Greetings Today

Independently audited, ABC circulation of 6,089

The impartial voice of the greetings card industry August 2015 Issue 11 Volume 16

Chic

Stationery

The Art File www.theartfile.com

@The Art File T. 0115 8507490

F. 0115 9413411

E. sales@theartfile.com

contents the team

Editor Tracey Bearton tracey@lemapublishing.co.uk Advertisement Manager Gareth Liddiatt gareth@lemapublishing.co.uk 01442 289940 (direct)

Group Editor Mirella Anstey mirella@lemapublishing.co.uk

09

20

27

Publisher Mark Naish mark@lemapublishing.co.uk

REGULARS 05

Leader

26

Free parking and extended Sunday trading hours, plus Window On The World.

06

News

10

Meet The Newbies Windles-sponsored focus on industry newcomers.

19

John Ryan How rude is too rude for greetings cards, asks John.

22

Retail Advice

It’s All About Sales The power of being social, Alina and Neil give their take on the subject.

30

People, Exhibition, Licensing and General, it’s all here and there’s more on www.greetingstoday.co.uk

Group Advertisement Manager Ryan Horwood ryan@lemapublishing.co.uk

Talk Of The Town The voice of the people who matter, greetings retailers tell it like it is.

31

On The Shop Front Respected independent retailer Jo Barber talks about moving into new premises.

32

Vox Pop

Production Director Paul Naish paul@lemapublishing.co.uk Managing Director Malcolm Naish malcolm@lemapublishing.co.uk Circulation Manager Robert Thomas robert@lemapublishing.co.uk

Keep in touch - follow us:

Publishers are at the heart of the industry, hear their opinions on current issues.

34

@greetingstoday

Spotlight & Gifts Spotlight

https://www.facebook.com/ greetingstodaymag

A selection of this month’s latest releases.

Independent retail advisor Henri Davis looks at humour.

FEATURES 09

Talking Shop

14

Paperchase CEO Timothy Melgund expands on their great full year results, the decision

Helping people say what they mean is a big part of the greetings industry.

not to sell and the thorny own brand issue.

12

Home & Gift Review

20

Were you caught by the Greetings Today cameras - and did you tweet?

13

Cover Story Words really matter and at Jonny Javelin their verse ranges do so well.

Verse, Sentiment & Sympathy Cards

23

Company Profile – Woodmansterne

PUBLISHING

Lema Publishing Ltd 1 Church Gates, Wilderness, Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 2UB

Telephone: 01442 289930 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

Paul Woodmansterne has been boxing clever with his latest innovations and appointments.

At the heart of retail

Image Licensing & Photo Libraries

Greetings Today is independently audited with an ABC circulation of 6,089 (July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014)

What a picture! Where to find the right image.

27

Cute Cards Sweet pups and adorable creatures.

ONLINE

Go to our website - www.greetingstoday.co.uk - for our online features, this month we expand on Cuute Cards and Verse, Sentiment & Sympathy Cards.

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

Subscription per annum: UK £60 (free for people in the greetings industry), Europe £80, ROTW £100 A member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 3

Test a publisher’s statement of circulation. In today’s business climate you can’t afford not to.

Our ABC Certificate provides accurate, independently verified circulation figures, giving you confidence in your advertising investment.

If you want to reach 6,089* total average net circulation, then call Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289930 or email gareth@lemapublishing.co.uk *. Circulation figure relates to period from 1st July 2013 to 30th June 2014

For more information visit www.abc.org.uk or email info@abc.org.uk

leader Editor Tracey Bearton

HERE I live, we have a market cross that dates back to the 15th century but there’s actually been a market on the spot since at least 1086, and possibly back into Anglo-Saxon times.

There’s no parking in the High Street on market days – which is understandable because cars and people wandering up and down between the stalls really don’t mix.

However, the council have made it so that the town’s two main car parks have restricted parking on these days to allow the traders somewhere to leave their vans for the day.

That generosity isn’t extended to the punters though.

Instead of making parking free to persuade folk to venture on to the High Street, keeping both the market traders and local shopkeepers happy, they rigidly enforce the regulations, with fines for anyone who doesn’t make it back to their car in time.

And the two big-name supermarkets either side of the town centre don’t help matters because their free parking is restricted to a couple of hours after which there’s a hefty £60 fine whether or not you’ve shopped in the store before venturing further.

I don’t go into town very often these days. Monday to Friday I’m beavering away editing Greetings Today so am gone before the shops open and generally return as the shutters are pulled down.

It’s a small market town with none of the big names so the footfall doesn’t warrant everyone opening on a Sunday – the 99p Store and Wilkinson’s are about the only ones, even Costa barely pays lip service to the concept.

That leaves Saturday when I’ll probably pop in to the fabric shop or the bakers, and check out the pet supplies market stall generally after going to the

● Cartoons by James Whitworth T: 07872 013943 – jameswhitworth@mac.com www.whitworthcartoons.com

W

hairdressers – but that’s not a weekly occurrence I might add!

This last weekend I happened to go into town and was shocked to realise quite how empty the car park was and how few market stalls there were.

It made me think of how the possibility of loosened Sunday trading laws will affect small towns like this, and how the example of the accidental free parking in Cardigan could be used to help.

Those Welsh vandals who smashed up the parking meters (see News on the next page) had no idea their stupidity would hit the headlines and spark debates by Government ministers – and earn the grateful thanks of local tradespeople who have seen takings rise by up to 50 per cent because punters can park as long as they like for free.

And it does seem like a really simple way to help boost High Streets, councils aren’t getting the money anyway because people aren’t using the car parks so what’s the problem with letting them park there for free?

It’s not that I object to paying to park, it’s the dashing round and back to the car before the ticket runs out that’s the issue, especially those places where they only allow two hours for a reasonable fee before hiking it outrageously, allegedly to deter commuters and workers from taking up the spaces.

Personally, extended Sunday trading hours don’t interest me – the Co-op sells bread and milk till 10pm – but I can see there could be issues for small shops who feel obliged to open longer to catch any possible extra trade but worry about staffing and utilities costs.

Maybe the Chancellor should check out the statistics on longer licensing hours as, apparently, pubs have been closing at a rate of knots since they came in. Having to staff up in case a punter wanders in for a swift half at three hairs past freckle on a wet 12th of never cut their profit margins to the point of no return – it could be the same with small retailers.

Send your views and submissions for the magazine to: tracey@lemapublishing.co.uk Tel: 01442 289930

Want to appear in ?

SEPTEMBER FEATURES:

Autumn Fair Preview Top Drawer Autumn Preview Scotland’s Trade Fair Autumn Preview Multcultural Cards SEPTEMBER COPY DATE – AUGUST 10

OCTOBER FEATURES:

BLE Preview Licensed Cards & Associated Products Mother’s Day & Feminine-Themed Cards Hand-finished Cards OCTOBER COPY DATE – SEPTEMBER 9

NOV/DEC FEATURES:

Bestsellers & Trend Forecasts Occasions Cards Suppliers To The Greetings Industry Distribution Focus Charity Cards NOV/DEC COPY DATE – OCTOBER 20

WINDOW ON THE WORLD CHARLOTTE Eccles is so keen on showing off the displays at her store Raffia in King Street, Clitheroe, Lancs, that she even has a special Window Wonderment photo album on her Facebook page.

And she changes the window so regularly to keep up with new stock and occasions that she’s had to set up a part two album to cope.

“Raffia began life in November 2009,” Charlotte said, “with a few tears, several traumas and a lot of white paint but we finally turned a decrepit old solicitor’s office into our design-led gifts and greetings store.”

As well as theming her displays to cover the latest occasion, like Father’s Day, Valentine’s, and the

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

World Cup, Charlotte endeavours to show customers matching cards and gifts, and has also devoted the space to a children’s colouring competition.

“We try to meet all our customer’s needs,” she added, “from advice on choosing the right gift, help with matching up an appropriate card – and we even offer a gift-wrapping service.

“Our cards cover a whole range of styles, from pretty to pretty rude! When I opened I intended only selling lovely hand finished cards, and do sell Cinnamon Aitch and others but my best sellers are Dean Morris and the rude cards. I have to keep the rudest ones in a box at the back!”

T: 01200 538086 www.facebook.com/myraffia

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 5

SEE MORE NEWS ON www.greetingstoday.co.uk

in the news news in brief Rubie’s buy Mask-arade AFTER seven years, the masked men have ridden off into the sunset having sold Mask-arade to Rubie’s, one of largest manufacturers and distributors of dress-up costumes and accessories. The deal was announced on July 1 with Mask-arade co-founders Dean Walton and Chris O’Nyan leaving the company with immediate effect while Ray Duffy is staying on as Commercial Director.

Collect your toolkit THE COUNTDOWN to Thinking Of You Week has started and the toolkit is now available on the GCA website – with printer members supplying flyers and event posters free of charge for their publisher customers. It’s the GCA’s campaign to create a wave of love, caring and happiness from September 21-27 by encouraging people to send a card a day to a different person.

Management takeover FOLLOWING the departure of Martin Nevin to take over the reins at Emotional Rescue, a management team led by Peter Beecroft have acquired a majority shareholding in Warwick-based Is It Art. The new team have been operational for the last few months to ensure a seamless transition under the new ownership and have been running the company with effect from July 1.

Peter, pictured, said: “We’re delighted to be taking charge of such a well-respected and successful business and are looking forward to working together with our retail and publisher partners, to grow the business over the coming period.”

Martin added: “I am very pleased to be in a position to hand over the business in good shape and into the safe hands of Peter and the new management team.

“Is It Art will remain as Emotional Rescue’s independent trade distributors.”

Set up in 1995, Is It Art are celebrating their 20th anniversary and devote their time to the promotion of their clients products and brands. They are the sole sales and distribution organisation to the UK trade for Danilo, Emotional Rescue and Gemma, and sole distributors of Blue Mountain Arts products in Europe.

www.isitart.co.uk

I’ll drink to that DRINKING coffee is proving beneficial to the greetings industry as eco-friendly publishers Glebe Cottage from Devon have become the first to create cards using paper made from recycled disposable cup waste at the James Cropper paper mill in the Lake District.

You’ve been tangoed!

HELPING charity has allowed My World to show how good they are at business – and the tango – as they turned a £500 loan into more than £4,000 with a cake sale, sponsored zipwire, fire walk, comedy night and creative director Sarah Porter gave tango lessons. The small Tyne And Wear-based publishers came out top in Challenge 500, where 17 teams raised £21,000 for the Percy Hedley Foundation.

Making an impact SIMON Elvin were named Card & Party Supplier Of The Year by the Impact Group, with Yorkshire Envelopes taking the Supplier Of The Year title. The awards were announced at the Impact Group’s 15th Annual General & Members’ Meetings and Gala Dinner held in Belfast.

On the buses JEREMY Corner was flying the flag for greetings cards at Downing Street when the Blue Eyed Sun MD paid a visit as part of the Sage StartUp Britain bus tour.

Having mentored many small businesses and as a Sage Business Expert, Jeremy was invited along by sponsors Sage to meet Prime Minister David Cameron.

Princesses earn prize NORA Wright’s princess designs have won the Birmingham City University illustration student the Hallmark Cards Award of £500 cash plus a prestigious two-month work placement with the greetings publishers. Nora’s quirky designs were spotted by Hallmark at the 30th New Designers’ show held at the Business Design Centre in London in July.

Blow your customers away COMING this autumn is a new Magical Party Designs Qualatex course at venues in Gateshead, Manchester, Cardiff, Enfield, Birmingham and Glasgow where certified balloon artists Dom Cassidy and Keith Stirman will teach designs for retail and on-site décor.

Hit the jackpot A HUGE jackpot increase marks the relaunch of RetailWinners, the retail industry charity RetailTrust’s weekly lottery that supports workers in the retail industry. The first draw for the new £25,000 prize for a six-number match was on July 25, with tickets at just £1 each through an online entry

6 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

Wishes do come true A DOUBLE win for Sarah and Paul Henderson’s 3 Wishes stores crowned the 2015 Retas Awards – and was a perfect fit with the Fairytale theme of the gala celebration on July 8.

Having been named as the Best Greeting Card Small Multiple (4-20 stores), Sarah and Paul then took the big one, with their shops in Lymington, West Moors, Verwood and Ringwood making

them the Greeting Card Retailer Of The Year.

The event at London’s Dorchester Hotel was hosted by comedian Sean Collins to celebrate greetings card retailers across the country.

The Greeting Card Retail Employee Of The Year was won by Kerry Young, of Thoughtful Expressions, Holt, Norfolk, and the full list of winners is on www.theretasawards.co.uk

Minister’s free parking call

Patterns are unpredictable

A GOVERNMENT minister has urged councils to create free parking zones in town centres to help High Street businesses compete with the rise of online shopping.

The Telegraph reported that Marcus Jones, who became the Minister for High Streets in the postElection reshuffle, said councils need to do more in order to save shops from closure instead of punishing owners and motorists with “over-zealous” fines.

His comments come as the paper revealed figures they’ve seen show councils are on course to make a record £687million from charges this year, up £39m on last year despite Government warnings that fines should not be used to raise revenue.

Experts have warned small stores are closing as people increasingly shop online to avoid the threat of parking tickets, and the Government has called on councils to create free parking zones in town and city centres to help small businesses compete.

Mr Jones, pictured, said: “Those areas without parking meters seem to be doing better. Unfair parking fines push up the cost of living and undermine High Streets.”

Mr Jones' comments came after traders in the Welsh town of Cardigan reported a jump in sales of up to 50 per cent after all four parking machines in the town centre were vandalised and town officials have yet to find the £22,500 needed for repairs.

PREDICTION and pattern are going out of the window in retail as the latest Seasonal Buying Report from i2i Events reveals faster responses, closer to the season are what matters now.

The report from the organisers of Spring Fair and Autumn Fair was released in July and comes from their Inside Retail survey of retailers in the home and gift sectors – from independents through to multiples and department stores.

Louise Young, i2i Events Group MD Retail, said: “Today’s world is characterised by enormous change and much of that change is being driven by consumers. Consumers have been affected by economic conditions and then even more profoundly by the digital revolution.

“The changing consumer is leading to a change in the way buyers have to think about meeting their needs. Traditional buying seasons and patterns can no longer be set rigidly by the calendar only.

“Luckily, suppliers have responded to this new market and are being more reactive and agile in meeting short-term demand.”

For the report, i2i asked retailers’ views on the best way to serve their customers and plan for key seasonal promotions and events, as well as the changing buying landscape. The full report is available from the Autumn Fair website.

www.autumnfair.com

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

licensing news Kelvyn takes License This! chair LIMA UK MD Kelvyn Gardner is to chair the judging panel for this year’s License This! challenge set by Brand Licensing Europe.

