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  • Blue Eyed Sun launch new Enchantment cards

    Enchantment cards by Blue Eyed Sun

    Blue Eyed Sun have launched a gorgeous new Everyday range of forty seven Enchantment cards.

    Based on original machine stitched artworks by market leading textile designer, Jo Corner, they are all hand finished with jewels. These beautiful new Enchantment cards include 13 open birthday captions and 32 occasions cards as well as twelve Mother's Day cards. Enchantment cards are all also available in a wonderful range of 32 Christmas cards.

    Enchantment cards all come cello wrapped with a coloured envelope that is 165mm x 165mm square. Sold in sixes the designs are available for trade customers to order through our agents, by brochure, at shows or on our website.

    You can see them all first in person at the events below:

    Top Drawer at Olympia 11-13 January 2014 - Stand T46

    Spring Fair International at the NEC in Birmingham 1 - 5 February 2015 - Hall 4 - Stand 4L66

    To stock these cards in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them. To see an overview of Blue Eyed Sun ranges click here.

  • 6 ways our minds deceive us

    6 ways our minds deceive us

    I've recently been learning about common ways our minds deceive us. To explain more I'd you like to play a game with me. Before you read the rest of this post please watch the video below, which asks you to count the number of basketball passes made by players in white T-shirts for 1 minute. Click on the triangle in the middle of the image below to play the video.

    How did you get on? How many passes did you count? Did you notice anything unusual? We all believe that we are capable of seeing what’s accurately in front of us, of accurately remembering important events from our past, of understanding the limits of our knowledge, of properly determining cause and effect. But these intuitive beliefs are often mistaken ones that critically mask important limitations in our cognitive beliefs. Here's a brief overview of six limiting beliefs we all fall prey to:

     

    illusion of attention

     

    When you watched the video, did you see the gorilla? Yes, a man size gorilla walked into the game. If you missed it, you experienced something called inattentional blindness. Which is to say that when people are focussed on a particular area or aspect of their visual world, they tend not to notice unexpected objects, even when these unexpected objects are salient, potentially important, and appear right where they are looking. If you didn't watch the video you're probably thinking "I would have seen that." Perhaps you would have, maybe you wouldn't. It doesn't matter either way. It's not an intelligence or aptitude test. What's most interesting about this experiment is that most people are surprised that they, or others, would miss the gorilla. Things seem obvious in hindsight.  Unfortunately, people often confuse what is easily noticed, when it is expected, with what should be noticed when it is unexpected.

     

    illusion of memory

     

    Just as we intuitively believe in the illusion of attention, there is also disconnect between how we think our memory works and how it actually works. Many of of us believe that memory works like a video camera and some believe that, once a memory is formed, the memory doesn’t change. In fact your mind will often reconstruct details based on your specific memory and how the things you are remembering are generally related. When we perceive something we extract the meaning rather than encoding every detail. Memory doesn’t store everything we perceive, but instead takes what we have seen and heard and associates it with what we already know. As with the gorilla, people see what they expect to see, with memory they remember what they expect to remember. People remember events based on what is salient to them based on their experiences. Vividness and emotionality are not necessarily strong indicators of accuracy, even though we often believe them, and the confidence with which they are expressed, to be so.

     

    illusion of confidence

     

    People judge the accuracy of another persons memory based on how much confidence that person expresses in the memory. Think of a doctor who uses a book or computer in front of you to diagnose you. How would you feel about their abilities? As you can imagine, such doctors tend to be under appreciated by their patients. The irony is that those that are the least skilled are the most likely to think better of themselves than they should. As Charles Darwin said, "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than it does knowledge.” When we become more skilled at something our confidence levels align themselves more closely to our actual abilities. A doctor who knows her limits might actually be the one who is more valuable to you as a patient than the overconfident quack. 

     

    Group leadership can also be determined by confidence. People with dominant personalities tend to exhibit greater self-confidence. If you offer your opinion early and often, people will take your confidence as an indicator of ability, even if you are no better than your peers. It's worth bearing this in mind when you hire staff or promote within your team. Be sure that confidence levels and abilities are closely aligned and not illusory. 

     

    illusion of knowledge

     

    Whenever people think they know more than they do, they are under the illusion of knowledge. Over familiarity often contributes to the illusion of knowledge. Think of the internet. We all know how to use it daily, but few of us understand how it actually works. Think also of how often descriptions of things by someone who believed themselves to be knowledgable were amiss from the actual things they were describing. The illusion of knowledge is compounded by techno babble. We seem to prefer the expert who does not know the limits to their self knowledge than the one who does. People who know the limits of their knowledge say things like “there is a 75% chance of rain” while those who don’t know those limits express undue certainty. Even the best in their fields of expertise can fall prey to this illusion.

