incredible line-up of excited finalists, full backing of loyal sponsors and extra touches in place (including a vintage 7” single for everyone)…then came the call from Mick our trophy maestro. “I am sorry Jakki, but we have supply issues…your beautiful Henries trophies will not be there in time, there has been a problem with the metal finish.” My heart sank…an awards night with no trophies?! But in the end we got through.

The lovely Mick came up with a ‘stand in’ glass trophy, we repurposed an old trophy for the official photos, a bit of jiggery pokery on stage, but do you know what, it wasn’t the end of the world. The real Henries trophies will

www.max-publishing.co.uk THE HOME OF MARKET LEADING TRADE MAGAZINES

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Above: Christening the first ever GCA ‘local’ which took place in Dulwich, London during Thinking of You Week (left-right) Sandy Deasey (Paperlink), Jakki Brown (PG), Amanda Fergusson (GCA), Adriana Lovesy (Mrs Lovesy) and Nick Crowe (The Pattern Book Press).

Left: Wendy and Steve Jones-Blackett with their two glass ‘stand in’ Henries trophies.

Below left: A one-off ‘Barbie girl’ moment! PG’s Jakki Brown (right) with Emotional Rescue’s Toni Cresswell at the recent Licensing Awards event.

arrive in the next few weeks and hopefully The Retas beauties will be all lined up in time for their November 16 event, but it does make you realise that some things you think of as being crucial, aren’t. We have all learned to be a bit more accepting.

However, some issues remain ever crucial; climate change demands immediate attention. Sure, our industry is better placed than so many others on the sustainability front, and great progress has been made, but each and every one of us can make a difference.

As the UK prepares to host Cop26, the world’s largest ever environmental summit, PG is playing its part with its first ever sustainability special (pages 31-47). This is not a lengthy lecture of what you have to do, in fact it is a gratifying read in how far collectively our sector has come, but by sharing best practice and inspiring each other we can do more…so, instead of being a Christmas fairy this year, why not see yourself as a green elf…

THE HOME OF MARKET LEADING TRADE AWARDS

Max Publishing Ltd, United House, North Road, London N7 9DP Tel: 020 7700 6740 Fax: 020 7607 6411 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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What’s Inside?

CONTENTS 28

39

52

12-19 News

38-43

All the latest happenings and developments in the trade.

Green for Go

20-21

PG joins publishers on their respective sustainable journeys – carbon offset, naturally!

Publishers’ Sustainable Pledges

Over The Counter

No Time To Say “No”

45-47

David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland proposes that sometimes you just have to say “No” to things.

Suppliers’ Standpoints

Joined up thinking How suppliers are pushing the environmental agenda.

22-23 Musical Chairs

48-49 Innovations

PG columnist reflects on the ‘big boy’ game.

Publishers’ new ranges and designs.

25-27

51-55

Viewpoints

Spotlight on…Words & Sentiment

All Fired Up

Cards that do the talking

The love flowed at the recent GCA Speed-dating with Dragons’ event.

Chapter and verse on how words & sentiments cards have been the linguistic ‘glue’ for many relationships.

28-29

57-59

The Henries 2021

Licensing Focus

Revealing The 2021 Winners

Driving Licensing

Cardsharp

Licensing out, licensing in…PG shakes it all about in the run up to the Brand Licensing Europe exhibition.

31 Editor’s Opinion Welcome to PG’s first ever sustainable ‘special’ section…

61 Art Source

34-35

The String In The Tail

Scoping COP26

Artist Sally Wilson shares her life and loves.

The Big Picture Products of Change’s Rob Hutchins sets the scene for the imminent sustainable summit.

63-64 What’s Hot? A quad of retailers share their best selling ranges.

Subscribe to Progressive Greetings from £60 (UK) to £90 (International).

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Jakki Brown

Warren Lomax

Ian Hyder

Tracey Arnaud

Editor/Joint Owner

Joint Owner

Joint Owner

Sales Manager

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warren@max-publishing.co.uk

ianh@max-publishing.co.uk

traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

Use your smartphone app to scan the QR code to visit our website.

Copyright© 2021. While every effort has been made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of publication, the publishers cannot accept legal liability for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility for the standing of advertisers nor any organisation mentioned in the text. Views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.

PG is the official magazine for the Greeting Card Association GCA: Amanda Fergusson 020 7619 9266 Email: hello@gca.cards www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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NEWS TOP STORY

The Henries Boogie Wonderland Some 500 cardies celebrated together The winners of The Henries 2021 greeting card industry awards were announced at a fabulous awards event, hosted by comedian Tom Allen, which took place recently at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

The industry’s big ‘comeback party’ event, which this year took on a Boogie Wonderland theme, was attended by over 500 members of the greeting card community who shared in the joy as the publishers of the UK’s most innovative greeting card ranges, as well as those who had gone the extra mile on service, made their way to the stage to be crowned as winners.

Organised by Progressive Greetings, The Henries are accepted as the ultimate accolades in the greeting card industry.

Friends and colleagues were thrilled to be part of the first big awards bash for two years.

“We all deserved a great party after what has been a truly a torrid 20 months that have been brutal for all of us, both professionally and

personally,” said Warren Lomax, co-owner of The Henries. “And it certainly was that!”

The emotionally uplifting grand finale was the presentation of Honorary Achievement Award, which was presented to Paul Taylor, co-founder and managing director of specialist greeting card retail group, Cardzone.

(The list of all Henries winners appear on pages 28-29, but they will be featured in all their glory in the November issue of PG) Top: Tom Allen was a fabulous host of The Henries.

Above: IC&G won the Gold in the Best Service to the Independent Retailer category which directors Simon (left) and Ian Wagstaff were delighted about!

Left: Rush Design’s (r-l) Lorraine and Ian Bradley and Twizler’s Laura Murphy in the House of Cards photo pod.

Wrendale’s Prize Ticket campaign supports indies Wrendale Designs’ Country Set greeting card range scooped The Henry Cole Classic award in The Henries 2021, and as testament to the ongoing evolution of the brand, last month saw Elvis, Daphne and Fern make a grand entrance into the company’s plush collection, and one that supports the retail stockists to boot.

To mark the launch of Daphne the guinea pig, Elvis and owl and Fern the squirrel into stores, Wrendale instigated a Prize Ticket Campaign which involves each participating stockist receiving a Golden Ticket which they can use to reward one lucky customer, enabling them to claim a plush character from the original line-up.

“We are very aware of the tough time that retailers have had in navigating their way through the pandemic and this prize ticket campaign is something we wanted to launch as a ‘thank you’ to our retailers who have been so loyal and supported us over the years,” stated Hannah Dale, founder and creative director of Wrendale Designs, whose illustrations feature on the company’s greeting cards and gifts, and are the basis of the plush incarnations.

Each stockist has also been supplied with a media pack and advice as to how to how to promote the competition and increase footfall to their stores with customers on the lookout for the hidden tickets.

Left: The latest additions to the Wrendale plush menagerie – Daphne, Elvis and Fern.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Paper Salad’s triumphant awards As well as winning two awards at The Henries (and another two through the company’s collaboration with Emotional Rescue and Glick), Paper Salad has also been crowned Business of the Year in the Stockport Business Awards.

The Romily-based company was one of three finalists in the award category for local businesses with a turnover £1m-£5m. It was up against two recruitment firms, Jobwise and Odin Recruitment.

Commenting, Karen Wilson and Claire Williams, co-owners of Paper Salad, who attended the awards event, which took place at Edgeley Park last month said: “It felt really good to receive the award, especially as so many members of the team were there too, as it really is a team effort.”

These latest awards continue Paper Salad’s winning streak as the publisher also scored a hat trick in The Louie Awards, the US equivalent of The Henries in July.

Above: Paper Salad’s directors Karen Wilson (right) and Claire Williams with the company’s general manager Jack Wilson at the Stockport Business Awards event.

The upbeat vibe Adding to the Boogie Wonderland theme of The Henries, the ‘placecard’ for every attendee was an actual 7” vinyl single, featuring hits from the disco era.

“When Ohh Deer’s Mark Callaby suggested sponsoring the records as an idea, to follow on from the historic greeting card we gave to everyone for the last physical Henries event, we jumped to it, scouring record collectors’ sites, charity shops and auctions to build an impressive musical anthology of retro hits,” explained PG’s Jim Bullough.

The records were used in a Higher and Lower elimination quiz at The Henries, which saw the winner Tom Horton, strategy and implementation manager of general merchandise at Tesco receiving a pristine 12” version of Earth Wind and Fire’s Boogie Wonderland hit as well as a magnum of champagne.

Below: Ohh Deer’s md Mark Callaby (right) presenting Tesco’s Tom Horton with his prize.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Card Factory To Open 100 More Stores Retailer’s sales soar by 16% despite footfall dip “We strongly believe in the resilience and stability of the card market” was the positive message Card Factory sent out about the whole greeting card market with the announcement of its interim results (which cover the six months to 31 July 2021).

The UK’s largest greeting card retailer revealed a 16.3% increase in sales (to £116.9 million year on year), despite a drop in footfall, with an increase in ‘basket size’ serving to mitigate against the fewer customer visits. Profit before tax came in at a £6.3 million loss, which is a 70% improvement on last year’s £22.2 million loss for the same period.

While acknowledging “there remains some uncertainty about the speed of the post-pandemic market recovery,” Darcy Willson-Rymer, ceo of Card Factory reinforced a firm belief in “both the resilience of the card and gifting markets and the fact that the majority of customer spend will remain in stores for the years to come.”

He revealed that while Card Factory will continue very much as a “cardled retailer” seeing this as “a stable UK market where 76% of adults are card givers”, the multiple is to expand its complementary gifting and party ranges, across its stores and online channels.

In addition to new complementary categories such as confectionary and stationery, existing card ranges are to be broadened by the introduction of new contemporary categories.

Below: Card Factory is looking to expand on its card sales by offering more contemporary collections as well as growing its party, gift, confectionery and stationery sales.

Below middle: Card Factory has high hopes for its online sales.

“As we increase our focus on complementary, higher value, lower margin products and basket mix shifts accordingly, we anticipate a reduction in the group's percentage margin, which is reflected in our revised long-term guidance, adds Darcy.

Card Factory still sees a potential to expand its physical estate of over 1,000 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland. It has revealed it is looking to open another 100 shops by the end of 2026, targeting under penetrated areas, including London, the Republic of Ireland, and areas of high footfall, such as retail parks.

It is however also looking to further reposition itself as an omnichannel retailer, with a stronger international presence as well as online.

The retail group has recently appointed former Asda chief financial officer Robert McWilliam as an independent non-executive director. Due to take up his role November 1, he will also be a member of the greeting card retailer’s audit and risk, nomination and remuneration committees.

Widdop & Co’s former chairman recognised as one of The Greats As well as recognising and rewarding the UK’s leading gift retailers (many of whom are leading stockists of greeting cards), The Greats gift retailer awards, which took place last month, also acknowledged the huge contribution that Robert (Bob) Illingworth, the former chairman of Widdop & Co, had made to the industry during his lifetime.

The award ceremony (which took place at London’s Honourable Artillery Company) culminated with the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award being presented posthumously, that was collected by Stephen Illingworth, Widdop & Co’s creative director who delivered a superb and suitably touching speech about his grandfather.

“Grandpa saw out recessions, wars, crises, the advent of the internet and he always told me that in tough times that is when our industry thrived as the creators of affordable gifts that bring happiness. If he were here today, he would be relishing the challenges we all face right now, from shipping to supply chain, Amazon selling to pricing,” said Stephen. “He would be quietly so honoured and thrilled to be acknowledged for his lifetime’s work and our whole family, especially my granny, who is here today, thank you all so much for this award and the support recently and over so many years from across the trade. Congratulations to everyone in the room today - winners and finalists - he would have been proud to be among you.”

Above: Widdop’s Stephen Illingworth collected the Outstanding Achievement Award that was presented posthumously to his grandfather, Bob Illingworth.

Above: Among the other winners were In Heaven at Home, Market Harborough (owner Anne Barber holds the trophy) and Kettering’s The Bean Hive, owned by Davina Parkhouse (centre) who attended with her daughter Emelye, who runs the sibling store in Falmouth.

Card buying is back to pre-Covid levels The vast majority of greeting card buyers are buying single cards to the same levels, or higher, than they did pre the Covid lockdowns. Furthermore, the majority believe they will continue this same pattern going forward - with more than one in ten (11%) intending to send more greeting cards in the future.

This reassuring news has come to light in a significant consumer research project commissioned by the GCA (Greeting Card Association) which tracks the public’s card buying habits as well as the key considerations they have when selecting a card.

Undertaken by One Poll, the research survey involving 2,000 adults who give greeting cards at least once a year, took place at the end of July/beginning of August.

“It is so encouraging to see that since the first lockdown, four in five buyers (80%) have sent the same number of individual cards or more as they did before the pandemic, while 11% are saying that going forward they intend to send more greeting cards than they did before,” Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA commented to PG. As PG went to press further findings from the research project were due to be unveiled at the GCA AGM and Conference.

Right: Amanda Fergusson on stage at The Henries 2021 awards presenting the inaugural Best Diversity and Inclusion Award that was sponsored by the GCA.

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NEWS Caring ways from Belly Button

TOP STORY

Highly engaged Thinking of You Week 2021 Thoughts were put into action for ToYW This year’s Thinking of You Week (which ran September 20-26) saw a flurry of activity by retailers, publishers, trade suppliers, Royal Mail as well as members of the public, all participating in the GCA initiative which saw a big wave of people showing they care by sending greeting cards.

“This year, more than any other saw a huge engagement from so many members of the UK greeting card community and beyond for Thinking of You Week,” commented Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA. “And it was so lovely to know too that while there was all this wonderful activity going on in the UK, that our counterparts in the US

were also underway with their Thinking of You Week initiatives at the same time.”

Major UK retailers, including the Coop, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, B&M and Clintons as well as indie groups, such as House of Cards and JP Pozzi/Bijou all got behind the initiative spreading the word about Thinking of You Week, both instore and via social media activity.

All Co-op stores ran a ‘Buy Scan Win’ promotion in partnership with Hallmark, Blackhawk and Nestle. Customers buying any Hallmark greeting card, a One4all Gift Card or Quality Street carton who then scanned their Co-op membership card were in

Right: Cherry Orchard Publishing sent its stockists a free Thinking of You card and a voucher for them to hide in their racks so a lucky customer could win the card. Chocolate was also sent!

Below: The Co-op once again promoted Thinking of You Week.

with the chance of winning a hamper and gift card for themselves and a friend.

Fellow grocer Sainsbury’s built on its support of the event last year by introducing a focused ‘parasite unit’ onto its card racks to promote ToYW featuring UKG’s Little Voice designs that offer words of hope, messages of encouragement and reminders of love.

Meanwhile, many publishers, including Hallmark, UKG, Belly Button, The Art File, Cherry Orchard Publishing, Carte Blanche Greetings, Paper Salad, Wrendale Designs, Schmunki Verse and Paper Yam were among those to each come up with ways of marking the special week.

Helping to build awareness of the Week, Royal Mail franked millions of items of post with a dedicated Thinking of You Week message while it also instigated a lovely project which saw residents of a care home receive cards with messages from strangers, with a video all about the project gaining a lot of traction on social media.

Above left: ToYW featured in Sainsbury’s.

Left: A scene from a Royal Mail video to promote ToYW by tying up with a care home.

CBG spreads the ToYW love Carte Blanche Greetings, a long-time supporter of ToYW, further spread awareness and encouraged additional card sends for the duration of the Week. Everyone ordering cards via the MetoYou.com site received an additional free card from its Me to You New Beginnings range.

“After the isolation experienced by so many during the pandemic, it’s never been so important to keep in touch with loved ones and cards are the perfect way to show someone how much they mean to you,” says Grace Elphinstone, CBG’s marketing manager. “Me to You is a brand that is synonymous with conveying messages of love and friendship and with the end of lockdown, we think there are a lot of missed opportunities to say thank you, to celebrate an occasion, to think of others or ‘just because,” she added. Left: Some of the CBG marketing for ToYW.

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Nowhere are messages of hope, love and encouragement more in need than in hospitals, which is why Belly Button Designs went all out to spread the love of ToYW through the North Manchester General Hospital group, in over 10 locations (including Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe Hospital, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Saint Mary’s Hospital, Manchester University Dental Hospital, Withington Community Hospital, Trafford General Hospital, Altrincham Hospital and North Manchester General Hospital).

The Manchester-based publishing company, founded by Rachel Hare, and former president of the GCA donated tons of Thinking of You greeting cards to all the NHS staff on the ICU wards to give to someone they are thinking of this week.

The Week was also promoted in Belly Button’s own shops (in Heaton Moor in Stockport and Burton Road in Didsbury).

“On top of creating a lovely window display anyone who made a purchase during ‘Thinking of You Week’ received a free ‘Thinking Of You’ card to give to anyone they felt needed a card to brighten their day,” explained Michelle Hindle, Belly Button’s head of sales.

Below: Belly Button’s ToYW activity included donating cards to 10 hospitals.

UKG’s triple approach UKG adopted a three-pronged support of Thinking of You Week - for its retail customers, its own employees and the consumer.

“These past couple of years have really reminded us all of the importance of connectivity and community. That even a small gesture like sending a card is such an easy way to show you are thinking of someone, or that they mean a lot,” commented Jill Alexander, UKG’s marketing communications director.

In addition to the activity with its multiple customers, the publisher offered its independent retail customers a special package of a dozen relevant designs, which were sent with supporting PoS. Internally, all employees were invited to select free cards from a display in the company’s reception with UKG covering the cost of the postage.

Meanwhile, the publisher also ran a consumer competition.

Above: The Thinking of You Station in UKG’s HQ.

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NEWS TOP STORY

Even more funky

High Street Gains Back Card Sales Kantar’s Worldpanel tracks consumer greeting card purchases ‘It is true that eCommerce won the ‘Covid spend’ but greeting card shoppers are already leaving this channel’ and returning to bricks and mortar retailers. This is one of the insights from the latest research report by Kantar. Another is how the supermarkets’ share is showing a dip with the high street rallying a bit.

