Focus On Progressive Humour May 2015

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HUMOUR OVERVIEW

A Cracking Comedy Line-Up

Taking to the comedy stage, Focus On Humour goes on tour to discover the abundance of news and happenings on the humorous greeting card front.

From Shakespeare to Carry On, pantomime to Monty Python, British humour has a long legacy. In fact, early cave drawings probably depicted the funny side of hunting and gathering… and that new fangled invention called ‘fire’.

Us Brits have always found the lighter view in almost every dark situation. We have the ability to laugh at ourselves and at tough circumstances, but we’re just as ready with quickwitted quips and satirical mockery for authority and are more than likely to tease our friends; a compliment is usually sarcastic, but it’s a sign of affection to Brits!

And our love of toilet humour and sexual innuendo are engrained into the British psyche; years and years of sniggering at words like ‘bum’, ‘fart’ and smutty suggestion show no signs of going down the pan! You only need to look at the popularity of The Inbetweeners and Keith Lemon’s Celebrity Juice to flush out any further proof. And all this of course is echoed on the myriad of humorous card designs on the themes of self-deprecation,

Top: Combining musical comedy and slapstick, pantomimes are still as popular today as in its 16th century roots.

Above left: Teasing our friends is a sign of affection to Brits - A card from Dean Morris.

Above right: A Kiss Me Kwik Ladybird design.

Left: Jolly Awesome is one of the new generation of humour card publishers who is up to speed with online trending.

ribbing and joshing, irony and tittering at naughty words.

Reinforcing the importance of the ‘funny business’ to retailers and card publishers, humour cards took the top spot in the recent PG/Cardgains Retail Barometer once again. For the sixth year in succession, greeting card indies cited humorous card sales as accounting for the greatest growth last year across all the card

genres (compared to the previous year). That is a lot of valuable laughs.

Perpetuating the UK public’s hunger for the available assortment of different comedy genres, there seems to have been more development in the humorous card sector in the last year than ever before.

One of the widely accepted drivers of this humour explosion is the evolvement of social media, be it through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and of course YouTube. And then there are memes - where an idea, photo, video or catchphrase can spread rapidly by internet users. You only need to consider The Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon which swept across the globe via the internet to see how

Contents 5-9 13-14 18-19 21-23 26-27

Overview Situational Comedy 20 Years Of Humour New Launches Retailer Feedback

Focus On Humour is published annually by Max Publishing (publishers of Progressive Greetings). It is distributed with the May edition of Progressive Greetings.

Max Publishing, United House, North Road, London, N7 9DP Tel: 020 7700 6740 www.progressivegreetings.co.uk Editor in chief: Jacqueline Brown (jw@max-publishing.co.uk) Main contributor and Gale Astley Deputy editor: (galea@max-publishing.co.uk) Advertisement director: Warren Lomax (warren@max-publishing.co.uk)

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© All Rights Reserved to BOC Productions Limited 2015. Licensed by Rocket Licensing Ltd. / © 2015 Studio Lambert Limited. All Rights reserved Mr Bean TM and © Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd 2015. All rights reserved. / Family Guy TM & © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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HUMOUR OVERVIEW

First Funny Steps Graphic Humour, traditionally a supplier to the wholesale sector, is taking its first venture into the Direct To Retail (DTR) market with its Pop-Artz range.

With a cool ‘Pop-Art’ look (hence the name), the modern, square shaped designs are printed in bright neon colours, making them really stand out, and the razor sharp funny captions also reflect the modern multicultural population of the UK. The cards will be individually wrapped with an envelope and sold in packs of six of a single design. And all Above: A Pop-Artz design from Graphic Humour. 40 designs will be ready for delivery by late December 2015.

Alan Picton, director for Graphic Humour says: “We see Pop-Artz as the humorous cards for the future… the world is bright… the world is ‘Pop-Artz’!” potent and all embracing technology has become allowing users to share funny pics, videos and quips found from all corners of the world.

Humour connects us all around the planet via the internet and it tends to be a more intimate humour, a feelgood humour, with greeting cards very much drawing on the opportunity for this social exchange, with the multifarious offerings reaching right across demographics.

For comedic starters, publishing giants UKG and Hallmark have both been strengthening their respective core humour offering.

Behind the door of UKG’s new Humour Lab, within its Dewsbury head office, the Hanson White team has been ‘testing’ all kinds of hilarious social media ‘strains’ to discover funny formulas for its cards. The results being UKG’s largest ever humour launch with 250 new designs, first to be seen at next month’s PG Live.

Hallmark too has been gathering comic material by working with a number of rising

Left: This design from UKG’s new Critters range is Instagram inspired.

Below left: Funny animal pictures are constantly shared through social media - this new Mish Mash design from Hallmark (under its Shoebox brand) shows the influence it is having on humour cards.

Right: Humour company Avanti has signed a licensing deal with The Great British Card Company.

Far right: Deadpan but cute humour from Whale & Bird.

