Last few conference tickets up for grabs!

If you haven’t booked your ticket for the GCA Conference, now’s the time to act - as there’s only a few remaining tickets left. The conference takes place at Leeds’ Royal Armouries Museum on Thursday September 28.

Amanda Fergusson said: ‘’We are thrilled that Adam Dury, chief commercial officer at Card Factory will be joining us. Passionate about the card industry, where he has worked for over 25 years as both publisher and retailer, Adam will be sharing his view of the greeting card market along with some interesting consumer insights. He will also talk about Card Factory, changes they are seeing on the high street, how they work with other publishers, and sharing some background on Card Factory’s journey, which started out from the back of a van!’’

Talking about sustainability will be Mark Jessett, paper consultant from G.F. Smith. He said: “I am delighted to be asked to speak at the GCA’s Leeds Conference, looking at the good things we are already doing in the card industry to reduce our environmental impact, and sharing the knowledge and experience we have at G.F Smith to consider further changes that can be made.”

Market research company Kantar is back by popular demand - consumer insights director Moneeba Baloch is joining the conference for the first time, along with Ni Wang who presented to last year’s conference in Nottingham.

UK Greetings is hosting a meet-up drink in Leeds city centre at The Lost & Found Leeds Club from 6pm on September 27.

Book tickets at www.gca.cards/2023gca-conference-and-agm-thursday-28thseptember-2023

Thinking of You Week is nearly upon us, running from September 18-24.

The retail kit has been designed by Rebecca Green at Raspberry Blossom and can be downloaded for free at www. thinkingofyouweek.cards/toolkit. You don’t have to be a GCA member to access this.

A number of retail kits have also been printed by The Imaging Centre and sent out to retailers, while Graphite printed packs for a number of card publishers to send to their independent retailers.

There’s also a new Instagram account@thinkingofyouweek_uk.

Get GCA’s Caring at Christmas campaign off to a cracking start

The Greeting Card Association’s Caring at Christmas campaign is encouraging members to bring the joy of Christmas card sending and receiving to care homes.

The idea began with Matt Genower, MD at Five Dollar Shake, who organised sessions at local care homes last year. The idea is to team up with a home in your area and encourage them to have a card writing and sending session planned into their weekly activity schedule.

You can take in a selection of cards - and pens! - and get everyone busy writing, then arrange for them to be franked or posted.

Matt said: “Ultimately the initiative is about two things; firstly, showing the good that Christmas card writing does, and secondly, it’s genuinely a really lovely and rewarding activity to be a part of. Our two visits last year had a really positive impact. Our goal is to spread this right across the country, in as many care homes as possible – There is such an opportunity to spread the good that our industry can do.’’

Postal strikes last year meant many missed out on connecting with friends and family, but this year, there won’t be any strikes, so this campaign aims to start a wave of card sending across the UK, encouraging everyone to post early and share the joy of Christmas cards.

Email adriana@gca.cards to let her know the home(s) you are visiting, or if you know a care home but aren’t able to visit yourself and would like the GCA to find a local publisher who could. Find out more at www.gca.

Make a #Cardmitment

The GCA is working with communication partner Arena PR on a national PR campaign to remind UK consumers that the simple act of sending a card can have a positive, powerful impact on individuals, communities and society.

The aim is to share the joy of cards, and one of the ways they will do this is by amplifying activity from across our industry reminding UK consumers how much they love sending and receiving cards.

To help them produce interesting press releases and campaigns, Andrea Ross and Nick Agarwal (pictured), at Arena PR would love to hear from GCA members with fun and quirky stories of card sending, charity initiatives, customer feedback and more.

You can email them at gca@arena-pr.com.

You can also encourage your customers to tag via the #Cardmitment hashtag – and follow the new GCA Instagram page at @cardmitment.

The GCA is looking to raise funds to maximise the extent of this campaign, and has already received £27,000. You can donate at www.gca.cards/product/donation.