This has come to light as the major research company has recently started tracking consumer purchasing habits of greeting cards as part of its Worldpanel Plus programme.

Among the highlights of Kantar’s consumer survey ‘Understanding the UK Greeting Card Industry’ for the 12 weeks to 22 August 2021 (compared with the same period last year), are that high street multiples, notably Card Factory,

Clintons, M&S and Paperchase have clawed back market share on the card buying front while some leading supermarkets have dropped back a bit from their high point last year.

Commenting on the findings, as Jo Parman, strategic insights director of the Worldpanel Plus Team at Kantar told PG: “The pandemic unlocked e-commerce for

practically every retail sector and greetings is no different. The pace of change is now slowing down and we’re seeing online purchases start to settle at around 12% of sales.”

She also recognises the important role greeting cards play in human behaviour: “There is a sense of an emotional impetus driving change as people longed for connection to one another last year - the greetings sector offered an important way for people to stay in touch and to show they care from afar. We're still facing challenging times and it will be interesting to see how that desire to show the special people in our lives how much they mean will convert into sales for the sector.”

As to why Kantar has decided to start tracking greeting card sales, Jo added: “It's a dynamic time for the greetings sector and that flux creates demand for high-quality data and insight.

That's what we can offer to retailers and publishers, helping them to understand, respond to and anticipate trends.”

Top: Card buying is climbing back up.

Above left: Kantar’s tracking of the shift in card sales by retailer.

Moonpig delivers tasty results Revenues at Moonpig will be higher than forecast this year despite Britain emerging from lockdown, the online greeting cards retailer revealed.

Moonpig expects sales of between £270 million and £285 million in the 12 months to the end of April, some £20 million higher than its previous prediction.

But it’s not just Moonpig’s financial results that have been looking tasty, as the online publisher produced a limited edition of edible greeting cards to coincide with the return of Great British Bake Off! The completely edible cards came in five different cake flavours - Battenberg, Lemon Drizzle, Swiss Roll, Chocolate and Victoria Sponge. The range proved so popular with customers that it sold out in less than four days.

Sarah-Jane Porter, Moonpig’s head of cards and licensing (and GCA Council member) commented: “GBBO has inspired a new generation of cake bakers in the UK and this baking trend has led to the most amount of cake themed cards being sold each year whenever the show was running. So, creating a range of edible cards for the start of the new series was a no-brainer.”

Above: The tasty edible cards from Moonpig.

Funkypigeon.com has announced the extension of next day delivery on weekend orders, even when that special occasion is on a Sunday.

This new service means that customers can place orders as late as 9:30pm on www.funkypigeon.com for any cards and a selection of gifts to be sent together for UK next day delivery via Royal Mail’s Tracked 24 service. This service is now available seven days a week, including Saturday and Sunday.

Customers also have the opportunity to receive an email confirming an estimated delivery window of when their cards and gifts are due to be delivered as well as when they’ve been delivered.

Moonpig announced its Sunday delivery option back in July.

Above: Funky Pigeon is now offering seven days a week delivery.

Thortful goes on Gratitude tour Online greeting card company Thortful is among the sponsors of Gratitude, a spectacular outdoor public art installation which commemorates and celebrates the stories of an extraordinary moment in time.

Gratitude brings together 51 uniquelydesigned human form sculptures, all designed by individual artists and sponsored by different businesses who want to acknowledge key workers and pay tribute to the NHS. The Thortful sculpture was designed by Ella-Williams Brown, a member of its in-house design team and is entitled ‘A moment to be thortful’. The design comprises three elements: the willow tree representing suffering, new growth and strength; the Thortful bees delivering thanks and gratitude to the NHS while a wildflower meadow, depicting the colours of the NHS rainbow, features tulips, daisies, forget-me-nots and pansies symbolising faith, innocence, memories, courage, strength, love, thoughtful recollection and caring.

The sculptures are now on tour in the UK and after which, will be auctioned with the proceeds donated to NHS Charities Together.

Andy Pearce ceo and founder of Thortful said: “At the outset of 2021 we made a commitment to support NHS Charities Together and so far we have raised £140,000 and the auction of the statue will raise even more vitally needed funds.”

Above right: The Thortful statue (closest) with some of the others.

Above left: Andy Pearce, founder and ceo of Thortful.

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See the full range online! sales@mint-publishing.co.uk

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NEWS TOP STORY Below: The Retas 2021 will take on a Finery of Greenery theme.

Full Steam Ahead For The Retas Retail Awards2021 Greeting card retailers all set for their annual awards With The Henries awards having rewarded excellence on the publishing side, next month sees the UK’s outstanding greeting card retailers receiving the recognition they deserve, in The Retas greeting card retailer awards.

While the finalists of these revered accolades were announced back in May, due to lockdown restrictions, the actual award event was postponed from their original July date to November 16.

The lavish lunchtime event, which this year takes on a Finery of Greenery theme, will be staged in the Ballroom of The JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane.

“In what must rank as the most challenging period for retail ever, the lineup of The Retas 2021 finalists stands as testament to the passion, inventiveness, nous and tenacity of the UK’s leading greeting card stockists,” commented Jakki Brown, joint managing director of Max Publishing, which owns and organises The Retas. “Even throughout the forced closures during the lockdowns of the last year, so many found ways to continue to inspire, excite and over deliver on consumer expectations on the greeting card front. As there was no Retas awards last year, this year’s will be a double celebration!” she added.

The Retas awards event will start with pre-lunch drinks at 11.45am, followed by a

delectable three course lunch. Comedian Stuart Goldsmith is to compere the awards ceremony while following this, there will be plenty of time to network with a dedicated bar area set aside for Retas guests in the foyer of the Ballroom.

Tickets and tables to The Retas 2021 can be bought online via www.maxsubscriptions.net or by contacting The Retas’ awards organiser, Clare Hollick of Createvents on 01183 340085 or by emailing her on clare@createvents.co.uk.

The Retas 2021 has a strong roster of sponsors, all leading companies, who are all committed to rewarding retailing expertise.

These currently include The Art File, Belly Button Designs, Carte Blanche Greetings, Cath Tate Cards, Danilo, Hallmark, Heritage Art & Design, The Imaging Centre, Ohh Deer, Ling Design, Paper Salad, Paperlink, Pigment Productions, Progressive Greetings Live, Second Nature, Sensations, UK Greetings, Wendy Jones-Blackett and Woodmansterne Publications.

Above middle: Dee’s Cards’ Paul Mordecai and Hannah Rudder jumping for joy when they found out they had reached the finals of The Retas back in May. Left: Comedian Stuart Goldsmith will host The Retas.

Black History Month cards celebrated at Sainsbury’s The 26 winning designs in the GCA x Sainsbury’s greeting card design competition are now on sale in 107 Sainsbury’s supermarkets, displayed on a dedicated FSDU. The competition, which was hosted on Instagram, attracted almost 1,000 entries featuring multifarious design styles and approaches, each and every one celebrating Black History Month, which falls in October.

The task of selecting which of the designs would be turned into greeting cards (giving full provenance to the designer) to be sold in selected Sainsbury’s stores lay in the shared hands of members the Sainsbury’s greeting card buying team (Abi Wilson, Kate Goss and Emma Tanner) as well as GCA council members, Adriana Lovesy (founder of Mrs Lovesy), Ohh Deer’s md Mark Callaby and greeting card trade association ceo, Amanda Fergusson.

“Black History Month is an important time, and we wanted to do something so our customers feel represented and included for whatever events, celebrations and life moments they have,” Kate Goss, Sainsbury’s told PG about the collaborative project.

The designer/publisher of each selected design is to receive a royalty for every card sold, with any additional profits going into a new GCA Diversity and Inclusion Fund which will be used to drive future initiatives within the industry.

This is the latest in a series of initiatives Sainsbury’s undertaken with Ohh Deer to harness the creative community at large via Instagram. “We have engaged with lots of new and talented artists which is the start of a very exciting journey,” added Kate.

Above: A FSDU of the winning greeting card designs on sale in a Sainsbury’s store.

Danilo’s Peaky Blinders wins a Licensing Award Danilo’s Peaky Blinders’ collection of greeting cards, calendar and giftwrappings triumphed in the prestigious UK Licensing Awards in the Best Paper Products or Stationery Range.

The trophy was presented at a lavish awards event, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel last month, which was attended by 1,000 people and hosted by Tom Allen.

Joining the massive congregation at the event were representatives from Hallmark, UKG, Moonpig, Emotional Rescue, Pyramid, Card Factory, Amscan and Paper Salad as well as the Danilo team, who were delighted to accept the prestigious trophy.

Other contenders for this award were Animal Crossing Villager Squares stationery collection from Pyramid International, The Beatles Song Titles greeting card range from Hype Associates, Boofle Stay at Home greeting card range from Moonpig, The Gruffalo stationery range from Robert Frederick, The Mandalorian - The Child greeting card range from UK Greetings, Minnie Mouse Positivity Collection from Hallmark Cards, Only Fools and Horses 40th anniversary stamp collection from Royal Mail and the Spitting Image greeting card range from Emotional Rescue.

(See pages 57-59 for more on licensing and Brand Licensing Europe) Above: One of the designs from Danilo’s Peaky Blinders range.

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OVER THE

COUNTER

BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.

No Time To

Say “No” As usual I am rushing…it is Friday 1st October and my monthly meander of thoughts is usually written well before I hit the start of the month in which it is published.

A combination of planning problems, Covid challenges, the stock situation and just day to day issues have meant my weeks are disappearing like never before. Throw in a puppy operation, the need to watch Ronaldo’s glorious return and see a certain British spy in the cinema (twice) and I simply struggled to find the time to work the keyboard.

I am feeling somewhat ‘shaken and stirred’ and that is without my upcoming engagement as one of the key speakers at the GCA AGM and Conference.

Having entitled my speech ‘Rockstar Retailing’ for the GCA annual conference (on October 14 in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall) I recognise that it had better be good, as it’s hardly a title that you can pick and then speak with a whimper.

So, as a warm-up gig to that very important speech to many of my industry peers, after 24 months with no audience I felt that a ‘tune-up’ would be a good idea.

So I accepted an invitation to go and speak to 46 senior year pupils of a High School that is 20 miles away from my businesses.

The talk was to be about life, business, pressure, expectation and what they could do with themselves - all in 50 minutes!

What I really wanted to get across is that the decisions they have to make at 17/18 years old are by no means final and that changing career and direction is a positive thing in my opinion.

I spent 4-5 hours prepping my speech and presentation, then a couple more hours writing notes and highlighting the key points.

I believed that all this would be fantastic practice and hopefully confirm to me that I am pretty good at the public speaking thing and can connect with most audiences. I had thought that including pop culture references, talking about social media influencer jobs and linking in some cool images would work well. However, in reality 20

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

I was faced with 46 young adults who I couldn’t gauge, who had no idea of who I was and any time anyone did try to join in the debate I couldn’t figure out who was speaking because of the masks!

Afterwards I felt thoroughly deflated. I sat in the car park for half an hour going over it. Was it me? Was it the topic? Were

Top: David Robertson said “yes” to going to see the latest Bond film twice already.

Above: David isn’t the only one feeling like a ‘hurt puppy’ as his own pup had to undergo an op recently and wasn’t happy.

the slides relevant? In fact, I asked myself a million times why I had agreed to do something that I really did not have the time for and which was now stressing me out!

My last big speech was at The Ladder Club in 2019 where the feedback in the

room and afterwards was great and I felt elated. To quote a comedian, after the school talk, “I felt like I died on my arse!”

Now I could dissect my speech, but fundamentally, maybe the problem was not what I said, my performance or the kids, but the simply fact I couldn’t say “No”.

This tiniest of words somehow fills me with a fear of letting people down, of guilt that I did not help, of me being lazy or that I was not prepared to do things. It also always makes me think that I may not be asked again or that I may miss the opportunity.

The main issue for me with the word ‘No’ is that fundamentally I want to please. I want to please my friends, my family, my work colleagues, and many times I say “Yes” not because I want to or because I am excited to do the task in hand, but simply because I am not brave enough to say “No”.

This coming week I have also agreed to something that I am struggling to do as it clashes with something else, but it is too late. I have said “Yes” and to pull out at this stage is not an option. This means little time to myself this weekend as I have to fit it in a number of things, including writing this column. Many of you may wonder why I do this every month. Trying to find something different to write about is not easy, but I enjoy it! and it is a privilege to be able to share my thoughts and opinions on many

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OVER THE COUNTER

topics without any real boundaries. So, writing this column is always a ‘Yes’.

However, with other tasks and commitments deeper thinking will need to come into play.

I have now formulated some questions to ask myself internally so as to make more informed decisions… l Is it possible for me to automate the task? l Is what I am being asked to do beneficial to me, either professionally, financially, mentally? l Is the timescale I have been given realistic? l Is the finished task going to make a difference? l Finally, do I want to/can I do it?

Now until recently I rarely said “No” but last week’s ‘back to school’ experience has crystallised my thoughts. I have realised it doesn’t have to be a hard “No” either. I could say: “It doesn’t work for me at this time”, or that I am choosing to leave it for now and will come back with an answer. It is however crucial that you do make a decision because the person that asks you will obviously need that task completed. ‘No’ does not need to be an absolute finite, but in real terms it is better if it is.

As part of the speech I gave to the school kids, I spoke about life being a story and making decisions of course is part of this. If you reflect on many occasions you will no doubt have many instances where a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ has changed the course of your life.

I said “No” to buying shares in some company called Orange many years ago. I said “No” to investing in Bitcoin. I said ‘No” to lots of things, but equally I said “Yes” to buying a restaurant which has tested me beyond belief, but ultimately may be my best purchase.

Above: David Robertson (out in front) feeling elated, having been one of the speakers at The Ladder Club seminar in 2019.

Below left: A piece of artwork from The Connor Brothers that chimed with David.

Below right: Gary Neville is one to have found solace in seeing failure as something temporary that you can recover from.

In business I turned down Charlie Bears and TY first time round, only to get a second chance, and I thought people wouldn’t buy figurines of angels without faces but ordered them anyway. All three worked out pretty well and have paid my mortgage.

I even said “Yes” to going somewhere I didn’t care for and met my wife, so who knows.

I truly believe that we make these decisions with the best intentions. I recently saw an amazing piece of PULP art from The Connor Brothers which used a phrase which resonates with me: ‘What matters in life is not what happens to you, but how you tell the story…’

Now saying “No” may not change your life, but thinking carefully about what tasks, jobs and commitments you do take on will certainly impact it.

‘Yes’ or ‘No’ decisions are made from the place you are in at that time.

Making decisions is something that all of us in business face all day every day so I found it interesting to read that the average ‘knowledge worker’ (basically someone who does not do a physical task) is interrupted every 10-12 mins by some form of communication.

If you then acknowledge that we also interrupt ourselves within that time frame to check our phone/email it is a fact that the tech that surrounds us is really giving us even less time to concentrate and complete tasks.

So, my new mindset to change my current life is to say “No” more than I say

“Yes” and more importantly to only to say “Yes” to things that really matter to me.

One thing that I know is that everyone is saying “Yes” to right now is stock! Any retailer reading this is likely to be in a similar situation to me - waiting on stock that would normally have been delivered. We are all waiting on deliveries that usually flow freely and whether it is due to Covid, Brexit, lorry drivers, fuel shortages or a myriad of other reasons, we are all worried that we may not receive all the core stock that we need.

I have placed some chunky orders with key accounts hoping to see this stock at some point over the next few months though this is not how I really like to buy.

‘Little and often’ has been our mantra for a long time and loading ourselves with stock that may come at a time that doesn’t suit our cashflow, or worse still doesn’t offer us the best opportunity to sell it, is not ideal.

Greeting cards as yet seem to have been reasonably unaffected on the supply front but to be on the safe side we have

taken the decision to hold higher stocks of sympathy, engagement and other key captions.

I finished the speech to the kids with what is perhaps my favourite current saying: “A failure just like a bruise, it’s not permanent, not like a tattoo. As long as you learn from it, you will recover.”

I came across it in a Gary Neville podcast in which he revealed he was sent it when he was sacked as a football manager in Valencia. Talking about that whole experience he said he knew he should have said “No” to the post, that he knew from day one it was a mistake. He didn’t have the experience or know the language and because he was so opinionated people hoped he would fail and he did…But he didn’t let it wear on him as a permanent mark.

It is a bruise that fades not a tattoo that abides. So simply make the decision of a “Yes” or “No” response which is right for you at that time.

To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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cardsharp

Musical

Chairs

Cardsharp was thinking the other day, when it comes to UK greeting card retailing, every decade has had a dominant feature. He recalled that in the 1990s and the noughties, it was all about the dominance of Clintons; the teenies were all about the rise and rise of Moonpig and Card Factory while so far, the twenties so far have been all about the grocers.

And with these massive retail accounts, it’s been a bit like musical chairs, reflected Cardsharp, pondering about what will happen when the music stops next.

As everyone knows supermarkets’ greeting card sales went through the roof during the pandemic and although high street retailing has opened up again and supermarket sales have dropped back a bit, the net result of the last couple of years has undoubtably seen an increase in the grocers’ market share of the card industry.

But the game of ‘musical chairs’ has seen the respective victors of these mega accounts rotate over the years, changing the fortunes of the broker who wins the top ‘chair’.

Cardsharp thought back to the recent industry news that UK Greetings has secured Tesco’s business from 2022 onwards, taking over from Hallmark.

But then five years previously, Hallmark pulled off an audacious coup winning Tesco from UKG. ‘Plus ça change, plus la même chose’, which roughly translated means, ‘The more that changes, the more of the same’.

Meanwhile, Woodmansterne managed to regain upmarket grocer, Waitrose last year, after losing it five years

22

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Above: It has always been a case of ‘musical chairs’ of which publisher is ‘in the seat’ as the main category partner of the respective grocers.

Left: UKG becomes Tesco’s broker for greeting cards at the start of next year.

Below: Morrisons is now owned by CD&R, the same private equity company that is the majority shareholder of American Greetings, UKG’s parent company.

previously to Hallmark. Talk about revolving doors!