UK comedy stars and Twitterati to produce a range of cards that showcases some of their cleverest gags. And combined with a sizeable 52 new Mish Mash designs, Hallmark is launching its Shoebox alternative humour brand at PG Live too.

But there are also lots of ‘funny goings on’ in other areas of the humour sector.

Paperlink is celebrating ‘three decades of innovation’ with a plethora of new humour ranges: Haiku, founded on the Japanese art of writing nonrhyming verse, the wacky Weird Stuff Soup range, and tapping the Instagram trend is the Freddie Says Relax range.

Licensing tie-ups on the (humorous) cards front are on the up too.

US publisher Avanti has just announced its licensing deal with The Great British Card Company who, from now on, will publish its funny photographic designs.

Meanwhile PG Live sees the launch of a licensing partnership between Gemma and The

Purr-fect Exposure

Talk about coming out of the corner. Anthony Smith’s Learn to Speak Cat cartoons, which appear as a range of greeting cards through Creature Corner (run by Anthony), are set to be put on the international stage through a tie-up with Universal Uclick, the biggest syndication company in the world.

Since the beginning of February, the cartoon has shared a platform with the likes of Peanuts, Garfield and Dilbert on GoComics.

"I’m delighted to get this exposure," said Anthony. "It’s especially pleasing to be sharing a platform with some of my all time favourite cartoons and potentially reach a much wider audience.”

Above: The Learn To Speak Cat cartoon.

Word Up!

The London Studio has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Saffron Cards & Gifts. With the exception of the humorous ‘The Wisdom of Kids’ brand, Saffron will now include all of The London Studios’ current ranges of quirky and humorous greeting cards within its offering.

Above: Coaster Cards from The London Studio soon to join the Saffron stable.

London Studio’s award-winning Wisdom of Kidz range, while Abacus has strengthened its offering with a licensing agreement with cartoonist Neil Kerber.

Added to all the activity among the established humour players there is also a healthy new generation of young publishers adding yet more fresh humour concepts and design elements to the mix. The humour sector is experiencing many great changes… and another stratum has been added to the Brits’ comedic make-up.

Laughing Stock Matt Goodman, Hallmark’s head of creative - Humour, has been busy making himself a ‘laughing stock’… He’s been gathering together material from some of the UK’s brightest rising comedic talents. It was tough on the ribs, not to mention the funny bone, but someone had to do it!

Talking about the Hallmark comedy card circuit, Matt explains, “Obviously Hallmark already has a strong core of humour brands, such as Mad As Cheese, but we wanted to broaden our humour portfolio to engage in different channels.”

With this in mind, Hallmark is launching Shoebox, a new smart, alternative humour brand.

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I MUST NOT FORGET to visit

Cath Tate Cards PG Live Stand 521 2 – 3 June Business Design Centre London See the full range and more at www.trade.cathtatecards.com Tel: 0208 671 2166

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HUMOUR OVERVIEW Left: Comedians and comedic tweeters turned out some great gags for some of Hallmark’s new designs for its new Shoebox brand. Each comedian’s details are on the back of the cards.

JOE BOR

So to name but a few of the contributors, award winning comedian Joe Borr, musician and funny man Mark Felgate as well as popular comedic tweeters Twitflup and Sixth Form Poet worked with Matt to create some punchy oneliners for the range. “Material from Twitter is kind of perfect for cards,” Matt highlights, “because the number of words that can be used in a tweet is restricted, and tweets need to be funny and snappy to get noticed in the first place.”

Each of the 24 new designs is devoted to a different one-liner, and the comedian responsible for the joke is promoted on the back with a photo and info about their website, Facebook page or Twitter feed.

In addition to all this new content, Hallmark’s Mish Mash alternative humour range - launched last year - will be joining Hallmark’s Shoebox stable, and is positioned to keep people LOLing in the aisles with 52 new designs.

The Shoebox brand will be set to ‘take the mike’ at PG Live in June for all to see.

Joe is a film-mak film-maker er and an a award-winning w ar d- winning c comedian omedian who perf performs orms

across Cromwell acr os s the UK as himself and as mountaineer Jasper Cr om w ell Jones.

Twitter: T witt er: @josephbor

With a whole generation embracing social media to share and express witty quips, jokes and funny pictures, Matt wanted to harness the feel of this content and find a way to capture it on greeting cards. “We are not aiming exclusively at a younger demographic with the Shoebox brand, but we definitely want this generation to be excited by what we’re doing,” he reveals.

One of the innovative new ranges within Shoebox is a collection featuring up-and-coming stand-up comedians and comedy talent. Matt says: “We contacted a number of agents and management companies and we generally found most were very open to the idea of working on a greeting card collaboration with us.”

Website: www.joebor.co.uk W ebsit e: w w w. joebor. c o .uk

www.vivienneclore.com Management: w w w.vivienneclor e . c om

The Screen Scene

Some of the biggest and most popular comedy shows currently on the UK’s TV are part of Danilo Promotion’s humour card offering - which ‘viewers’ can see at this June’s PG Live.

