IN CONVERSATION WITH EIGHTY80
A Kind Word If, prior to the emergence of COVID, you were lucky enough to have balloons on your party menu, you’re likely to have had a much better year than those who didn’t. Add in a generous dollop of kindness, a sprinkle of sustainability, and a cherry on the top of ‘Instagrammable’ product, and you might just have a recipe for success, as retailer Eighty80 has clearly demonstrated.
Above: The business is run of kindness and personal service wherever possible.
This publicity bought Preston-based Eighty80’s Instagram followers to 14K, and rounded off a strong year for the business. Noelle tells us: “During lockdown we got quite a bit busier and we’re currently doing really well with the letters. Lots of people have
The last word
Above: Noelle Kasparis has been a self confessed ‘purveyor of happiness’ since 2018..
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arlier this year, Noelle Kasparis, founder of Eighty80, an online retailer of letter and number balloons, refunded a customer who had ordered balloons to spell ‘F**k cancer’ for her mum as she finished chemotherapy. Noelle sent a message to the purchaser to reassure her that the balloons were still on their way, but she was refunding the cost so that the family could use it to get some cake. She explains: “As a rule, any cancer orders we get, such as ‘final day of chemo’ or ‘no more chemo’ or anything like that, we always refund it and send the customer a little note. This customer posted it on Twitter and it went viral and was everywhere – on Reddit, in the paper in Preston and loads of other places. We got about 4,000 followers from that alone.”
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Providing people with words for a living can provide great anecdotes. Noelle remembers an order received at 3am for balloons to spell out ‘Danielle, I’m sorry, please give me another chance, I love you’… The order went on and totalled £118. Other interesting orders have included ‘your ear is sexy’, ‘you’re dumped’, ‘Lord c*ntington’, ‘meat party’, ‘#deported’ and many more. Some of the more heart-warming orders have been ‘We love you NHS’ and ‘no mo chemo’. Below: There are few words the Eighty80 team haven’t had orders for.
in-jokes, or you might have a family nickname, and the balloons can give you a more personal birthday party and people have been doing all they can to make birthdays special.” Founded just two and a half years ago, Eighty80 is making kind gestures like this a key part of its business, and in fact it was part of the reason Noelle decided to set up the business. Having graduated with a degree in graphic design and an international marketing master’s, she started working for Apple retail. She says: “After about five years, I thought this wasn’t really my plan, so I started looking at gift shops and things that might make people happy.” After experimenting with a few personal gift shopping businesses, she finally landed on balloons because “Balloons don’t cost a lot and they make people so happy. They are also popular all year round and don’t have a seasonal selling period.” She continues: “When the website is up and running, part of our profits will go to either a cancer research company, or end of life care. We’ve also signed up to be an affiliate with MIND, so that we can share some of their content, which is especially important after lockdown and how everyone’s been miserable.” Noelle also provides free products to local community projects such as homeless shelters for events they are hosting. While the kindness factor might seem like little more than a great PR
JUNE 2021 PROGRESSIVE PARTY EUROPE
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