Kelvyn will be joined by Rocket Licensing Joint MD Charlie Donaldson: Tom Gunn, International Brand Director EMEA at MTV Networks, and Wendy Munt, consultant at Be Inspired Consulting.

Now in its sixth year, License This! offers new creative concepts the chance to break into the global licensing industry and is open to any new artwork, brand or character that has no merchandising deals in place or pending.

The deadline for entries is September 4 after which the judges will shortlist four entries which will be pitched to them, in front of an audience, on the final day of the 17th BLE show at London’s Olympia, which runs from October 13-15.

This year’s prize is valued at more than £6,000 – the winner will receive a fully-furnished nine square metre stand at BLE 2016 to bring the property to market, along with LIMA membership for one year and one ticket to the LIMA Licensing Essentials Course & Spring Fling Networking Party in May 2016.

Kelvyn said: “License This! is a rare platform, one that allows new talent access to experienced executives in a competitive format that we think really drives them to make their creations as good as they can be.”

Entry forms and competition rules can be found at www.brandlicensing.eu

Yellow fellows’ feel-good factor THE YELLOW peril is sweeping the globe to make the Minions the best-selling toy licence in the UK – replacing Frozen.

Global information provider the NPD Group have revealed the news about the brands which extend into the greetings industry where Danilo have the licence for both in calendars with Minions and Despicable Me in cards, while UK Greetings have the Frozen cards licence.

Disney’s Frozen had been occupying the top position since July 2014, but in the week commencing June 14, 2015, Minions topped NPD’s toy licences charts, above Frozen, Star Wars, Peppa Pig and Marvel.

These funny and extremely popular yellow fellows came out of the Despicable Me franchise and now have their own self-named film which opened in British cinemas on June 26.

“Expectations are high at retail after the general public allegedly demanded more merchandise,” said Frédérique Tutt, Global Industry Analyst for The NPD Group. “By being so different from the usual Hollywood blockbusters which feature super heroes, apocalyptic threats and good versus evil, the Minions movie with its anti-heroes has a fresh appeal and a feel-good factor that could well make yellow the colour of summer 2015.”

Call to agents

Treasure trove

THE BRITISH Museum are inviting expressions of interest from licensing agents to help develop a global licensing campaign to build on the institution’s status as the oldest public museum in the world.

The UK’s biggest visitor attraction, with more than 6.8million people from across the world through the doors every year, the museum has been part of the country’s cultural scene in the same building since 1753.

Tom Costello, British Museum Head Of Retail, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time as we look, through licensing, to share the values and spirit of the British Museum with a global audience.

“The chosen agent or agents will be central to this process and will become a vital partner in the Museum’s long-term licensing strategy. We very much look forward to welcoming them as part of the team.”

Expressions of interest should be emailed to Craig

TREASURES from the British Postal Museum & Archive are now available for licensing as the organisation raises money towards opening the Postal Museum & Mail Rail next year.

BPMA have appointed Heritage Licensing as the licensing agency for their collections, including the designs for iconic street furniture like the red telephone and pillar boxes that have come to symbolise Britain, and which will also be made available for licence.

The treasure trove of images includes the General Post Office logo and the revolutionary poster designs of the pioneering GPO public relations department plus more than 100,000 striking photographs detailing British life from the 1930s to the present day.

Licences will be available for purposes such as book illustrations, clothing design, toys and stationery.

www.postalheritage.org.uk

WE LOVE * PRINT &

FOIL&EMBOSS&FLITTER&DIE-CUTS &VARNISHING&FOLDING&FINISHING & ALL OF THE OTHER MAGIC WE BRING TO YOUR CREATIONS WWW. THEIMAGING CENTRE.CO.UK

*

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 7

people news

exhibition news A show for all seasons

Smiles all round from Hamdy PORN-free newsagent Hamdy Shahein has retired from his Stoke Newington store after almost 36 years at the shop counter in the London suburb.

Long-serving Cardgains member and UK Greetings customer Hamdy has run numerous marathons and taken part in almost all the buying group’s annual charity challenges including this year’s 25-mile walk in Bronte country where his fitness levels saw him in the first group back with i2i Events’ Nick Davison, Great British Card Company’s Chris Houfe, and Cardgains’ Steve Grocott, pictured.

A prolific community activist, Hamdy hit the national news headlines during the 2012 Olympics when Hackney Council’s trading standards officers ordering him to remove the balloons, banners and bunting celebrating the once-in-a-lifetime torch relay event passing his shop. They threatened to prosecute Hamdy for using fake or unlicensed Olympic goods, but eventually climbed down.

Hamdy describes his greatest victory as leading the campaign to stop newsagents being forced to sell pornographic magazines and said the new owners will keep the store porn-free. He added: “You don’t see many newsagents here for 35 years, let alone any still smiling – well, I’m still smiling!”

THE GREETINGS, Gift & Craft category will once again be presented in Hall 4 at Autumn Fair, organised by i2i Events Group at The NEC, Birmingham.

More than 85 UK and overseas publishers of greetings card, stationery, craft items, gift wrap and related giftware will present their new product launches and seasonal ranges at the event from September 6-9.

The roster for the largest European new product presentation taking place in the second half of the year includes major industry suppliers such as Penny Kennedy, Really Good, Soul, Portfolio, Robert Frederick, Santoro Graphics, Pyramid International and GB Eye. New to this sector of Autumn Fair in 2015 are companies such as Paper Salad, The DM Collection, Balmoral Cards, Grave Card, Madame Treacle, Flower Burst Candle, Look What I Found and Silk Hat Greetings.

Exclusive to Autumn Fair this season will be the Cardgains Village, suppliers already confirmed include Ling Design, Talking Pictures, Creative Party, Grass Roots International – who are celebrating 21 years in business at the show – History & Heraldry, House Of Sarunds, IC&G, Is It Art, Misumaru, Paper Island, Peartree Heybridge, Second Nature, RetroCo, The Great British Card Company, Cherry Orchard, Pioneer, UK Greetings, Mint Publishing and Carte Blanche Group.

www.autumnfair.com

Thanks Bee to all

Latest categories at BLE

AN OVERSIGHT in the 60th birthday celebrations for Cherry Orchard office manager Denise Molineux meant they forgot to mention former employee Bee. Co-founder and owner Jackie Collins said: “Denise has certainly devoted her expertise to the running of the office over the past 11 years, but we’d also like to point out our former lOffice Manager Bee was with us for over 13 years.

“Our current team have accumulated over 94 years of service across our 20 years of business and we’d like to thank those who have also been such an important part of the team in the years of building up the business.”

FOOD and beverage, beauty, music, publishing, sports and heritage are just some of the categories that will be represented by more than 44 new exhibitors at this year’s Brand Licensing Europe.

Among the new names joining the 300-strong exhibitor line-up this year are Pepsi, Stanfords, Now That’s What I Call Music, Lee Stafford, PGA Tour, Vimto International and The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Now in its 17th year, Brand Licensing Europe is the only panEuropean event dedicated to licensing and brand extension and runs from October 13-15 at London’s Olympia.

Darren Brechin, BLE Event Director, said “We’re thrilled at how this year’s event is shaping up. The diversity of categories represented on the show floor is a clear reflection of a burgeoning industry with more and more brands realising the potential licensing can bring.”

Alongside a packed exhibition, this year’s show will also feature more free educational content than ever before, in the Licensing Academy and Brands & Lifestyle Theatre and, for the first time this year, visitors can attend SPLiCE educational afternoons.

T: 01684 295500 www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

www.brandlicensing.eu www.thebleblog.com

Check out new names A WHOLE raft of new companies have signed up for Scotland’s Trade Fair Autumn, which takes place at Glasgow’s SECC on September 20-21.

Well attended by Scottish and northern English retailers who need more stock before the festive rush, The Launch Gallery has a line-up of 15 young original companies including Claire Baird’s stationery and cards, Stripykat’s fashion accessories, Pop Up Designs quirky gifts and Angel Wire’s jewellery.

Established exhibitors at the event organised by Springboard Events who will be showcasing their latest ranges include Cockadoodle Designs and Pigment Productions.

T: 01877 385772 www.scotlandstradefairs.co.uk

Being different wins PAPERWORLD organisers Messe Frankfurt and their advertising agents Wob have won the GWA Profi Award for the show for the second time, with their innovative brand management and the cross-media Always Different campaign.

The campaign for the international paper, office supplies and stationery show held in Frankfurt has been running for three years having launched in 2013 with the strapline Let Ideas Fly, they had Dive Into New Ideas in 2014 and Always Different for the 2015 strapline.

This year’s marketing measures that helped win the German marketing sector’s top B2B prize for communication aimed at professional decision makers saw the chameleon motif made up of the company stamps of the show’s exhibitors.

www.paperworld.messefrankfurt.com

8 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

TALKINGSHOP

It’s not over

Admiration for Card Factory, own brand differentiation, and a determination to continue building the brand he’s been with for more than 25 years, Paperchase CEO Timothy Melgund talks to Greetings Today about the retail phenomenon following their excellent full year results – and explains what’s going on with the potential sale of the company.

The full year results for 2014-15 are very good, what would you put that success down to?

We’ve been doing this a long time so we’re getting better at it and the application gets more precise. It’s still working and we had a very strong fourth quarter last year and that’s the quarter that really matters.

33% profits rise sees offers refused EXCITING times is how Paperchase CEO Timothy Melgund described the retailers’ 33 per cent increase in profits, expansion and decision not to accept the offers to buy the business.

As the full year results for 2014-15 were announced on July 22, the statement issued said: “During 2014, Primary Capital and management launched a strategic review, having received a number of expressions of interest for the business.

“Among the options considered was a sale but, having reviewed several offers, Primary and management have concluded that they do not properly reflect the full potential of the business.

Primary remains committed to backing Paperchase’s management team to continue expanding the

Having opened 10 new stores in the UK in the past year, do you have similar plans for 2015-16 and can you reveal anywhere you’re looking at?

We’ve opened six more this new year already so have over 130, and we’re on site at two others so we’re looking at opening between 10 and 15 new ones as standalone stores this year and probably more concessions.

We’re currently on site at Silverton in Glasgow and moving our store in Queensgate In Peterborough. I can’t really say where else we’re looking but it is across the country, Scotland, England and Wales.

And what about on the international front, where there has been massive growth with the expansion into Staples in the US? It’s a different relationship in the US, it’s almost a private label business where Target and Staples came to us to develop ranges for them, and we’ve got a range of products in 1,200 Staples. That seems to be going well so far, I think we’re in all their stores. They have an initiative called Style At Staples which we’re part of. With Target it’s more of an opportunistic relationship where we develop ranges for them and they put them out in their stores as they see fit.

What are your thoughts on the potential sale of the company and are you pleased it now appears to have been called off?

It’s not over yet. Our private equity partners Primary Capital wanted to sell to capitalise on their stake – they have to show returns on their investment. There are different ways of selling and they tried one which didn’t come up with the figure they wanted. To be fair Primary have always said they wouldn’t sell if they didn’t get the right figure. The whole process was started by people approaching us, it was incoming interest, Primary didn’t actually go out to the market. We had a whole raft of people asking which led Primary to appoint advisors to look at a potential sale. But it’s not going to go away, they will exit because they are a private equity fund and they have to show a return, it’s just a question of when. I want to stay on as CEO, absolutely, but that is very much down to the new owners.

In the London Stationery Show presentation, it was said Paperchase sell mainly own-brand lines designed in-house, what percentage of your cards are currently from outside publishers?

For retail it’s about differentiation, and you have to differentiate yourself across as many different platforms as possible. Own-brand merchandise development is completely core for us as you can only buy Paperchase products in Paperchase branded stores. There are some areas of our range that are 100 per cent own brand. It’s different with greetings cards – last week (July 20) we had our second highest greetings card week of all time and that was outside of sale, there were no reductions, which is very good. On the own brand side

with greetings card one of the things is that the British greetings card industry is so vibrant and creative. In our flagship stores we have 3,000 greetings card lines and 1,000 postcards so there’s no point in doing that exclusively own brand because there is so much out there. We have great relationships with publishers. On the everyday front about 20 per cent of what we sell is own brand, it’s about 40 per cent on seasons and for Christmas it’s 60 per cent. That might change a little occasionally but I would say 20, 40, 60, is about right.

And my view is that’s about the right balance. We do make a huge range of cards and in our three flagship stores the own brand presence does give a different impression to the smaller stores. We are publishers in our own right and you can only buy Paperchase cards in Paperchase stores. We do buy by design and not by range which is why we deal with so many publishers, and they know that. Stationery is a different proposition, it has a much higher percentage of own brand and some areas are completely own brand.

business both in the UK and internationally.”

Since Paperchase was acquired by Primary Capital and management, they have more than doubled their UK stores to 125 at the end of 2014-15, plus 30 UK concessions.

Internationally they have new concessions in France, Germany and the Netherlands, Paperchase products have been launched in 1,200 Staples stores in the US, and they are opening concessions in Hudson’s Bay stores in Canada.

The 2014-15 results show pre-exceptional earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up by more than 33 per cent to £9.6million, with total sales up seven per cent to £128m and ecommerce sales grew by 42 per cent.

In the official statement Timothy said: “We’re pleased with these results. They reflect the hard work we have put into making Paperchase stand out on the High Street.

The economic environment and retail market remain challenging but our results prove that Paperchase is very well-positioned as we continue our investment programme. These are exciting times for the Paperchase brand.”

www.paperchase.co.uk

How long have you been with Paperchase and how did you arrive there?

I joined in 1989, and then we bought the business from WH Smith when there were only nine shops in 1996. Robert Warden and I joined together and we’re still here. I’m CEO and he’s now Brand Director.

You had to have a great big chunk in the boot of your car and they were called car phones. Now, of course, we have the whole online thing and social media – for the first time you really know what your customers think about you because they can tell you directly. It wasn’t possible to predict that and there’s no way you would be able to predict what it will be like in another 20 years’ time. The important thing is to embrace change and to differentiate yourself from your competitors. We’re selling more notebooks than ever before. When tablets and laptops first came in, I’d be in meetings and people would be taking notes on their tablets. You don’t see that now, everyone has got back into notebooks. It’s a mixture of technological advances with the comfort and reliability of pen and paper that people know and love.

We’ve just introduced Treat Me which is a rewards system that’s been really well received. We’ve been running it in Scotland for nearly a year and it’s really a thank you to our customers. It gives them benefits immediately, discounts, a free cup of coffee, there’s none of this adding up points stuff. It’s great. I think the greetings card industry is incredibly robust and it’s within the DNA of the country.

We still send more cards to each other than any other nation, we have a lot of publishers who are innovative and creative. Then there’s Card Factory. I know they’re not the most popular but you cannot but admire their extraordinary achievement and how it has boosted the industry. They have got a huge wave of people buying and sending greetings cards, albeit at a price. They are a fantastic value retailer. It’s an enormous change.