     

    illusion of cause

     

    There are three separate, but interrelated biases that contribute to the illusion of cause. Firstly, your visual system is exquisitely sensitive to patterns most important to you and can easily identify these patterns in randomness. When pattern recognition works well a mum can find the face of a lost child in a crowd. When it works too well we can spot the face of Jesus in pastries and other relationships that aren’t really there or don’t mean what we think they do. Secondly, we have a bias towards single narratives or causes. We look at events that happen together as having a causal relationship. Correlative results of scientific studies do not corroborate causal inference. Which is to say that results that appear to relate to a cause, may not actually do so. Finally, we tend to interpret events that happened earlier as causes of events that happened or appeared to happen later. We can often jump to conclusions and point to a single cause when in fact the truth may be more complex than that.

     

    illusion of potential

     

    We are prone to thinking that vast reservoirs of untapped mental ability exist in our brains. It’s not true that we only use 10% of our brain capacity. There is no known way of measuring a person’s brain capacity and brain tissue that produces no activity whatsoever for an extended time is clinically dead. We also do not have a sixth sense and cannot sense someone looking at us from behind. This idea has been thoroughly debunked in 1898 by psychologist Edward Titchener. Similarly, subliminal advertising or persuasion is not scientifically proven. The single frame saying “drink Coca-Cola” inserted into a movie does not boost sales of coke at cinemas. Ad exec James Vicary, the man behind the study, has since admitted that it was a fraud. Lastly, many of us believe that brain training and listening to Mozart boost general mental abilities when the truth is that physical exercise is the only proven activity to be show preservation of our grey matter. This is not to say that improvement can't been made in our mental abilities. Just don't fall prey to the illusion that is is quick easy and doesn't require effort. The brains potential is vast, and you can indeed tap into it, but it takes time and effort.

     

     

    Conclusion

     

    These mirages of the mind can make us think that our mental capacities are greater than they are. In a metaphorical sense they there are gorillas in our midst, i.e. the important things in front of you that you may be missing. So what can we do to address them? Well, be wary of thinking you know more about a subject than you actually do. Test your understanding before mistaking familiarity for knowledge. Just because your mind does something easily, doesn’t mean it has done it well. So double check. Trust your memory less. Avoid get-smart-quick gimmicks. Understand that this is how all our minds work and try avoid jumping to conclusions.

     

    This article was inspired by the book The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons.

     

    You might also like to read:

    How to get more customers into your retail business

    7 Habits of Highy Effective Retailers

    How to get things done when you don't feel like it

  • Festive Friday 2014 at Blue Eyed Sun's Studio

    Festive Friday 2014 Blue Eyed SunFestive Friday 2014 at Blue Eyed Sun

    Festive Friday is the day that kick starts the UK Christmas card sending season and we've been busy writing our Christmas cards today because, you've guessed it, Friday 28th November is Festive Friday 2014!

    The UK Greeting Card Association launched the Festive Friday campaign last year to encourage card publishers and retailers to send their Christmas cards early to help remind everyone to remember to send theirs. There are around 100,000 people working directly and indirectly with the UK card industry. If each of us sends 10 Christmas cards to arrive in the first week of December it will have a fantastic ripple effect from those first million gestures. Last year had a fantastic effect on our industry and we hope that this fun initiative will continue for many years to come.

    At Blue Eyed Sun we've been getting into the Christmas spirit ourselves and held a 'christmas card writing hour' for our team to write and send cards to their loved ones. We sponsored the cards, their time and the postage to support the GCA campaign. All our team had to do was to write as many cards as they wanted to in the hour. We managed 104 Christmas cards between us, which will be making their way via Royal Mail over the weekend to their lucky recipients.

    Our team had a lot of fun on Festive Friday 2014 with Christmas jumpers and Santa hats to get us in the mood. It's a wonderful feeling when we think about all of the love going out into the world from this short amount of time dedicated to card sending and we recommend it to anyone involved in the card industry.

    Even if you are not in the card industry, it is a special time of year to connect with your customers, friends and loved ones. Send them a nice Christmas card with a warm message in it expressing your gratitude and wishing them all the best for 2015. We hope you enjoy spreading festive cheer around the world.

    Remember that cards really can have valuable emotional impact in your loved ones' lives.

    There are only a few days left to get cards in the post though, so do get started this week. I've listed the Royal Mail's last posting dates below. Want to print this info out for your customers? Click here to download the dates in a PDF.

    Find out more about Blue Eyed Sun's Christmas cards for 2014 here. Available at all good card retailers.

    Worried about the cost? Read the truth about How Royal Mail's price increases affect your card sending costs here.

