GCA News The latest from the UK Greeting Cards Association Spring Fair’s wonder wall When you visit the Spring Fair, look out for the Thinking of You wall. The GCA has teamed up with The Retail Trust charity to produce a large wall highlighting Thinking of You Week. As it did during Festive Friday, the charity is hoping to encourage cards to be sent to the people supported by the charity. The Retail Trust offers help to colleagues in the (L-R) Julie Driscoll Hyve Group, Chris Brook, The retail sector, whether Retail Trust, and Amanda Fergusson, GCA they need financial aid, counselling or advice. It also provides a safe haven for over 55s in five supported-living estates across the UK, where they can maintain their health, retain their independence and get help where needed. Thinking of You Week starts on 19 September and aims to ‘harness the emotional power of greeting cards to create a wave of love, caring and happiness’. During this time of social distancing and isolation it has become even more relevant, to ensure friends and family are not feeling alone. As well as highlighting Thinking of You week, the wall offers another marketing opportunity to GCA members. Each card on show on the wall will feature the exhibitor’s stand number, so that prospective buyers can find their favourites on the show stands. The wall will also have a QR code, allowing for easy donation via smartphone. GCA CEO Amanda Fergusson told Greetings Today: “Thinking of You Week provides a wonderful opportunity to remind everyone about the importance of sending and receiving cards, just to say ‘thinking of you’. The GCA is delighted to work with Spring Fair organiser Hyve on this special Thinking of You Week display at Spring Fair to focus on this initiative, as well as the sterling work of the Retail Trust charity, which supports so many retailers. And of course it’s great to have this opportunity to highlight the wonderful innovation and new designs produced by GCA members across our industry.’’ Find out more about Thinking of You week, a Greeting Card Association initiative, at www.thinkingofyouweek.cards
New for Christmas 2022 A wall of Christmas cards from GCA members will greet visitors to Top Drawer in February. The GCA has been working closely with Clarion, the organiser of the show, which is now due to be held on 20-22 February, at London Olympia, and GCA members are highlighted in the preview guide. Additionally, all GCA members who are launching their Christmas 2022 range at the show will have the opportunity to take part in the New for Christmas 2022 display. Up to five cards from each participant will be on display, with their company names and stand numbers clearly marked so that potential buyers can find them at the show.
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Dragons Speed Dating
switches dates There are still some spaces available on the next Dragons Speed Dating event for GCA members. The event has moved dates to avoid clashing with the new dates for the Top Drawer show (20-22 February) and will now be held on Wednesday 23 March. Over the course of an afternoon the panel of retailers meet 12 different greeting card publishers for 10 minutes each, and publishers will meet at least three buyers and have the opportunity to leave samples with all 18 buyers attending. Cardzone, Fortnum & Mason, Card Factory, Diverse, Funky Pigeon, Postmark, Red Card, Austin & Co Malvern, and Mooch are some of the buyers Amanda Fergusson and Miles Robinson already confirmed. Dragons Speed Dating offers a fun way to meet prospective business partners, network with existing business contacts and keep up to date with industry issues. House of Cards’ Miles Robinson (pictured here with the GCA’s Amanda Fergusson), who will again be on the retailer panel, told Greetings Today: “From our perspective it’s a super event. It’s really well organised and it allows us to connect with many new (and existing) publishers in a very product-focused way. While not everyone will be right for House of Cards, it does allow the opportunity for us to give our feedback and sometimes useful titbits of advice, especially for newbies!” This GCA members’ event is open to up to 72 different publishers and 18 different retailers. Publishers can book at www.gca.cards/product/ dragons-speed-dating-2022.
Did you know? The GCA toolkits are offered free to all Greetings Today readers - you can just click and download them. Retailers can download these point of sale pieces to use in their shops, while publishers can download and send them to their own retailers. You’ll find digital versions of posters to use on your social media and website, along with PDF versions that can be printed in-house or by a printer. Designed this year by Belly Button Designs, all the toolkits have GCA branding. Online now are toolkits for Father’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day. Find them at www.gca.cards/?s=toolkit