What changes have you seen in trends, both in product and consumer buying habits?

It’s been absolutely phenomenal. The technological site is exceptional. In 1989 not a lot of people had computers and I don’t think mobiles were even around.

What’s the most exciting part of your job?

Christmas without a doubt. You can’t be in retail and not be inspired by Christmas, quite simply it delivers a different Christmas every time. It’s just as exciting and extraordinary every year.

Do you foresee a time when all Paperchase product will be own brand?

No, never – particularly not with greetings cards.

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 9

meet the newbies Inspired by Scottish wildlife CLARE Baird is a new designer who specialises in the illustration of contemporary greetings cards, art prints, tea towels and gifts.

Since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art and driven by a love of design, Clare has continued to build up her range of illustrations and products, inspired by Scottish wildlife and travel.

“I am continually adding to my range of collections and trying to create unique designs which are bold, fun and striking,” Clare said.

Now based from her studio in North Yorkshire, Clare has created a number of ranges of greetings cards including a Highland Collection using watercolour and pen as well as a graphic range based on the work of Robert Burns.

Through attending trade shows Clare now supplies her products, all proudly designed and manufactured in the UK, to retailers throughout the country, ranging from bespoke boutiques to Scottish castles and country

houses.

Jenny Morrison, who runs Top Drawer in St Andrews, said: “I took Clare on at Scotland’s Trade Fair Spring in January where she launched her business.

“Her cards are beautiful, coming from her original paintings, and we’ve just had a top-up order of some of her Scottish ones as they’ve gone down really well in the shop – the Flower Of Scotland and Highland Cow ones in particular!”

T: 07889 368442 www.clarebaird.co.uk

Fashion blogger spies new direction MISS MAGPIE Fashion Spy founder Niki Groom has worked as a fashion designer and illustrator for more than 15 years, for brands such as Accessorize, Links Of London and River Island.

Back in 2011 she created her Miss Magpie Fashion Spy blog and started to post her illustrations on social media, which has led to a loyal following on Twitter and Instagram, as well as being featured in numerous magazines.

It was following one of Niki’s collaborations that the stationery range was designed and this has just been launched with a range of hand-illustrated fashioninspired designs.

Niki said: “I’d created a small collection of exclusive Christmas cards for Clinique that were available

WHAT’S NEW AT WINDLES? Thame Open Forum Event – Emma and Sue spent the day flying the Windles’ flag in Thame, Oxon, recently. It was a great opportunity to shout about how wonderful the greetings card industry is and promote National Thinking of You Week. The event was organised by Thame Business, designed to enable local businesses to share what they do with the local community.

10 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

at Selfridges and these got such a great reaction that I felt the timing was right to develop my own stationery range.

“I called my old schoolfriend Sarah Arkle to get her on board to manage sales, marketing and production while I concentrate on all things creative and, six months later, here we are.”

Sarah added: “Niki has always loved drawing, she never stops. At school it got to the point where the English teachers would look forward to her essays due to the artwork in the margins!

“It’s that creativity that has led on to a really quirky collection of greetings cards that we’ve been getting great feedback on so far.”

The range is now available to both trade and the public on the Miss Magpie website, and updates can also be found on Twitter and Instagram.

T: 07918 191819 www.missmagpiefashionspy.com

The Welsh 3000s Challenge – Windles Group’s strapping Adam succeeded in making it to the top of all 15 of the mountains over 3,000ft in Wales within 24 hours.

Thirty miles of walking and climbing 4,000metre ascents and descents is an extremely tough challenge even for very fit and experienced mountain walkers like Adam.

His completion time was 15 hours summit to summit totalling 18½ hours in all. Well done Adam.

meet the newbies PA ON BP

EVERYONE at Windles has Bruce’s ear – and the machines have his hands-on attention but he can’t be everywhere for everyone and everything so, as the business was growing he nervously toyed with the idea of having a PA. Two years on, Bruce might now question how he ever managed before!

Sue Leigh has an incredibly varied and wide-ranging role, from looking after Bruce’s diary and fielding calls and emails to ensure his time is focused, taking minutes at board meetings and dealing with admin to looking after all the HR in the business including recruitment, training, internships, and helping with the managers to develop a first-class team.

She’s also busy with the building of the new plant, organising the project and working with Bruce, Andrea and the developers to ensure everything goes smoothly for the January 2016 target, as well as talking to artists about designing a sculpture for the new space and working with Thame Business Forum.

Engaging with the local community and schools is also part of Sue’s remit with career fests and assemblies to spread the word on the importance of the greetings card and sow seeds to grow the print workers of the future – Lord Williams’ School have nominated Windles for the Investors in Education 2015 award from Oxfordshire Business Education Alliance thanks to the local schemes and initiatives we participate in.

An insight into Sue’s function at Windles Group really shows how the familyowned greetings card manufacturers of 29 years have progressed in all areas.

How long have you been at Windles?

I started on February 4, 2013, but have been in the print industry since July 1977. I was an estimator, and moved up to account manager then customer service manager at various carton packaging companies. After selling for commercial printers I looked after ISO 9001 quality assurance and food hygiene standards before being invited to be PA at a greetings card printer. I’ve got the t-shirt, so to speak, which has helped tremendously in my role at Windles.

I don’t think Bruce would have entertained the idea of a PA if I didn’t have the understanding of the trade.

What’s it like being Bruce’s PA? Challenging, exciting, difficult, mind-blowing and lots of other

adjectives all rolled into one! It’s like a rollercoaster working with someone who never sits still for five minutes. I use the analogy that taking vodka off an alcoholic is easier than getting Bruce off a machine especially when someone says a job can’t be done – he’ll be there proving it can! Never having had a PA before he’s not used to the regimen of list making. I follow up the range of enquiries that come Bruce’s way and have to work out which I can deal with myself without him even knowing, which ones can be delegated and which I need some help with.

What are the highlights of your job, what do you enjoy?

The highlights are meeting customers and suppliers, project managing the new build comes very high on the list, and generally dealing with the variety of tasks – and learning as I go.

When I’d only been here for a week or two, I opened a parcel and told Bruce a cog had arrived. I was informed it was actually a sprocket. That was the start of a new understanding of Bruce’s world. I love the variety. I could be speaking to suppliers about the properties in the adhesive used for inserting, viewing concrete for the new building or dealing with HR, and generally project managing anything that comes into Bruce’s head. I enjoy looking at challenges, finding a solution, then passing it on to the next person to deliver.

What’s the most difficult?

There are often lots of demands on Bruce’s time and there are days when it’s a bit like a military operation.Then if there’s a diversion such as a technical problem the rest of the day has to be managed diplomatically while he’s underneath a machine. I’ve had to learn how he thinks and try to make the decisions he would make. I may have quite a mathematical brain but thinking like Bruce Podmore is certainly a challenge!

And finally…

It’s a fun, varied life as Windles Group are an amazing company to work for with wonderful people who are the life-blood of the organisation. We have great customers, great suppliers, great machinery but need great people to tie it all together – which we have.The nice thing is that Windles and Bruce are all about progress. Not just in innovative techniques and our production offering, but with our people and all the other initiatives.

Culmination of 30 years’ experience PICTORIA Press may have only been trading for about a year, but the family-run company is the culmination of more than 30 years experience in designing pop-up greetings cards and paper engineering.

It started with creating paper sculptures and model making which led to a commission to produce a series of pop-up books featuring a well-known steam engine – it wasn’t long before a range of pop-up greetings cards followed.

Pictoria ia Press founder Michael Laming said: “Eventually we took the plunge and decided to enter the greetings card market as an independent gre card car publisher. Over time this evolved into The Ampersand Studio, which produced a wide wid range of 3D cards for over 15 years.

“Back to the present day and, after looking at current ranges available, we saw loo a gap g for a high-quality, value-for-money, 3D card car that’s also perceived as a gift.

“So began the task of trying to find a new fresh way of designing

NEW MEMBERS THE latest publishers to join the Greeting Card Association include: ALLIE FISHER DESIGN Beech Knoll, Quarry Close, Oxted, RH8 9HG Alison Fisher fisher339@btinternet.com www.alliefisherdesign.com 07710 470079 SABIVO DESIGN 6 Goldsmith Road, Leicester, LE3 1PT Sabina Kovacheva info@sabivo.co.uk www.sabivo.co.uk 0116 225 8255 or 07719 424619 JEMMA BANKS DESIGN Flat 3, 1 Long Roses Way, Birstall, LE4 3NH Jemma Banks jemmabanks23@gmail.com www.jemmabanksdesign.com 07747 033129

and producing a 3D card to meet that need. We also wanted to overcome the age-old problem of where to write your message, as so often there can be very little space ce on a 3D card to write a greeting.

“After some thought and plenty of experimenting with different paper engineering techniques, the answer was as to use the best of both worlds by combining a 3D card d with a conventional card. By incorporating a 3D element ent that literally stands out from the card you retain the visual sual impact of a 3D card both in the packaging and also when opened, but still provide plenty of space to write your message inside.

“With the final piece of the puzzle in place The Pictoria Press was born. We design all of our cards and have them printed and hand assembled locally.

“From our initial launch of 12 everyday designs we now have 24 including our very popular Christmas collection, with plenty more in the pipeline.”

T: 01234 831206 www.thepictoriapress.co.uk uk

Retail’s loss is Jemma’s gain LOSING her passion for illustration was the spur for Jemma Banks to set up her own greetings card company in Leicester.

Jemma said: “After graduating from my Illustration degree at Lincoln University, I went straight into retail work for financial reasons.

“I soon realised that I was quickly losing my illustrative passion and skills by not incorporating it into my working life, so I set aside some time to develop my company.

“Throughout my degree, I’d created several greetings card designs in my spare time, so I had a basis from which to start.

“I love children’s

illustration and develop designs that give a sense of sweetness, innocence and, often, a little humour.

“My designs often incorporate characters, primarily animals as well as pattern-based images. I feel each card can then become like a miniature piece of artwork.”

As well as supplying independent retailers Jemma has also created bespoke designs for craft and sewing shops and sells online through Etsy and at arts markets.

T: 07747 033129 www.jemmabanksdesign.com

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 13

HOME& HOME &GIFT GIFTREVIEW REVIEW

Social standing

Sociability is the key to Home & Gift Harrogate as events such as the Quiz Night, Pimm’s On The Lawn, Sunday Sundowners and Revolution party ensure exhibitors and visitors all have a good time while getting ready for the upcoming festive season. The new DP5 marquee made a bright home for many greetings stands, and the Great Northern Retail summit headlined by Wayne Hemingway MBE was a big success for organisers Clarion Events.

Roll on July 17-20, 2016!

● The Art File

● Jonny Javelin

● eZen

● Quiz night ● Pigment Productions

● Wayne Hemingway

● Bexy Boo

● Blue Eyed Sun

● My World ● Deckled Edge

● Peartree Heybridge

● Janie Wilson

● Showcase Greetings ● Laura Sherratt

● Berni Parker

● Frillybee

● Holy Mackerel

12 www.greetingstoday.co.uk ww ww.g .gre gre reet etin et ings in gsto gs t d to da ay. y co co.u .u uk

● Glick

● Moongazer Cards

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag w.fa w. face fa ce ebo book ok.c .com com o //g g @greetingstoday ● Dear Prudence

COVERSTORY

Well versed Words are a hugely-important part of the product from Jonny Javelin, and their verse, sentiment and sympathy ranges are going from strength to strength, as are the cute collections, with new releases available now.

W

ITH an imaginative and diverse range of greetings cards, the Jonny Javelin Card Company are well versed in spanning a broad range of styles and genres with their extensive portfolio.

Nine designs make up their new Secret Garden collection, which is their big release for the midsummer period, and perfect for the verse, sentiment and sympathy category.

With wide-ranging appeal, the initial release of the bright, fresh, floral range was seen at Home & Gift Harrogate, with 12 smaller code 60 titles currently being printed to follow within a month.

Soon to go to the printers are 15 male birthday cards in Jonny Javelin’s classic Velvet range, also in a code 60 size.

“We seem to be selling more and more open birthday cards,” said company cofounder Jonny Spears, “and the release of 22 new female birthday and occasions designs a couple of months ago has

‘

prompted this expansion on the male side.

These should be available in September.

“The extension to our cute range Fudge & Friends is almost complete. We’re looking to expand it to a smaller code 60 and also larger code 125 cards, where we can release Grandson and Granddaughter early years’ birthdays.

“The verse ranges Velvet and Days To Remember are going from strength to strength and, with Secret Garden coming into this genre, Jonny Javelin will have a great collection of styles to choose from.

“We only have a small team at our base here in Harrogate and we strive to get wonderful product out as fast as we can, but one thing that we won’t do is compromise on the quality of the product.

“We’re renowned for this fantastic quality and are very proud of what we’ve achieved since we started back in 1999.

“We’re looking forward to an exciting second half of the year with the release of the new Secret Garden, Velvet and Fudge designs and then, of course, the Christmas period should give us more cause to cheer!”

One thing we won’t do is compromise on the quality of the product

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

’

T: 01423 563740 www.jonnyjavelin.co.uk

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 13

VERSESENTIMENT&SYMPATHYCARDS

Find the words People aren’t all the same so often they need different words to bring them comfort in times of bereavement and the challenges life brings. Small publishers Inspired Goodbyes and big boys UK Greetings are among those finding ways to help people say what they mean.

O

NE size really doesn’t fit all and that’s why two mums have come up with a different way of looking at bereavement and the role of sympathy cards in the process.

‘

● UK Greetings

The standard With Sympathy caption is a good start when you have to send condolences but, often, people want to say more than that, however they just can’t quite find the right words to express themselves.

Their own experiences with bereavement led Sophia Lucop-Leech and Helen Lawson to set up Inspired Goodbyes to create better and more modern sympathy cards using warm, kind and honest language.

Sophia’s husband Mark died aged just 43 in 2013 and Helen’s brother Andrew had died at 33 in 2000.

After spending hours together talking over cups of tea about how loss had changed them, they decided to put their sad experiences to good use.

As Helen explained: “We know it’s unusual to specialise just in sympathy cards. We’ve been called ‘a niche within a niche’ but we’re not diversifying.

There are three times as many funerals a year as there are weddings, an upsetting fact but a true one.

“Not only do we see providing a better choice of sympathy cards as a viable business, we also see the potential to help people better support bereaved friends and relatives through loss.

“Our company vision is that retailers give more room to bereavement items and sympathy cards. They have dedicated sections for weddings, christenings and even hen nights but what about this major life event?

“People can feel uncomfortable talking about this but it only makes it worse for people when going through bereavement. We want friendship, practical help and above all empathy when we’ve lost someone we love.