    Festive Friday 2014 Blue Eyed Sun Team Festive Friday 2014 Blue Eyed Sun

    Last Recommended Posting Dates UK Christmas 2014

  • Blue Eyed Sun launch new Vintage greeting cards for 2015

    New Vintage greeting cards from Blue Eyed Sun

    Blue Eyed Sun have added twenty four new designs to their stunning, award nominated Vintage greeting cards.

    Based on original machine stitched artworks by market leading textile designer, Jo Corner, they are printed and embossed to give a beautiful look and a realistic feel. Hand finished with jewels the new additions include 12 open birthday captions and 12 occasions cards. The Vintage range also includes a fantastic selection of best selling designs in ChristmasValentine's Day and Mother's Day.

    Vintage greeting cards all come cello wrapped with a coloured envelope that is 165mm x 165mm square. Sold in sixes the designs are available for trade customers to order through our agents, by brochure, at shows or on our website.

    You can see them all first in person at the events below:

    Top Drawer at Olympia 11-13 January 2014 - Stand T46

    Spring Fair International at the NEC in Birmingham 1 - 5 February 2015 - Hall 4 - Stand 4L66

    To stock these cards in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them. To see an overview of Blue Eyed Sun ranges click here.

  • The Ladder Club Seminar 2014

    The Ladder Club Seminar 2014 - Day 1

    The Ladder Club is an annual seminar to support new and aspiring greeting card publishers to climb the ladder to success in the card industry. It's organised by Lynn Tait and has been an incredible support to so many artists and new card publishers for many years, helping them to avoid the pitfalls that can cost time, money and a whole lot of heartache. 
     

    I have enjoyed speaking at the event for the past ten of it's fifteen year history and have had the privilege of meeting and helping many wonderful new businesses during that time. Often the seminar has been regarded by attendees as a success even when they have decided not to become a publishers. For £48 and a day of their time some artists and photographers have realised that their passion is creating beautiful things and they choose to find other ways of generating income including licensing their work, partnering with businesses or simply selling their work in other ways. I have just returned from this year's seminars, which were two of the best to date and included some great speakers and many talented delegates. Here are some of my photos of the day and a brief summary of everything we went through.

    Lynn Tait, Sharon Little and Jakki BrownWe had a fantastic turn out for the first day of the seminar this year, which is all about helping the delegates to take their first step onto the Ladder. Lynn Tait compered both days that began with an introduction to the Greeting Card Association from CEO Sharon Little. Jakkie Brown from Max Publishing spoke about PG Live, the Henries Awards and how to make the most of Progressive Greetings magazine's free editorial section called Innovations.

    Simon King, Bob Short and Nicky MarshallSimon King and Nicky Marshall from Sherwood Litho Press showed everyone how to prepare for and print litho on B1 presses and the technical issues involved with doing so. Bob Short from The Imaging Centre took us all through the Digital Printing process which most card publishers these days use for short runs to test the market with their products. Both printers ran through the costs of getting started and the Ladder Club delegates were given useful information packs.

    Mark Jessett, julie Brightly and Tracey ArnaudEveryone got to learn about the different substrates and boards they could print on in an entertaining talk from Mark Jessett at paper merchants GF Smith. Julie Brightley from Enveco Envelopes Plus talked about how envelopes are made, what prices they start at and how to save money by using standard off-the-shelf sizes for your first greeting card ranges. Tracey Arnaud from Progressive Greetings Live talked us through the important things to consider when exhibiting at trade shows for the first time and how to get the most out of your trade fairs. 

    Lynn Tait, Karen Wilson, Claire Williams, Jeremy Corner and Ian BradleyLadder Club alumni, Karen and Claire from Paper Salad, spoke about their adventures in greeting card publishing and the things that new publishers must keep an eye out for before rushing into big deals with large multiple card retailers. I had a few things to so say about my experience in the card business running Blue Eyed Sun and how to cope with wearing different hats whilst doing soIan Bradley, a Midlands greeting card agent, then gave everyone to gain an insight into how working with freelance sales agents can benefit their greeting card business.

    Henri Davis, Miles Robinson and Chris HoufeThe second day was a more advanced Ladder Club seminar. Retail expert Henri Davis spoke about how to approach large retailers in a very informative talk drawing on her experience of buying at the National Trust and WH Smiths. We also heard how best to approach retailers from Miles Robinson who co-owns a small chain of independent card shops called House of Cards. Finally, Chris Houfe, from Waterwells Distribution (part of the Great British Card Company) taught us all the basics of brokerage and how to work with brokers to best serve multiple retailers. 

    Everyone had a great time and all of those attending found the Ladder Club extremely useful and well worth their time. It was really interesting to see that almost everyone attended the meal the night before the second day event as more experienced publishers recognised the importance of this great networking opportunity. I look forward to seeing those who attended this year's Ladder Club at trade shows and other card industry events in the future. A special thanks also to Trudi who organised the day, to Jim for keeping us all on time and to all of the speakers who gave their time so freely.