Trevor Jones, licensing director for Danilo, ‘reviews’ the best of the UK’s screen scene. ● Mrs Brown’s Boys tops the sitcom ratings on BBC1, with Christmas specials commissioned for a further five years, a movie that was number 1 at the box office and even a massive arena live tour this year. She is without doubt the UK’s favourite Mammy! ● Movies: The funniest and cutest yellow characters in the high street are the Minions, and Danilo is releasing a new range to coincide with the summer movie release. The range includes age, relations and sound cards, plus giftwrap designs, so there is something for everyone to make them giggle!

Abacus Signs Private Eye Cartoonist

Abacus Cards has recently signed up Neil Kerber, a regular cartoonist for Private Eye and the Daily Mirror, to publish an exclusive greeting card range consisting of cartoons from his ‘Basically’ series. Featuring cartoons that deal with life’s absurdities, the range contains 14, 5” x 7” format cards and is due to be launched at the beginning of May. Neil’s drawing style has been described as cute, warm, silly and at times weird - while his jokes have been known to bring on a full belly laugh to the reader.

Commenting on the signing, Bev Cunningham, creative director at Abacus Cards, says: “Neil’s Basically range is a terrific addition to our humour offering and although we are kicking off with 14 designs, initially to test the market, we are confident this range will grow quite rapidly; Neil certainly has lots more material.”

Above left: The Big Bang Theory on a card from Danilo.

Above right: The Minions will be back this summer with a blockbuster movie. A card from Danilo.

● Keith Lemon continues to appear in a number of shows, including Celebrity Juice, Through the Keyhole and the Keith Lemon Sketch Show. All of them are top rating shows that have built a huge following of fans who just can't get enough of his style of comedy even if it can be a bit naughty at times!

Above: Abacus has signed up well-known Private Eye cartoonist Neil Kerber.

NIBS

● You'll probably all recognise this eye-catching

humour card from UKG’s RPG range. Well, striking a ‘bum note’, UKG’s Jennie Sutton’s boyfriend received this card… and then reenacted the scene!

Taking it one step further, he then made the ‘personalised’ pic into a card to send to Jennie’s grandma for Mother’s Day. ● An accomplished musician in his spare time, Phil Williams has been

appointed area sales manager by Harrogate based card and gift company Peartree Heybridge.

“We are delighted Phil has joined our team,” says sales director John Partridge. “His considerable experience in our industry will help us provide a first class service to our retailer customers in Kent, Surrey and Sussex”.

● The Big Bang Theory has made being nerdy cool, and it has a massive audience who revel in the geeky style humour. ● Family Guy and American Dad are animated TV hits from BBC3, with new episodes being added and a new broadcast on ITV 2 later this year for Family Guy too. ● Modern Family is on Sky with hilarious tales of the dysfunctional American family. ● Only Fools and Horses is the ageless classic featuring Rodney and Del Boy that appeals to the whole family. ● Tommy Cooper remains as popular as ever.

Our cards continue to sell… just like that! ● Mr Bean celebrates 25 years of TV this year and Danilo are releasing a new card range to celebrate. He was recently seen in his first new episode on TV as part of Comic Relief.

Far left: UKG’s Jennie Sutton’s boyfriend replicated this hilarious and memorable scene on one of UKG’s RPG cards.

Left: Musician and Peartree Heybridge area sales manager, Phil Williams.

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And now for something completely different...

Come & see these lovely cards at PG LIVE on Stand 416

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...THE SHOEBOX COLLECTION

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P U T T I N G N E W CO M E DY I N T H E S P OT L I G H T

SIXTH FORM POET

M A R K F E L G AT E

RIA LINA JEREMY O’DONNELL

TWITFLUP

JOE BOR

We a re ra i s i n g t h e c u r t a i n o n a unique new card collection, as part of our Shoebox range.

People love stand-up, so we’ve built the collection working with our comedy connections.

24 designs, simply designed to ensure the joke takes centre stage.

Come and have a chuckle on Stand 416 at PG Live

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SITUATIONAL HUMOUR

Funny

Circumstances

Below: Popular American sitcom Diff’rent Strokes’ first episode was in 1978, it lasted eight years.

Below left: Modern tablets, not pills, assist a long-lasting marriage on an Abacus’ Frank By Name design.

Below middle: A retirement card from Buddy Fernandez.

Below right: A regular check up with an irregular heartbeat - a design from Redback Cards.

Bottom left: Gardening is a prime situation for gags - a card from Country Cards.

Bottom right: New parents will empathise with this situation on a design from Rainbow Cards (Ling).

Sitcoms are now established as a main staple of our television entertainment, with programmes such as The Office, Black Adder and more recently The Big Bang Theory becoming screen must sees.

And situational comedy on cards too are deeply ensconced in the humour sector.

PG takes a look at this funny scenario.

Originally devised for radio, and transferred to television in 1956, Hancock’s Half Hour is deemed as the first great British sitcom. In fact many sitcoms and comedy sketch shows start life as audio form for the BBC, moving on to television, programmes - the likes of Goodness Gracious Me and Little Britain began life on the airwaves.