“The words ‘with sympathy’ are often not enough anymore. Our cards prompt people to share a memory with words like ‘let me tell you something about your lovely mum’ or for those who struggle to find words, ‘I don’t know what to say so I might not say much. I just want you to know I’m sorry’. It’s honest. It’s warm. It’s important.”

That’s not to say the With Sympathy card is completely out-dated, there is still very much a place for the more traditional offering – over at Abacus they regularly update their selection though there is one design that has remained one of their bestsellers for more than 35 years!

Sympathy design 915, which is a 5x7in card featuring a floral photographic image by the photographer Charles Colmer, is a firm favourite with customers and has featured in the publishers’ top 50 for over two decades.

Creative Director Bev Cunningham, who styled the shot and introduced the image all those years ago, believes its popularity is to do with the way the light looks almost heavenly as it hits the flowers to provide an empathetic and comforting image, that is neither jolly nor sombre.

Bev said: “For some occasions there are never the right words but the

● Abacus

right

There are three T ttimes as many funerals a year s as weddings

’

● Inspired – Sophia and Helen and their cards

image can say so much and this is why this card has been so incredibly popular over the years.”

At UK Greetings they’re passionate about words and sentiment, they know how important it is to get the messages in their cards just right and have a variety of tones and voices within their line which fit different situations.

Senior Editor Seeta Wrightson explained: “With our Sympathy line, we take pride in beautiful pieces that aim to comfort and console. We’ve done a lot of work to understand how different circumstances of loss can affect how people feel in that situation. We’ve also included some new inspirational sentiment.

“We felt it was important to include pieces that felt spiritual and poetic as well as pieces that had a more conversational and supportive tone.”

With their Open Friendship line UKG have used words to inspire, encourage, support or bring a smile to someone’s face when they really need it.

Seeta added: “We’ve included uplifting quotes, gentle humour and a support piece that offers up a “cuppa and a chat” which, we all know, is sometimes exactly what’s needed.”

Specialists in the market IT’S PROVEN that sending and receiving a greetings card is the perfect vehicle to let a friend or loved one know how you feel.

In the years that Words ’n’ Wishes have been growing, all their experience in verse and sentiment tells them that people want to be more connected and feel loved and they are driven to publish premium-quality design styles linked to a sentiment to create that positive emotional effect.

The use of different imagery, both artwork and photographic can evoke a

14 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

sentiment, but more importantly the verse then needs the recipient to know they’re being thought of, whatever the occasion.

Often the words can be really inspirational, which are looked back on to uplift you. The power of verse and sentiment achieves a heartfelt emotion way beyond any text or email and, as specialists in this market, the Words ’n’ Wishes team strive to continue to meet customers’ expectations.

T: 01942 233201 www.words-n-wishes.co.uk www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

Available To Order Now From

GRASS ROOTS INTERNATIONAL

NEW DESIGNS

Sentiments

Over 100 stunning designs in a wide range of titles Code 75/JJ R.S.P £2.15 Size 9”x 6”

To See Our Full Range Please Visit Our Website www.writefromtheheart.co.uk Tel: 0151 523 9600 E-mail:sales@writefromtheheart.co.uk

VERSESENTIMENT&SYMPATHYCARDS

Sensitively worded for support A BEAUTIFUL new Sympathy collection is being launched in September

by Nigel Quiney Publications.

There are 13 special cards with a mix of Sympathy, Get Well and Thinking Of You captions, along with eight general sympathy designs with varying levels of sentiment, retailing at £1.55 and £1.80.

It’s not always easy to craft the perfect message in honour of a friend, co-worker or loved one, so Nigel Quiney have taken great care and time with all the designs ensuring they are sensitively worded to help comfort, support and evoke happy memories at difficult times.

The designs are an eclectic mix of beautiful floral and peaceful scenes – and there is also the inclusion of Loss Of Your Pet, which is a very sad time for any animal lover.

T: 01799 520200 www.nigelquiney.com

Poignant photographs

Comprehensive selection ABACUS have a comprehensive selection of both Sympathy and Thinking Of You captioned cards, which the publishers keep updated on a regular basis to provide a full range of empathy sends.

This July saw the introduction of five new Sympathy and three new Thinking Of You designs which means Abacus now offer a selection of 38 cards in total across these titles.

The latest additions include photographic imagery and beautiful illustrations from artist Eleri Folwer as well as simple, sophisticated foiled and embossed designs.

All the new cards have been left blank inside for the sender’s own message but the range does include a variety of inside messages, from simple text to more spiritual sentiment.

T: 01638 569050 www.abacuscards.co.uk

Subtle yet striking CAROLINE Gardner’s subtle yet striking collection of sympathy cards are the perfect combination of simple caring text, with traditional images to suit.

From the iconic Caroline Gardner range they have their Deepest Sympathy card with a silver die-stamping finish, and a lovely swallow image, a truly special card.

To accompany this are the captions You’re In My Thoughts and Thinking Of You caring cards, to send to loved ones at times of need.

The classic Caroline Gardner Here For You design, with a clear embossed finish, is a particular favourite.

T: 020 8288 9696 www.carolinegardner.com

16 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

IN CONJUNCTION with Irish distributor K Kards, Cherry Orchard have launched a new range of sympathy Cards in their Minor Titles collection, with 12 new designs that have personalised captions to send condolences on the loss of a loved one.

The captions cover all relations and the designs have a range of poignant photographic images, from soft-focus candle images to glows of sunshine in countryside scenes.

The cards are simple in design, decorated with silver foil fonts and foliage scrolls and are set off on a plain white or pastel background.

K Kards T: 07788 820057 T: 01684 295500 www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Stars and special dramatic details ONE OF of Paperwhale’s best-selling cards is a beautifully-illustrated Thinking Of You card.

Using collage and photomontage, this melancholic heartwarming card features a house on a hill looking over the sea on a starry night.

Illustrator Lianne Harrison said: “I think the dramatic atmosphere and the little details, such as the light in the window, the textured mountain, waves and little flower in the chimney make this card feel really special when looking for a sympathetic card for a loved one.”

T: 07960 812279 www.paperwhale.co.uk

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

VERSESENTIMENT&SYMPATHYCARDS

Dedicated to quality, design and service PASSION about the product and good service is what motivates the Grass Roots team, coupled with a strong desire to enhance good strong working relationships with customers and suppliers alike.

As well as offering a quality service, a core essential in any business, Grass Roots have also been working on developing their product range into different areas.

Known for verse and sentiment product, Grass Roots are also aware that many clients also like to have the option of a non-verse product or a lighter verse or message, and listening to customers’ requirements and understanding the needs of their business helps them develop their product to suit a variety of needs.

They have currently been extending ranges such as Sentiments and Opulence while their ever-popular Champagne and Celebrations ranges have both been expanded with brand new designs and shorter verses.

Primarily they’ve concentrated on launching a mix of product styles, traditional and contemporary, and also some with a twist of both.

The Grass Roots Sympathy collections also play a major part in the verse and sentiment genre, with a portfolio of more than 40 titles to choose from. They will also be launching a new Sympathy Collection in September for the new season, to add to an already very strong portfolio of titles and design.

Understanding the needs and elements of each retailer’s own business is very important to Grass Roots to ensure they can offer exactly what’s required, which is why they offer a dedicated customer service team who are only a phone call away to give the backup and service required.

Added to this, the 24-hour delivery service means the retailer can rely on being able to leave pocket reordering until there’s only one card left, safe in the knowledge that Grass Roots can act as a warehousing operation for them.

The team hope that you, the retailer, continue to enjoy the service they offer and the variety of new product coming through from Grass Roots and they look forward, as always, to hearing your thoughts and working with you in the future.

T: 0151 523 9600 www.writefromtheheart.co.uk

How many sympathy cards do you sell?

Now how many of them say ‘with sympathy’?

Adapting to delicate situations THE FOLLOW Your Dreams range from Ling Design is the perfect balance of great photography and clever editorial.

It captures the perfect send for touching base with a friend to raise a smile or sending words of encouragement in difficult times.

Ling Design also have an abundance of beautifully hand-painted ranges that adapt perfectly to the delicate sending situation of sympathy.

Each year they create a tailor-made selection of Sympathy and Get Well captions in their Winter Package, which is launched at the beginning of March for delivery in September.

Within the caption they also offer a wide selection of relation sympathy designs to cater to all requirements.

Kīer your customers a better choice of sympathy cards and ŐiŌs from

Contact us today for a brochure www.inspiredgoodbyes.co.uk 0161 667 5760 info@inspiredgoodbyes.co.uk

T: 01892 838574 www.lingdesign.co.uk

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 17

VERSESENTIMENT&SYMPATHYCARDS

Getting the message just right AT UK GREETINGS they’re passionate about words and sentiment, they know how important it is to get the messages in their cards just right and have a variety of tones and voices within their line which fit different situations.

The artwork in the ditsy design (top) complements the editorial featuring a simple, monochrome tea set with quaint colour details. The 105x159mm size makes it a sweet and special send, perfect for checking in to let someone know you’re there.

The pretty and dainty design (2nd down) is a beautiful example of UKG’s modern sympathy line. The veltique board, silver foil and light insert make it a really special send, and the copy captures the perfect words consumer might struggle to find.

A wonderful combination of edit and imagery – the ‘tough cookie’ (3rd down) really stands out against the white background with the help of an emboss. A quirky piece for offering support that’s is sure to make the recipient smile.

Inspired by the aspirational quotes often shared on social media, the balloon design (4th down) features, beautiful words and uplifting imagery.

The combination of gold foil lettering and stunning photography make this the perfect send to inspire and lift someone’s spirits.

The handwritten font and soft feather illustration (5th down) really give a gentle and peaceful feel, and the simplicity and delicacy allow the words to take centre stage. Heartfelt, genuine and evocative the copy expresses the words we want to say but struggle to voice.

The “What is a…?” range (bottom two) is a great choice for those who want a heartfelt and sentimental send. With emotive phrasing and modern creative, the collection appeals to consumers looking for contemporary designs with traditional words.

T: 01924 465200 www.ukgreetings.co.uk

18 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

Five innovative ways to say it THERE are currently five innovative sympathy card ranges available from Inspired Goodbyes.

Memory is designed to encourage people to share a story of a loved one, Be There gives the sender warm words and offers of practical support to give to a very dear friend.

The children’s range is to send to a family who have lost a child, with captions like It’s Not Fair and There Are No Words, because sometimes there really are no words.

From The Heart offers love, support and one of the simplest words needed at a difficult time, Sorry.

Last but not least is the Men’s range for chaps to send to their mates, with no flowers, no pictures, no poems, just simple, straightforward sympathy cards that say they’re sorry – of course, you don’t have to be a man to send one.

T: 0161 667 5762 www.inspiredgoodbyes.co.uk

Hugs for angels NEW publishers TiffsArt recently launched their cards at PG Live, with the Ladybird Hugs sympathy range.

Artist Tiff Nelhams is extremely passionate about this range, with most of her designs aimed at bereaved parents, whom she works closely with.

There are cards suitable for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Angelversaries to commemorate the death of a child, sympathy cards that aren’t too sombre, and new baby cards that acknowledge their angels.

www.tiffsart.co.uk

Let us find the right words CORNWALL-based Little Rock Cards have just launched a new range of hand-drawn cards for 2015 called Find The Right Words.

The range reflects the sheer joy of finding the right words to express your sentiment, shade of meaning or feelings intended.

Whatever the occasion, they can find the right words to give that special someone a simple sweet note to let them know you care and keep their chin up.

Always be ready to say “thank you” to that certain someone who was there when you needed them, or knew just the gift to make you smile.Let someone know they were on your mind and bring a smile to their face.

Designed in Cornwall by graphic designer Brian Green, he created a hand-drawn typeface and fun unique linocut and line illustrations that express most accurately messages in simple plain language, that sounds natural and genuine.

T: 01872 530370 www.littlerockvintage.co.uk

SEE MORE ONLINE AT www.greetingstoday.co.uk@greetingstoday www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag

Gemma, Hotchpotch Publishing, Kristen Burke, Laura Sherratt, Soul

JOHN RYAN RETAIL ENVIRONMENT

How rude can you go I

T’S AMAZING how far you can go with personalisation these days. I’ve just visited the Scribbler website and there’s a section for Rude Cards where you can personalise the message for added, ahem, fun/impact/offence.

There is, of course, a carefully-worded text that accompanies this section of the site saying you need to know a person extremely well if they’re not going to get the “wrong end of the stick”.

And perhaps this is why the undoubtedly rude cards are in somewhat greater evidence on the site than in Scribbler stores, or so a cursory visit to one of the retailer’s branches recently seemed to indicate.

But the question in this perhaps is, at what point does “rude” make the gentle stroll towards being “obscene”, and how much offence should a terrestrial retailer be prepared to offer in search of revenue from a bit of jovial smut?

To judge by the efforts of others, grubby seaside, kiss-me-quick cards are as popular as they’ve always been, the difference being that outand-out foul-mouthery and unsubtle sexual references seem to have begun to predominate.

Have we reached the point at which the moral majority would wish to step in and mumble something about being able to take children into a card shop and not feel the necessity to cover their eyes or protect them from multiple profanities – Disgusted of the Daily Mail regularly lambasts Dean Morris for his designs being seen by youngsters.

But hang on, who really cares? When was the last time you received a card from a young person?

‘

When does a naughty card become obscene – and who should the retailer be catering for? John Ryan considers the thorny issue of smutty humour. ● Naughty boy – Dean Morris’ cards

They don’t read, other than 140-character social media bon mots. They don’t write, apart from the same Twitter messages, and they almost certainly don’t send cards except very, very infrequently and under duress.

Indeed, many don’t send cards at all unless they have a rude element and retailers are ever ready to rise to this particular challenge.

Is there, therefore, an argument that rude cards should be shown in a segregated area within shops – as retailer Paul Jarman mentioned in his recent Greetings Today piece where he puts the rudest product at the back of his Creased Cards emporium in Brighton – in order to cater for those in the market for the category while protecting the sensibilities of less-robust types?

The answer to this is that it’s not necessary – Paul admitted he does it as a feature. If you don’t

A At what point does rude make the gentle stroll towards being e obscene

’

John Ryan is Stores Editor at Retail Week where he’s worked for more than a decade covering store design, visual merchandising and what makes things sell in-store. In a previous life he was a retail buyer.

T: 07710 429926 twitter: @newstores www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

like it, avert your eyes, don’t enter the shop, or go online, although everyone knows there’s a lot more that’s offensive in the virtual world than you’ll ever find in any store.

The fact is you’re probably in a minority these days – we live in louche times.

As it happens, online is actually a very good place to seek out personalised rude cards if that’s what you want and don’t wish to cause offence.