    Click here to join the Ladder Club Facebook Group (only open to attendees and Ladder Club alumni)

    For those that attended the Ladder Club and want to know more. Here are some links to useful content on my blog:

    Looking Back from Perfect - How to achieve your goals

    Overcoming the challenges of exporting abroad

    Our top ten business tools

    Are trade shows still worth it?

    10 Business Basics to get right before using social media

    The Ladder Club Seminar 2014 - Day 2

  • Our Top 10 Business Tools

    Top 10 Business Tools

    For small businesses it’s difficult to keep up with all of the technology available to us these days, much of which is actually free. We've done quite a lot of work on this ourselves over the last few years and are constantly learning new tools that we love to share. Here are the top 10 business tools we use daily and find most valuable to our business:

    Magento  Bought by Ebay in 2011, this easy to use ecommerce software does exactly what you want when setting up a webstore. It’s free open source software, which means that it doesn’t matter if the company who created it goes bust (I’ve had this happen previously). We run our Blue Eyed Sun trade website and our Ivy Ellen consumer site on Magento. Both allow us to sell a variety of products in a number of ways online. Magento really comes into it’s own for those selling to the public online as it can link into larger marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. It also taps straight into Paypal and Sagepay to receive credit card payments securely. Most importantly, our team can easily update new product images and descriptions. You will need help from an expert to set it up correctly and a little support from time to time to tweak things, but generally you can keep costs down on an ongoing basis by doing most of it yourself. 

    Google Analytics This tool starts with a small piece of code that you can have your web developer add into your website and link back to your free Google Analytics account. Once it’s set up, you can see huge amounts of info on who’s visiting your website, what sites they are coming from, what search terms they are using, what browsers or devices they are using, where in the world they are viewing your site from and so on. Knowing the number of visitors to your website, how many of them are new and how long they are spending on your site is all incredibly important for improving your customers’ experience. Analytics also tells you your bounce rate (the percentage of people who leave the first page they land on) which is really important for ranking well on search engines (i.e. search engine optimisation or SEO). It also helps us to track the success of our Google Adwords when we pay to advertise on Google searches. 

    Dropbox This free online data storage tool is incredibly useful for backing up digital files in the cloud (i.e. on the web). You can also use it to share files with anyone in the world. For instance we’ve created a dropbox folder that only our printers and our office can see. We can then drop our artwork into the folder when it’s ready to go to press. It has the advantage over email when sharing large files like graphic artwork which can clog up inboxes or be blocked at server level. We know sales agents that use Dropbox to share PDF brochures quickly and easily with customers just by emailing them a link to their drop box folder rather than emailing large files. The recipient can then choose when they want to download the info. 

    Sage When we first started our business, we managed our accounts and payroll manually. It was a hugely time consuming and thankless task. I remember being on the verge of tears pouring over grids of numbers trying to figure out PAYE and NI amounts for our first staff. These days we run all our accounts and payroll through Sage and it is a pleasure using this powerful business software. We subscribe to SageCover support which provides us with telephone help, data repair and software updates all through the year. It’s expensive, but I always say it’s like having a good bed. You sleep every day, so it’s worth paying for a good one. We use Sage daily to manage all of our customers, invoices, bills, suppliers, staff, etc. If you’re going to run your business well and make a success of it, up to date numbers are crucial.  

    WordPress We use this fantastic free blogging software every week, as well as a number of plugins to it which help us get the most out of this great tool. There are two ways of using Wordpress: You can create a blog at wordpress.com or you can add the WordPress software to your website. We use the latter as we prefer all of the content that we create to stay on our web domain. Essentially the first option is like renting a house and the second is like owning your own home. Our blog is an essential way of keeping our customers up to date with useful information and improving our SEO. 

    MailChimp This tool helps us automatically email our customer base with nice looking emails that have a higher rate of success at getting through and being seen. MailChimp is so powerful it can tell us when our customers opened our emails, what they clicked on and their location when they clicked. This helps us to adapt and taylor the emails to our customers’ needs and make them more relevant to them in the future. You pay for credits which allow you to send a certain number of emails. On average it works out at less than half a penny an email. MailChimp will update you when people unsubscribe, help you figure out the best time of the day to send your emails and help you reduce the number of unsubscribes so that your list stays strong. 

    Hootsuite I’m not going into all of the different social media tools in this article as there are too many and they have different strengths and weaknesses for different businesses. Having said that, we rely on Hootsuite on a daily basis to manage most of our social media interaction. This dashboard style tool allows us to schedule all of our posts to Twitter, Facebook, etc and to track keywords used on Twitter throughout the day. It saves us hours of time and searching. 