Throughout the 1970s and 80s sitcoms flourished, with much loved favourites such as George and Mildred, Desmond’s, Keeping Up Appearances and Dad’s Army, to name but a few, prompting audiences to shriek, chuckle and snort. And still making us giggle today, situational comedy remains a popular form of entertainment on our screens as the top TV billing of Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda on Christmas Day last year shows.

The reason why we love sitcoms is because we can relate to the daft and funny circumstances the characters get themselves into. Situational comedy is based on amusing insights on everyday life in commonplace settings, such as at home or work, and being primarily a visual beast, it is a perfect vehicle for humour on greeting cards.

“Situational comedy works on cards, in the same way it has always appealed in TV comedy shows, people find it amusing to see their own lives reflected back to them, even if it is often a more extreme version,” says Bev Cunningham, creative director for Abacus. Bev explains that a design in Abacus’ Frank by Name range, which shows an older couple looking frustrated at a computer and is captioned ‘There was nothing for it they’d just have to wait until the grandchildren’s next visited’ has been extremely popular because it is a situation that rings true with so many. She says, “I also predict that another one of the new Frank cards will also be a big hit as it will strike a chord with quite a few people. The card shows a bored looking couple in bed drinking tea looking straight ahead and is captioned ‘That awkward moment when the tablets need charging!’”

In its heart, situational comedy reflects universal human limitations and shortcomings, collective flaws that we can identify with. Those times when

overwhelmed and frustrated by how to work the computer we start reaching for the wine, or buying strange things on Ebay that we later regret has happened to many others too. It’s a moment we can share, connect and laugh about.

“Depicting everyday life, sometimes just as it is, sometimes adding elements of farce and slapstick, you are essentially taking situations you know and understand and

having a giggle about them,” states Daniela Di-Benedetto, art editor for Paperlink, who believes situational humour works well for greeting cards because cards are all about making instant connections between the buyer and the recipient. “The reaction to the card could be either `that’s us that is` or `that could be you.’”

And Paperlink has a wide variety of sitcom style card designs, showing different everyday circumstances, reaching across the generations and the sexes: “Our Kook card (pictured) pays FOCUS ON HUMOUR

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SITUATIONAL HUMOUR homage to close friendships as we see a muchloved, bonkers mate shows up in a crisis. On our ‘Dinner Party Years’ design it mocks the use of new age therapies for the relief of everyday stress, suggesting we are more likely to chug back vodka. Another design illustrates a small child having to explain to a parent how technology actually works. And one of our Bottom Line designs takes a look at a supposedly `cool` workplace, the irony being that nobody actually really knows what they are doing!” laughs Daniela.

Nigel Holdsworth, director for Country Cards, believes one of the keys of publishing humorous cards is to have a broad range of designs that people can relate to, in particular featuring situations customers might recognise or remember from their past. “We have a number of cards that fit everyday situations, from gardening to dogs behaving badly, farm animals up to no good, alcohol, diet and weight problems,” he says, adding: “We are always on the look out for ideas we can give to cartoonists, but it is important not to lose sight of why would a customer buy a particular humorous card to send to someone. You have a head start if it relates to an everyday incident that has happened to them or someone they know.”

So, if situational comedy on cards is based on characters like you and me, centered around a common environment and taking on the small everyday things that make up the stuff of life, there is a wealth of inspiration to choose from for humorous card designs!

Lee Rowlett, who calls himself ‘deputy head of muffins’ for Buddy Fernandez, says pretty much all of the publisher’s cards feature situational comedy that happens all the time, even if people don’t normally like to admit it. “Who hasn’t grabbed a crap card at the garage on the way to a party or birthday shindig? Or wandered into a card shop and picked the first one they saw. And when it comes to having babies, let’s be honest, some of them can be cute, but the sex is likely to dry up

for the parents and anything like proper sleep is right out the window.” Lee reveals, for example, how some of our cards came about was when his mate Andy congratulated his dad on his retirement, and promptly reminded him not to spend all his money on enjoying himself, because he’s counting on a decent inheritance. “Another was

weight watcher

FOCUS ON HUMOUR

Punch and Telegraph Matt, (on Woodmansterne’s cards), The New Yorker (UKG), Tim Wyatt’s illustrations on the Traces of Nuts range from UKG, Cardmix’s Off The Leash’s dog cartoons by Rupert Fawcett, and Steve Best of Paperlink’s Bestie fame - and winner of The Henry Cole Classic Award - are champion cartoonists whose work has flourished on situational humour cards.

While Rainbow Cards’ The Funny Side of Life range (a brand now under Ling’s wing) has made us chortle with its sitcom cartoon capers since 1977 and is still going strong.

The legendary Bill Kimpton was the first contributor with many cartoon masters following in his wake.

Another well-known cartoonist and director for Beverston Press, Oliver Preston has found that his situational comedy cards have become proven best sellers. “The closer the joke to people's real life experiences, the more they love the humour. Losing one's glasses, ski accidents, one bottle too many, irreverent girlfriends and wayward children all make for good topics, and it's a winner if they can see themselves in the cartoon (or more usually their family and friends).”