As with any website, there may be a tab on the home page indicating that rudeness lies a mouse click away, but there is absolutely no requirement for the easily-offended to have a look and there are plenty of other areas to peruse.

It’s also the case that the best physical card shops have always had a rude area that probably pushes at the boundaries, it’s just that, as tastes ebb and flow, what’s deemed rude is a moveable feast.

If therefore you walk into a card retailer and are troubled by what you encounter, it may be that you’ve failed to move with the times.

Which brings me back to the starting point.

There are plenty of people I’d like to send a rude card to and to personalise the message so it would be very specific to them, but something, somehow, tells me that I may be missing the point.

Rudeness is in the eye of the beholder. Some things really do never change and keeping a broadminded outlook on life should be a trait we all endeavour to embrace when shopping for cards.

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 19

COMPANY COMPANYPROFILE YPR PROF OFIL FIL ILE LE

● Designer – Lee Keeper

Boxing Chocolate is officially good for you – which is just the news Paul Woodmansterne wanted to hear as he launched Woodmansterne’s new Choc Therapy range, beautifully brought to life by his new lead designer Lee Keeper and the in-house print and production team.

T

HE NEWS that eating chocolate is officially good for you couldn’t have come at a better time for Woodmansterne Publications.

For they’ve just launched their new Choc Therapy range which showcases the breadth and depth of their design, innovation and print techniques, all nicely encasing a unique selection of delicious Belgian chocolates.

Lead designer Lee Keeper recently joined the Watford-based publishing house to set up their new own-label studio and MD Paul Woodmansterne’s pet choc project has been Lee’s first task, with the collection officially launched at PG Live.

And within a fortnight came the news from Professor Phyo Mint and his team at Aberdeen University that a higher chocolate intake is associated with a lower risk of future cardiovascular events.

Published in the medical journal Heart, the study revealed that eating up to 3.5oz (100g) of chocolate daily is linked with lowered risks of heart disease and strokes – that’s a couple of Mars Bars, a large Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, or the nine flavours in a box of Choc Therapy!

“It was a good way to get a feel for the fantastic Woodmansterne processes,” said Lee, who moved to the company after 15 years at Hallmark, the last five heading up their Tigerprint Studio in London.

“I’ve always admired Woodmansterne out of all the card brands and a lot of people I know have said it’s a lovely fit for me.

“With this project there was a rudimentary packaging that I had to tweak, and then it was everything from the ground up, trying to look at how chocolate is packaged, using different colourways. I was very conscious that food packaging reflects what’s inside so we tried all sorts, and tested them on staff, then decided to go with the classic.

“It was something that didn’t exist, it was only in Paul’s mind and I had to bring it to life with my experience in packaging and design – but I never ate any of the chocolates until we got back from PG Live, then I had a whole tray in one go!”

Paul said: “Lee has been setting up our own-label studio where we design for other people who want us to design and print cards for them, he gets into their heads and they work together to create something they like.

“I was getting a bit frustrated because I had this idea for Choc Therapy but couldn’t get any design time from our internal studio as they’re

20 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

‘

What I was W trying for was the elusive £10 0 g greetings g card

’

always so b busy so I th thought h ht it was tthe h perfect f project to start Lee on.

“Everyone has an opinion on the name – I see it as giving someone a little bit of therapy, something to give them a nice lift.

“What I was trying to create was the elusive £10 greetings card. Originally we were thinking about inserting a space where you can write your own message, then we had issues of how it stood up, and whether the closure would survive being constantly opened.

“Plus we needed to seal the boxes to keep the chocolates in, so actually you couldn’t write inside – anyway you wouldn’t want people to stop buying a card as well, now would you?

“The nice thing is that, because we manufacture ourselves and have our own printworks, we can do short runs, try things out and go in different directions with the packaging as we see fit.

“Apart from the chocolates, plastic infill and clear lid which come from the suppliers, everything is new and ours. We make the card tray so it’s in our matching board, and then print,

cut and fold the outside packaging. It’s important to us that nothing is glued, only folded, because setting up box glueing machines would force us to do uneconomically long runs.

“We’ve been doing notecard packs that are folded in a similar way and it followed on from that. I took inspiration from some posh packaging I picked up in Venice once. We created our own unique solutions and have protected our designs. They’re very costeffective because they use a single sheet simply folded into shape.”

Having launched the product at PG Live, Lee is already working on expanding it: “We’ve been coming up with different concepts and texts for them, and gone down the humour route and the sophisticated route with similar colourways to some of the cards.”

Paul added: “With chocolates we feel we’ve gone through a new door and we’ve opened it wide, now the world’s our oyster. There’s lots of different types of packaging out there but I don’t think anyone has created a domed box of chocolates quite like this before so we’re making it our thing. With all the greetings card special finishes we’ve developed and perfected, they’re really quite unique.”

The project has been made possible by the fact that Woodmansterne are one of the few publishers with their own print works as part of their base in Watford, along with specialist operatives who know exactly how to get the best out of the machinery.

They’ve had their own press since 1995, and the Heidelberg four-colour B2 machine is still going strong with their tried-and-tested sheet layouts that make the most efficient use of inks and card stock.

They did try to incorporate a digital press for a while but, after discovering the difficulties of matching digital toner colours and quality with litho inks when they needed to move designs between the processes, they reverted to printing only litho three years ago.

Having moved all the warehousing, distribution and customer services to Milton Keynes over a year ago, the Hertfordshire site concentrates on design and production.

Main press operator Andy has been with the company all his professional life since he was apprenticed to Highland Press in the town back in 1982 when they had the contract for Woodmansterne’s printing.

“Our cards were printed on their two-colour press,” Paul said, “when we bought our own

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

clever

COMPANYPROFILE

● Craftsman – Rob and the screen print process

‘

● Inhouse – Andy working on the Heidelberg

four-colour press Andy applied for the job and has been here ever since. He’d really like a new eight-colour machine with varnishing unit, but I’m resisting buying one – not this year at least!”

The print works is the domain of Paul’s son and Production Manager Seth, who has taken on their own plate-making after tidying and reorganising the floor so the flowrapping machine is now based and run at their envelope suppliers.

Seth said: “Heidelberg say ours is the best looked-after machine they know – and we’ve also got a Heidelberg cutting machine from the ’50s that’ll outlast us all because it’s well maintained and isn’t computerised. Our hot-foiling machine is from the ’40s although that’s for doing one card at a time and we have another one that does sheets for bigger runs.”

One of Seth’s proudest achievements is bringing the giant but simple Bobst cutting machine back into full action following its move to Hertfordshire after the buyout of Caltime Calendars was completed in early 2014.

“It took us a year to get it up and running properly,” Seth said, “It had done one job all its working life, cutting out Caltime’s advent calendars with the same operator.

“The machine seemed not to have had much maintenance over the years and parts that should have been able to move wouldn’t because they’d never been used. We’ve fully restored and repaired it and now everything works properly.

“It’s a simple cutting machine that now copes with flitter and can cut the biggest B2 advent calendars we do. B1 we can have printed externally and finish here.

“We could have bought a new machine but they’re simply not built like these old war horses. John is the new operator who has been

IItt was a good d way to get a feel for the fantastic sttic processes

’

here a year and he’s really been nailing getting rid of the nicks. When cutting you get these little nicks in the board where the design has been held in place and he’s honed his work so you really have to look hard to notice them.”

The Woodmansterne print quality is also making people sit up and take notice with Seth entering the company’s product in the Print Week Awards for the first time because they are so proud of their work.

“Because we manage everything ourselves,” Paul said, “we can be quite hot on colour management. Our screen print processes are now quite sophisticated and I honestly believe there’s no finer printer in the country!

“We have operator Rob who joined us three years ago as a silk screen specialist. At the time we were only just starting with the process and he’d won awards in the print industry but I wanted to get the best operator we could.

“He’s now fully stretched and we have enough work for a new operator, Geoff, who just joined us a couple of months ago. He’s worked in the industry for more than 20 years and it’s been a good addition. We now run two shifts permanently so, from running the machine for less than two hours a day, it’s now going 16 hours a day churning stuff out.

“For the last two years our Christmas cards have really taken off because of what we’ve

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

understood about this process. I think we’re ahead of the game and sales are 30 per cent up, which is massive for us because that’s our biggest season.”

Seth added: “I’ve had to explain what we’ve done for the awards submission. Essentially we’ve improved every area of the process in little bits so, added together, it’s a massive improvement overall. Our registration process is incredible.

“It’s a combination of people working together, creatives working with machine operatives trying to maximise the glitteriness and the tightness of the finishes. We match different flitters with the best under-colours to give us the most effective combinations that make our designs stand out.

“We have our own varnish machine – where commercial printers try to use as little varnish as possible to get an acceptable finish that looks ok and doesn’t cost too much, we’re trying to push it to get stupendous results which we can do because we control the process. I think we have the glossiest finish.”

Woodmansterne work with just two boards, one for gloss and one for matt finishes, that are made specially for them and shipped in on their own pallets so they can keep reusing them instead of having to send them for recycling, and they even keep the foil leftovers out of landfill by giving it to local schools for the children to use in craft projects.

There is one minor downside to all this innovation and excellence, however, as Paul explained: “The studio team have been learning along with Rob and Geoff but we’ve now got ourselves stuck because the quality is so good that we can’t send work out and we don’t have any more capacity on our current machines – and we can’t get enough electricity into the building to run more!

“But that’s a better class of problem that I’m happy to put up with.”

T: 01923 200600 www.woodmansterne.com

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 21

RETAIL ADVICE WITH HENRI DAVIS

I

BECAME the greetings card buyer for the National Trust back in October 2006 and for the first few months it all seemed a complete mystery to me.

For the Trust it was a relatively quiet time of year, the range had been selected by my predecessor so I had to sit and wait for the sales to come in.

When the sales started to pick up what really surprised me was what was selling, I’d expected it would be photographic landscape and floral images so evocative of National Trust properties and, while they were popular, I was surprised to find the runaway successes were the cards that relied on humour for their message and it was often related to age, alcohol or urinals!

The dominance of humour continued for the whole time I was their buyer but this popularity is not exclusive to the National Trust, humour as a genre continues to grow in popularity, it’s the type of humour that varies depending on the retailer and their customers.

There are some fantastic ranges available at the moment. Some are well-established favourites that we all recognise, like Spring Chicken from Peartree Heybridge, which are regularly refreshed to maintain their popularity and relevance.

Others are brand new this year like the Headliners range from a new publisher called Tripod Designs where the bright colours and quirky images are enough to make anyone smile. (left) One of the things I love about humour cardss is that they will often make the purchaser laugh as well as the recipient – I was often told that when the National Trust shops were quiet it was not uncommon to hear a chuckle coming from the corner where the humour selection was displayed where a visitor had found a range they really liked and they would then often buy several cards or call their friends over to share the joke.

Humour can be put across through words, an image or a combination of the two while at the same time reflecting design trends like type and colour.

One range that’s hugely successful at combining words and images is Icon’s Life Is Sweet which features wonderful sentiments paired with cute child-like images to make us all smile and, while the images are of children, it’s almost certain that the cards are being sent between adults. (left)

‘

Laugh out loud Giggles sell cards, as Henri Davis discovered early in her retail buying career and that stands true today with the humour genre going from strength to strength.

As with so many retail markets, licensing is increasingly important and the subjects licensed are many and varied.

One of the most recent agreements is between The London Studio and Saffron who have licensed several of Soula Zavacopoulos’s quirky ranges including Retro Greetings. (right) Peartree Heybridge secured something of a coup when they got the opportunity to produce a range of cards featuring poet Pam Ayres best-loved verses, which they teamed with really appropriate illustrations from Chris Fothergill to create a range that appeals to her fans as well as a wider mature market. (left) Type and colour have become increasingly on trend over the last few years and this can be clearly seen in the humour genre. Coulson Macleod have some great ranges including their Truth Hurts collection which offers particularly good male cards that aren’t rude or sweary. (left) Nostalgia is a also great vehicle for humour and there are several ways of doing this.

CardMix have had great success with their Drama Queen range over the years, which they have now refreshed by introducing colour and extending the

The runaway successes relied on humour for their message

’

Henri Davis is an independent retail advisor to businesses in the cards, gifts, stationery and heritage industries, combining 30 years of retail experience with her knowledge of trends and consumer motivation to analyse markets and identify new opportunities. Having worked at Habitat, Next, WH Smith and the National Trust, she now works with many small and medium-sized businesses, including multi-site retailers, national and international manufacturers and suppliers and is currently vice-chairman of the Giftware Association, the first woman to hold the post. www.henridavis.co.uk

22 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

range into occasions too. (right) I think Cath Tate’s collections are particularly strong in this area and her new range Champagne uses photos from the theatrical photographer Bassano from the National Portrait Gallery. The originals are from the start of the 20th century so are all black and white and she has added some flashes of 21st century colour to them to bring them out a bit. (right) Alcohol is one of the most popular subjects for humour, be it having one glass too many or reaching the age of 18 and it finally being legal to drink!

This can be shown in so many ways, yet still get a laugh which is when the relevance and appeal of the style to the recipient becomes the deciding factor as with the stick people featured in Saffron’s Bright White range. (left) They say in show business you shouldn’t work with animals or children but, when it comes to humour cards, they both make great subjects and pictures showing either doing daft things with equally silly captions will make virtually anybody laugh.

Cats and dogs are particular favourites and CardMix’s Off The Leash range is a great new addition to their collection and has lots of potential. (right) The really clever bit is combining the right picture with the right words and some card publishers like Brain Box Candy and Dean Morris have built their whole business on this just as some retailers have too.

At the end of the day we all like to be happy and laughing is certainly good for us so, if sending a card can encourage the recipient to have a laugh, then that’s no bad thing.

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

IMAGELICENSING&PHOTOLIBRARIES

Pay for what you need In an increasingly visual world, there are so many images around that the perfect shot for a greetings card often already exists – you just need to track down which library or agency holds the picture and how much it will cost to licence it.

● Art Marketing

● Lily & Val (left)

● Sharon Turner (below)

● Valentina Ramos

O

NLY paying for what you need is the main benefit of image licensing and there are many libraries and agencies around who offer artwork and photographs for use on products including greetings cards and stationery.

There’s even a specialist annual one-day event for image and footage users to connect with more than 100 image and footage providers at Fotofringe London each April, as well as shows like Spring and Autumn Fairs, Brand Licensing Europe, Surtex, and Licensing Expo.

And the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (www.bapla.org.uk) is the trade organisation with nearly 200 members – including Ardea, Bridgeman Images and Mary Evans Picture Library – who between them offer an enormous range of highquality imagery across all subjects, together with price structures and licence types to service all requirements.

You might be surprised, but some pictures can be licensed for as little as a pound up to thousands. The price will depend on the quality of the file size, the image itself, how exclusive it is, how and in which territories you’re planning to use it, the type of licence bought and which agency you’re licensing the image from.