And Cardsharp can see the major grocer situation becoming even more fluid in the future. Morrisons has traditionally been very loyal to their supply chain, but

that was when the influence of the late great Ken Morrison was still strong. The recent rather unseemly auction for the Yorkshire-based grocery chain, means that Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), a highly leveraged US private equity company now owns Morrisons (coincidently CD&R became the majority shareholder of American Greetings, UKG’s parent company, in 2018).

Private equity is generally about brutal short-term maximization of profit and that can mean decisions can be taken that are not in the long-term interest of the brand or the company Moreover, Asda was recently sold by Walmart for £6.8 billion to a private equity consortium fronted by two Blackburn-based millionaire brothers, Mohsin and Zuber Issa, in a heavily leveraged deal. And there are rumours that Sainsbury’s and even our largest grocer, Tesco, may be subject to hostile overseas takeover bids.

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Then lurking in the background are the two German chains, Aldi and Lidl. At present not that strong in greeting cards, but dabbling with IG Design and Card Factory.

On top of that, these days it seems that the tenure of the grocer’s senior management teams is getting shorter and shorter. Regimes and personalities come and go. Greeting card buyers are moved from one category to another just as they acquire some understanding of the greeting card market. This means for publishers trying to establish a firm relationship and some long-term loyalty, is virtually impossible. Every new supermarket regime or appointment has to attempt to make their mark by doing something new and different, so they can try to make an impression.

But even before all these changes and potential future changes, supplying the major grocers has been a precarious

business. The big two American publishers have always been fiercely competitive to win and hold onto these accounts, and to do so they have had to make a lot of concessions along the way.

These days, publishers need to offer the big grocers a brokerage service where a large chunk of the display is effectively given to the category manager’s competitors, a scenario unknown in the US. On top of that, the broker also needs to provide fixtures, fittings, full time merchandising and so it is rumoured, a guarantee of sales and profits. And that’s just for starters.

You also have to ensure your creative offering is good and broad enough to command good sales and then provide

strong points of differentiation between your predecessor’s offering and the other major accounts you may be supplying. Certainly, a very tough gig!

Then, when these accounts are actually won, it will usually entail an extensive recruitment campaign of creatives, account managers, and merchandisers. And then if that account is eventually lost, a depressing process of painful redundancies is normally necessary. It becomes a capricious snakes and ladders process.

Cardsharp can just imagine the transatlantic conversation with the imaginary ceo of a mythical UK subsidiary phoning the senior president of its imaginary American owner.

“Good news Senior President, we have just won a massive new account.”

“Swell, I’ll just put you on speaker phone so the Senior Chairperson can hear the news.”

“Chair, I’ve got our chief Limey on the phone with some great news.”

“We’ve just won a £30 million account.”

“Wow! Let’s open some of that finest French fizz! What’s that in dollars?”

“There are however a couple of conditions…”

“Conditions?”

“Yes, we have to write them a sevenfigure cheque to secure the business.”

Top: Sainsbury’s is rolling out its new look greeting card departments into more stores.

Above left: Card Factory first started supplying Aldi in 2018 with a card display in just 12 stores.

Below: The merry dance of ‘revolving doors’ on the category management front will no doubt continue!

“Okay.”

“And put in all new fixtures ands fittings in 400 stores.”

“Right…”

“And merchandise all the stores every day!”

“Mmm…” “And give 35% of all the pockets in all the stores to other publishers.”

“What’s all that about?” “…And finally guarantee the sales and profits over five years and make up any shortfall at the end of that period” “Is that all?”

“And at the end of the that period we will probably lose that account back to our largest rival.”

“Perhaps we had better make those drinks Bourbons, and very large ones at that! Jeeps, let’s just hope we don’t win any more major accounts!”

Cardsharp is obviously jesting, but the serious point he is making is that these huge deals that publishers do clinch with major retailers, are very high risk for the publisher. They depend on getting some very finely balanced judgements right. Just getting the calculations even slightly wrong can be very costly. They also depend on the publisher having a superb logistical operation and excellent performance analysis. And then all of that can be thrown out of the window by events and the law of unexpected consequences. Who could have predicted the Covid pandemic or the subsequent supply problems?

But nature abhors a vacuum and Cardsharp anticipates that these big greeting card battles will continue to rage on for decades to come. For greeting card publishers trying to plan a cohesive longterm plan though, it is hardly, a ‘super’ market concluded Cardsharp.

5PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Inset: The ‘friendly fire’ came from all directions, with publishers pitching, retailers giving feedback and panellists sharing their knowledge at the event.

Below: A scene from the Dragons’ Den in action!

VIEWPOINTS

All Fired Up The love flowed at last month’s GCA ‘Speed-dating with Dragons’ event.

Newbie publishers presented their wares for the very first time to retailers; more established players demonstrated how their ranges have moved on; the ‘Dragon’ retailers were on the lookout for publishing gems while industry stalwarts shared their wealth of knowledge in a panel discussion.

PG caught up with some of the participating retailers and publishers to find out about their experience in the Den.

Kate Goss senior buyer cards, wrap and party for Sainsbury’s: A dragon’s eye-view: “What a fantastic day. It was just wonderful to come together in a safe way, experience seeing talent first hand and interacting with product.

Hearing publishers back stories, understanding their inspiration and journey made being a Dragon such a positive and privileged experience.”

Den delights: “All the publishers we met brought something new and different to the table, which challenged us to think differently. After the year we have all had it was refreshing to review Deadpan’s cards and enjoy the power of laughter.

Meanwhile, Penguin Ink’s letterpress cards blew us away with their simplicity, quality and sheer beauty.”

Above: Sainsbury’s Kate Goss (left) being pitched to by Neela Chatakondu of Glass Deva.

Left: Penguin Ink’s cards impressed Kate.

Sarah Moughtin buyer for John Lewis & Partners: A dragon’s eye-view: “What a fabulous event with great energy and atmosphere. It was lovely to see so many new publishers which provided a great opportunity to advise on how we work and things to consider when getting yourself retailer ready.

Also good for me to understand the challenges they might face.”

Den delights: “My fave meeting was with Sarah Lewis from Alphablots, who wore a colourful outfit to match her bright and bold cards!”

Priya Aurora-Crowe co-owner of Lark, a group of seven shops in London A dragon’s eye-view: “I loved the opportunity to meet so many great suppliers in such a small amount of time and I felt honoured to be invited be among other great buyers from the industry.”

Den delights: “There were many suppliers that had caught my eye, from the ‘dates’ I had as well as the card samples in the ‘goody bag’. I came away from the event with eight new card supplier brands that I look forward to stocking in our seven shops!”

Above: Lark’s Priya Aurora-Crowe (left) with fellow south London retailer, Nilou Noorbaksh of The Jumping Bean at the event.

Far left: JL’s Sarah Moughtin (right) being pitched to by Alphablots’ Sarah Lewis.

Left: Bright and bold cards from Alphablots’ Doodledays range.

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VIEWPOINTS Hazel Small card and gift buyer for the RHS: A dragon’s eye-view: “It was a very enjoyable afternoon; so great to be part of such an upbeat, positive event. Each supplier brought such enthusiasm and energy to the table and although I have been buying cards for a very long time there were plenty of new faces for me to meet. The time flew by and I left feeling really inspired by all the creativity I’d seen.

The hardest part of being a ‘dragon’ was having to choose who to meet with in a split second - I would have loved to have talked to everybody!

Although I didn’t get to spend a huge amount of time with each person, it felt more personal and I gained more insight into each company than if I’d been at a trade show.”

Den delights: “I’ve definitely found a few new suppliers that I’m going to follow up with but I’m keeping those under my hat for now…”

Above: Hazel Small (right) being pitched to by Rose Tratt of Rose Madder.

Right: The attendees’ cards went through a much tougher selection panel when Hazel got home and showed them to her feline critics.

Tim Gould co-owner of Objectables, Folkestone: A dragon’s eye-view: “The event was fun and a good general networking opportunity. I was a bit unsure about being a dragon after having attended as a publisher twice before, but hopefully I was able to pass on some helpful advice.

Even if some of the publishers weren’t a good fit for us, I’ll be sending their details to other retailers that might be a better fit.”

Den delights: “We found a new publisher, Sister Paper Co that we hadn’t come across before who we will definitely keep an eye on, and we were also able to chat to people we were already aware of like Bewilderbeest. We met up with You’ve Got Pen On Your Face who we have ordered from before, but just hadn’t got round to ordering from again, just because other things got in the way. So, as a result of Dragons we have placed an order with Frankie [Nicholas, the founder], so it was a great just for that!”

Above: Tim Gould (left) with Brainbox Candy’s Ben Hickman (centre) and Mark Williams.

Above right: One of the designs from new publisher, Sister Paper Co.

Sarah Laker owner of Stationery Supplies, Marple and Wilmslow: A dragon’s eye-view: “I felt really honoured to be asked to take part in the Dragon's Speeddating event. After feeling a little nervous and unsure of what to expect, I soon settled in and enjoyed it. It made me realise how much I actually knew about buying and selling cards, and the card industry.

The afternoon was really intense, in a good way. I loved the buzz in the air and the feeling of being able to give something back to the industry. I also got to meet some fabulous people, catch up with old friends and have fun. I hope the publishers got as much from the afternoon as I did.”

Den delights: “I am now looking forward to placing a few orders and trying some of the cards in both my shops. On my list to try are Alphablots, Deadpan Cards and Tattersfield Designs for definite, as well as a few more possibles...

Having a bag of samples of all participating publishers is an excellent idea and I'm now looking forward to a detailed exploration of its contents. Some of the suppliers had included personalised notes and geared their contents towards what they thought would suit my shop, and made a real effort to make their little bundles look attractive, which I really appreciated.”

Top: Sarah Laker with the contents of her goody bag of samples from participating publishers.

Above: A stunning card from Tattersfield Design.

Sandra O’Connell co-owner of Mooch, three shops in Ealing: A dragon’s eye-view: “I loved the simplicity of the event, it was run efficiently and made the most of the available time with each publisher. I actually saw it as a great compliment to participate and felt that my role as a ‘Dragon’ was to be as encouraging and hopefully as helpful as I could with constructive and positive feedback, especially with the new publishers who are starting out on their new journey with their respective businesses.”

Den delights: “I think we will try and stock most of the publishers that I met. I am slowly working my way through the samples in my goody bag to spot any more potential suppliers.

We always struggle with non-generic children’s cards so I am on the lookout for something to fill that gap.”

Left: Sandra O’Connell (left) listening intently to a pitch.

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VIEWPOINTS Gabrielle Ezen founder and creator of Gabrielle Ezen The Den experience: “It was lovely being part of a real event again and seeing some old friends and making new ones. I enjoyed pitching and generally dipping my toe back into trade. It was a really good day and despite my nerves, I felt at ease.

Meeting Sandra O’Connell from Mooch was fabulous and she wants to place an order. I was also selected to present to Sainsbury’s which was brilliant. The buyers Kate [Goss] and Emma [Tanner] liked my designs and talked about working with UKG via brokerage.”

Take home lessons: “I enjoyed all the talks from the experts on the panel, particularly one by Darren Cave, UKG’s commercial director. There’s so much to understand with regards to brokerage so I welcomed the information he shared.”

Above: Gabrielle Ezen (right) catching up with fellow publisher Eloise Hall.

Right: UKG’s commercial director Darren Cave talking about brokerage in the panel discussion which (leftright) Belly Button’s Rachel Hare, Briffa’s Will Miles and Danilo’s Daniel Prince also participated in.

Eloise Hall

Lizzie Parker

founder and creator of Eloise Hall The Den experience: “It was wonderful to see industry friends and also meet some other talented and very lovely publishers. It’s been a strange old time and to return to London to a room full of 'cardies' was glorious!

The Dragons were very welcoming and kind. I learned a lot about their business, some of which was a lovely surprise - who knew Sainsbury’s customers love arty small publishers!

I have already had a call from one of the Dragons to say he's definitely going to place an order via my agents!”

Take home lessons: “I have a new range on the way which has a very different look, so it’s a step into the unknown. It was very exciting to talk through this new range with the owner of a chain of stores who loves the concept and also gave me some excellent pointers to make it even more commercial. When you work on your own, having the opportunity to bounce ideas off a retailer is worth its weight in gold. I'm extremely grateful.”

founder and creative director of Penguin Ink: The Den experience: “It was a great opportunity to meet a great selection of buyers that we really wanted to meet and show them what we do at Penguin Ink, as well as catch up with lots of publishers we've not seen for a long time.

As for the pitches, it was good for me to have to condense what I say into 10 minutes as I'm a bit of a talker. It's nerve-racking but the ‘dragons’ were all really friendly so that instantly put me at ease.”

Take home lessons: “I found the panel talks really useful, such as hearing Belly Button’s Rachel Hare’s experiences as well as learning more about licensing from Briffa’s Will Miles. Some of Rachel Hare’s words really resonated with me and realising how important one-on-one meetings are also hit home.”

Above: Lizzie Parker putting her card samples into the Dragons’ goody bags.

Mandy Stanley

Katy Golden

founder of Mandy Stanley:

national accounts manager and head of gift at GBCC:

The Den experience: “It was the first ever opportunity I've had to meet buyers! The pandemic struck as I tried to launch my first collection which made it so difficult to see buyers. On reflection, the thing I liked most was a feeling of involvement and inclusion in an exciting industry. It felt great! It was fast and furious, exciting and altogether a valuable experience.”

Take home lessons: “To be focused and to the point when pitching to buyers and to trust my instinct regarding design. It also reinforced the importance of being as original as possible and to offer refreshing new designs.”

The Den experience: “After 18 months of uncertainty and social restrictions it was fantastic to be able to network, meet other publishers and some really fantastic buyers. It was wonderful to feel almost back to normal and get the buzz and excitement of meeting face to face. I loved that it was fast paced and provided many opportunities. Pitching to the dragons in person with actual product meant I’ve made some great contacts that will hopefully result in positive relationships and future orders.

On a personal note it was really inspiring to see how many new publishers had started creating during lockdown and were following their dreams.”

Take home lessons: “It was very interesting to learn from Danilo’s Daniel Prince’s talk during the panel discussion about the sales patterns online as well as the percentage of orders that are made via mobile phones which I’ve taken back to the office to review how we can take advantage of this.”

Above: A Mandy Stanley Christmas design.

Above: Katy Golden (right) found the whole experience inspiring.

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The Henries 2021

s r e n n i The W s e i r n e H e h T f o g n i t e e r G 1 2 20 s d r a w A d r a C

Known as the ultimate accolades in greeting card publishing, The Henries 2021 awards shone the spotlight on UK publishers’ incredible creativity, as well as crowning the industry’s top young designer and applauding those companies who have excelled on the service front for indies.

Above: All The Henries winners and the event organisers on stage at The Royal Lancaster Hotel.

Left: All winners will receive a shiny Henries trophy.

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The Henries 2021

Here’s the winning line-up... l The Lynn Tait Most Promising Young Designer

or Artist Charlotte Mason, senior designer for Woodmansterne Publications and The Proper Mail Company Sponsored by Postmark l Best Diversity and Inclusion Range -

l Best Photographic Range Loose Leashes from Woodmansterne Publications Sponsored by Soundtech l Best Male Range Gin & Frolics from Rosie Made a Thing Sponsored by Skylight Media

NEW AWARD Fierce & Fabulous from The Art File Sponsored by the Greeting Card Association l Best Contemporary Trend Range Hunky Dory from Paper Salad Sponsored by The Imaging Centre l Best Art Range Artisan Days from Pigment Productions Sponsored by Progressive Greetings l Best Wholesale Range Shimmer from Kingfisher Cards Sponsored by LB Warehousing l Best Humorous Range Gin & Frolics from Rosie Made a Thing Sponsored by Spring Fair l Best Children’s Range Hoopla from Paper Salad Sponsored by Loxleys l Best Licensed Card Range Explore and Treasure with National Trust from Toasted Crumpet Sponsored by Skeet Print l Best Traditional Words and Sentiments Range Helen Steiner Rice from UK Greetings Sponsored by Foilco l Best Contemporary Words and Sentiments

Range Senti from Emotional Rescue in collaboration with Paper Salad Sponsored by Products of Change l Best Relations and/or Occasions Range Words of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery Sponsored by Fedrigoni Paper l Best Handmade or Hand-finished Range California Dreaming from Five Dollar Shake Sponsored by EBB Board

l Best Christmas Counter Range Rainbow Drops from Wendy Jones-Blackett Sponsored by Windles Group l Best Christmas Box or Pack Luxury Christmas Boxed Collection from The Art File Sponsored by Gould Paper l Best Cute Range Owl’s Nest from Ginger Betty Sponsored by Alpha Colour Printers l Best Spring Seasons Range Rainbow Drops Valentine’s from Wendy Jones-Blackett Sponsored by G. F Smith l Best Giftwrappings Range Paper Salad from Glick Sponsored by PG Live l The Henry Cole Classic Award The Country Set from Wrendale Designs Sponsored by The Sherwood Group This award is for ranges that have stood the test of time. All winners of this award enter The Henry Cole Hall of Fame. The Country Set joins previous winners, which are Bestie, The Bright Side, Eric the Penguin, Forever Friends, Giggles, Ink Press, Me to You, Medici Cards Blue Label, On the Ceiling, Pizazz, Quentin Blake, Rainbow, Second Nature Pop-Ups and Virtual Safari.

l Best Service to the Independent Retailer Bronze award - UK Greetings Sponsored by Herbert Walkers Silver award - Woodmansterne Publications Sponsored by Herbert Walkers Gold award - International Cards & Gifts Sponsored by Herbert Walkers l Honorary Achievement Award 2021 Paul Taylor, co-founder and managing director of Cardzone Sponsored by UK Envelope Centre Right: Cardzone’s Paul Taylor had no idea that he was going to be presented with the Honorary Achievement Award, but gave a moving heartfelt impromptu acceptance speech.

PG NOVEMBER IS THE HENRIES ‘SPECIAL’ EDITION PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Editor’s opinion

Welcome to our f irst

PG Sustainability

Like many of you I suspect, Sunday evenings as a child was ‘hair wash night’ and the only time in the week that we were allowed to have our tea in front of the telly watching David Attenborough on World About Us, which shared inspiring and enlightening footage of our natural world. Fast forward 45 years and Sir David is still very much in our hearts, minds and increasingly on our conscience. The story he tells these days is sadly a true one, of how we - as individuals, businesses, industries, countries and globally all need to act very quickly indeed to protect our planet for the generations to come. And the greeting card industry very much has its part to play in this.