Oliver says today's running themes for Beverston’s cards are iPads and iPhones, growing up with kids and dogs, dogs, dogs! However, by its universal and mutually shared nature, situational humour’s appeal is widespread. He recounts: “I met a wonderful Scot at a fair in Perthshire, who having surveyed all my greeting cards (and having bought a fistful), said, "You obviously know the same people as I do."

I’m not actually overweight, I’ve just got too much graavity

when we were only invited to the reception of a good friend’s wedding. We knew there was a card in that, hence the card caption, ‘We would’ve got you a nicer card... but we were only invited to the evening bit’. Firm but fair, and it’s a great seller!” says Lee. Masters of common observations and easily understood scenarios, cartoonists’ humorous perceptions on the daily tasks we carry out have thrived under the situational humour card banner.

Above left: The problems the older generation have with computers is highlighted on a Rambling Mansion design.

Above middle: Frankie Whistle highlights ‘weighty’ issues.

Above right: This Off The Leash card from Cardmix illustrates today’s modern family.

Far left: A work related situation on a Modern Toss card.

Left: The council cracking down on our recycling mistakes is something we can all relate to. A card from Peartree Heybridge’s Jonathan Pugh range.

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Above: Well-loved sitcom The Golden Girls.

Above left: An instant female to female connection on a Kook design from Paperlink.

Far left: During the last eight years of the recession we can all empathise with this Splimple card.

Left: Dogs are often treated as one of the family - a Beverston Press card.

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20 COVERING IT ALL

Emotional Years

How time flies! This is in fact the 20th edition of PG’s annual Focus on Humour supplement that has been published each May since 1996.

PG takes a flick back through the front covers.

A lot has happened in the past two decades since the very first Focus on Humour was published, shining the spotlight on the machinations of humorous cards. For starters, the UK has had four different Prime Ministers (and may be well welcoming a 5th by the time this edition is published) and the Worldwide Web was just a glimmer in a few scientists’ eyes and PG’s Warren still had some hair then!

But just like England’s national soccer team’s perennial failure in the finals of major tournaments, some things have, on the surface at least, not changed that much. The front cover of every one of the 20 issues of the PG Humour supplement thus far has featured an advertisement from the ultimate humour specialist Emotional Rescue. Trends in greeting card humour have come and gone, but Emotional Rescue has always remained at the forefront, skilfully adapting its much-loved brands to ever changing times.

These front covers in themselves tell a story, not least how EMO (as the company is affectionately known) has adapted incredibly strong and long lasting brands to reflect cultural changes and even industry events. PG features some of the most memorable.

Inset: It’s been an emotional 20 years - An On the Ceiling card from Emotional Rescue.

The First 1996 - EMO’s front cover of the first PG Humour supplement and featured On the Ceiling’s take on the first publication. On the Ceiling was a relatively new brand then and went on to scoop two awards at the first Henries event held later in the year in October. The brand is still going strong and has won countless Henries awards since, including The Henry Cole Classic award in 2008.

Whazz-Upp? Buy, Buy and Buy! 1998 and the late 1990s saw a period of many publishing acquisitions by the two major US owned greeting card publishing giants, Hallmark and American Greetings. Here once again EMO used the vehicle of the front cover and the ‘voice’ of On the Ceiling via the Humour supplement to speculate on Carlton Cards’ (now UKG) intentions!

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FOCUS ON HUMOUR

2002 - Today we tend to take Photoshop and digital computer manipulation for granted, but back in 2002 Emotional Rescue’s Virtual Safari brand was one of the first successful greeting card ranges to make the most of it in the humorous greeting card arena. Showing just how quickly popular phrases move in and out of fashion, EMO picked–up on the now almost forgotten, but at the time the hugely popular yet annoying catchphrase, Whazz-Upp?!!

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COVERING IT ALL

Show Time 2009 - EMO returned to an industry event for this year. Using ‘On the Ceiling’, it heralded the first ever PG Live exhibition.

You Can’t Chav It All 2005 - EMO used On the Ceiling once again as a vehicle to poke fun at what was then a new emerging social stereotype - the Chav!

Driving On 2010 - By 2010 the Internet was an all pervasive part of our lives and the annoying ads for various websites were omnipresent in all media. That year, it was the robotic and ubiquitous ‘We Buy Any Car’ advert of the time that was mercilessly lampooned EMO style, through one of its other stalwart brands, Odd Squad.

A Right Royal Occasion 2012 - Having poked fun at Chavs and ASBOs, ‘Her Maj’ received the On the Ceiling treatment on the occasion of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

You Never Had It So Good 2006 - The longest economic downturn in recent UK history has perhaps made us look back at the ‘Noughties’ with rose-tinted spectacles. But even in the so-called ‘Boom Years’, there were serious concerns about the state of the UK greeting card economy.

You Naughty Boy 2008 - And yet another term enters the English dictionary, the ASBO. This acronym, like ‘WhazzUpp?’ and ‘the Chav’, has now become an old cliché of the Tony Blair years, but at the time it was new into popular usage.