Rights managed (RM) is a good licence to opt for if you know exactly what you’re going to be using the image for, such as a brochure, leaflet or on a website, and for how long.

Pictures can be licensed on an exclusive basis and, once you know the purpose and size needed, you then negotiate a specific price in advance with a picture library or with the creator direct.

Royalty free (RF) was created to offer more flexibility to buyers, so works if you want an image that can be used on lots of different platforms like your website, brochures and leaflets, for example.

RF images are often priced by digital file size, rather than for specific usage. The smaller the file size, the less you can do with the image as it wouldn’t be of a quality

‘

to create a billboard poster, for instance, so there’s a lower fee.

Within agreed restrictions, an RF image may be used multiple times for multiple projects without incurring additional fees, but only by the same user.

Microstock (MS) is an offshoot of royalty free. Rather than traditional stock photography, MS images are sourced almost exclusively via the internet representing content from amateur as well as professional photographers.

The pricing structure of MS photography is simplistic and varies from company to company, but generally most agencies offer single images from a pound upwards. You can also buy subscription packages allowing you to download a set number of images in a period.

Celebrating 25 years in the image licensing business this October, MGL have plenty of experience in supplying images to the greetings card and stationery industry, as well as manufacturers of other products, including calendars, jigsaw puzzles, wall art and homewares.

A huge part of their success is their extensive library of more than 20,000 images that includes contemporary graphics, digital design, watercolour painting and photography amongst others.

Many of the artists represented have been working with them since 1990 so have an excellent relationship with MGL and they are also often able to change an image to meet specific needs or work on commission.

The deal with image licensing, whether a piece of artwork or photograph, is that licensees only pay for what they need so it is a cost-effective solution as the licences are tailored to each client’s need and they don’t require in-house designers or photographers.

The licence will cover a specific territory, allowing use only within the UK for instance, and product category, such as with Disney’s Frozen where Danilo have the licence for calendars while UK Greetings have the greetings card licence, and are valid for an agreed time period agreed.

Some S pictures can be licensed for as little ea as s a pound d

’

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

MGL Managing Director Adam Meiklejohn said: “We find it very important to be on top of image trends and we are always on the look out for new talent.

“Our team travels the world visiting and exhibiting at tradeshows such as Surtex, Ambiente, Brand Licensing Europe, Paperworld and Spring and Autumn Fairs, to see what’s popular, as well as meeting with clients.

“Keeping our images fresh is very important to us and we recently became the licensing agent for the image collection of Art Marketing Ltd, which has given existing and potential clients access to thousands of new images previously unavailable for licensing.”

As for what’s popular, MGL work with many different manufacturers so it really depends on the product and the territory.

Designer Valentina Ramos has had great success on greetings cards and stationery with her signature style of intricate designs, inspirational quotes and playful calligraphy that have been a hit with clients such as teNeues.

Chalkboard art has been a popular trend recently and MGL have seen many requests for work from artist Valerie McKeehan and her hand-drawn chalk boutique Lily & Val – Portico are the first UK licensees for Lily & Val and are having great success with their range of greetings cards, kitchen giftware and stationery.

Adam added: “There are also images that never go out of trend. Seasonal and animal art is always popular, for example. We try to stay away from generic images and carefully select the designs that we include in our library.

“For our collection of cute animal images we have been working with photographers Lisa Jane and Greg Cuddiford, whose beautifully-staged images of dogs and cats are just adorable.

“We also recently signed UK artist Sharon Turner whose animal designs are packed with detail and vibrant colours and her portfolio includes some very interesting typographic designs as well, which is another type of image that has been really popular recently.”

For MGL, success lies in the variety of their artist, styles and subject matter, as well as being around for a quarter of a century and having a great reputation.

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 23

IMAGELICENSING&PHOTOLIBRARIES

Well-established dedicated company PORTFOLIO Select are a well-established art licensing company based in Hertfordshire.

They’re strongly dedicated to customer excellence and providing fast, friendly and reliable assistance to clients, and their exclusively selected range of artists offer designs for all occasions, driven by creativity, great art direction and changing trends.

Portfolio Select have been representing new artists Emma Leach and Delphine Cubbit for a few months now, and they have proved hugely popular with customers.

Emma paints beautiful cheery Christmas characters, in a whimsical folk style, and has been very successful already. She has a huge portfolio of artwork available, and is very quick with commissions too, so is a great choice for specific requirements.

She also sends lots of more traditional festive icons, so there is plenty to choose from in her endearing style.

Delphine is particularly popular for her fun, juvenile designs, with bold and quirky Christmas characters, and bright and colourful everyday artwork too. Along with these, her homeware designs are also perfect for kitchen and fabric products.

Their other artists are busy as ever too – Pippa Elison is working on new feminine everyday ranges, Ella Rose is creating contemporary florals, and they have lots of new graphic styles from Sam Rudd and Jill Riley, with designs that are perfect for foil and laser-cut effects.

And portfolio Select have a strong photography library within their portfolios – with images for all occasions from Martin Fry, Rachel Mullet and Sally Masson.

Their full selection of portfolios are available to browse online with simple registration and they aim to answer any queries from customers as quickly as possible.

They pride theselves on friendly customer service, and many of their artists are available for commissions, so they can assist with new or ongoing projects.

T: 01442 833458 www.portfolioselect.co.uk

Wildlife is naturally striking OVER at Ardea they are proud of their innovative pet and wildlife photography and designs for a whole range of greetings cards.

This month, they thought it would be a good opportunity to bring their work back to basics with the wildlife images in the collection, which are capable of standing on their own two – or four – feet.

Ardea have also recently been expanding their wildlife collection, bringing in new material from around the world to illustrate the best of nature and the photography available highlights the innate sense of fun that many animals exhibit.

Wildlife photography, though notoriously hard to shoot, is certainly worth the effort and looks stunning, whether capturing quite intimate moments or grand, sweeping panoramas. Such images convey a message beyond just the photo, whatever the occasion.

Ardea also provide a bespoke image-sourcing service, which can tweak many of their images to suit your needs, as well as an online website plus dedicated customer service team able to help with research and access additional collections abroad.

T: 020 8318 1401 www.ardea.com

Ready for my close up COLOURFUL flowers and garden wildlife never go out of fashion, their beauty and intricate details are captivating to a wide audience.

Photographer Helen Clarke specialises in garden, nature and wildlife images, mostly shooting closeups of flowers, plants and small creatures such as butterflies and other garden wildlife.

Helen said: “My images are colourful, bright and bold, can sometimes be quite graphic or a little abstract and often concentrate on colour, shape, detail, pattern and texture.

“They are artistic depictions of the subjects rather than scientific reference shots therefore perfect for the greetings card market.”

info@helenclarkephotography.co.uk www.helenclarkephotography.co.uk

24 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

Full of personality MARY Evans Picture Library have recently completed the digitisation of their Cecil Aldin collection and can offer more than 1,000 illustrations by this prolific artist for commercial licensing.

Cecil Aldin (1870-1935) was well known for his paintings and sketches of animals and was one of the best-loved book illustrators working during the so-called Golden Age Of Illustration.

His canine portraits in particular are full of personality and cards featuring his imagery can make the perfect range for animal lovers.

T: 020 8318 0034 www.maryevans.com

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

IMAGELICENSING&PHOTOLIBRARIES

Stunning and varied THE Victoria And Albert Museum is the world’s leading museum of art and design and the collections are as stunning as they are varied, with more than two million objects and designs providing almost infinite sources of inspiration.

V&A Images licenses content from this exceptional collection for editorial and commercial use across print, digital and broadcast media.

The team are always available to discuss individual projects and offer advice to identify the perfect image for specific projects.

The magnificent Victorian architecture of the V&A building in South Kensington, London, also provides a wonderful space for location hire for film and television production as well as photo shoots.

vaimages@vam.ac.uk www.vandaimages.com

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

Client list to be proud of ARTIST Kate Knight has been involved in the licensing industry for 13 years and throughout this time she has built up a client list to be proud of.

Her artwork has appeared on a vast range of products that have been sold throughout the world. Kate is currently working on a number of new collections she will launch at Brand Licensing Europe in October this year.

This talented young artist knows how to satisfy her client’s needs for on-trend artwork.

T: 07813 147966 www.kateknight.co.uk

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 25

IT’S ALL ABOUT SALES

How social are you?

I

i HAVE to admit that, for a while, the only social media I used was Facebook and even then it was just my personal profile page as I wasn’t really sure how I’d use it for work.

A couple of years on, it’s now as much a part of the agency as customer appointments – I have an agency page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a LinkedIn profile too.

I try to post pictures when I receive new samples using Instagram which then gives me the option to post the same update to both Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. This means I only do one update but reach a wider audience.

Shops that have and use their social media accounts are able to keep up to the minute with new products as they can follow their suppliers and agents so they don’t miss anything.

Many of my customers have Facebook or Twitter accounts, and sometimes both, and will often reply to one of my tweets and express an interest in a new product and we can then quickly organise an appointment. It’s a great way to keep dialogue going between you and your clients in-between visits and helps build a better working relationship.

Having your finger on the online pulse can also

● Making friends – Neil with Dawn

at Trend, Port Erin, Isle Of Man give you the edge over your competition.

Shops aren’t constantly rammed with eager shoppers wanting to part with their cash – it’d be nice if they were – so some of my customers use the down times to keep up with their social media.

They drum up trade for themselves by posting images of new stock that’s arrived, advertise any promotions or events they have coming up and also keep in touch with their own customers.

And if they have social media-savvy staff it’s a good way to keep them busy when the shop is quiet.

I’ve even been in a shop with a customer who placed an order for a new gift line, then asked if

she could take a few pics of the samples for social media. She instantly uploaded the pics with a “coming soon” heading and, before we’d finished the appointment she’d already made a sale!

One of her own customers who follows her on Twitter had sent her a private message asking her to put an item aside when the order arrived and message her when she could call in to pick up.

Shops can follow other inspirational retailers anywhere in the world to get ideas and it helps them stay on top of current trends or products to beware of – eg, if another shop has posted negative feedback about the product or service they received.

One of my customers has become good online friends with a similar shop in another part of the country and they often give each other the heads up on little gems found at trade shows or products they’re doing well with.

For anyone that thinks social media and an online presence is a waste of time, I’d say it seems to have done okay for the likes of Amazon and eBay! In business you have to adapt to changes in your industry or you can end up being left behind.

The way we shop these days has changed so, as a retailer, you need to find every way to make a sale.

And, considering it’s free, why wouldn’t you?

Facebook: ReilAgencies Twitter: @reilagencies LinkedIn: NeilAnthonyatReilAgencies

N-icely does it P ICTURE this, I’m on the cliff top at Whitby and see a lone ice cream van in the distance. “Mmmm,” I think, “an ice cream might be nice”.

I wander over to then be faced with an array of choice – choc ices, fruit lollies, a 99 or one of those ones with the bubblegum at the bottom – decisions, decisions! While I’m procrastinating over my treat, by the time I turn around there’s a great long queue of people behind me, who seem to have materialised from thin air. Where can they have all come from?

This got me thinking as to how retail works very much in the same way.

I’m not claiming to be a trendsetter here but the old saying of a crowd attracts a crowd is certainly true.

You just need one person to make that step up to the ice cream van, retail shop or trade stand and it’s not long before you have a crowd.

Many times I can visit a customer’s quiet shop with bags full of samples and, before you know it, a crowd of people follow in not too far behind – customers are always saying to me: “It was quiet until you came in!”

What is it in our psyche that makes us do this?

Possibly it’s that instinct of having to know what’s going on or what we might be missing out on when we’re on the outside.

We must get a taste of the latest hype, the latest gadget, latest product. If there’s a busy store, they must have something in there I need to buy.

I think the same applies to trade shows too and I experienced it recently at Home & Gift Harrogate. The busy stands seem to attract more visitors which is often a clear indication of best-selling ranges and, of course, we all want that in our portfolio or shops.

I’ve heard of some industry folk visiting the trade shows just to see who has the busy stands as it gives them a clear indication of themes and trends and where the market is heading.

Obviously for the stand holders the bigger the crowd the greater chances of converting a good percentage into customers too.

So there you have it, the answer to all sales success is an easy one, you just need me coming into your shop or trade show stand holding an ice cream! J

● Crowd-pleaser – Alina at Blagdon Gallery, Newcastle

Neil Anthony (Reil (Reil Agencies, T: 07766 736254) and Alina Clark (T: 07906 792420) are experienced independent greetings industry sales agents in the North West and North East of England respectively. Each month they share their experiences of life on the road.

26 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

int

●M

Just say ‘awwwwww’

CUTECARDS

●D e dau lightful ghte Dais r is the y – Lau epit ome ra Sher ra of c ute tt’s

Perennially popular, the cute send has plenty going for it as the designs appeal to people who love both children and animals so there’s a constant stream of new, updated and classic cards. ● Gemma

a

TTRACTIVE, especially in a dainty way, and pleasingly pretty – that’s the dictionary definition of the word cute.

And puppies, kittens, sweet little boys and girls, bears and bunnies are many of the characters that personify this genre in greetings cards design.

It’s one that’s perennially popular, as well as continually expanding and changing as new ideas come along.

Over at Mint they’ve just come up with a new cutie in the shape of Buddi Bunni, adapted from one of the characters hand-knitted by joint owner Debbie Williams and rendered as a watercolour illustration while keeping the woolly textures and sweet features.

True to the cute faith, Buddi has a bundle of mouse and squirrel pals who join him in his gambols across the birthday party life of balloons, cake, presents and plenty of fun.

Cute critters are proven bestsellers for Cinnamon Aitch who have expanded their Hello Sunshine range of rainbow characters to meet demand, and they add

‘

● UK Greetings

● Rose Hill

● Coulson Macleod

rside ● Rive

A

● Allihop

more with the hand-finished buttons and gems.

Riverside Plus are also challenging the supremacy of the cute bear with their new contemporary woodland creatures united by a polka-dot theme in the Woodland Tales range.

And the Cherry Orchard team have taken it to the max with two complete new selections of loveable little rascals in an on-trend vintage style – waddling ducks, sleepy v kittens curled up in a teacup and delightful paint-splattered pups.

It’s not all about illustration though, as UK Greetings’ latest collection proves.

They have combined the cute theme with licensing by signing a deal t for f Studio Pets By Myrna, where the fashion photographer turns her lens f on baby animals snapped in super cute settings with stylish props.

Appealing to both young and old, UKG are bringing the genre right into the heart of the 21st century by working with the licensor to incorporate technology in the shape of QR codes that link to videos staring the lovable pets thereby enhancing interaction and the consumer experience.