Certainly, good ground has been gained on the sustainability front from publishers, retailers and trade suppliers, and by all accounts, there the pace of progress is being stepped up, with the march to being carbon neutral (and not through just offsetting) a real mission for many businesses.

I remember back to the days when FSC came on the scene, initially introduced to assure a chain of custody for wood products, with FSCaccredited board being a rarity, although now it is the minimum standard the majority of publishers, printers and retailers will accept.

Back in 2017/2018, when she became president of the GCA, Ceri Stirland, UK Greetings’ customer and channel director made no bones about how crucial it was for the industry to address sustainability and, most poignantly how the sector needed to tackle plastic waste, sending out a battle cry to ‘go naked’.

Being in the front line to the public, all the supermarkets and the majority of

major multiples, wasted no time in setting out their stall on the single use plastic front as well as on removing plastic glitter.

At the end of her tenure as president in 2019, Ceri shared how the industry, in just a few short years, had gone from two thirds of all cards being sold cello-wrapped down to under a third. Handing the GCA presidential baton over to Rachel Hare, managing director of Belly Button Designs, the greening of our industry has continued with a vengeance. At the recent Dragons’ Speed-dating event, Rachel confirmed that from the start of next year all of her Above: A card design from Tillovision’s Mungo and Shoddy range.

Left: Sir David Attenborough as he appears on a Really Wild Cards’ Politically Incorrect sound card, distributed by Second Nature.

Below: The greeting card industry’s addressing of plastic waste as well as other sustainable improvements are shared by many hands.

company’s ranges will be completely plastic-free, something echoed by so, so many publishers. In fact, invariably the conversation has now turned to whether to go ‘nested’, use a card clasp or develop another paperbased mechanism to keep the envelope and card together. The industry is addressing undressing.

And it is not only on single cards where huge improvements have been made. As The Art File’s Henries awardwinning Luxury Christmas Boxes and Packs testify, you do not need plastic to make your products look beautiful, in fact you appreciate the artwork and finishes more without it.

Danilo and Carousel are among those to have made marked improvements to their calendar product ranges, in many cases eliminating plastic through clever paper engineering, while work is underway in several quarters on the rollwrap front.

None of this progress could have been achieved without all aspects of the greeting card community working together. This industry is well-blessed with dedicated suppliers, but just how they have pushed themselves to come up with new solutions be it paper companies creating 100% recycled substrates; printers developing finishes that replace ‘gems’ or warehousing companies coming up with more sustainable transit packaging alternatives - is incredibly inspiring and gratifying.

We’re not there yet, but the ‘greeting card world about us’ is most definitely determined not to cost the earth.

Jakki Brown Editor of Progressive Greetings PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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ENVIRONMENTALLY FOCUSED Otter House and Carousel are committed to continual environmental improvement, especially regarding carbon emissions and plastic in products.

PLASTIC

We introduced plastic-free packaged calendars three years ago. Following a successful trial that was welcomed by customers, we have perfected manufacturing techniques and now offer over 400 calendars with plastic-free packaging.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR WORK IN REDUCING PLASTIC AND OUR DRIVE TO BE A CARBON NEUTRAL COMPANY – SEE OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS ON ‘WHAT WE CARE ABOUT’

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PLASTICS IN CARDS, JIGSAWS AND OTHER STATIONERY: •

Plastic-free packaging on all Christmas cards and wrapping paper

•

Plastic-free packaging on the best-selling stationery lines by Spring 2022

•

Many existing products are already plastic free or plastic-free packaged: notebooks, notecards, address books, jigsaws, and ceramics

•

New everyday card stock is available plastic-free packaged

All our jigsaws are now plastic-free packaged, through the removal of the bag inside, and outer shrinkwrap.

From January 2021 all our cards became plastic-free packaged and we no longer use glitter in new designs.

CARBON EMISSIONS

As a group, we’re committed to tackling our carbon emissions.

KEY STEPS: •

All electricity to 100% renewables

•

Warehouse LED lighting installed

•

All company vehicles replaced with electric, PHEV or hybrid

•

Car charging points installed in our car park

•

Offsetting remaining emissions via Climatecare

•

Biodiesel for our heating pumps - COMING JUNE 2022

INDIRECT EMISSIONS We cause indirect emissions through the factories that manufacture our products.

We are assessing and encouraging our supply base to measure their own carbon emissions and set targets for reductions. In the meantime, we will offset 100% of our indirect emissions by the end of 2022.

TEL: +44 (0)1392 824300 EMAIL: SALES@OTTERHOUSE.CO.UK WWW.OTTERHOUSE.CO.UK TEL: +44 (0)1392 826482 EMAIL: ADMIN@CAROUSELCALENDARS.CO.UK WWW.CAROUSELCALENDARS.CO.UK

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Scoping COP26

The big picture Glasgow is preparing to deliver what could be the most important thank you card to the planet as it hosts the largest international summit that the UK has ever held; COP26.

And you can bet your last Euro, that greeting cards will have a central role to play, in many more ways than one.

Climate Change will be the focus of conversation as the UK picks up its presidency of COP26 when the summit kicks off on October 31 this year. Ironically close to Halloween, the aim of the summit will be to exorcise the ghosts of yester-year and drive

Above: The UK greeting card industry has embraced the need for a circular economy, continuing as a world leading sector, that is commercial, but yet is taking steps to minimise its impact on the environment.

Left: Many publishers, retailers and trade suppliers in the greeting card community have now adopted the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Below left: Products of Change’s Rob Hutchins and Helena MansellStopher at a recent sustainable fashion launch.

Below: An apt design from Aardvark Designs’ latest Queen range of greeting cards.

towards implementing the changes that simply need to happen if the world is to hit the targets set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

For those in attendance, these aims have become somewhat a mantra of the modern era - that everything now is in the pursuit of keeping global temperature rises to no more than 2degrees above pre-industrial levels. The ideal is to keep those rises to 1.5-degrees. And the reason that leaders from the across world will be required to drop into Glasgow this autumn? It’s because achieving those goals will take cohesion and collaboration: across nations, cities, communities, and across all businesses. And that of course includes those in the greeting card community.

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With COP26 taking place in Glasgow next month, a new plastic tax being introduced in 2022, and the fight against climate change being fought all the harder, across all sectors, greeting cards and affiliated products included, PG invited Robert Hutchins, editor of Products of Change (the growing membership organisation focused on driving the sustainable journey for all consumer products, including greeting cards) to share his insights on this crucial topic.

Speaking at the Edie COP26 Workshop held earlier this month, COP26 engagement lead, Nick Baker praised the many and positive actions that had already been taken by businesses and sectors not only across the UK, but across the world in the pursuit of the Paris Agreement ambitions. It’s fair to say that already, a ‘huge amount of progress’ has been made. But it came with a stark warning that ‘unfortunately we’re not on track yet.’

“Over the summer, the impacts have become all too apparent and very much of the here and now. The effects of climate change are already here with us - whether it’s floods in Europe and China, or wildfires

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Scoping COP26

The goals of COP26 “Action doesn’t stop at COP26, and we will be promoting what companies are doing over the course of the year of our COP Presidency. Climate change does not stop at the event itself,” stated COP26’s engagement lead, Nick Baker.

Filling up Glasgow with discussion around a more sustainable future this November, COP26 has set out to achieve the following four goals: 1. Mitigation: Keeping the target of 1.5 alive. This means lobbying for more ambitious national contributions from governments and more ambitious net zero commitments from companies.

2. Protect People and Nature: With the impact of Climate Change all too apparent, those who are most vulnerable need to be protected from its impact. However, we need to build resilience as well, with early warning systems for storms, flood defences etc.

3. Finance: To deliver both on mitigation - reducing emissions - and on building our resilience, we need much more climate finance to be accessible. The pre-existing international commitment of $100bn a year has not been met. Our goal is to deliver on that commitment and make that climate financing accessible.

4. Turbocharge Collaboration: To really deliver on the Paris Agreement we need to work together across sectors and internationally.

Part of that involves delivering the Paris rule book - a set of rules finalising the last articles that weren’t agreed in Paris, including Article 6.

elsewhere around the world. The effects are impacting everyone, and particularly the most vulnerable,” Nick told attendees.

“We have an excellent climate agreement… we now need to implement it.

And that means businesses working together with governments, with civil society organisations, NGOs, Academia, youth organisations, cities, regions, and many, many others.”

Of those with the greatest power to influence and implement change, Nick places businesses at the forefront; a “key” to unlocking positive action among the general public.

“Much of the action that is needed is going to be taken and delivered - and is being taken and delivered - by businesses,” he said. “Businesses have a really key role to play.”

And certainly within the greeting card sector, it is a role that is being ‘played’ very well indeed. OK, you’ll likely not see cutting edge technology in bioremediation emerging from this space anytime soon, but great strides have and are being taken over the last few years end-to end. There have been the high environmental standards assured by the sector’s dedicated printers, widespread adoption of FSC as the industry standard for board as well as broadening choice of recycled substrates and even plantable paper. The loud conversation about going completely ‘naked’ continues. While pretty much all the major retailers are on board (in many ways having led the rallying call) even the most reluctant indie retailers are recognising that removing cellowrapping does not in actual fact result in cards being damaged or countless envelopes lost.

But there will be lots more on the environmental score card for the industry to get its head round and work together to adopt. The UK Plastics Pact, for example aims to see 100% of all plastic packaging made recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025 in response to the report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and the imposition of a Plastic Tax by 7 April 2022 that will place additional costs on plastic packaging components made in and imported into the UK that do not meet a

minimum recycled content of 30% by weight, have perhaps played some role in strong-arming immediate change.

Also, very much on the agenda is the push for businesses to reduce their Scope 2 and Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, supplemented by companies looking to reduce their import carbon footprint, with companies such as Danilo and Carousel Calendars having shared on the Products of Change platform how they are already taking steps forward on this front.

Change to Products of Change?

Belly Button Designs, Carousel Calendars, Danilo and Into the Green Publishing/Out of the Blue Studios are the first greeting card publishers to have joined Products of Change as part of their businesses’ respective sustainable journeys.

Joining Products of Change (whether you are a publisher, retailer or trade supplier in the greeting card community) means you would become part of network of 300 strong innovators and changemakers from across consumer products sectors and retail arena in the pursuit of positive sustainable change. Products of Change is a cross-industry resource hub for both members and nonmembers, fuelling the sustainable conversation into real progress, through content, updates, insight, and member meetings and conferences to arm the sector with the knowledge and the confidence to get those gears in motion.

Spearheaded by Heidi Early, coowner of card publishing and retailing business, Earlybird Designs, an inaugural Zoom meeting of the Products of Change Cardie Green Team is scheduled for 11am on November 3. To be part of this or for more information on Products of Change and how you can get involved in the growing industry movement, drop the team a line at either Rob@productsofchange.com or Helena@productsofchange.com Right: Carousel Calendars’ md Steve Plackett and Calendar Club buyer Rob Dand appear on one of the podcasts on the Products of Change platform. There is also another one featuring Danilo’s Dan Grant and Claire Bates, also sharing their company’s sustainable journey thus far.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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Caring for the Environment

It’s time for change!

Into the Green Publishing is a new Environmentally Friendly Greeting Card Company, founded on the belief that great cards don’t have to cost the Earth.

Caring for the Environment

Contact us: Freephone 0800 529 8790 Email: Sales@intothegreenpublishing.com www.intothegreenpublishing.com 36-37_PG_October 2021.indd 1

11/10/2021 13:44

We are proud to be a finalist for the ‘BEST WHOLESALE RANGE’ 2021

Eloquence

Our Everyday In-Stock Range with over 1000 Product Lines is available in all leading Wholesale / Distributors throughout the UK & Ireland Visit: www.outofthebluestudios.co.uk

Our Christmas Counter & Boxed Ranges are available at your local Wholesaler / Distributor

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Publishers’ sustainability pledges

Below: The collaboration with World Land Trust is just one of the many ways UKG has improved its environmental footprint.

From going completely naked to setting up dedicated ‘green teams’, committing to using 100% recycled board to re-engineering packaging to make it plastic-free, greeting card publishers have made considerable progress on their respective sustainable journeys. PG caught up with some of these publishing eco warriors…

Caring to change the world.

‘We believe that when you care enough, you can change the world,’ is at the centre of Hallmark’s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.

Explaining more, Rachel Goodman, creative director of Hallmark explains how the publisher has been turning this culture of caring into meaningful action…

Over the last few years Hallmark has been steadfast on a strategy of making its products recyclable, reducing waste, and focusing on clean energy. “We believe you shouldn’t have to choose between caring for your favourite people and caring for your planet,” sums up Rachel. “For over 14 years our cards have been made using FSC-certified materials, plus we have stopped over 350 tonnes of plastic being used in our product supply chain. Our cards and gift presentation will be entirely plastic-free by the end of the year while 100% of our rollwrap is now manufactured in the UK,” adds Rachel.

Building on the fact that 100% of Hallmark’s electricity supply is from renewable wind energy the publisher has also been working with its supplier base to reduce VOC emissions, power consumption, chemical waste and industrial water usage, while its ‘no foil to landfill’ scheme means that foil waste is used to create things like fencing, decking and shipping rope.

On the ‘ingredients’ front, it will continue to work with Lake District-based paper company James Cropper using its Cup-Cycled board that is made from upcycling take-away coffee cups; plastic gems have been replaced with paper moulded gems; cotton twine has been replaced with paper twine; nylon ribbon has been replaced with paper raffia; and cotton tassels have been replaced with raffia tassels. Hallmark has also replaced millions of foam pads, replacing these with ‘scrap pads’ that are made entirely from recyclable paper waste.

Meanwhile, plastic sleeves and bags have now been completely removed and replaced with either completely naked or transparent paper (tracing paper). Transit packaging has switched to paper banding and paper label, thus eliminating plastic bags used.

Above: Hallmark’s new Envelopeless products do not even require an envelope!

Right: Millions of foam pads have been replaced with those made from recycled paper on Hallmark’s cards.

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A Shaw Thing “A business needs to look holistically at its sustainability pathway, it is about doing the right thing, not just for perception purposes, but taking a wholehearted approach and making a commitment,” believes Chris Shaw, UK Greetings’ head of sustainability, who has fronted a whole host of initiatives and step-changes which have seen the publisher progress significantly on this front.

“Our strategy at UKG is to create a sustainability pathway where circularity is central to our product design. Product has to be created using sustainably sourced, recyclable materials that enables meaningful connections without compromising the planet,” stresses Chris. “This means working towards leading our industry in re-thinking the way we make and produce cards, all the way from the forests where our wood pulp is grown to the way our customers recycle their used greeting cards.”

Chris shares just some of UK Greetings’ achievements to date… l Naked action: Through its ‘going naked’ campaign, UKG has removed over 250 tonnes of single use plastics, which has enabled the company to recycle any waste product by over 90%, which had previously gone for incineration. l Paper and board: “We now apply a three-layer approach to the paper and board

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Publishers’ sustainability pledges

The continued spin at Carousel.

The Otter House group, which includes Carousel Calendars and Calendar Club UK embarked on a fully fledged programme of commitments towards sustainability a few years ago and have made great progress.

Steve Plackett, managing director of Carousel Calendars and head of the green team shares some top snippets: On the plastics front….“We are very much on the path of moving to plastic-free. All our main wall and slims calendars are moving to being plastic-free, hitting our aim for over 50% of our calendars having plastic-free packaging for 2022. Meanwhile, all of our jigsaws and all of our new greeting cards will be plastic-free; with over 50% of Otter House products now being packaged plastic-free.

We are still pushing for manufacturers to develop machinery to automate, in order to make plastic-free packing more cost effective.”

On the carbon emissions front…“Using the full year Jan 2020 as our baseline, we started measuring our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and then had them verified professionally in 2021. We are now measuring FY 2021 and FY 2022 in an even more granular way to get greater accuracy. In addition, we made our move to fully renewable electricity and moved most company cars to electric/PHEV or hybrid.

We have continued with energy saving measures and then offset what we could not reduce to become carbon neutral for Scope 1 and 2.

We have continued to engage our suppliers with some major Chinese printers now measuring (and reducing) their emissions, as well as offsetting their remaining direct emissions.”

Future plans…“We are looking very closely at SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) with the view of going down this road so that our targets are set in line with temperatures being kept below 1.5 degrees of warming. Our target for the coming year is to offset 100% of Scope 3 by Dec 2022, while closer to home we have turned land on our premises into a bee-friendly/wildlife friendly area using staff volunteers.”

Above: Over 50% of Carousel’s calendars will be plastic-free in 2022.

Left: Carousel/Otter House group has set up a dedicated green team that has been made great strides on the sustainability front across all aspects of the business.

that we use for our greeting cards. The first, and foundation layer is ensuring that we source our paper and board from sustainable, well-managed forests. This is the minimum standard for all.

Our second layer was introduced earlier in 2021, when we commenced a long-term partnership with the World Land Trust. This was one of the largest commitments made under the Carbon Balanced Paper programme, offsetting close to 10,000 tonnes of CO2e relating to the manufacturing of the board used to produce all our cards in 2020/21. World Land Trust protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats acre by acre.

Announced on FSC Friday 2021, we shared the great news of our third layer, which is the introduction of recycled content

board. We began releasing new designs to manufacture on a new grade of our premium paper stock Veltique - which uses 100% recycled content. This transition will impact over 37 million cards over the next year, which is 17% of our line. And this is just the beginning. With almost 10,000 designs in our portfolio, we have a huge opportunity to move even more of our boards and papers to using recycled content.” l Sustainability brand guidelines: “Well over a year ago we stopped using plastic glitter on our new design releases and we continue to look for new sustainable and ethical processes and finishes.”

UKG recently launched new sustainable product guidelines into its branded creative studios. This has seen each area of the product being considered.