The Present 2015 - This year EMO is going all nostalgic as it commemorates the 20th milestone of the PG Humour supplement, celebrating the company’s appearance on the outside front cover on every one of them.

It will be intriguing too see what those witty boys and girls at EMO will come up with in the next 20 years?

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NEW HUMOUR RELEASES

Raising A

Giggle

Making them laugh in the aisles, a comedic crowd of new humour card ranges. ● Ten new designs join Abacus’ Frank by Name humour range, and like the existing designs they all feature captioned, spot coloured retro, black and white photographic imagery.

Additionally, the publisher has launched a sister (or rather a brother) humour range called Happy as Larry featuring 5”x7” cards with captioned retro photographic imagery, carefully handcoloured and printed on smooth board.

● Cath Tate Cards is very excited to be introducing into the UK market a new range of cards from the cartoonist Michael Leunig from Australia. Declared an ‘Australian living treasure’ by the National Trust of Australia, his quirky, thoughtful cartoons have been appearing for years in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age. His wry look at life covers topics such as love, life, happiness and silliness and the joys of washing the dishes. All will be revealed at PG Live on stand 521. ● Buddy Fernadez launched its new Spring/Summer 2015 range at Spring Fair, adding a horde of fresh designs.

The publisher says: “For the first time we’ve dipped our dirty toes into the age-specific market, and we’ve got all emotional with some sympathy cards too.“ The ages covered are 18, 21, 30, 40, 50 and 60, and in total the new range features 37 new designs, including new Valentine’s, pet, sympathy and housewarming cards.

● As self-confessed typography addicts, Brainbox Candy has delved into its hallowed ‘Wood Type’ drawer.

After a few hours of fiddling about it unveiled a brand new humour range, Typetastic. With the exception of the letter 'P' (that was missing, however quickly carved from an old oak tree’s knuckle by the multi-talented and champion whittler Mark Williams), a highly tactile and nostalgic range of contemporary humour cards, giftwrap and notebooks was born. View the whole range at www.brainboxcandy.com innit. ● Country Cards has just published 16 new humour cards in its ever-expanding Country Humour range. A number of wellknown cartoonists are working with the publisher, including Tony Husband, Lee Fearnley and Royston Robertson (image shown) among others, which gives the range great variety. The ‘clean’ humour has strong appeal and connects well with most ‘middle’ market customers. ● Launching this May, Hallmark’s ‘halfbaked’ range presents topical jokes in a simple text-led format which makes them perfect for every occasion. The simple and bold designs really stand out on the fixtures, offering something really fun and contemporary. These four craft designs come individually packaged with a kingfisher blue envelope and retail at £1.69. ● Hazel Bee’s 2015 range of 8 new card designs features owls, naked dancing, arguing butterflies, hairs of dogs and birthday fossils. All the cards are blank inside and supplied with a C6 craft brown envelope, and are 100% recycled, biodegradable, compostable, UK made and fair trade. Available from www.hazelbee.co.uk. ● Publisher Ohh Deer has added new humour designs from three fantastic illustrators: David Olenick's art is inspired by anxiety, embarrassment, character flaws and profanity; Gemma Correll is a serial punner with a crush on all things cartooney. Her favourite colour is turquoise, her star sign is Aquarius and her favourite word ‘Albuquerque’, just in case you were wondering; and Jaco Haasbroek is an illustrator from Cape Town. His illustrations are will turn your frown upside down and have you clutching your sides with laughter.

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NEW HUMOUR RELEASES ● With 12 new greeting card design launched in April, Modern Toss’ Work range of office-based greeting cards cover every aspect of life in the modern workplace, from interviews to HR negotiations, procrastination on a Friday afternoon to turning up drunk on a Monday morning… Whether you’ve got a job or are just sitting around thinking about getting one, there’s a Work cartoon to sum up your work life. ● Oliver Preston is launching new greeting cards at PG Live to add to its range. In summer themes, the designs are quirky and topical, featuring a bit of town and country, but always funny.

Vivien Preston says, "There is a great following for Oliver's cards, and besides these new ones he is also working on a new book, The Imperfect Shot, and we have just launched political playing cards. They are a lot of fun - but also very lucrative - we sold out in 2010!" ● In honour of its`three decades of innovation` celebrations (yes, Paperlink is 30!) it has created three very innovative new humour ranges. The first, Haiku, is quirkily cute and based around the Japanese art of writing non-rhyming verse.

Haiku combines naïve artwork with zingy colour. At the other end of the spectrum is the wacky Weird Stuff Soup collection.

Weird Stuff Soup is a mix of surreal, random true facts, crazy thoughts and odd little jokes. And finally, tapping into the Instagram trend, there is Freddie Says Relax. `In your face` photographs with `in your face` statements. ● Really Good has added a fresh and fabulous new range of everyday greeting cards created by illustrator of all things big faced and furry, Casey Rogers. The collection mirrors her fascination with animals, capturing their personalities with humour, quirkiness and colour. Created with Casey’s unique blend of mark making, colour and computer technology, each vibrant illustration is featured alongside striking text, producing a fantastical sense of fun. ● Launching soon is Pigment’s fab new range Ministry of Chaps. Drawing on influences from the world of industrial and urban warning signs, Ministry of Chaps features styling reminiscent of old and worn-out government information posters.