    Microsoft Office What would we all do without Microsoft Office? Love it or hate it it’s still the king of word processing, spreadsheets and email. Even though I regularly use Apple’s Pages and Mail, I find that Word, Excel and Outlook are vital on a daily basis throughout our office. Despite having Sage we still run all sorts of reports on Excel to track sales, stock control, etc and keep on top our numbers. It’s indispensable to most businesses despite other alternatives. 

    ACT One of the best CRM (customer relationship management) tools on the market, we use ACT to manage our marketing database of customers and prospects. If you want to serve your customers well you need a tool like this to help you do it. It is hugely flexible and allows us to securely hold a great deal of info on our customers. We have it networked in our office so that team can see histories of discussions between any specific customer and any member of our team. It’s all noted down so that nothing is missed. It also plugs into Sage so that we can access financial data on customers from inside ACT if we need to. 

    Adobe Creative Suite The tool on which our company most relies for design, pr and marketing is the Adobe Creative Suite, which includes Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. All of our cards, press releases, adverts and images are created using Photoshop and Illustrator. All of our brochures are created in InDesign which is a layout package used most often by magazines (as an alternative to Quark). Photoshop allows us to manipulate images so that they look their best for the printing press as well as saving them in different formats for different purposes like high quality print jobs or websites. Illustrator is used to create what are known as vector graphics. These tend to be images containing sharper lines like logos that can be scaled up or down without losing quality, something that’s not always possible with regular photoshop images. There’s a steep learning curve with the Adobe Creative suite and it is expensive to run, but once you’ve mastered it your artwork will never be the same again.  Well there's our list. There are others that we use and our list does change over time. Some of these top 10 business tools may be very familiar to you and some you may already have found alternatives for. If not, do take a look at them and see if they can help you improve how you run your business. Please feel free to share this post if you enjoyed it. 

    Read 10 Business Basics to get right before you start using Social Media Discover Two Simple Steps to get yourself to the Top of Google Learn the 7 Habits of Highy Effective Retailers

  • Blue Eyed Sun add new designs to large Allotment cards

    Large Allotment Cards by Blue Eyed Sun

    Blue Eyed Sun have added 12 new designs to their best selling range of large format Allotment cards retailing at £4.99

    Based on original hand stitched artworks, by artist Jo Corner, they are printed and embossed to give a beautiful look and a realistic feel. Hand finished with jewels the range includes 12 new occasions and birthday cards. The range now totals 48 designs, including twelve large Christmas cards. Allotment cards were a finalist in this year's Henries Awards.

    Sized 215mm square, the cards all come cello wrapped with a pearlescent envelope that is 220mm x 220mm square. Sold in threes, Allotment cards are available for trade customers to order through our agents, by brochure, at shows or logging into our website. The new designs are up on our websiteand in our latest brochure.

    To stock these cards in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them. To see an overview of Blue Eyed Sun ranges click here.

    RETAILERS: Click to WIN a fully stocked Blue Eyed Sun spinner worth £750 - Ends 9th March 2015

    Click here to see more new ranges from Blue Eyed Sun

  • The Henries Awards Winners 2014

    The Henries Awards Winners 2014

    The Henries Awards Winners 2014 for the best greeting cards and card publishers in the UK have been announced!

    Here is a complete list of the Henries winners and finalists for this year.

    A very special congratulations to Louise Tighe MD of Paperlink who won the Honourary Achievement Award.

    We were delighted that Blue Eyed Sun reached the finals of The Henries Awards 2014 in two categories: with Allotment for the Best Occasions Range and with Picnic Time in the best Spring Range.

    The Henries Awards Winners 2014 are:

    Clare Tupper from Paper Rose won Most Promising Young Designer Or ArtistThe Henries 2014 Alun Cochrane

    Finalists 2014:

    Rebecca Crouch from Raspberry Blossom
    Dimitria Jordan from Love Faith and Hope
    Yasmin Rahmatullah from YTR Designs
    Tamsin Seed from Studio Seed
    Anna Whitford from Rosanna Rossi

    Happy Jackson from Pigment won Best Occasions or Relations Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Allotment from Blue Eyed Sun

    Champagne from Cracker Cards
    Cloud Cuckoo from Rachel Ellen Designs
    Sooshi from Sooshichacha
    Sunshine from Stop The Clock Design

    Four Eyes from Urban Graphic won Best Humorous Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Etched from Pigment Productions

    Frankie Dog from Frankie Whistle
    Good Things from Redback Cards
    Keyboard Commands From Rambling Mansion Publications
    Kook from Paperlink

    The Country Set from Wrendale Designs won Best Art Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Alice Scott from Pigment

    Form from The Art File
    Paste from ArtPress Publishing
    Portrait Puns from Modesty Designs
    Toasted from Urban Graphic