“We believe cards are special and keepsakes in their own way, but we appreciate that many come to the end of life - so we are making sure these can be recycled and reused and contribute to a circular economy,” says Chris. l Supply chain: UKG now either re-uses boxes from Left: An early project for UKG was to create a new sustainability website for its customers and end consumers.

Above right: UKG kicked off its Plastic Isn’t Fantastic campaign internally several years ago.

customers, or sources FSC-certified shipping cartons, which are now secured using adhesive paper tape. l Carbon emissions reduction: While currently 60% of UKG products are manufactured in the UK (a far higher percentage than a few years ago) the aim is to further increase this in coming years.

Conscious of inbound shipping emissions, the publisher was the first UK company to sign up to Keuhne & Nagel’s carbon net zero programme.

Within its premises, by installing smart LED lighting in its distribution centres, and ensuring it only procures green electricity, UKG has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 70% over the last six years with a focus to reduce this further as well as confront Scope 3 emissions, in pursuit of its ultimate aspiration to become a carbon net zero business.

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Publishers’ sustainability pledges

Timely action from Danilo Danilo Promotions has not only recognised the importance of being on its own sustainable journey, but also in collaborating with other companies, notably Calendar Club and Carousel Calendars to share their respective best practices, as well as being one of the first greeting card publishers to join Products of Change.

Claire Bates, Danilo’s marketing manager and head of the company’s Green Team shares the publishers sustainable progress and views on this important subject…

“We feel proud of what the whole Danilo team has achieved so far in such a short period of time with regard to sustainability - from reducing cellowrapping and trialling new packaging alternatives to adding accurate recycling labels to all our products, as well as our tree planting scheme and designing products with re-use in mind,” says Claire.

Danilo’s overall goal is to become a carbon neutral company but within that, the business has individual targets to achieve, which are split into the three areas… people, profit and planet.

“From an environmental perspective, we are primarily looking to further integrate a circular economy and closedloop system within the business,” explains Claire.

This will include actions such as eliminating single-use plastics and moving to 100% FSC, with the next step being using recycled paper.

While well on course for the latter, Danilo’s internal Green Team is working hard to assess internal processes and identify areas in the business where it can further reduce or reuse resources, with a Above left: Among the many eco improvements Danilo has made, is removing plastic from its page a day desk calendars.

Above: A graphic to explain Danilo’s 360 approach to sustainability.

Left: Claire Bates is heading up the company’s Green Team.

commitment to conduct another sustainability audit soon to measure its current carbon impact.

As to her views on where the industry is on its journey on the sustainable front as well as obstacles to overcome, Claire highlights that while the challenges of the pandemic may have diverted attentions away from the sustainable thrust it has also activated the urge to be ever agile.

“The greeting card industry clearly recognises the importance of sustainability and has already taken major steps towards incorporating the consideration of the environment into its practices. From advising against glitter and flitter finishes, to urging publishers to move from cellowrapping to a ‘naked’ approach, we are already seeing these eco-friendly considerations filter down into the greeting card market. It is important, more so than ever, that the industry continues to work together to share sustainable ideas and practices about how retailers and publishers can work together and balance the ‘cost vs environmental return’ debate.”

Planting a seed The Seed Card Company is not the first company to have adopted seed embedded board for its greeting card ranges, but the environmental message is very much at the heart of this newbie publishing force.

Right from the off, The Seed Card Company was a plastic-free and zero-waste business. The company’s printers do not use ink cartridges and any off-cuts from card sheets are reused as another piece of stationery, donated to schools, or planted. Any non-seed stationery items use a 100% recycled, post-consumer or post-industrial waste, eco-friendly board which is completely chlorine and acid-free and is embedded with a mixture of six wildflower seed types. Its envelopes are made entirely from post-consumer waste, recycled FSC material and use a natural starch-based adhesive. Stickers are made from sugarcane and hemp; its tissue paper is 100% recycled and not bleached, and the boxes and mailers used to post orders out in are recycled and recyclable.

Plus, for every order, The Seed Card Company plants a tree, in partnership with Ecologi, in Madagascar, with over 2,500 trees having been planted since February this year.

“While there is still a very long way to go, I feel encouraged by the moves being made in the industry,” comments Kay Patel, who co-owns the company with her husband Kit and business partner Lewis Stevenson. “Changing habits and processes that have been instilled in companies and within individuals is very hard and most certainly not an overnight turnaround,” accepts Kay. “However, if every company and every individual makes one change (Power of One) now, it will make a huge difference. It really is a team/industry/country/world effort.”

Left: A design from The Seed Card Company’s new Nature Always Wins range.

Above right: Kay and Jit Patel, two of the owners of The Seed Card Company.

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Publishers’ sustainability pledges

Touches at Tache Tache Crafts is another publisher who is making small changes with a big impact across its greeting card ranges.

Card Size: By reducing the size of Tache’s cards by just 1cm on the width to 125 x 135mm, the publisher’s printers will be able to orientate the boards more efficiently on each sheet, resulting in 30% less wastage in the production process.

Corner clasps: Tache’s in-house team has designed a branded, recyclable cardboard corner card clasp as an alternative to cellophane bags for display. After a successful trial period throughout 2021, these will now be rolled out for use as standard.

Biodegradable cellos: While the corner card clasp will replace cellos as standard, where customers require them Tache will be moving to fully biodegradable cellos, removing the use of plastic packaging.

As Frank Nicholls, creative director of Tache summed up: “We always want Tache to be at the forefront of sustainable greeting cards. We see a 30% reduction in waste on the largest component of our cards as a great step forward, and if we can also pass on Above left: Tache’s new corner clasp. savings to our customers, even better!”

Morrish moves on the eco front Sue and Scott Morrish, co-owners of The Eco-friendly Card Co (formerly known as Glebe Cottage) are recognised as industry’s trailblazers on the environmental front, pushing for more sustainable substrates and making eco commitments well before the vast majority even had it on their agenda.

Here, Sue, the industry’s ‘Green Godness’ pushes the importance of UK manufacturing as well as adoption of recycled materials….

“There are so many environmental messages out there fighting for attention. Reduce your carbon footprint, get an energy monitor, cycle to work, buy Fair Trade products, protect the world’s ancient forests, save the planet, buy FSC, buy recycled, buy organic, buy local, turn your thermostat down…even three-year-olds have been urged by Bob the Builder to "reduce, re-use, recycle". At the heart of all these messages is the idea of living sustainably. Being part of a circular economy isn’t just a message for our personal lives, but for our businesses too.

For us a really important part of reducing our carbon footprint has involved printing and sourcing as much as possible within the UK. Even if a product is FSC-certified it seems environmental lunacy to buy paper from the UK, ship it to the Far East for printing and finishing and then ship it back to the UK again.

However, for The Eco-friendly Card Co, one of the most important areas of progress is our use of 100% recycled paper and board. It is a passion that started back in the mid 90’s when we switched to the exclusive use of 100% recycled envelopes. The logic was simple; why cut down trees to make envelopes that will only make one journey before they are ripped open, screwed up and thrown away?

One exciting moment in our company’s sustainable journey was winning the Product Premier Award in the prestigious Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards. It was pretty amazing to be the first greeting card publisher to be shortlisted in the 35-year history of the BCE Awards, but winning the top prize for the product category, which was open to all UK businesses was simply fantastic. It was a real ‘David and Goliath’ achievement. It reinforced our long-held belief that absolutely everybody has the power to make the world greener, businesses and individuals alike: the cards are in our hands...”

Above: Sue Morrish with then baby Benjamin when the publisher was first trialling bags made from potato starch.

Left: Sue and Scott Morrish with their BCE Environmental Leadership Award.

Nailing its colours to the mast Having made their mark in the wholesale sector with Out of the Blue Studios, when the publisher’s coowners Pete Rawlingson and Clive Rubin decided to move into the DTR with the launch of Into the Green Publishing, as the company name suggests they put sustainability at the heart of the new sibling.

“We all have a responsibility to care for our planet so we made sustainability very much the core of Into the Green Publishing,” explains Pete. “We wanted to create a mainstream card company with strong environmental credentials.”

The publisher worked closely with a packaging expert as well as with printers Loxleys. “The Loxleys team were fantastic in helping us turn a dream into a reality, enabling us to ensure that Into the Green products are not only commercially viable, but every element was as environmentally friendly as they could be,” says Pete.

The launch of Into the Green has also had a positive knock-on effect on Out of the Blue’s sustainability stance with all board now fully FSC-accredited and both companies are now members of the Products of Change sustainability organisation.

“The environment is even further up the people’s agenda than before which makes it all the more important that we set Into the Green’s sustainable bar high, right from its launch last year,” believes Pete.

Top: Pete Rawlingson (left) and Clive Rubin on the Into the Green Publishing stand at Spring Fair 2020 when the new brand made its debut.

Above: The team worked with a packaging expert as well as Loxleys to develop Out of the Green’s plasticfree Christmas boxes as well as its other products.

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Publishers’ sustainability pledges

Left: Woodmansterne worked with Windles to pioneer the Smart Seal, offering an alternative to keeping a card and envelope together doing away with the need for a cellobag.

Below left: Woodmansterne’s operations director Adam Osborne delved deep into sustainable ways of working.

Seeing Woody from the trees Woodmansterne has been committed to using sustainable materials and practices for years. Having pioneered the Smart Seal solution a few years ago, it is now on course to ensuring all its cards are printed on 100% recycled board in the coming year and is all set to move to a ‘net carbon neutral’ built warehouse as part of its ongoing environmental drive.

Recognising the importance of coming up with more sustainable industry solutions, in 2019 the Woodmansterne senior management team pioneered the Smart Seal solution (working with Windles to create a label that would eradicate the need for cellowrapping), an initiative that has resulted in the publisher using 50 tonnes less plastic per year.

Since 1998 Woodmansterne has only used FSC certified paper for all of its cards while its envelopes are made from 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, and have been since 2017. It is now in the process of moving to 100% recycled paper for all its cards, something it hopes to complete this in 2022). In what Adam Osborne, operations director of Woodmansterne reveals is the

company’s “trickiest challenge yet”, the company’s Caltime by Woodmansterne Advent Calendars range is being converted to be almost entirely plastic-free (85% of the range) for 2022.

As Adam told PG: “The environmental crisis is certainly one of the greatest challenges of our time. We have no choice but to continually work hard, innovate and improve all that we do to remove waste, and reduce our environmental impact.

Consumers look to business to help them do the right thing, be it making products easier to recycle, or remove unnecessary packaging, without reducing quality or making purchasing cards harder.”

On the logistics and footprint front,

Woodmansterne now sends no waste at all to landfill from its two sites, while its foil waste is burnt for energy.

Woodmansterne transports its products between sites using an innovative stacking system which is estimated to cut the carbon footprint in half. Meanwhile solar panels for greener energy are about to be installed at its Watford site and its Milton Keynes warehousing operations are shortly to be moved to a brand-new site - a Net Carbon Neutral build, with the most efficient ratings possible on a building, with rainwater even being collected to flush the loos!

“While proud of our progress so far as a business, we recognise there’s no room for complacency. The more we can work together in the industry, the quicker we will progress on this journey. We cannot afford to wait, (and the younger generations certainly will not) for the Government to help join the dots on these issues,” added Adam.

‘Turnover’ a new leaf…

At the start of last year, James Ellis Stevens made a bold commitment to help the planet, joining ‘1% for the Planet’, which has seen the greeting card publisher donate 1% of its turnover to environmental causes.

James Stevens, owner of the publishing business explains more…

“We joined 1% for the Planet in February 2020 with a commitment to donate 1% of our turnover to environmentally-focused charities. The idea behind 1% for Planet is that the planet suffers as a result of business activity and this gives something back. Donating 1% of turnover as opposed to profit is also important - the commitment is still made regardless of profitability which has made us think more carefully about what we do.

Every couple of months since we joined 1% for the Planet, we’ve made donations to various charities.

Our first donation went to Avon Needs Trees (an organisation committed to buying land to re-wild and plant trees on) while we’ve also donated to Surfers Against Sewage (which focuses on removing plastic from beaches) as well as to Tenwa (which plants trees in Africa) and to several other good causes.

I’ve never been a fan of Black Friday, so last November we decided to donate 100% of the sales we made on Black Friday from both the retail and trade sides of our business. Our sales on that day were £3,536 and we gave it all to Avon Needs Trees.

Membership of 1% for the Planet has definitely affected how we now design our products. We implemented a UK cello-free policy in 2019. Initially we were still wrapping our cards for some customers, but we decided to completely stop this at the end of 2020, and we are also stopping wrapping our cards for our overseas distributors at the end of this year.

We feel it is really important to start to do things that reduce our impact on the planet. I feel we will look back at this in several years’ time and wonder why we ever wrapped cards. I see it as essential to design single use products to be 100% recyclable though it doesn’t help that each of the 87 county councils in the UK recycle different materials in different ways.

Above left: James Stevens has made a major We very quickly realised that we’ve only scratched the surface in terms of what we commitment to could be doing on the environmental side, but so far we have designed a new plastic-free sustainability by joining 1% for the Planet. pack for our mini cards, had a waxed paper bag made as an alternative to outer bags and Right: The new packaging for its mini card packs are we’ve started using paper tape on our boxes, but there is so much more still to do.” plastic-free.

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Specialists in environmental solutions and greeting card finishes that don’t have to cost the earth

The Home of Eco-Cards and solutions. www.loxleys.co.uk e. sales.loxleys.co.uk t. 0114 250 1150 tion

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• Secure-Seal peelable paper-based labels • Biodegradable and home compostable cello bags • Plastic free sleeves for multi-pack cards • Zero plastic integrated euro-hooks • Home compostable, recycled and FSC certified boards • Biodegradable glitter • Plastic free gems and sequins • Digital paper banding • Mineral based toners • Dieless digital cold foiling

Since 1854

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Suppliers standpoints

Joined up thinking While fiercely competitive, and each with their respective capabilities, personalities and USPs, the UK greeting card industry’s dedicated trade suppliers collectively play a vital link in enabling the sector to not only deliver on the sustainability front, but to continue to push forward.

PG forged some links…

From board suppliers to envelope manufacturers, litho printers to digital maestros, foil companies to fulfilment houses, at the foundations of this industry is its very strong supply chain - and what’s more, it is a supply chain that has in many cases been ahead of the curve on the sustainable front, pre-empting the reality that is now staring us in the face on climate change.

You would be hard pushed to find a specialist greeting card printer that does not have environmental credentials that go back years.

The Sherwood Group (which also includes Loxleys) for example has just published its 14th CSR report with chairman Jeremy Bacon having been a leading light in PG’s Forests of the Future campaign with Trees for Life back in the 1990s/early noughties which resulted in thousands of trees being planted in the Caledonian Forest (including a whole bunch by the fair hands of many publishers who made several trips to the Highlands to dig in!)

Bucks-based printers, Windles has won plaudits galore (and with good reason), for its state of the art eco premises as well as its innovative sustainable practices which include recycling broken and unusable pallets by turning them into briquettes to help power the presses.

Meanwhile, when The Imaging Centre was on the lookout for its new premises to cope with the company’s growth, ensuring that its new home had high environmental credentials was top of the wish list, while its straight to retailer Simplicity system (including its latest Simplicity Retail option) minimises waste.

And these are far from lone soldiers, with Graphite, Herbert Walkers, Abbot Print, Skeet and PJ Print, among others, ensuring that not only the sector’s print credentials are up to scratch, but that alternatives are being trialled and tested on finishes as well as more sustainable packaging options.

Top: The industry’s sustainability relies on strong support from its trade suppliers.

Above: Adam Short, md outside The Imaging Centre’s HQ, green in colour and operationally.

Left: The Sherwood Group has been publishing CSR report for many years.

With FSC being very much the minimum standard in the industry now, on the board front, the shift towards more recycled content, being driven on all fronts, has resulted in a wider choice for publishers and printers, with GF Smith, Fedrigoni and Antalis being among those to have come out with some cracking new options of late which will also feed into envelopes on the same score.

Of course there are still challenges to overcome, coming up with the ultimate in plastic-free rollwrap packaging, further improvements on calendars and other packaged goods, joining the ‘to do’ list, along with the drive to reduce ‘in transit’ waste and adopt more sustainable palette wrapping options…but the links are strengthening and the will is very much there.

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Suppliers standpoints

Windles’ ‘Cradle to Grave’ mission Windles is underway on a project which it hopes will see it remove all plastics from the beginning to the end in the production process - from cradle to grave - over the next few years.

“We are passionate about the environment and working in the most sustainable way possible,” stressed Michelle Mills, business development and marketing manager. “Our policy of doing what we can in all areas is because we care about it, rather than doing what’s needed to just quality for a reduction in carbon emissions. It’s practical, not theoretically driven.”

That said, the Windles team accepts that companies each have different requirements and will be on their own journey too.

“The last thing we want to do is alienate our customers, but we just need to be a few steps ahead,” adds Windles sales director Andrea Norcott.

Above: Windles’ md Bruce Podmore stoking the furnace that burns ‘briquettes’ made from unusable and broken palettes.

Busting the foil myths Concerned that some card publishers, studios and retailers were under the misapprehension that greeting cards and other products with a sizeable foiled content cannot be re-pulped, foiling experts Foilco commissioned high level testing to provide assurance that this is not the case.

Earlier this year, the Foilco team approached the world leading independent testing company, SGSIPS Testing, a lab that provides testing services for the paper, packaging and disposable consumer products industries to run a set of trials the results of which prove that high percentages of foil coverage does not affect the re-pulpability of a product.

The SGS study found that covering 80% of paper or board with stamping foil had no detrimental effect on the repulping of the board.

Meanwhile Foilco’s Zero Foil to Landfill scheme is now entering its 5th year which sees Foilco collecting stamped foil and adding them to its recovery streams. In addition, the company has also progressed on creating a foil to replicate glitter. A bright gold and silver is available under the brand name Astral, with a new formulated version in super shiny silver having launched under Astral Plus.

Above: Foilco has several inspiring downloadable reports on its website.

Paper Conscious “It is our aim to refill, not landfill,” is the mantra at GF Smith, and as part of this the paper company has created a new certification scheme, entitled Paper Conscious which relays to the user that the board has been made using uncommon materials (such as used coffee cups), that have been upcycled to make the paper.