Challenge C the supremacy of the cute bearr

’

Frank the delightful Dachshund has connected the two because he’s real enough as visitors to The Art File’s Nottingham offices know when they see him scampering around, and he’s been turned into the star of their Call Me Frank range with his friends and impressive knitwear.

Artist Jo Corner has expanded her portfolio while still encompassing the hand-stitched style for which she’s known at Blue Eyed Sun, with her new cute Pincushion range of sweet animals and birds.

The Sugar And Spice nursery rhyme is how everyone loves to think of boys and girls, but in this modern world there’s a new take on it at Gemma where they’ve licensed The London Studio’s Wisdom Of Kids brand.

Here youngsters give the world the benefit of their tender years of wisdom with delightful insights on adult issues from beer bellies to love and marriage.

And Laura Sherratt has managed to inject a double dose of cuteness into her take on the genre as her designs deliver classic elements with sweet penguins and pink princesses and fairies coupled with her adorable two-year old daughter Daisy to advertise them.

Who can resist that cute combination – it’s the “awwww” factor personified!

Frank has great taste in knitwear FRANK’S a truly sociable chap with many friends, and a rather impressive knitwear collection.

He agreed to let The Art File put him and some of his friends on to their greetings cards and stationery – my word don’t they look cute!

The Call Me Frank range consists of a fantastic selection of blank, birthday, and occasion cards, all finished with a unique UV varnish to make them stand out even

more than the sheer cuteness of young Frank and his pals makes them already, plus there’s an extensive stationery and gift range.

Frank does in fact exist in reality – he spends his time relaxing in the sunny spots around the Art File office and looking particularly cute, which doesn’t distract the workforce in the slightest!

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

T: 0115 850 7490 www.theartfile.com

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 27

CUTECARDS

Woolly Buddi sparkles adorably BUDDI Bunni is an adorable knitted character adapted from the cute woolly bunny from Mint’s market-leading Knit & Purl range.

Buddi has now been transformed into a gorgeous watercolour-illustrated character featuring his real wool textures and sweet features, with a unique wool-textured lettering finishing off each piece perfectly.

He appears with his cute little squirrel and mouse friends in animated, fun scenarios, which also feature classic birthday elements of cakes, balloons, gifts and flowers, all in a complementary pastel palette.

Printed on a quality, textured board, each design has delicate sparkly iridescent flitter and detailed embossing.

The Birthday Buddi cards are available in 140x174mm and slim 95x181mm size, at 60 II and 50 HH price points respectively, with all designs cello-wrapped with a ribbed kraft envelope.

Occasions and female relation designs were a huge hit when they were launched at PG Live 2015 and include lovely 140x174mm designs with the same glittering flitter and embossed finish.

Relations include Wife, Mum, Sister, Daughter, Nan and Granddaughter, with Wedding, New Baby, Congratulations, Anniversary and Thank You among the Occasions titles.

New for 2016, Buddi is also available for

Valentine’s and Mother’s Day. Valentine’s Day Buddi features adorable romantic scenes with cute love sentiments, including Wife and Girlfriend captions, finished with flitter and embossing, cellowrapped with a scarlet red envelope.

The Mother’s Day range features a softer, feminine palette and a multitude of delicate flowers and butterflies. Cards are wrapped with a kraft envelope and finished with flitter and embossing.

T: 0116 230 4197 www.mint-publishing.co.uk

Loveable little rascals PUSS in Boots you may have heard of, but the team at Cherry Orchard have taken this theme to the extreme, bringing out not just one, but two whole new selections of cute cards, with kittens, puppies, ducks and bunnies hiding in all sorts of cheeky little places.

There are more than 14 cute animal designs in the new open Kaleidoscope value collection, which range from a sleepy curled-up kitten resting in a teacup to a naughty little paintsplattered puppy.

These loveable little rascals are sure to be a hit with those animal lovers out there who know the mischief these little cuties can get up to.

There’s also a whole menagerie hiding in the seven new design additions to the popular Lola range, from waddling ducks to tiny kittens and adorable puppies peeping out of floral wellies.

In soft feminine pastels, these cards have a contemporary on-trend vintage style.

The new Lola designs will be available as female relations from August and will be showcased at Autumn Fair. The designs will then be brought out as square cards in December.

T: 01684 295500 www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

Distinctive retro influences LORRAINE Stylianou’s new range of cute cards features eight animals – piggy, froggy, cat, panda, rabbit, sheep, teddy and elephant – celebrating birthdays.

The images have distinctive retro influences as Lorraine researched vintage birthday cards featuring animals, then collaborated with a children’s illustrator to

28 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

fine-tune her design brief and initial sketches.

Lorraine then softened background colours to make them more suitable for the UK market, tweaking elements such as what each animal holds in their hands before sending them to the printer.

More cute animals will be added to the range soon – watch out for Mr Racoon!

T: 07826 117938 www.lorrainestylianou.com

Penguins, pom poms – and smiles SUNNY Smiles is the children’s handmade, birthday range from Laura Sherratt Designs.

The 12 fun designs all feature cute children’s characters, embellished with fun wooden buttons.

Penguin Playmates is Laura’s handmade Christmas range for 2015 which all feature her cute penguin characters, with fun googly eyes and pom poms.

There are 48 designs in the range, with something for everyone, including friends and all family members.

T: 01538 384566 www.laurasherrattdesigns.co.uk

SEE MORE ONLINE AT www.greetingstoday.co.uk @greetingstoday www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag

Riverside, Rose Hill, The London Studio, Allihopa, Coulson Macleod

CUTECARDS

Tapping in to the awwwww factor UK GREETINGS have acquired the Studio Pets

By Myrna licence, bringing gorgeous images by fashion photographer Myrna Hujing to greetings.

Studio Pets By Myrna are adorable baby animals photographed in super cute settings, with stylish props and stunning, fashionable graphics.

Instantly recognisable and irresistible, they are perfect for greeting cards and giftwrap, appealing to consumers young and old.

Tapping into the nation’s love of animals the images are sure to induce a wave of “awwwws” in store – who can resist a precious puppy or fluffy bunny?

Known for their use of technology, Studio Pets By Myrna will work with UKG to enhance interaction and consumer experience, encouraging users to download the app to view videos starring the loveable pets.

Studio Pets By Myrna have already launched in giftwrap for spring 2016, and will be coming to greetings cards very soon.

T: 01924 465200 www.ukgreetings.co.uk

Delightful rainbow creations HELLO Sunshine is Cinnamon Aitch’s go-to range for the cutest critters of all descriptions – meet the latest delightful rainbow creations, including an adorable little puppy dog and dainty kitten.

There are 22 charming new additions launching this September, with new titles including birthdays, relations and occasions, and all are hand-finished with lovely little buttons and sparkly gems.

All the C6 cards are individually cello-wrapped with a white or kraft-coloured envelope, and they’re sold in sixes with a trade price of £1.25 each, RRP £2.99.

T: 0121 773 6833 www.cinnamonaitch.co.uk

Very happy to Summed up by create characters the perfect word IT MAKES the Love From Lemonade team very happy to create cute cards.

With their signature characters they never fail to raise a smile and their brand-new Head In The Clouds range for everyday and Spring 2016 is no exception.

The designs come embellished with cute wooden hearts and stars too.

Each card is printed on a good quality FSC board and cello-wrapped with a white recycled envelope.

T: 07833 089098 www.lovefromlemonade.co.uk

SWEET and quirky little toy animals sending messages for all occasions definitely makes Pippi & Me cards cute – no other word really sums them up so well!

For their first trade show appearance, at PG Live this year, founder Jeannett Stevenson added 18 brand new designs to their very successful Little Creatures and Little Creatures Occasions ranges.

All Pippi & Me cards are 125x125mm, blank inside and come cello-wrapped with a white recycled envelope – five per cent of their profit goes to charity.

T: 07540 637424 www.pippiandme.com

Hand-finished with jewels PINCUSHION is a range based on beautiful original hand-stitched artworks by Blue Eyed Sun’s artist Jo Corner.

Hand-finished with jewels, the range includes 12 gorgeous occasions cards with more being added in the coming months.

These new 160x160mm cards all come cellowrapped with a pearlised envelope at £1.25 each trade, RRP £2.99, and are also available in spring seasons captions.

T: 01273 823003 www.blueeyedsun.co.uk www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 29

Talk of the town The voice of the people who matter, greetings retailers tell it like it is.

Kerry Young & Gail Pegg, Thoughtful Expressions, Market Place, Holt, Norfolk

‘

GAIL Pegg opened her shop 14 years ago having previously run a tea-shop but wanting to spend more time with her then newly-retired husband.

She said: “The business has grown and eight years ago I employed Kerry – she took to the job like a duck to water and after three years I made her manager.

“When the shop was nominated for The Retas this year, I put Kerry forward for Employee Of The Year. Both the shop and Kerry were shortlisted as finalists. We spent a wonderful day at The Dorchester Hotel, and Kerry really did have a fairytale ending as she won the title!”

Kerry, pictured left with Gail and her trophy, added: “I was so shocked at being announced the winner because I really didn’t expect it, all the other people seemed so good. It’s still a blur, I can’t really take it in. I go home at the end of the day and think ‘did I really win that’. It’s like a proper fairy tale.”

Are parking charges an issue in your town?

Vandalised meters in Cardigan have given the town free parking and local independent shops have seen sales rise by up to 50 per cent as more people visit, would cheaper parking fees help you?

It’s not parking charges that we find an issue

here in Holt, but the actual lack of the number of places to park during the holiday season.

With the lovely summer sunshine we’ve been having, do you find the weather affects your business?

We do find the warm weather can sometimes affect business in as much that trade can be quiet in the mornings while people are visiting the coast which is not far from Holt.

Currently which is your top-selling design, publisher or genre?

I see reps from about 20 different companies so would find it very difficult to pick out any one

company in particular as being any more popular than the others! We’ve never as yet attended any trade shows – we often talk about it but that’s as far as we get. I do all the ordering of cards from my wonderful reps and in the past have got in touch with companies advertised in the various magazines that we receive.

We have Verse Sentiment & Sympathy Cards and Cute Cards as features this issue. Which publishers do you stock in these genres?

For cute the top sellers are Fudge And Friends from Jonny Javelin and My Blue Nose Friends from Carte Blanche. In verse and sentiment it’s UK Greetings and Noel Tatt for sympathy.

’

Of all the publishers you stock, which card would you like to receive for your birthday?

Gail would like to receive a birthday card from 2nd Nature and I would be happy with any of the ones we sell in the shop.

Lewis Spratt, www.characterwise.co.uk

‘

LAUNCHED in March, CharacterWise is a gift, greetings card and toys website that caters to the strong trend of sticking to a certain brand or character particularly with cards. Director Tristan Haines established himself as one of the biggest online retailers of the Me To You brand from Carte Blanche and expanded his portfolio to sell character branded products which attract a wider audience.

Currently which is your top-selling design, publisher or genre?

Me To You’s Tatty Teddy is popular when it comes to both greeting cards and gifts. We get many customers asking for a specific Me To You design, often because it’s one they’ve repeatedly bought in the past. In terms of gifts our best-selling products are our My Blue Nose Friends. These 4in collectable plush toys are released in sets of four every few months and are very affordable, so seem to tick many of our customers’ boxes.

If you had £1,000 to spend on improving your store, what would you spend it on?

I’d spend it on content. We have 1000s of products on the site and it can be difficult providing every detail about a product. Not just that but there’s 100s of characters too, each with their own story and background, and it would be nice to tell our customers as much as possible about them. With limited resources, it’s something we have to do gradually.

We have Verse Sentiment & Sympathy Cards and Cute Cards as features in this issue. Which publishers do you stock in these genres?

Most of Me To You is pretty cute and, as well as selling established

30 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

names like Hello Kitty, we now look at what’s hot – our Despicable Me, Disney Frozen, and Peppa Pig ranges are all very popular, largely due to various TV shows and film releases around them. Sympathy cards make up a very small percentage of our current offering. We do however have an additional 600 cards joining the online store very soon which should bolster what we sell. These will all be Carte Blanche cards.

Of all the publishers you stock, which card would you like to receive for your birthday?

I like the Me To You sketchbook cards. They’re cute and usually quite simple, but I love the artistic touch.

’

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

ON THE SHOP F RONT VIEWPOINT FROM AN INDEPENDENT

On the move I

T’S BEEN a couple of months since I penned some thoughts on my journey into retail – but I have a good excuse as i I took a little break to concentrate on the opening of our new shop.

In my last column we’d just emerged from our first Christmas season and were starting to see the fruits of our labour, but we were still in the middle of a recession, I was still learning the difference between being a shopper and a shopkeeper and I still had the smallest shop on the planet – but that was about to change.

Just over a year into my lease, I was out for dinner in our small town and walked past a shop which, I couldn’t help noticing, looked a little empty – by the time we’d left the restaurant a couple of hours later, it was totally empty.

Shopkeepers know there’s a secret retailers’ grapevine that tells you who’s moving, who’s closing, who’s expanding, or who’s downsizing, yet this shop wasn’t even on the radar.

After pressing my nose against the window in the dark, wondering whether I could move to this more prominent place in town, I spend the walk home trying to talk myself out of it and the “should I stay or should I go” argument played in my head all night and for the rest of the weekend.

Within a few days I’d worked out a new business plan, projected where I felt the takings could be increased and read it over and over again.

I tinkered with it a bit more, upped the turnover, increased the margins, changed the font a few times – all things you do when you really want something and you need it to look right, both commercially and aesthetically!

Eventually I managed to track down the landlord and, to my surprise, he wasn’t asking as much rent as I’d expected, but there was the deposit and I still had three months remaining to the break clause in my existing lease.

Incredibly, he agreed to lease me the shop with no collateral, rent-free for the first three months and allowed me full access to decorate ahead of opening.

His attitude was that he’d rather let his premises for a reasonable sum to a good tenant, instead of crippling a business financially and finding himself

The journey continues for retailer Jo Barber who is back with her tales of shopkeeping for beginners – fresh from opening her second store!

‘

Should I stay S or should I go?

The argument played in my head all overr the weekend

’

with w an empty shop again a year later.

In return, I decorated throughout, made alterations to the interior layout and fitted new lighting, all of which would be a benefit to him in the long term I know I was very lucky to find a good landlord, but they do exist so, if you’re thinking about taking that step towards a bricks and mortar business, ask the question – they can only say no.

Now I had new premises four times the size of my original store that I had to fill with stock, as there’s nothing worse than walking into a halfempty shop and I needed to buy display furniture too – lots of display furniture.

The business plan included selling gift items, so I rebranded to The Stationery & Gift Boutique, a simple addition giving customers a clear understanding there’s more to see than just stationery.

That meant I needed to hunt for gifts to sell, something I was good at buying as an individual, but had little knowledge about as a retailer.