    Artisan & Magpie Valentine’s from Paper Rose won Best Spring Seasons RangeThe Henries 2014 Louise Tighe Paperlink

    Finalists 2014:

    Chalk Valentine’s from Brainbox Candy
    First Press Mother’s Day from Roger la Borde
    Picnic Time Mother’s Day from Blue Eyed Sun
    Pom Pom Easter from Janie Wilson
    Sooshi Father’s Day from Sooshichacha

    Moggies & Doggies from Fourth Wall Brands won Best Cute Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Animal Collective from The Art Group
    Beatrix Potter from Hype Associates
    Hello Sunshine from Cinnamon Aitch
    Kiddiwinks from Think Of Me
    Sweet Tweets from Mint Publishing

    Waitrose Male range from Hallmark won Best Male Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Alpha from Woodmansterne

    Gordon Bennett from Hotchpotch Publishing (CBG)
    Rocca from Black Olive
    Sasparilla from Think Of Me
    Trinkets And Trumpets from The Art File

    Noisy Noi from Noi Publishing won Best Children's Range

    Finalists 2014:The Henries Awards 2014 - Gracie Turner

    A Card to Treasure from Clare Maddicott Publications

    Wobbley Eyed from Stripey Cats
    Kiddiwinks from Think of Me
    Noah’s Park from Gemma
    Wonderland from Rachel Ellen Designs

    Alice Scott from Pigment won Best Contemporary Trend Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Du Jour from Noel Tatt

    The Crafty Fox Collection from Tache Crafts
    Piano from Hammond Gower
    Rambelin’ Collection from Pocket Typewriter
    Zoo Portraits from Lagom

    Snowfall Forest from Five Dollar Shake won Best Christmas Counter Cards Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Christmas from Sally Scaffardi

    Christmas Range from Fracas Studio
    Christmas Pizazz from Nigel Quiney Publications
    Footprints In The Snow from Wrendale Designs
    Words Of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery

    Paloma from Belly Button Designs won Best Christmas Box or PackThe Henries 2014 Chris Fenner

    Finalists 2014:

    Candy Cane Christmas from Five Dollar Shake

    Glitter Robin & Santa Boxes from Ling Design
    Paper House (Tin) from The Great British Card Company
    Quentin Blake from Woodmansterne
    The Royal Academy from ArtPress Publishing

    Life Is Sweet from Icon won Best Words and Sentiments Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Beautiful Life from Lagom Design

    Happy Jackson from Pigment
    Piano Postcards from Hammond Gower
    Scrawl from Urban Graphic
    Words Of Wisdom from Dandelion Stationery

    Take A View from Camden Graphics (UKG) won Best Photographic Range

    Finalists 2014:

    1000 Words from Urban Graphic

    Life Is Sweet from Icon
    Loose Leashes from Woodmansterne
    National Geographic from Medici Cards (GBCC)
    Robin Stemp from Green Pebble

    Embellished Origami from Graciegirl Designs won Best Handmade or Hand-finished Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Colours May Vary from Wendy Jones-Blackett

    Form from The Art File

    Handmade Range from Fracas Studios
    Lacie from Paperlink
    Stardust Couture from Five Dollar Shake

    Harold’s Planet from Clare Maddicott Publications won Best Licensed Card Range

    Finalists 2014:The Henries 2014 - Hannah Dale - Jeremy Corner

    Beatrix Potter from Hype Associates

    Despicable Me from Danilo
    National Trust from Woodmansterne
    Pickle Parade from Hotchpotch Publishing (CBG)
    RSPB Birdsong from Really Wild Cards

    Le Petit Bear from Simon Elvin won Best Wholesale Range

    Finalists 2014:

    Bright Eyes from Simon Elvin

    Isabel’s Garden from Simon Elvin
    More Than Words from Hallmark
    Prelude Female Everyday from BGC
    Prelude Male Everyday from BGC

    The Art File Giftwrap from The Art File won Best Giftwrappings Collection

    Finalists 2014:

    Ella Doran from Penny Kennedy

    Platinum Giftwrappings Collection from Belly Button Designs
    Sherbet Crush Collection from Hallmark
    Victoria Beau from Deva Designs
    Wendy Jones-Blackett Collection from Glick

    Quentin Blake from Woodmansterne won The Henry Cole Classic Award

    Finalists 2014:The Henries - 2014

    Darkroom from Paper House (GBCC)

    Die-Stamped from Caroline Gardner
    Drama Queen from Cardmix
    Exposure Black & White from Icon
    Giggles from Hanson White (UKG)

    UK Greetings won Gold for Best Service To The Independent Retailer

    Noel Tatt won silver

    International Cards and Gifts won bronze 

    Finalists 2014:

    Carte Blanche Greetings Group
    Cherry Orchard Publishing
    Hallmark Cards
    Jonny Javelin
    Nigel Quiney Publications
    Paperlink
    Second Nature
    Woodmansterne Publications
    Words-n-Wishes

    The Henries Awards winners 2014 were revealed at a spectacular Highlands themed Henries Ball on Thursday 10 October at the Lancaster London Hotel, overlooking HydePark. Compere for the evening was comedian Alun Cochrane.