“This means growing our collection under this certification, so that we can keep on preserving the planet through our paper, one fibre at a time,” says Mark Jessett paper consultant for GF Smith.

For some collections GF Smith uses a recycle chain where paper can be reprocessed between five and seven times, following the principles of closed-loop manufacturing.

“A circular economy means the life cycle of our paper is extended for as long as possible,” explains Mark. “The paper’s fibre strength degrades each time it is recycled, so towards the end of its useful life it is turned into a fuel source for energy. In addition, we have also created an initiative to segregate and recycle paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, metals, and precious metals.”

In addition, GF Smith has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% while as well as its zero wastage to landfill policy it is improving all aspects of Scope 3.

From this month, GF Smith has pledged that 100% of the electricity used within its company, will come from renewable energy sources. As well as this, a GF Smith 100% own waste-paper range is also in development.

“While we might not be paper-perfect just yet, we are doing all we can to become more sustainably minded for a better future.

That means sourcing smarter too, so that one day all the mills and partners we work with will share our ecological ethos and we can protect the planet responsibly together,” adds Mark.

Above: Paper company GF Smith is upcycling all manner of ingredients into its papers.

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PG showcases a selection of new product launches

Manly stuff Cherry Orchard has launched two brand new male ranges. Timeless is a traditional male collection that comprises 16 designs, eight with male relations captions and the remainder open male designs. The range includes Code 100, Code 60 and Code 55 cards. Also new is Whispers on the Wind which has ten male captions with beautiful verses set on stunning washed artwork.

These are all Code 75.

Cherry Orchard Publishing 01684 295500 cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Wild at art Wilderness is the first card collection by artist Laura Carlin for Roger la Borde.

The range features Laura's expressive watercolour paintings of brilliant beasts in their beautifully rendered habitats – think trees crowded with colourful birds, and bushy-tailed monkeys swinging from bough to bough! Laura’s playful and humour-filled artwork is featured in many wonderful children's books and this card collection will continue to win her more fans.

Roger la Borde (0)207 328 0491 www.rogerlaborde.com

An age thing Rush Design has expanded its Fantasia Ages range by going up the age ladder. Having started with pink and blue age designs covering 1-6 years this has now increased the two-colour options for years 1-13. The ages are accented with silver foiling detail on these 150mm square cards, which are printed on a luxury textured board and matched with a vibrant shocking pink or lagoon blue envelope.

Rush Design 01788 521745 www.rushdesign.co.uk

A royal reception Having started with one card, ‘The Queen of Everything’, customer requests have seen Aardvark Press launch a whole Queen collection. The range of 18 designs (and counting) cover a multitude of sends, from Queen of Multi-Tasking to the Queen of Gardening, as well as a very prescient EcoWarrior Queen. The 150mm square cards are printed on FSC board and elegantly embossed with gold foiling.

Aardvark Press 07726603800 www.aardvark.press

Earning your stripes Corniche Cards is building on its namesake collection of Corniche Stripe and Cornishware mug design with the launch of Corniche Creative which enables retailers to order personalised versions.

Just like the pottery, there’s a choice of 11 colours from which to choose.

Corniche Cards 07595311237 www.corniche.cards

A galaxy of choice White Cotton Cards’ new Stars collection went into orbit as soon as it was launched, so there are now plenty more in the galaxy.

The square cards each feature additional wooden stars and sparkly diamantes, with the range now encompassing a wide range of relations designs as well as those covering many occasions.

White Cotton Cards 07909 911229 Sales@whitecottoncards.co.Uk

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PG showcases a selection of new product launches

A cultural beat Newbie publisher, Paper Yam is celebrating diversity through colour, pattern and print. The inaugural collection includes designs which feature mixed media, African print collage and digital art, each influenced by a melting pot of culture, people, places, food, music, textiles and fashion to represent life, love and light. For every order placed until end of December, Paper Yam is to donate 5% to Cancer Research UK. Paper Yam 07951266774 www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaperYam

A natural reaction

Best of British Well known for its beautiful prints and cards that depict mostly Great British coastal locations, Betty Boyns Designs has launched four new calendars in a A5 dropdown and 21cm square format featuring Cornwall, Devon, iconic UK scenes as well as a dog one. In addition, its Christmas Card collection has been expanded to include 12 new images of fun and frolicking in wintertime.

Betty Boyns Designs 01736 438 426 www.bettyboynsdesigns.co.uk

Nature Always Wins is the latest new range from The Seed Card Company, printed on its trademark board that is embedded with wildflower seeds. There are 24 designs in this inaugural collection covering everyday as well as occasions. The detailed watercolour artwork, by Jit Shah (one of the company’s three owners) incorporates a vast array of birds, animals and flora.

The Seed Card Company 0207 183 5334 www.theseedcardcompany.com

A special touch Touchy Feely is Blue Eyed Sun’s latest range of hand-finished greeting cards, based on the original hand-stitched artworks by awardwinning textile artist Jo Corner. The range includes 24 designs which cover birthdays, special occasions and relations. Litho printed on thick FSC watercolour board, the 160mm square cards are embossed and hand-finished with jewels in the UK. Blue Eyed Sun 01273 823003 www.blueeyedsun.co.uk

Pater patter Dad Jokes is a new range from Tess Cards featuring some of the most appalling puns ever invented. Suitable for birthdays or just for raising a smile (or eliciting a groan), the 16 vivid colour designs measure 120 x 170mm and come with a white envelope.

Tess Cards 01892 533413 www.tesscards.co.uk

Take a gander Art Matters has continued to grow its Shoreline & River series with blank and Christmas designs featuring Lizzie Perkins’ stunning depictions of Greylag Geese at Slimbridge, joining the line-up. The 105mm x 210mm Christmas designs (which feature snowflakes) come in packs of five cards. The designs are based on originals created by Lizzie that are hand-printed through her cut paper stencils via the mesh of a screen.

Art Matters 01491 671758 www.lizzieprints.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 49

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It’s easy to order: In the UK via your Business Development Representative, our Customer Services team on 01243 792600 or online at cbgtrader.co.uk For our Irish customers via our trusted partners at Watermark on 00353 (0)1429 1956 www.cbgtrader.co.uk

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Spotlight On... Words & Sentiment

Cards That Do

The Talking

It’s no secret that words and sentiment greeting cards have been a pretty powerful glue that have been holding friends and family together in recent times.

As the pandemic has highlighted, sometimes only a greeting card can hit the right emotional spot, eloquently putting into words exactly what the sender wants to say.

Left: Words and sentiments greeting cards have provided a feeling of ‘togetherness’ when meeting in person was not possible.

Right: A Husband Anniversary design from Kingfisher Cards’ Sealed With A Loving Wish range.

Below left: A design from UKG’s Perfectly Said range.

Bottom: Among the cards in Carte Blanche Greetings’ Me To You New Beginnings range.

“One of the positives to have come out of the last 18 months has to be how greeting cards really have come to the fore in helping people show they care, making them feel less isolated, with the words and verses providing that all important communication,” says Laura Mace, editorial manager of UK Greetings. “I do feel that the pandemic has unlocked a greater need to tell people that they are important to you and words and sentiments greeting cards do just that,” she adds.

“The role of words and sentiment greeting cards has been strengthened as a result of the turmoil we have all been through,” emphasises Grace Elphinstone, marketing manager of Carte Blanche Greetings (CBG).

“Now, more than ever before, people appreciate those special people in their lives and want to show just how much they care, with a more sentiment-driven card that holds real meaning. The pandemic has resulted in a resurgence in card sending, and the ‘thinking of you’ captions are an important driver in this increase.

“After all that everyone has all gone through separation, job loss, insecurity etc - the greeting card industry has been there with the right words for an unimaginable situation.”

Grace confirms that CBG, for one is seeing a big demand for traditional cards that convey genuine sentiment, reflected in its Wishing Well brand, the Blue Mountain Arts ranges, as well as the New Beginnings Me to You collection, which serve to show the recipient how much the sender cares, and perhaps couldn’t find the words to say in person.

As Paul Urban, managing director of Kingfisher Cards, puts it: “I think the role of 'words and sentiments' cards has been one of the most fascinating developments of the last 18 months.

Where there had been some trend towards shorter 'pithy' messages before Covid, the lockdowns changed that completely.

There was definitely a return to meaningful verses and loving messages, and although we may be edging towards a more normal working pattern, there is still a huge emotional hangover from the whole lockdown period. ‘Words and sentiments' are much more relevant today than they have been for some years.”

As Paul highlights, words and sentiment greeting cards really can convey “heartfelt emotions in a way that emails/skype/phone calls never really can.

I have been really humbled by the surprising number of the public who having received some of our cards and have taken the trouble to phone us to express their appreciation of the beautiful words.”

Rod Brown, joint managing director of Words ‘n’ Wishes, emphasises that one phrase in particular has stood out over PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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the past 18 months is “Thinking of you”, which has been relevant for all manner of situations and “therefore the increased ‘want’ to let a loved one, family member or close friend know they are being thought of has come back into the sentiment sending via greeting cards,” says Rod. Another publisher that is well qualified to comment on the words and sentiments sector is Cherry Orchard, its Cherished range having scooped the award for Best Traditional Words & Sentiments Range at last year’s Henries. As Helen Pallen, Cherry Orchard’s business development and marketing manager summed it up: “A global pandemic has made us realise how important it is to let those closest to us know what they mean to us, and the right words can have a very special meaning during difficult times.”

As for everyone gradually returning to pre-Covid times, Hallmark UK/ROI’s writer Hannah Woodcock points out: “As the world edges cautiously back into ‘normality,’ people Above: Loving words on a Words ‘n’ Wishes Moments in Time design.

Above right: Among the Hallmark cards that say it all.

Right: A words and sentiments card in Cherry Orchard’s Whispers on the Wind range.

Far right: Avec Amour is a new collection from IC&G.

are making up for everything they missed. Milestone celebrations are finally being celebrated. Friends and family are enjoying ‘real life’ get-togethers. Lockdown pets are being spoilt on their first ‘gotcha day’. We’ve realised that keeping in touch goes far beyond messaging apps and video calls,” says Hannah. “We’ve learnt not to take the people in our lives for granted. That’s why our latest editorial has a strong focus on gratitude and appreciation for those relationships, and for those much-missed hugs.”

However, Hannah highlights that the current situation has been, and continues to be, a challenge for many people. “The pandemic had a huge impact on our grieving process. With funeral and social restrictions lifted, we’re now able to raise ‘a long overdue toast’ to the special people who are no longer with us. Mental health is being talked about more than ever. Cards are being turned to as a way to send a message of support or a note of encouragement during this challenging time.”

She adds that through relatable and empathetic language on greeting

Sentimental sparkles

Above: Blue Mountain Arts’ new Pix & Pagels range.

l Words ‘n’ Wishes launched 152 new designs on October 1, with many representing ‘verse and sentiment’, with design styles that represent both the ‘older’ sending generation combined with the modern twist of less editorial. In addition, the company’s flagship range, Moments in Time, has been extended with a new size and an open collection. l Carte Blanche Greetings’ new Blue Mountain Arts’ Pix & Pagels range features words from best-selling author Douglas Pagels, whose books have sold over 3.5m copies. The range of 45 designs features colourful photographs both inside and out. l Cherry Orchard has developed a new range, Whispers on the Wind. It features ten male captions with verses set on washed artwork. Words focus on the positive side - fun and laughter shared together - with happy memories the most popular. l Paper Rose is expanding its successful Marzipan Rainbow range into 2022. First launched in 2020, the range features simple designs blackline work and special handmade clay rainbows, created by artist Beverley Edge in her Australian studio - that give emphasis to the words and illustrate the sentiments. l Kingfisher Cards has continued to update its Aura core ranges, which now encompasses over 200 designs, each with plenty of beautiful verse. This is joined with Sealed with a Loving Wish, a newer collection which is scoring especially highly in close captions. l Simon Elvin has launched a Sentiments range featuring 20 designs, each with a full colour insert, featuring a heartfelt, personalised verse. l Hallmark’s new postcards collection is aimed at the increasing number of people working from home.

The uplifting messages can be kept by the desk as a reminder of an amazing achievement, that someone cares about you, or that ‘you matter’, when it is needed the most.

Above right: Marzipan Rainbow from Paper Rose was created in response to the pandemic. It focuses on words and sentiments with an emphasis on people being apart.

Left: A ‘daughter’ card from Simon Elvin’s Sentiments designs which includes a lengthy verse on the insert.

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What’s trending?

With ‘thinking of you’ and ‘sending you a hug’ undoubtedly two of the most popular sentiments seen on greeting cards over the past 18 months, as we emerge from the pandemic, what else is trending in the words and sentiment sector?

“We have seen a big increase in ‘proud of you’ designs,” reveals Laura Mace, editorial manager of UK Greetings. “Historically you would have generally only seen this being used on a ‘parent to child’ card, but the last 18 months has seen it extend to all relationships.”

On the single word front, Laura adds that ‘lovely’ and ‘amazing’ are right up there. “They are so British!”

Hallmark’s writer Hannah Woodcock, has picked up on “‘Worth the wait’ as a popular phrase post-lockdown that so has had an increased usage in our product,” while Paper Above: A design from UKG’s Little Voice Rose’s senior designer, Lucy Ledger, says that company has range.

Left: A post-lockdown design from seen a huge uptake in cards that focus on distance and being Hallmark. apart, with friendship at the forefront. “Also, cards that can be Below: Reflecting the little things, a design from Pigment’s Love Unlimited collection. sent when people are unable to attend a planned special occasion,” adds Lucy. “’Thinking of you’ cards, targeted at people who may be lonely or struggling, have also been really popular. It’s nice to know people are reaching out and sending a smile to people who need it most.”

At Pigment, strategic trend researcher Hannah Matthews says that one thing that the company has particularly looked at is a sense of shifting the focus solely from big, milestone moments of celebration, to the more everyday, small moments or ‘little wins’. “Not every gesture has to be grand in order to be celebrated - and we know that sometimes, the smallest ones have the greatest impact, whether it be a hug, an act of kindness or a thoughtful note. This is reflected in the editorial from our recent Love Unlimited, Alice Scott, The Happy News and Bijoux designs,” says Hannah.

Adds Grace Elphinstone, marketing manager at Carte Blanche Greetings, “we’ve had a lot of requests for new captions around rainbows, and seeing the rainbow after the rain, so expect to see this in future ranges.” cards, it can acknowledge that life isn’t always easy, but that your loved ones will always have your back.

“Although we talk about returning to ‘normality,’ there is a realisation that there’s no such thing as ‘normal’. “We know everybody’s life is different, and everyone is having a unique journey through the pandemic. We are passionate about helping people to stay emotionally connected with friends and family, using sentiments that feel authentic and reflective of their relationships and lifestyles.”

IC&G’s creative director, Amanda Miles, comments that the company is continuing to see a demand for both very long traditional words for all captions, alongside shorter heartfelt words for special occasions.

“Our new collection, released earlier this year, Avec Amour, has really resonated with customers,” confirms Amanda. “Cute sentiment also works really well and provides those much-needed verbal hugs, offering a ‘lighter’ alternative to traditional sentiment.”

The company has also actively sourced new writers to provide a more modern solution to sentiment, “less traditional rhymes and more ‘straight heartfelt sentiment’,” says Amanda, “with our new collection, Brighstone, featuring this new style of writing.”

At Paper Rose, senior designer, Lucy Ledger, reflects: “As people have been apart during the pandemic it has given us all the unique opportunity to assess what is truly important to us, and essentially, who is important to us.”

She points out that as we come out of the pandemic, there Left: Cath Tate Cards’ new empathy range - Sending Sunshine. are still restrictions and issues Below: An uplifting design from Megan Claire’s Over The Rainbow range. when it comes to meeting up, predicting that sentiment-themed cards will be popular for a long time to come. “The act of sending something physical through the post will always mean more to a recipient than a text or email,” states Lucy. “It truly shows you care, and the pandemic has really emphasised this.”

Cath Tate’s account manager, Amy Woodrow Arai, reveals that a new sentiment range for the company is aiming to spread a little sunshine, with cards that are guaranteed to lift the spirits.

“Since the start of the pandemic, the words and sentiment cards that have been popular were naturally related to the lockdowns, feeling isolated and missing people. Sympathy cards were sadly in demand, as well as well cards that mentioned long distance friendship, sending hugs and thinking of you. However, after the difficult 18 months we’ve all been through, we wanted to create range of cards that were uplifting, thoughtful and bright - cards to let someone know that you are with them, and thinking of them, even when you can’t find the right words.”

Explains Amy: “Our new Sending Sunshine range is made up of cards for various occasions, and although there are sympathy designs in the

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range, the focus is empathy rather than sympathy. The words and sentiments are suitable for anyone going through a rough time or needing a friendly little pick-me-up, as well as cards to give a favourite person a little message to know how brilliant they are.”

“Our friendship cards have always been a constant good seller, but during the height of the pandemic we definitely had an increase in these, as well as ’thinking of you’ captions,” comments Megan Purdie, founder of Megan Claire. “Now that we are edging back to ‘normality', I would say this is still very apparent, but the sales now lean towards more upbeat captions, letting friends know they are valued all of the time, all year around, not just in times of need. In our latest range, Sherbet, the captions that relate to being unable to see someone, so ‘missing you’ and ’sending you love’, are proving to be very popular.”

Pigment has been drawing on its own bespoke insight reports to better understand the trends and tastes that have evolved. “In part, due to the events of the past 18 months - more than ever, shoppers want to make meaningful connections,” says Pigment’s strategic trends researcher Hannah Matthews. “And

Far left: The Happy News from Pigment.

Left: Good vibes from Poet and Painter.

what better way to do so than with considered words and editorial that, in a time where we have become accustomed to 24 hour rolling negative news, and hateful rhetoric, offer a sense of joy and optimism along with fresh, modern sentiment and kindness? We have kept this insight in mind when approaching our latest product developments, and will continue to do so going forward, to make sure we strike the right tone and help shoppers to foster relationships and form deeper connections.”