This brand new collection covers some favourite greeting card topics and throws in a few brand new ones for good measure. Each design displays sharp insights into the things that really matter to officially brilliant blokes. ● Firmly anchored in absurdity, The Argyle Sweater from Redback Cards presents a surreal, hilarious and punny view of the world we live in. The range features dogs, porcupines, cops, bears, zebras, cavemen, mummies, prawns, cows and the occasional evil scientist.

Funny, irreverent and smart, The Argyle Sweater collection has something for people of all ages. ● Splimple has always been strong on words - but for its new Nuff Said range it wanted a look that was as fresh as the copy, so it turned to Falmouth University, which every year turns out some of Britain’s most accomplished graphic designers. Second year undergraduate Matt Caldwell created a brand new typeface for Splimple’s most minimalist range ever, which features on 18 designs, using gloss and matt varnishes and bright colours.

Splimple has also updated its popular Cheap & Miserable range, with the topical British and Brokeish - this time having a good old grumble about the age of austerity we’re all enduring! ● Have you ever been irritated by the pretentious coffee culture, bearded hipsters, flowery wine bottle blurbs, tedious small talk, unreliable technology or vacuous, unhelpful sales staff? Then meet Agnes, (new from Hanson White) your new kindred spirit! A little lady with bags of attitude and a fringe that can stop traffic, she's not afraid to say the things that everyone would like to say but daren't! Brace yourself for some straight talking and a barrel-load of belly laughs – Agnes is in town and she's not taking any prisoners! ● Urban Graphic is excited to announce the launch of its brand new humour range, a selection of 12 cards from Canadian cartoonist John Atkinson. The range is called Wrong Hands and is mainly based around ‘play on words’ jokes.

Interesting fact: the range is called Wrong Hands because John Atkinson is actually left-handed but he draws his cartoons with his right hand (with a little help from his Mac computer and mouse!).

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RETAILER FEEDBACK

Comedy Stores PG discovers what humorous card ranges are currently creating a comedic stir in indie card retailers’ stores.

Giles Meehan, senior buyer for The Card Centre, Felixstowe: “Humour cards are selling better than ever, as people always want something to laugh about. We are finding a more subtle, drier sense of humour is becoming more popular, although classic ranges and cartoons are still well-loved. Some of our many best sellers include Woodmansterne's Matt and Punch cartoons and Genius exam answers, Cath Tate's cheeky Photocaptions, and the fresh and witty Harold's Planet range from Clare Maddicott, such as its design captioned, 'How to avoid running injuries... walk!'

Another of our favourites are the unique and inventive captions of Whale and Bird, eg 'Let's pretend this card is perfect for whatever just happened!'

Older customers still love the gentler (but no less funny!) humour of Ling's Rainbow Cards’ cartoons and Splimple's Alison's Animals, and the 'reincarnated cards' also from Splimple have proved popular with a younger market.”

Left: Whale & Bird creates cute humour cards.

Ian Thomas, owner of Absolute Cards, Wells: “As a shop around 20% of our own published cards (called Rambling Mansion) account for sales, but not all of them are humour designs. The Keyboard Commands range of computer humour - which takes a comedic look at the problems the aging population have with getting to grips with IT - is popular, not only because the card can be an in-joke between mature friends but also their grandchildren can gently tease their grandparents about their inability with using computers.

Quentin Blake’s illustrations on Woodmansterne’s cards is an evergreen range for us. And Paperlink’s ranges, such as Bestie and Wrinklies, are our staple diet when it comes to humour. In my opinion, I believe the company comes up with some of the best humour cards on the market. As a publisher I am very envious of what they produce, and as a retailer they keep coming out with new ranges and we keep loading and reloading the Paperlink spinner in the shop.

Another fairly new company called Jelly n Bean has a good humour range called Chorley Knot. A couple of great designs that instantly come to mind (ideal for men) within the collection are a card that features Charlie Chaplin with the caption ‘You’re how old… Well I’m speechless!’, and another that features the police officers from an old classic TV show called Car 54 Where Are You?” Above: Gently jesting those who have trouble with computers, a Rambling Mansion’s Keyboard Commands design.

Left: The two main characters from the vintage TV programme Car 54 Where Are You? feature on this card from Jelly n Bean.

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Sean Austin, owner of Austin & Co, Malvern:

“Humour is a subjective matter. And there lies the dilemma. Do you stock what you think is funny, what we're told is funny, or work out what your customers think is funny?

We look at our suppliers of non-humour cards and see what humorous offer they have as we know we have some kind of design fit already. For example, Urban Graphic's Toasted range has contemporary illustration and graphics, but is humorous too. It’s ‘Watership Downer’ card with its humour and language may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is the biggest selling card in the shop, across all ages.