    Over 14,000 cards were entered into this year’s Henries and these were judged by an impressive Judging Panel, made up of 40 top retailers (including buyers from John Lewis, WHSmith, Tesco, Paperchase, Scribbler, Card Bar, Joy, Asda, Squires Garden Centres, Waterstones, Funky Pigeon as well as many leading independents). Congratulations to all of the Henries Awards winners and everyone who made it through to the finals.

    See the 2013 Henries Awards winners and finalists from last year by clicking here

    Read some award winning advice for the Henries and other awards here

    The Henries Winners 2014

  • Anthony Nolan, the Berlin Marathon and a Greeting Card

    Anthony Nolan - Berlin Marathon2014-JC

    Last weekend I completed the Berlin marathon to raise funds for Anthony Nolan, a charity which takes back lives from leukaemia by providing life saving donors for patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. 

     

    I had the most amazing run considering I only managed 8 weeks training due to injury (half my usual amount). It was my fifth marathon to date and, although I have run faster times, I was pleased to finish in under 4 hours. I felt good most of the way usng a new strategy where I ran to my heart rate rather than to a specific time or pace. You can read more about the Marco technique here.

     

    It was also very humbling to meet people who had meaningful connections with my charity. An American lady, called Melissa, spotted my vest at the start and came through the crowd to tell me that two years ago Anthony Nolan saved her life. I was so moved that I spent the next few minutes trying to pull myself together before the race began. At the finish I also met a doctor, called John Snowden, who ran for Anthony Nolan as his hospital has had a lot of invaluable support from them. Later he tracked my charity page down online and donated to my fundraising, which was really generous of him. The running community is so friendly and inspiring.

     

    I also took part in an international 6km fun run the day before, which finished in the Olympic stadium. It was amazing to stand in the same place where the African American, Jesse Owens, won four golds in front of an the Aryan supremicist, Hitler, at the 1936 Olympic games. Luz Long, Owen's German competitor, helped him improve his run up to win the long jump medal and was the first to congratulate him. Even in troubled times the Olympic spirit rises above politics. Jesse Owens later said, "You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating for the 24 carot friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment." Watch a two minute video of this story here.

     

    The 41st BMW Berlin marathon was won by Dennis Kimetto who broke the world record completing the 26.22 mile (42.2km) course in two hours two minutes and 57 seconds. It was a beautiful sunny day for the 40,000 runners who took part in the race that finished through the iconic Brandenburg gate. It's pretty cool to be able to take part in the same race as the fastest man in the world.

     

    I had some wonderful support from my friends and family for the marathon. On my return to the UK I even received a lovely congratulations card from the Anthony Nolan events team, thanking me for raising funds for them. I have run for many charities over the years and they are the first to take the time to send me a card, which really felt special. 

     

    I would like to thank everyone from the card industry, and in particular the 2013 Ladder Club delegates, who kindly donated to the funds I raised in support of my dear friend, Lynn Tait, who has had to call on the help of the Anthony Nolan Trust this year. 

     

    Please contribute to my Anthony Nolan fundraising page by clicking here

     

    Read 15 ways marathon training can improve your business

     

    Click here to find out more about the Ladder Club

  • Are trade shows still worth it?

    Are Trade Shows Worth It?Since Blue Eyed Sun began in 2000, I have spent a full year of my life in trade show halls setting up stands and exhibiting our greeting cards to visitors. The costs have risen considerably and are now pushing £400 per square metre for a small shell scheme stand. This can exclude other costs like electrics, flooring, cladding, painting and point of sale materials. Then there are the travel, parking, hotel, substance (thats food and drink to you and me) and staff costs to factor in. On top of this can be show media charges, marketing materials and adverts needed to make sure that your stand isnt missed, having spent all that money to be there.

     

    For retailers, especially those who have cut back on staff though the recession, there are lost hours in the shop or the expense of paying to have it staffed whilst you are at the show. Similarly there are travel, hotel and subsistence costs. Plus, lets face it, its hard work trawling through miles and miles of the NEC to find those hidden gems. Especially when they might just as easily be found in trade magazines and brochures delivered to your door, via the internet or through a sales rep that comes to you. 

     

    Most of the best greeting card companies in the UK have sales agents covering the country, a decent brochure and a transactional website. In the next few years they will also add transactional apps to add to their arsenal of tools that make it easy for retailers to order online. So why do we still bother with trade shows? Are trade shows still worth it? Surely its more efficient for retailers and suppliers to use these other options?