Lucy Creed, director of Poet and Painter, eloquently sums up the sector. “The strength of greeting cards is their peerless ability to be the ‘hug' you want to give from wherever you are - it could be just next door, or the other side of the world. Greeting cards allow people to choose a card that sums up a particular sentiment. Clever writing and resonant imagery can express what we sometimes can't find the words to say. Sending a card is such a shared experience. It made you smile, so you send that smile to recipient. Perhaps part of the ’new normal’ is an opportunity to make a better, more empathic place for everyone.”

The poetic maestro

Below: Laura Mace, editorial manager of UKG.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Helen Steiner Rice, the godmother of words and sentiments greeting cards.

Helen Steiner Rice’s inspirational verses still very much live on, as testified by the greeting card range from UK Greetings (UKG) winning the Best Traditional Words and Sentiments Range in The Henries this year.

Laura Mace, editorial manager of UK Greetings shares her view of the enduring appeal of this poet laureate.

“There is something particularly special about Helen Steiner Rice’s well-crafted verses. They are timeless expressions of emotions and relationships that have resonated with millions of people over the years.”

Laura also highlights how the religious verses remain popular and will continue to feature within the range.

While so many of the verses that still feature in the UKG range were written over 60 years ago, as American Greetings (parent company of UKG) acquired the rights to some of the Helen Steiner Rice portfolio last year, it has meant that little tweaks can now be made to the language used.

“While we would always want to remain true to the essence of her writing, we are now able to change a word here or there to make it more relevant to today’s consumer, extending the reach of this evergreen brand,” says Laura. “There can never be a better time to do my job. I get to work with classic verses from Helen Steiner Rice as well as contemporary writers for our Perfectly Said and Little Voice collections. It feels Helen Steiner Rice’s Commandments a real privilege to help 1. Thou shalt be happy. people communicate 2. Thou shalt use thy talents to make others glad. and it is exciting how 3. Thou shalt rise above defeat and trouble. they are increasingly 4. Thou shalt look upon each day as a new day. using greeting cards to 5. Thou shalt always do thy best and leave the rest to God. do this.”

6. Thou shalt not waste thy time and energy in useless worry.

Above left: Helen Steiner 7. Thou shalt look only on the bright side of life.

Rice’s legacy lives on in the 8. Thou shalt not be afraid of tomorrow.

UK Greetings portfolio.

Left: A new colour palette 9. Thou shalt have a kind word and a kind deed for everyone. features in the Helen Steiner 10. Thou shalt say each morning - I am a child of God and nothing can hurt me.

Rice award winning range.

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THE MEETING PLACE FOR THE EUROPEAN LICENSING INDUSTRY

ExCeL London 17-19 November 2021

Discover the world of brand licensing – where your characters find new life

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Licensing Focus

Driving Licensing Next month sees the return of Brand Licensing Europe, the mega trade exhibition for all things licensing. Taking place at London’s ExCel (November 17-19), those from the greeting card community will join the throng to feast their eyes on the thousands of brands - from the worlds of entertainment, heritage, sport, art and FMCG - with an eye on translating this IP onto their products or conversely pitch their designs and ideas with the hope of licensing them to third parties.

PG delves into the dynamic world of licensing with perspectives from Danilo’s Daniel Prince, Cardology’s David Falkner and artist Meg Hawkins.

An experienced eye Danilo Promotions has been synonymous with licensed merchandise for over 40 years, having stacked up awards galore for its ranges of greeting cards, calendars, diaries and wrap which chime with the tastes of the consumer.

At the recent GCA Dragons’ Speed-dating event, Daniel Prince, managing director of Danilo talked about changing consumer habits and tastes and how this affects which brands it backs.

There is no one ‘go to’ source which signposts which licence to sign, with Danilo casting its net wide, overlaying market data with what’s cropping up on social media, attracting attention on YouTube, featuring highly on ‘searches’, word of mouth from peers, feedback from retailers as well as a gut reaction based on many years’ of experience.

That said, the past does not assure the future. As Daniel points out: “The retail landscape has changed;

Top: BLE 2021 will attract all manner of characters, including those from the greeting card community.

Above: Daniel Prince (centre) with Danilo’s licensing director Dan Grant (left) and creative director Martin Carter at the recent Licensing Awards, at which its Peaky Blinders range won the Best Licensed Paper Products award.

Left: It was a retailer that first alerted Danilo to PAW Patrol so it was able nip in and sign the licensing deal.

Right: A Baby Shark sound card from Danilo, one of the brands to have hailed from YouTube.

The show business Brand Licensing Europe, or BLE as it is affectionately called, is the only panEuropean annual trade show that is totally dedicated to licensing and brand extension. Owned by Informa Markets, this year’s three-day exhibition (which takes place Wednesday 17 November until Friday 19 November at London’s ExCel) will showcase over 2,500 brands and will bring together thousands of licensees, manufacturers, retailers, distributors and licensing agents.

As well as being packed with exhibitors showing their brands, there is also a major focus on sustainability, coordinated by Products of Change, the membership organisation (partly owned

by Max Publishing, owners of PG) that is committed to driving sustainable change throughout consumer products.

To find out more about BLE and register to attend the show, head to www.brandlicensing.eu

80% of the customers Danilo sold to 10 years ago, don’t exist now.” While Woolworths was once the haven for licensed merchandise 20 years ago, its place has been taken by the likes of The Entertainer, Primark, Card Factory, B&M “and the dreaded word, ‘Amazon’!” states Daniel.

Quantifying the shift to online shopping, Daniel says how now almost 30% of all shopping happens online, with 55% of purchases being made via a mobile phone.

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Licensing Focus

Another big change is how the public consume content with digital streaming being a key trend. “Consumers now engage in TV via streaming, not just terrestrial TV, but through Netflix, YouTube, Sky and ‘boxsets’,” says Daniel, stressing that there are many more ways to engage with brands than ever before, from Instagram to TikTok, Twitter and of course YouTube.

Of the latter, Daniel highlighted how YouTube has and is playing a significant role in the development of brands. “YouTubers are real icons. Pewdie Pie has 110 million subscribers, KSI has 24 million, Ryan’s World and Tiana are kid superstars who have come through with their own toy brands and who could forget Baby Shark, which has notched up 9.4 Billion views of just one song!”

Danilo has clocked the huge impact Netflix has and is making, highlighting hits such as Stranger Things, Sex Education and The Crown to illustrate the point, as well as the comeback popularity of Friends, as a

result of Gen Z watching the 1990s series on Netflix for the first time.

Daniel accepts that there will always be an appetite for evergreen brands, from top football clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United to Disney properties, from Elvis to classic TV series, but it is ever on the lookout for what is piquing consumer interest, be it the growing popularity of gaming properties or the latest music genre.

“In music, Kpop is emerging as a real trend in 2021 with Black Olive and BTS being the big stars, while new musical talent, such as Billie Eilish are on the up as part of a real rise in popular culture,” believes Daniel.

There is no denying Danilo is keeping a watchful eye on streaming patterns. “The popularity of exclusive TV series such as Stranger Things, YouTube content such as Baby Shark and CoComelon and even exclusive football matches on Amazon Prime all demonstrate how streaming platforms are leading the way for showcasing the successful brands of the future,” believes Daniel. “Who knows what the future will look like, but I expect it will be a very digital world,” he adds.

Above left: A Stranger Things calendar from Danilo, one of the Netflix sensations.

Above right: There is no denying how gaming brands, including Fortnite, have come into the midst.

Left: Friends is encouraging a resurgence in popularity due to it being streamed on Netflix.

Cardology’s licensing journey “Working with exciting brands gets us out of bed in the morning,” exclaims David Falkner, who co owns Cardology with his wife Kripa and her sister Dipa Shah. Having started in 2014, the company has quickly made a name for itself through its innovative 3D cards, many of which are based on leading licensed properties, including Harry Potter, DC Comics and Friends.

The decision to secure licensing rights was very much a strategic one, in order “to protect our first-mover advantage in the marketplace. Given the price points our work achieves, we felt it inevitable our concept would eventually be copied in some shape or form, so doing something that was harder for our competitors to replicate was a logical step,” explains David. “Overnight, we gained considerably from our partnerships in terms of our perceived size and reputation. In return, we hopefully offer our partners a lot back in terms of revenues, award nominations and having something different/brandenhancing within the marketplace.”

The publisher now holds rights to 65 properties, the most recent of which is 58

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Battersea Cats and Dogs Home, with further deals signed for 2022 that will be announced imminently.

Here, David shares some of the key considerations of a a smallish company venturing into licensing as well as the possible pitfalls: “1. Know your numbers intimately before committing to minimum guarantees.

(Daniel Prince made excellent points at the recent Dragons event around sources which allow you to mix data with gut feel to

Far left: David Falkner says licensing has given Cardology a USP as well as some protection from being copied.

Left: Big Bang Theory features in Cardology’s portfolio.

Below: A Harry Potter Hogwarts card designs from Cardology.

forecast likely sales, which I fully endorse).

2. For every brand, have a customer in mind that you’re confident will take this product in the volumes you need to clear your minimum guarantee. Know the margin they need, to establish if your minimum RRP is credible, before signing the deal.

3. Time is money. Work on your product development at the same time as you’re progressing the contract (accepting you may having signed related NDAs) so you hit the ground running when the deal is signed.

4. Only work with people you genuinely believe you can trust and

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Licensing Focus

Meg Hawkins’ art of licensing out Having started her greeting card business on her kitchen table in 2015, artist Meg Hawkins has come a long way in a short time, not least through the licensing collaborations she has forged, with her art now gracing all manner of products, from homewares to fudge, credit cards to tote bags.

“Around four years ago I was at a standstill on what and how you’re meant to push forward in a creative industry, to become part of something bigger than just me selling a few prints and cards on a market stall. I felt like I had a wall in front of me and no idea how to climb it or knock it down,” reveals Meg Hawkins, founder of Meg Hawkins Art, which now spans the publishing business, a dedicated shop in Shrewsbury as well as the licensing side.

A turning point for Meg was attending a business meeting where Sarah Ward, chief executive of the GA was one of the main speakers. “She spoke about the giftware industry and I felt like it was what I had been missing. I managed to chat to Sarah at the end of the meeting and she was so informative and showed me the gateway to licensing,” says Meg paying tribute to her mentor.

This has led to Meg signing licensing agreements with Widdop and Co for an extensive Country Collection of homewares, including framed art, door stops, Christmas baubles, cushions, clocks, stools as well as a home fragrance range.

While SDL Imports has produced a range of wooden gift boxes, key holders and coat hangers, Tilnar Art has manufactured some recycled aluminium

make the time to build those relationships - for example, we signed with Warner Brothers shortly before Covid hit; without the empathy, direction and general humanity they showed us in our first year, we’d have struggled.

5. Know what you’re going to be famous for. Only sign deals on properties that align with where you want your brand to head. If you do decide to partner with some of the larger brands, recognise you’ll be potentially competing directly with

bowls, Gardiners of Scotland has launched some handmade fudge while card.com offers Visa and Mastercard credit cards in the USA and Canada featuring Meg’s artwork. In addition, the RNLI has licensed her images for notecards and Christmas cards for a few years now while Marie Curie offered a tote bag.

As to the advantages of licensing your brand and artwork, Meg highlights how it is a great way of increasing brand awareness.

“It also means your designs can feature on products that possibly in your fledgling years of trading you would find hard to get manufactured yourself. It’s difficult to know what to make as products in the early years, so when you work with companies that have an extensive knowledge in the gift industry in their area it opens not only your eyes but also potential dreams.”

Of considerations to bear in mind for those looking to licence out, the first one for Meg is “to

Above: One of the latest signings for Cardology is with Battersea Cats and Dogs Home.

Above left: Meg Hawkins has taken her watercolour art and made it a licensing brand.

Above: Among the Meg Hawkins products that are produced under licence by Widdop and Co. Left: A Meg Hawkins Art greeting card.

Below: Meg’s artwork and brand graces a brand new range of confectionery from Gardiners of Scotland.

Below middle: Meg (second right) outside the Meg Hawkins Art flagship shop in Shrewsbury’s Darwin Centre.

make sure it’s what you really want to do. It takes a long time to get the product onto the shelves so you have to have a huge amount of patience. Sometimes it can feel like everything takes an eternity yet when it all comes together, it’s well worth the wait.”

She also rams home the importance of having an agreement. “Make sure you read all contracts to make sure that they work for you as well as the licensee.

Consider you’ll be restricting your designs to that licensing company for the agreed products for a few years at a time. Work with them and keep a clear communication on a regular basis.”

Meg says the lustre of licensing has definitely not worn off and she is hoping to expand into the nursery sector, based on her latest Little Joe & Co stationery collection. “When I see my designs on the shelves of department stores and in people’s homes it still fills me with joy every time,” Meg reveals.

some of the most commercially successful players in our industry. Against this context, having a clear view of the value you bring - both to licensors and endcustomers - is key.”

Looking to the future, David sums up Cardology’s goal as being “to cement our position as the go-to partner for licensors looking to expand their brands’ presence in the premium retail sector, by offering paper products which double as both a card and a gift.”

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on to Su lin the bs c e at new rib PG s e Bu flas zz h .n et

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Art Source

The String In The Tail A maestro of macramé, two decades in greeting card design and a passion for travel, fashion and home interiors means that Sally Wilson is a pretty formidable designer.

Here she shares more about her life and loves, hopes and dreams…

“I live in Northamptonshire with my husband Andy, my two sons Seth and Toby, and my little Parson Russell Terrier pup and shadow, Martha.

Being creative has always been in my blood, my twin brother is also an illustrator, so it seems to run in the family. Growing up, our time was spent drawing, modelling, and crafting.

After completing a foundation in Art and Design, it led me onto my path of doing a degree in BA(Hons) Textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University, specialising in print design. I graduated in 2000 and went straight on to get a job as an inhouse designer in a studio designing greeting cards. Clients I worked for while being there included Clinton Cards, Paperchase, Sainsbury’s and Asda.

Three years ago, after 20 years of working there, I was made redundant from my job, which forced me into making the decision to take the leap of faith and work for myself. I can honestly say I haven’t looked back since; freelancing has been an altogether refreshing and exhilarating experience. It’s been the breath of fresh air I realise I needed, and it also works well while bringing up a young family.

I have met and worked with so many fantastic people through my agent Bright. They have filled me with confidence and determination as well as incredible support in the greetings and gift arenas. I have worked for several companies already through Bright, both in the UK and overseas and this has

WANT TO BE FEATURED?

Left: Sally and her macramé hanging plantholder (right) with Kirstie Allsopp on Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas TV series.

Below A pretty colour palette features on this design.

Below left: The current love of house plants is reflected in this design

by Sally.

Bottom left: Typography and imagery work hand in hand in this design by Sally.

Bottom right: One of the many contemporary creations by Sally on her Knot Sew Simple Etsy store.

further fuelled my future dreams to working on illustrating books.

Other than drawing and designing, my other passion is crafting. I have turned my hand to crochet, embroidery, making my own clothes, but macramé has won my heart!

I have my own little business called Knot Sew Simple, making fashion and home accessories, that I sell on Etsy, in independent shops and at craft fairs. I also host workshops around the Midlands teaching the art of macramé.

Macramé has given me so many opportunities including featuring in one of my favourite magazines, Mollie Makes, and I have appeared on the Channel 4 programme Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas, making a modern take on the traditional Christmas Wreath using macrame.

The main source of inspiration in my design work stems from fashion, home interiors, nature and travel. Of the latter, I took a year out during my time in my job to fulfil my passion for travel, something I would recommend to anyone. It was so enriching to see and experience different cultures around the world and still has an influence on my work now.

As far as how I approach designing, I love to first sketch ideas out and then work them up using gouache and mixed media which is then manipulated in Photoshop. I also work straight onto the Mac, which is a sign of the times in this digital era!

That said, the tangible nature of physical greeting cards is ever enduring. Receiving a greeting card through the post still fills me with so much happiness. Snail mail has still got to be my favourite way of keeping in touch with people. I treasure old cards and letters from friends and loved ones. This is one reason why I love my job so much as I so want to play a part in continuing this tradition.” l Sally Wilson is represented by The Bright Agency.

If you are an artist, photographer or verse writer and would like to be considered to appear in Art Source, please contact PG’s Jakki Brown on jakkib@max-publishing.co.uk. This is an editorial feature and as such is free of charge.

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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October 2021 Issue Velvet c75 Half Page PG.pdf

1

08/10/2021

14:38

New

18 New Velvet titles to get your teeth into before our main release of 38 more fab titles in January

01924 950500 The perfect solution for all of your Greeting Card Software requirements Enquiry Hotline

CARD manager

Ready-made WEBSHOP

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using iPhone, iPad, Tablet, etc. incl. Consignment and Van Sales Email us at enquiries@exponential.co.uk or visit our website at www.card-manager.com

UK- 01924 950500 / USA- (617) 8618-517 / Australia- (0432) 846546 Exponential Limited 1-3 Tithe Barn Street Horbury Wakefield West Yorkshire WF4 6HN

62_PG_October 2021.indd 1

11/10/2021 13:56

63_64.qxp_Grid 09/10/2021 17:55 Page 1

PG ASKED A SELECTION OF RETAILERS FOR THEIR BEST SELLERS. Priya Aurora-Crowe, co-owner of Lark.

A group of seven gift and card shops in south London.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Noi

Generally

“Phenomenal! The nude ladies are such fun.”

Humour

Meraki

Hey Dude

“A winning combo of popular culture and puns.”

Relations & Occasions

The Art File

Generally

“Huge choice - the Sara Miller designs remain strong.”

Art

Lagom

Across the board

“The company continually reinvents its portfolio.”

Children’s

James Ellis

Paper Shakies and the Foil range

“Great quality, well produced at a great price.”

Adult ages

Tache

Modern Mister

“So strong for the tricky male sends.”

Giftwrappings

Giftwrap UK

Across the board

“We love the whole range.”

Gifts

My Doris Luckies of London

Bag, beaded pouches, eye masks and keyrings Pamper Care Kits

“Wonderfully designed.”

Top: A design from Noi. Right: A beaded keyring from My Doris.

“So great for those ‘big nights in’,”

Maureen and Tom O’Connell, co-owners of Just Cards, St Ives.