Age isn't a barrier to what sells. Our more mature customers who grew up with the unpolitically correct comedy of the 1970s seem far less phased. Ranges that feature punnery (the Etched range by Pigment) or taking the Michael out of age (eg the Make a Statement range by Megan Claire and designs by Dandelion Stationery).

For me personally, whose informative years were spent watching The Young Ones, sarcasm is my humour of choice and Buddy Fernandez's ‘cards that say it like it is’ have become new favourites of both mine and my customers.”

Top: Urban Graphic’s well-loved Watership Downer card.

Above: Panic! Is what this Megan Claire ‘Make A Statement’ card is jokingly saying.

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RETAILER FEEDBACK

Leah Munro, manager of Clocktower Cards, Lerwick, Shetlands: “We’ve had Hanson White’s (UKG) Giggles range for a long time, but customers just keep on buying it. It’s a large range with a big mix of different designs that there is something for everyone. The RPG range, also from UKG, is a bit more risqué with its jokes but it appeals to both young and older people.

Say Cheese is another UKG collection that focuses mainly on the problems of getting older. We find that, although we have a variety of customers who come into the shop, as part of the store is a post office, some of the mature population of the town come in to collect their pension… and will pick up a card or two at the same time.

When it comes to humour cards for us, UKG really hits the target. Its ranges are slightly different and they seem to work.”

Left: The positives of exercise on a Say Cheese design from UKG.

Maureen and Tom O’Connell, owners of Just Cards, St Ives, Cambridgeshire: “We dabbled before Christmas with some of Pigment’s humour ranges, which went down well with our customers, so we decided to add a few more. Now we have the publisher’s Riff Raff, Midget Gems, Pinot Grigio, Fleet Street and Ooh La La! collections. More aimed at the middle-aged, some of the cards’ jokes are cheeky, but not too naughty.

We’ve also had a spinner of Brainbox Candy designs in for a year now. We thought we’d give the cards a go, and they have been ticking over nicely. We don’t have too many with the rude words on, but we do have a few designs from its Profunnity (18+) range.

A range that always sells for us is Eric The Penguin from Paper House (GBCC). The publisher keeps updating the designs with fresh illustrations showing the funny side of topical happenings, and the cards are great for teenagers too.

Histericals, also from Paper House, is a humour range aimed at men. It’s fairly new but it’s very good.

And of course, the Spike Milligan range from Woodmansterne is surreal, but a classic.”

Above: Profunnity, as the name suggests, is a naughty and swear words range from Brainbox Candy.

Left: Great humour for men, the Histericals range from Paper House (GBCC).

Glen Everton, owner of The Card Cottage, Ashby-De-La-Zouch:

“We seem to have tried every publisher’s humour range, but we always come back to UKG’s Giggles. We are located in a small market town but with so many designs in the range there are enough for everyone’s humour tastes.

We also stock UKG’s Recycled Paper Greetings range, Out of the Ark and Traces of Nuts. The latter has been out a few years now, but we review the collection every December and it continues to be a good seller as the range keeps getting refreshed with additional designs.

Personally, what I find funny at the moment is a TV programme on Sky called Moone Boy. It is about a 12 year-old boy and his imaginary friend (played by Chris O’Dowd). And I could spend a whole night in front of the laptop watching Only Fools And Horses, it’s comedy gold.”

Above: A social faux par on a Traces of Nuts card by UKG.

Mark Janson-Smith, managing director for Postmark, Balham, Dulwich and Turnham Green Terrace: “Our best-selling humour ranges at the moment are A Colourful Mind by Paperlink and Rock On by The Art File. Colourful Minds is a little quirky but really hits the spot, whereas Rock On just has some great simple one-liners, beautifully produced.

Both ranges stay away from the clichéd jokes and really offer a fresh clean take on the simple but amusing things in life.

Left: Unicorns are so yesterday. A Jolly Awesome card design.

Below: Blue Island Press’ The Great House Wives of Art range features well-known artists’ ‘wives’.

Alice Scott from Pigment continues to do well. It isn’t necessarily a ‘humour’ range but has some blinding captions that make us laugh and sell really well.

One of our most popular lines with our mature customers is The Great House Wives of Art by Blue Island Press. Each one is a take on a classic painting with the artist’s wife as the topic. It’s a very clever and original range, and one we are huge fans of too. This is closely followed by Frankie Whistle’s simple cards, but with jokes our customers love.

Ohh Deer produces some fantastic cards for the younger generation and we are also very excited about a new range due in any day now from publisher Jolly Awesome. An edgy, urban range, we expect to be a huge hit with our younger, trendier customers. Some of them are just genius and we just know they are going to fly.

When it comes to volume sales, humour is always by far the best for us. The struggle is finding new and refreshing humour all the time. We stay away from clichéd and crass humour cards and try and find witty observational designs. They are always the best and always brings my favourite sound to the shop - a snort and a snigger from a customer who just couldn’t keep it in!”

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