     

    Its even worse when you look at the sales figures for many exhibitors. Take a typical small time supplier who buys a 3x1m stand at trade show for £1,200. Including all other aforementioned costs, the bill for doing the show is £2,000 all in. If they have 50% gross margin on their products they need to take £4,000 at the show to break even. Say they still exhibit and take 5 orders at an average order value of £200 totalling £1,000. On the face of it this looks like a £3,000 loss. Even if they take 25 leads at the show and convert one in five into an average order of £200 they only make an extra £1,000 and are still down by £2,000.

     

    Its a similar situation for an independent retailer who has spent £500 or more in expenses to visit the trade show only to find one new supplier. If they are working to 50% gross margin they need to buy and sell a £1,000 worth of stock at the show o make the visit pay for itself.

     

    So why do I still exhibit at five trade shows a year and why do all the best retailers I know visit a similar number of shows? As with anything the value is in the detail and the amount we can accomplish when we focus on things. 

     

    Lets take another look at our small exhibitor. Out of the orders they have taken as a result of the show at least half of them are from new customers. Their customers typically spend £500 per year with them and stay for an average of 5 years. That means each of the five new customers is actually worth £2,500 (5x£500). Plus, over the following five years, the five new customers are actually worth £12,500 to the supplier. They still also have 20 further sales leads that could convert at a later date. One of which could turn out to be key account with multiple outlets.

     

    The same could be said of our retailer. Although their initial order is small, the new suppliers line turns out to be a great seller. As the retailer is the first in their town to stock it, their customers come to them first in the future knowing that the retailer specialises in finding good new products for them to buy. Brand new suppliers are not actually that easy for retailers to find outside of shows. Often its because they don't yet have agents, brochures or a website and shows are the places where they first launch.

     

    Theres more value to be had though. Our exhibitor also meets sales agents and international distributors who are interested in their products. Meeting them in person is the best way of deciding if they are right to work with going forward. The exhibitor goes ahead with one sales agent and one distributor. If the sales agent sends in only one £200 order per week they are worth £10,400 to the exhibitor per year. The international distributor might place £5,000 worth of orders per year bringing the total value of the show up to £18,900 in the first year.

     

    Theres more value to be had through cost savings found. Key suppliers often visit exhibitors at shows. Couriers, envelope manufacturers, paper mills, display stand suppliers are just a few examples of those that have come so see our stands resulting in substantial savings for our business. Retailers will also often save money at the show through special show offers and carriage free deals.

     

    Weve had feedback from customers and agents at trade shows that have led to us boosting sales. Weve saved customer relationships when we didnt even realise mistakes had been made, all because of a passing comment that was made on our stand at a show. Face to face conversations are the best way of of growing relationships with customers, key accounts, suppliers, press, agents, distributors, brokers and key industry influencers. Trade shows make this process super efficient. If you were to set aside time to drive to and meet with all those people it would take much longer than it takes to do the same thing at a show. 

     

    Catching up with industry friends and industry is another great benefit. The amount of information I pick up at trade shows that has had tangible benefits to Blue Eyed Sun has been staggering. Recent examples include learning about licensing, brokerage and discovering a chain of shops I was not aware of. They have led to thousands in income for us. Many retailers I know swap info on best selling suppliers chatting with other retailers at lunch. There are also fantastic seminars for retailers at the show on everything from ecommerce and social media to building shop window displays. Shows are awesome learning opportunities and can really inspire those who take the trouble to attend. 

     

    We find that the shows provide good lines in the sand for us to work to when creating new products. In a sense they act like a personal trainer whom you pay to make sure that you turn up and exercise. Shows discipline us to develop new products, new press releases and new marketing materials on a regular basis. This all has the effect of positioning Blue Eyed Sun as active in our market. Retailers who attend shows regularly will find it disciplines their buying. Being active in the industry means that they are known and will often find it easier to get credit with new suppliers. 

     

    Its hard to put a financial value on some of these benefits. If you really pay attention at trade shows they can be life changing for your business. Try to take a longer term view when assessing the effects of the show. Even a show that seems like it wasnt worth it, based on orders taken or placed at the event, can turn out to have significant value to your business over the course of the years that follow. In the case of our exhibitor example, a show that initially looked like it was losing money with on site sales of £1,000 turned out to be worth up to £20,000 in income and cost savings to the exhibitor that year. At the very least they will have had the opportunity to learn about how their products do in the marketplace and consider further options to improve things for the future. Which has to be better than staying at home doing nothing.

     

    Click here to see which trade shows Blue Eyed Sun are at next

     

    Read 12 top tips for trade show visitors

     

    See our latest trade show news

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