A long established greeting card shop in a Cambridgeshire market town.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Noel Tatt Jonny Javelin

Joli Velvet

“A beautiful `gentle` range.”

“Sell all year round - great value for money.”

Thinking of You

Woodmansterne

Amilie

“An exceptional range.”

Relations and Occasions

Paperlink

Reflections

Jonny Javelin

Velvet

“We buy the Mum and Daughter cards by the dozen.”

“Can’t wait for the reaction to the Christmas cards.”

Art

Woodmansterne

Tinga Tinga Art

“Lovely African art.”

Humour

Brainbox Candy

Quotish

“Quotes with a twist.”

Children’s

Woodmansterne

Quentin Blake

“Our best sellers in open juvenile and adult ages.”

Gifts

The Bottled Baking Company Jellycat

Generally

“A great pick-up for a last minute present.”

“Our favourite is Slackajack monkey along with`I Know a Monkey` book.”

Eco Chic

Shoppers and face masks

Self-purchases

Generally

Top: A Quotish design from Brainbox Candy.

Above: A Tinga Tinga Art card from Woodmansterne.

“All the lines sell well from the spinner.”

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

63

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Anne Barber, co-owner of In Heaven at Home.

A popular medium sized card and gift shop in Market Harborough.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Raspberry Blossom

Say What

“Such happy cards, a particular favourite ‘Happy Birthday Lovely You’”

Thinking of You/ Keeping in touch

Sarah Kelleher

Fantastic Foils and Inspired By

“Wonderful uplifting cards with wrap and prints to match.”

Relations and Occasions

Meraki

Pressed Flower

“The gold metallic backgrounds with pressed flowers are just stunning for female relatives.”

Humour

Bold & Bright

Jeffrey and Janice

Top: Some Pressed Flower designs from Meraki.

Right: An Aruna gift bag from Deva’s Designers Guild range.

Objectables

Almost anything

“Outrageously funny - made all the better because they are dolls’ house characters being so naughty.”

“We love them all, apart from the really naughty ones!”

Children’s

Raspberry Blossom Deva Designs

Wowzers Bunnies by the Bay

“Great cheeky little animals.”

“The sweetest bunnies drawn in such a pretty style.”

Adult ages

Two Little Monkeys

Generally

“The large size age cards are great for special birthdays.”

Giftwrappings

Deva Designs

Designers Guild

“The papers and bags are just lovely.”

Gifts

Mosney Mill

China, textiles and notebooks A5 glitter notebooks

“Great gifts. Hare & Wildflower is our favourite design.”

Counting Stars

“Cheeky, glittery and to the point.”

Lizzie Mungham, E-commerce manager of Nickery Nook.

A popular medium sized card and gift shop in Bedale, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Category

Name of Publisher

Product/Name Range

Comments

Everyday

Woodmansterne Jonny Javelin

Emma Bridgewater Across the board

Nigel Quiney Publications

Pizazz; Pizazz for Men

“Remains very popular.”

“Beautifully detailed designs for adults and children.”

“Great sellers for everyday birthdays.”

Humour

Woodmansterne

Hysterical Heritage

“The modern jokes and historical imagery work so well together.”

Children’s

Kooks

Bug Art

“Kids love the unusual creatures, like bats and lizards that feature.”

Relations & Occasions

Words ‘n’ Wishes

Across the board

“Our customers love cards with heartfelt verses.”

Art

Woodmansterne

Sanderson

“The floral and bird designs are ideal for any occasion.”

3D/Pop-ups

Cardology

Harry Potter

“Amazing paper engineering.”

Giftwrappings

The Gifted Stationery

William Morris

“William Morris patterns are hugely popular at the moment.”

Ancillaries

Roger la Borde

Pop and Slot Advent Calendars

“Beautiful designs and so well made - investment pieces families will treasure.”

Gifts

The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company Xpressions

Chocolate Pizzas

“Great sellers, no matter the season.”

Minecraft gifts

“A great line for teen and pre-teen boys.”

64

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Top: A Kooks design from Bug Art. Above: A tasty gift from The Gourmet Chocolate Pizza Company.

Classified Complete 2021 NEW.qxp 12/10/2021 17:29 Page 65

PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

www.bexyboo.co.uk 01565 830 546

Publishers of quality blank greeting cards @BexyBooLtd

BexyBooLtd

@BexyBooLtd

Tel: 0115 929 4776 enquiries@bugart.co.uk Order Online

www.bugart.co.uk To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

Warren Lomax on:

020 7700 6740

or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact

Tracey Arnaud

To appear in the Product pages contact: warren@max-publishing.co.uk or traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

on:

07957 212 062

or email on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

Warren Lomax on:

020 7700 6740

or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact Te l: 01638 5 6 9 0 5 0 w w w . a b a cu s c a rd s . c o . u k E ma i l : i nf o@a ba c us card s . co . uk

Tracey Arnaud To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

on:

07957 212 062

or email on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

65

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l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

PRETTY ELEGANT DESIGNS | LONDON

Warren Lomax

Available online Wholesale & Licensing

on:

020 7700 6740

made with great imagination

@thecuriousinksmith

01892 838 574

sales@thecuriousinksmith.co.uk

or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact

Tracey Arnaud on:

07957 212 062

or email on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

www.cathtatecards.com

hello@emmabryan.co.uk www.emmabryan.co.uk

SALES AGENTS WANTED

To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

Witty, gritty, switched on humour.

Cards and gifts with a real difference.

Faulkner’s Gallery

Unit 1, 45 Morrish Road London SW2 4EE Tel: 0208 671 2166 Fax: 0208 678 1119 info@cathtatecards.com

;1b-Ѳbv|v |_mb1 u;;ࢼm] -u7v "r S end i n g YO Y OU OU

WISHES

To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

A w o n d e rf u l Eid!

Ch C hin nese ese HE IS

THE

WAY

John Faulkner’s artwork probably represents some the mo di i distinc humor image availa today

THE

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Crocko Poo • Designer Puppy • Low Maintenance • Eats Anything • Can Be A Bit Snappy

To view: www.johnfaulkner.co.uk which also includes trade information To contact: sales@johnfaulkner.co.uk

Polissh Po h

Te T el: 0161 1 64 641 0 06 655 Email: m sales@daav sales@d avora.co.uk 135 Hea 13 135 eaton Moorr Rd | Stockp ock kpo port ort SK4 4HY 4 4H HY

By

®

Also acting as the exclusive UK distributor fo forr Bl Blue Mountain M t i A Ar ts t

Order s can be placed on our tradeer site

www.ch w eekyc w. ychoppstrrade.cco o..uk k phone: Da Danielle :07946 056571 email:wholesale@speciall--day yss.co o..uk

66

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

www.cbgtraderr..co.uk or call our customer ser vices team m on

+44(0)1243 792600

To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

High Quality Greeting Cards, Gift Bags, Gift Wrap & Ta Tags for every occasion.

*GCF 1HƂEG +353 (0)404 20528 Email info@garlanna.com www.garlanna.com

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

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)

from the

CHARITY GREETING CARDS One of the UK’s leading publishers of Charity Greeting Cards.

Impress offers a wide collection of images, including fine art, graphic, photographic and cute.

We also offer a bespoke design service for bulk orders and/or mail order fulfilment.

Including firm favourites and brand new designs Brands include: Keepsakes, Words of Love, Jelly Beans, Bella Rose, Champagne and many more

Hallmark Cards PLC Dawson Lane, Bradford, BD4 6HN UK&NI: 0800 90 20 900 ROI: 012 480 104 customerqueriesUK@hallmark.com

Impress Publishing Appledown House Barton Business Park New Dover Road Canterbury, Kent CT1 3TE Tel: 01227 811 611 Fax: 01227 811 618 email: info@impresspublishing.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)115 986 0115 customerservices@paperrose.co.uk www.writefromtheheart.co.uk

60 years

LING DESIGN

www.lingdesign.co.uk

01892 838 574 information@lingdesign.co.uk

+

Your Number One Supplier of Numerals, Name, Relation & Age Labels for Greetings Cards.

Huge selection with immediate deliveryy.. Buy direct or from your wholesalerr..

Innovative high quality gift wrap, gift bags, tissue paper and accesssories galore for all seasons and occasions.

01274 655980 sales@glick.co.uk glick.co.uk trade.glick.co.uk

Listan Labels 3 Isis Court, Wyndyke Furlong, Abingdon Business Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX1 5JN Te T el 01235 465489 Fax 01235 532118 www.listanpublications.co.uk sales@listanpublications.co.uk

Great brands, Great service Bespoke planning We can help with all your planning l i requir i ements. t From smaller displays to redeveloping complete card departments

Glick Gift Packaging Ltd Unit 1 Allenby House European Ind. Park, Knowles Lane Bradford BD4 9AB

@glickgiftwrap

@NoelT Ta attGroup 01227 811 600 sales@noeltatt.co.uk www.noeltatt.co.uk

To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

p p paperlink... the home of fabulous cards!

Uk publisher of Greetings Cards with an extensive range of quality Birthday, Relations, Occasions and Seasonal product...

An exciting and innovative range of quality Birthday, Relations, Special Occasions, Handmade, Art and Humorous greeting cards. Full range of Christmas and Spring Seasons merchandise.

available from

LING DESIGN

B rand N ames a Pizazz, Pizazz Gallery, G Pizazz Limited Edition, E Pizazz for Men, Doodle, D A of Nature, Whatt a Picture, Art Designers Corner Cloudesley House, Shire Hill, Saffron Walden,, CB11 3FB

T: 01799 520200 F: F: 01799 520100 www.nigelquiney.c w ww.nigelquiney.com ww om

356 Kennington Rd London SE11 4LD T 020 7582 8244 info@paperlink.co.uk k www.paperlink.co.uk Paperlinkcards

Our Brands: Laughter with Animals, Sporting Fun The Funny Side of Life.

@ @paperlinkcards Method of sale: Direct to Retail 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent TN12 6BE Tel: 01892 838574 enquiries@lingdesign.co.uk www.lingdesign.co.uk

Send Love e ( all year round )

originalposter.com

All our cards are supplied on consignment, so you only pay for what you sell.

We also supply card fixtures and spinners free-on-loan.

We replace slow sellers and damaged stock free of charge.

We merchandise regularly, so you don’t have to.

THAT’S WHY WE’RE ORIGINAL!

t: 0208 6138 085 paperbirdpublishing.co.uk u

LUXURY GIFT PACKAGING

01932 267 300

Exquisite Designs Beautiful Cards Key br ands include: Wr ite from the Hear t Ar tisan, Marzipan, Capisco Designer s Guild, Clare Tupperr Lucy Ledger plus man y more

ICONIC LICENCED BRANDS

01892 838 574 www.pennykennedy.co.uk

To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

Warren Lomax on:

020 7700 6740

or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact

Tracey Arnaud on:

07957 212 062

Te : +44 (0)115 986 0115 Tel: customer ser vices@paperrose .co.uk www.paperrose .co.uk www.ar tgroupcards.co.uk

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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

or email on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

Products:

6 Heron Trading Estate Alliance Road, Park Royal, London W3 0RA T: 0208 385 4474 F: 0208 385 4471 E: info@Xpressyourselfcards.co.uk WWW.XXPRESSYOURSELFCARDS.CO.UK

PRODUCTS: World’s leading publisher of high quality plastic greeting cards. Also an extensive range of quality greeting cards covering Everyday, Occasions, Christmas and Spring seasons.

BRANDS: Cherished Thoughts, Sweet Sentiments, Buddies Always, Symphony, Thinking of You, Style, Special Wishes, Special Times, Young Editions, Groove Sensations, Forever Blessed, Grey Skies, Classics.

METHOD OF SALE: SENSATIONS – Direct to retail XPRESS YOURSELF – Now one of the leading wholesale publisher suppliers in the UK

Greetings Cards, Gift Wrap, Gift Bags, Social Stationery, Partyware

Brands: Blossom & Bows Card Essentials Greetings Impressions In Touch Isabel·s Garden Planet Happy Sentiments With You In Mind Word Play

Method of sale: Wholesale Distributors

Simon Elvin Limited Wooburn Industrial Park, Wooburn Green, Bucks HP10 0PE Tel: 01628 526711 Fax: 01628 531483 www.simonelvin.com mail@simonelvin.com

The UK’s leading publisher of highest quality handmade Greetings Cards.

Products: Greetings cards for all occasions, Christmas and Spring Seasons. Spinners and other retail displays available.

Talking Pictures Cards Ltd 14-20 Eldon Way, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 6BE

Tel: 01892 838574 enquiries@talkingpics.co.uk www.talking-pictures.co.uk

7RPFDW &DUGV To appear in the Product Directories simply contact

Warren Lomax on:

020 7700 6740

To appear in the Product Directories

or email on warren@max-publishing.co.uk or contact

email

Warren Lomax

Tracey Arnaud

warren@max-publishing.co.uk or

07957 212 062

on: or email on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk www.tomcat.cards info@tomcat.cards

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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PRODUCT DIRECTORY

l PRODUCT DIRECTORY

WHOLESALE

To appear in the Product Directories simply contact Warren Lomax on:

020 7700 6740

We offffer a We COMPREHEN

range of high

or email on

Greeting Cards f ALL Occasions,

warren@max-publishing.co.uk

CHRISTMAS an Season

or contact

f Sale:

Tracey Arnaud on:

07957 212 062

mail: inffo o@words-nWeb: www We w..words-n-wishes.co.uk

Tel: 01942 233201

or email on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

Market Leaders in

Verse

& entimen

an extensive range of superior quality,

design-led Greeting Cards for all occasions, Spring Seasons & Christmas.

Method of Sale: Direct to Retail To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

70

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

Orders can be placed on our trader site

www.cbgtrader.co.uk or call our customer services team on

+44(0)1243 792600

EUROPE’S LEADING GREETINGS CARDS, PARTY PRODUCTS, GIFTS, CANDLES, TOYS, STATIONERY AND FLORIST SUNDRIES DISTRIBUTION CENTRE 75000 SQ FT BESCOT CRESCENT, WALSALL, WEST MIDLANDS. WS1 4NG 01922-646666 www.greetingshouse.co.uk info@greetingshouse.co.uk MON,WED,FRI 8.00am-4.45pm TUES,THURS 8.00am-7.45pm SAT,SUN 8.00am-1.45pm

To appear in the Product Directories email Warren Lomax warren@max-publishing.co.uk or Tracey Arnaud traceya@max-publishing.co.uk

Classified Complete 2021 NEW.qxp 12/10/2021 17:29 Page 71

DIRECTORY OF WHOLESALE

CLASSIFIED

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Polypropylene & biodegradable bag specialists

GREETING CARD

Over 40 years quality service to the trade Hotfoiling also available

T 01206 396209 E sales@badgerconverters.co.uk www.badgerconverters.co.uk

BAGS We’ve been producing p bags of high clarity and high quality q for over 30 years.

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BAGS

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CLASSIFIED

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FOR ALL YOUR ENVELOPE NEEDS! Largest range of in-stock colours Over 400 Bespoke Envelope Sizes 8 Sizes Permanently in Stock RECYCLED

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ORDER ON LINE AT:

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IN FO @E NV EC O. CO .U K

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MOREE THAN 50 COLOURS 6 POPULAR GREEETINGS CARD SIZES 50+ WH HITE SIZES IN STOCK BESPOKE ENV VELOPES AV AVAILABLE PEEL A AND SEAL CLOSURE RECYCLED / KRAFTT / 140GSM / 120GSM 11 SUPER BRIG GHT NEON COLOURS BESPOKE NOTEBO OOKS & STATIONERY

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Contact DAVID JIGGINS Tel: 01245 400104 Email: david@abl-ltd.co.uk

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l CLASSIFIED PRINTERS

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PJ PRINT LONDON The Capitals Only Specialist Greeting Card Printer All Industry Finishes Available In-House Including Laser Cutting

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cturing ufa an m

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Your saf ep ai

CLASSIFIED

Outstanding, cost effective and efficient production of Greeting cards, Packaging and Social stationery, ideal for intricate and hand finished products.

• Over 15 years experience providing high-quality printed products direct from the Far East • Trusted and financially stable, UK owned by The Sherwood Group • Socially responsible manufacturing: SMETA, ISO9001, ISO14001, FSC certification • Full product prototyping in the UK for competitive speed to market requirements

To find out how we can benefit your business, contact Derek Lam +00 (852) 3527 3471 / derek@sherwood-press.com or The Sherwood Group Head Office Hong Kong Office: 13/F, Kam Chung Commercial Building, 19-21 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

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000510

PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE

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CLASSIFIED

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Social Sta tationerry Printer of the Year

Award winning U UK & Global specialist manufacturer ffor the greeting card industry fo or over 40 years To discuss how we can worrk together, contact Richard Bacon: Tel 0115 928 7766 Email ric chard.bacon@sherwoodgroupuk.com

www.sherrwoodgroupuk.com Hadden Court, Glaisdale e Parkway, Glaisdale Drive West, Nottin ngham NG8 4GP

WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION

Same day order turna around Accurate fulfilment Value added only as you sell the product

THE SPECIALIST GREE ETINGS CARD PRINTE ER

Exclusively Greeting Cards Dedicated Account Managers

Litho Print

Die-cutting

Digital Print

Flittering

Foiling

Packing

Embossing

Distribution

With an excellent reputation we work as an integral part of yourr team bringing QYGL QSVI XLER JYPǻPQIRX 4YV GSWXMRK WXVYGXYVI MW WMQTPI ERH XVERWTEVIRX ;I ; I GEVV] SYX EPP EWTIGXW SJ LERH ǻRMWLMRK ERH EWWIQFP] ERH TVSZMHI [LEXIZIV EHHMXMSREP WIVZMGIW ]SY RIIH 4YV WIPIGX XIEQ SJ SYX[SVOIVW GEVIJYPP] LERH [VET ER] WM^I SV JSVQEX SJ GEVHW YVKIRXP] 4ZIVRMKLX ;I GEVI EFSYX ]SYV TVSHYGX EW QYGL EW ]SY HS &XXIRXMSR XS HIXEMP 6( .WWYIW ;I

Tel:0127 e 4 4531828 Email: info@herbertw o alkers.co.uk

www.herbertwalkers.co.u uk

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