I’d missed that year’s Home & Gift Harrogate, but the exhibitor list was still on their website, where I trawled through categories such as jewellery, accessories, toiletries etc and researched as much as I could.

In four years Jo Barber has gone from having no greetings retail experience to being named in the top five of the Buyers Power List at Spring Fair 2015 as her shop, The Stationery & Gift Boutique in Ampthill, Beds, has gone from strength to strength, and she has just opened the Home & Gift Store.

T: 01525 404742 info@stationery-boutique.co.uk www.stationery-boutique.co.uk www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

None of my existing suppliers sold the sort of things I was looking for, which meant I needed to start new relationships and enter that crippling period where everything is sold on a pro-forma basis.

I met with my bank manager, he looked at the plan, my projection, how I’d managed the business account from opening and said yes.

The loan was approved within a couple of weeks and, by the time Autumn Fair arrived, I was flush with the bank’s money and went on a spending spree!

It might sound like I’ve just glossed over the cashflow part of the journey, but it was the part I’d agonised over the most. I really didn’t want to borrow money but needed to be realistic.

If I’d opened with very little stock, I’d simply have been taking the same money as I was before, but having to cover higher overheads. So, by giving customers a greater choice of products, meant we became attractive to more people.

It also gave me the security, mentally, that we had a buffer, should we need it. In those first few months it’s so easy to overspend and this is where it can all go wrong.

We opened our new doors on November 1, 2012, and I’ll never forget the first sale – it came just minutes after we opened and was for more than I’d normally have taken in a whole day just selling cards and stationery. The next sale was similar, as was the one after that.

When I locked up at the end of that first day I’d taken more than I usually took in a week. The following days were similar and that’s when I realised I could no longer do it on my own. I needed to recruit – I was about to become an employer!

Next month I’ll tell you about how the business began to grow and the pitfalls associated with that.

Just because the tills are ringing doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels, that’s when the hard work really starts.

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 31

VOXPOP

Publishers are right at the heart of the greetings industry, designing and supplying cards for everyone to enjoy.

Greetings Today chats to a few to hear their opinions on issues of the day.

Lee Rowlett, Co-founder, Buddy Fernandez

T: 07541 171226 www.buddyfernandez.com

‘

How would you sum up the attitude in the greetings card industry at the moment?

Happy, grumpy, sleepy, bashful… no no, that’s dwarves! It seems to be pretty positive from what we can see. New ventures starting up, expansions in a few areas, and a lot of our retailers – big and small – seem to be flourishing, which is great to see.

Is there any occasion or category that is currently seeing growth?

The ISIS cards are really taking off. Oh, and the age-specific ones are doing really well for us. Father’s Day was pretty big for us this year too.

We’re now into the summer months, apart from the obvious of Christmas, do you see any difference in the type of designs and illustrations that are ordered at this time of year compared to the colder months?

We don’t think there should be a change, “Santa isn’t real” works all year round! We see the generic ones working all year too, so nothing has changed there really. Love has picked up too – must be the sunshine.

What’s currently trending or of interest in the Cute Cards and/or Verse Sentiment & Sympathy areas?

We’re liking the real thought-provoking stuff that balances social and cultural comment against the unstable economic environment we currently see enveloping the world, so cards like “#cocksplash” and “Kirsty fingered Phil in your loft” have been flying out. We don’t do cute, but sympathy has done well, particularly “Oof! I bet that hurt”. “I love your bum” has done well recently too. Deep stuff.

’

Describe Buddy Fernandez in three words.

God would approve – or if he/she’s not real, honest, funny, cheeky.

‘

Jeremy Corner, Founder & MD, Blue Eyed Sun T: 01273 823003 www.blueeyedsun.co.uk

‘

How would you sum up the attitude in the greetings industry at the moment?

In our niche it appears to be pretty good at the moment. There are some fantastic new products coming through across the sector and some lovely cards for shops to choose from in the marketplace. I think there is an exciting energy around in terms of design and innovation.

Is there any occasion or category that is currently seeing growth?

I’m seeing a lot of peripheral products like stationery items and wrap coming through from a variety of companies. I’m not sure these will see strong growth though as margins are tighter and sales often slower than cards. Cute is doing pretty well at the moment and I think there is growth potential in sentiment with more modern takes on this traditional category.

We’re now into the summer months, apart from the obvious of Christmas, do you see any difference in the type of designs and illustrations that are ordered at this time of year compared to the colder months?

I was just thinking this period of the card publishing side feels like an abundant spring after a cold winter. Lots of ideas flourishing, etc. In answer to your question though, we launch our Spring Seasons collections this month and orders for these build through into September so visually you’ll see lots of reds for Valentine’s, pinks and lilacs for Mother’s Day, etc. On the everyday side we often try experimental ideas in the summer when people are more open to them. Then we expand them out in the new year if they work well. Visually speaking, brighter colours often do better at this time of year than in the winter.

What’s currently trending or of interest in the Cute Cards and/ or Verse Sentiment & Sympathy Cards areas?

I think we will see a trend towards better sympathy and sentiment cards in the coming year as niche companies like Inspired Goodbyes inspire other publishers to improve their offerings. With Cute Cards, there are so many great designs around at the moment that it’s hard to say if there is a trend within that, other than wobbly eyes which seem popular in the genre at present. We have a very exciting new range coming through called Cutie Pie, which I just showed at Harrogate. The first group of Cutie Pie designs are for Valentine’s and we are launching everyday occasions in the coming months.

’

Describe Blue Eyed Sun in three words.

Gorgeous handmade cards.

Sarah Britton-Davies, Co-founder, Love From Lemonade T: 07833 089098 www.lovefromlemonade.co.uk

‘

How o wo would you sum up the attitude in the greetings card at the moment? d industry ind greetings card industry is seeing so many fantastic The g T up-and-coming publishers that it’s becoming more new up and more competitive. PG Live was buzzing, which is an great news for the industry.

Is there any occasion or category that is currently seeing growth?

Our occasions always do really well, of course this time of year, wedding, anniversary, good luck, thank you and birthday are the bestsellers, especially our Molly & Max and Cake Face ranges.

32 2 www.greetingstoday.co.uk ww w ww. w.gr w.gr gree eettiin ng gs gst sttod oda ay y..c co

What’s currently trending or of interest in the Cute Cards and/or Verse Sentiment & Sympathy Cards areas?

Our cards all have quirky and cute illustrations, most of which are animal themed. They all seem to do really well. Our new range Head In The Clouds features a few cute animals too, bears, penguins, a racoon and a mouse, to name but a few!

Describe Love From Lemonade in three words.

Happy, cute, quirky.

’

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

If you are an artist/cartoonist/illustrator/verse writer or image library and would like to be part of this feature contact the Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289930 / gareth@lemapublishing.co.uk for more details

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

Artists’ directory

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 33

D

spotlight

E GRE TING CA

RDS

4 SID E

Product & services directory greetings card publishers & Party product suppliers To advertise call Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289940

A selection of this month’s latest releases

•

IC

WR

IT

K

•

T E• P E E L• S

WE HAVE OVER 250 DESIGNS THAT APPEAL TO ALL TASTES, AGES AND STYLES...

A UNIQUE GIFT AND CARD IN ONE...

WE COVER ALL OCCASIONS. IF YOU’RE AFTER SOMETHING DIFFERENT, LOOK NO FURTHER... www.4sided.co.uk•jo&chris@4sided.co.uk

07803 501983

4SIDED.CO.UK

R

● CHERRY Orchard Publishing have launched a brand new range of 190 minor titles in conjunction with Irish Distributor K Kards.

The minor titles send a very personalised message, focusing on both the recipient and the sender in the caption which covers everything from a message to Daddy From His Little Boy, to a birthday wish to a Great Niece.

The collection includes more than 40 wedding celebration cards, with specialised captions for all friends and family involved, from the Granny Of The Bride, right through to the Usher and the Flowergirl.

There are also 21 cards that celebrate the birth of a new baby and Christening or Baptism Days – the range even has golfing cards to celebrate Captain’s Day and President’s Day!

K Kards T: 07788 820057 T: 01684 295500 www.cherryorchardpublishing.co.uk

T: 0844 357 6091

Make every occasion count with greeting cards from Abacus Cards Limited, The Studio, Oaks Drive, Newmarket, Suffolk,CB8 7SX t: 01638 569050 f: 01638 569051 e: info@abacuscards.co.uk w: www.abacuscards.co.uk

34 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

● PRESS For… is Bluebell 33’s utterly fabulous, indulgent new greetings card collection that’s available for delivery from the end of July and there are matching coasters also available.

Perfect cards when one just needs the simple things in life, be it a kiss, a super hero or champagne – apologies, butler and bell are not included!

They also have new on-trend foiled LetterPress designs for family, milestone ages and Christmas, and the refreshingly crisp bold and fun Typo range for birthdays, occasions, ages, mummy and daddy.

T: 01932 506406 www.bluebell33.com www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

A selection of this month’s latest releases

spotlight

Product & services directory greetings card publishers & Party product suppliers To advertise call Gareth Liddiatt on 01442 289940

● CARD Connection have announced the launch of a new Mrs Brown’s Boys birthday card, now being distributed through their network of 69 franchisees to retail stores throughout the UK. When the first design was introduced Mrs Brown’s Boys, which is licensed by Danilo, outsold cards in similar sections of Card Connection’s range by three to one.

“We are constantly on the lookout for the next best seller,” said MD Michael Johnson, “this means making the most of the hottest licensed product, and Mrs Brown’s Boys has been hugely successful.

“The slightly risqué humour appeals to many so, as well as the original design, we have this year introduced the licence into our Tall card range, plus Mother’s Day, where it enjoyed similar success.”

T: 01252 892300 www.card-connection.co.uk ● CLANNA Cards have launched new cards and notecards by Deborah Pope including this delightful Sweet Peas design.

This design is already available on stationery and mugs from Padblocks and on giftware from Elite Tins.

Other card designs by Deborah include Tea & Cakes, Sweet Shop, Shoe Shop and Guitars and are available either Blank Inside or Happy Birthday.

New ‘Men’s cards’ are also being launched from The Richard Partis Collection including a Series 1 Land Rover, MG TC and a grey ‘Fergie’ tractor.

All 7”x5” cards are printed on FSC board and are cello-wrapped with colour coordinated FSC envelopes.

T: 01242 575 574 www.clannacards.co.uk ● SABIVO Design’s new Christmas range Pattern has 24 cards to cover the most popular family relations with some open greetings.

Their contemporary cards are designed and printed in the UK and combine hand-lettering with quirky illustrations plus, for extra festive sparkle, all the 145x145mm cards are hand-finished with polka dot cotton bows, silver snowflakes, cup flowers and 3D star jewels.

With the ever-increasing consumer demand for personal communication, the publishers offer the complimentary change of captions to suit retailers’ customer profile.

T: 0116 225 8255 www.sabivo.co.uk www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag ww w ww.fa ww. w..ffa w ac ce ebo oo ok k..c com om/g /grre ee ettiin ngs gst @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 35

PRODUCT & SERVICES DIRECTORY GREETINGS CARD PUBLISHERS & PARTY PRODUCT SUPPLIERS To advertise call 01442 289930

spotlight

● PLANT A Bloomer are back with a brand-new Woodland Friends range of plantable greetings cards for the festive season.

Each design comes with a detachable plantable animal – robin, deer, hedgehog, squirrel and fox – that’s delicately laser cut from the e publishers’ unique seed paper

A selection of this month’s latest releases

embedded with gold and silver mica flakes and wildflower seeds.

When planted the paper will break down into the soil and the seeds germinated to produce seedlings and a gift that keeps on giving.

T: 020 8788 3452 www.plantabloomer.com www.plan

Designs that will get your customers coming back for more!

Life quotes to make them laugh out loud

All our designs are tried and tested in an award winning store Ramblingmansion.co.uk contact@ramblingmansion.co.uk k

36 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

● THE NEW 2015 greetings card range ffrom om Modern Toss has some classics in there as well as some brand new cartoons.

Village Cake Off and Work From Home are doing particularly well – and not all of them are sweary!

T: 01273 689599 www.moderntoss.com www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday www.faceb

gifts spotlight A selection of the latest gift releases and deals

● STAND out from the crowd while using your stationery this year as Chic by The Art File is one of their three main stationery looks for 2015, with cream and black designs creating a hint of sophistication.

The collection is finished with a lovely stroke of gold foiling, giving it that classy, traditional look, perfect for those summer wedding presents.

The entire collection consists of photo albums, ring binders, weekly planners and various notepads in different sizes and is available to view at all major trade shows, on the website, or through one of The Art File’s sales agents covering the entire UK.

PRODUCT & SERVICES DIRECTORY GREETINGS CARD PUBLISHERS & PARTY PRODUCT SUPPLIERS To advertise call 01442 289930

INDEPENDENTLY AUDITED

CIRCULATION 6,089 July 1, 2013June 20, 2014

T: 0115 850 7490 www.theartfile.com display services

● DC THOMSON have unveiled their latest addition to the partnership with Gibsons. Made in the UK on 100 per cent recycled board, the new The Beano Past And Present 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle is now available.

In a first for the brand, Gibsons’ new Past and Present jigsaw brings together two distinct creative directions for the property resulting in a fun and quirky puzzle that will appeal to fans of all ages as the classic The Beano comic artwork is blended with the contemporary Dennis The Menace And Gnasher design.

T: 020 8661 8866 www.gibsonsgames.co.uk

● CHRISTMAS from Cluck Cluck! sees a set of six chicken placemats, hand-finished card sets in ribbon-tied folders, Big Ears the Owl and Rocky the Penguin tea towels and magnetic notepads.

The items are not available on the website until nearer the festive season but retailers can contact Cluck Cluck! for more information.

T: 07973 724956 www.cluckcluck.biz www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

Saunders Displays Point of sales display stands for every retail environment.

Tel: 0208 594 7221 www.saundersdisplays.co.uk

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 37

bags

envelopes

OVER 30 YEARS SERVICE TO THE GREETING CARD TRADE

BAGS from

Wrapid Producers of high clarity, high quality bags for over 30 years direct to the greeting card and stationery trade sales@wrapid.co.uk www.wrapid.co.uk 01274 220 220

38 www.greetingstoday.co.uk

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

gift manufacturers

print services

INDEPENDENTLY AUDITED & LARGEST CIRCULATION To find out how

can help you just call 01442 289930

print services

export management

paper & board supplies

www.facebook.com/greetingstodaymag @greetingstoday

www.greetingstoday.co.uk 39

Birthday

Relations

Occasions

Mother’s Day Valentine’s Day

(t) 0116 230 4197 (f) 01536 401 031 (e) sales@mint-publishing.co.uk (w) www.mint-publishing.co.uk