Blue Eyed Sun

Blue Eyed Sun - gorgeous greetings cards

GCA

  • A Century of Greeting Cards with the GCA

    A Century Of Cards with the GCA

    This year the Greeting Card Association celebrates its 100th Anniversary, so I thought I’d take a look at the last ten decades of card sending. You can see even more at the GCA AGM this month.

    A brief history

    The custom of sending cards can be traced back to the ancient Chinese who sent one another New Year greetings. The early Egyptians exchanged goodwill messages on papyrus. Handmade paper Valentine messages were sent in Europe from the early 15th Century.

    Henry Cole, a founding director of the V&A in London, sent the first Christmas card in 1843. The reform of the Royal Mail in 1940 made postage more accessible after a charge of one penny (roughly £1 in today’s money) was set for carriage and delivery of cards between any two places in the UK irrespective of distance.

    The GCA

    As postal services and the custom of greeting card sending grew, it took another 76 years for the emerging industry to officially form its trade body. The Greeting Card Association (GCA) was created just after the first Word War in 1919 to protect and promote card sending. 

    Here are some examples of cards published in each of the last ten decades since it was formed:

    A Century of Greetings Cards Regent Cat card (1920's), Hallmark Mickey Mouse Card (1930's) and Cowboy Card (1940's).

    Twenties

    Thanks to Geoff Sanderson, who has helped to create card images dating right back to the first decade of the GCA’s inception. It seems that pre-internet cat selfies still stole the show when it came to cute sentiments. It’s interesting to see the Regent Series branding on the front. The card is embossed around the edges and the colour palette is limited, perhaps due to the printing processes available at the time. 

    Thirties

    Hallmark was Disney’s first licensee and this 1932 Mickey Mouse card shows how quickly the infamous mouse spread across the planet after his creation in 1928. This card also suggested that card shops were becoming a thing. The palette is limited to two colours and it appears that cute and humorous cards crossed over to adults. 

    Forties

    Many of the greeting cards during this period came from America, with American Greetings (est 1906) and Hallmark (est 1910) leading the charge. This cowboy card shows the American style and the evolving colours and techniques like die-cutting. Notice the feather used to create a sense of added value and ‘specialness’. 

    Greeting Cards fro the 1950's Fifties An Engagement card with satin cushion from Kaye (1958) and cute wedding card from Waldorf (1958).

    Fifties

    Danielle, one of our team members at Blue Eyed Sun, unearthed a treasure trove of cards dating back to the fifties in her loft, including her mum and dad’s engagement and wedding cards from 1958. Their engagement card from their parents was published by Kaye and has a satin cushion on the front, with verse inside. There’s also a cute wedding day card from Waldorf, which is foiled and embossed.

    The cards from the fifties are mostly lighterweight papers folded over (refered to as a French fold) to create the feeling of weight. They have foiling, embossing, die-cuts and ‘wordy’ sentiment inside them. Some have ribbon. Brands include Kaye Gibson, Waldorf, A.M. Davis & Co, Envoy, Diplomat, Forget-Me-Not and Sharpe’s Classic. 

    Greeting Cards - 1960 - Sixties 21st card by Kaye (1962), flocked Baby Girl card by Rust craft (1961) and Baby Boy card by Academy (1964).

    Sixties

    Danny’s sixties cards also used die-stamping, flocking and flittering. They’re still mostly paper folded in half, which allowed four colour imagery to appear on the inside of the card with only one side of the overall sheet being printed on.

    Danny’s mum, Pam’s 21st card from her sister Carol, was published by Kaye Gibson. It’s foiled and embossed with lace detailing added to the right hand edge and a die-cut gold key attached to the front with a ribbon. 

    A card by Rustcraft to Pam on Danny’s birth is die-cut and flocked. There’s a nice baby boy card from Academy on the birth of Danny’s brother, Ricky. In addition to previous brands mentioned there were also cards by Image Arts, Gibson and Delightful.

    Greeting Cards - 1970 - Seventies Mother's Day die cut card by Hollie Hobbie for Celebration Arts and Bonie Bonnets card by Raphael Tuck.

    Seventies

    Danny loves cute cards and the birthday cards she chose for her mum feature cartoon hedgehogs, kitten, puppies and cherubs. There’s a nice die-cut, pop-up Mother’s Day card featuring Holly Hobbie from Celebration Arts, plus a cute Bonnie Bonnets card by Raphael Tuck.

    The boards are heavier (280gsm plus) and most of the cards are gloss finished, brighter and more colourful than previous decades. Many are larger in size too. Brands from this decade include Creative Cards, Forget Me Not and Sharpe’s Classic.

    Greeting Cards - 1980 - Eighties Hallmark's Country Companions range, Friends Like Us puppy by Carlton and kitten by Creative Cards

    Eighties

    The cards get even cuter in the eighties, like the cute puppy the Friends like Us range published by Carlton under the Forget Me Not brand. There are a couple of cute Country Companions hedgehog designs (first published under Gordon Fraser and then acquired by Hallmark in the late 80s).

    Other brands include Lucie Attwell, Heron Arts, Riviera (Carlton Cards), Gibson Greetings and early Andrew Brownsword.

    Greeting Cards - 1990 - Nineties Forever Friends Cards and cherub from Cherish the Thoughts range in the Brownsword Collection.

    Nineties

    It’s impossible to talk about cards in the nineties without mentioning Forever Friends and Andrew Brownsword. This brand served to establish cute as a strong adult category (note that these examples are for Mum and Nanna). The inside of the Mum cards reads: “It’s a hug in an envelope.” The cherub card is from Andrew’s Cherish the Thought Range. 

    Interestingly, the Brownsword Collection card states on the back that the cards are made from managed forests that are replenished with new trees. The Friends Like Us range mentioned earlier has a similar message. It’s great to see this environmental message on cards is over 30 years old. 

    For the last two decades I thought I’d talk a little bit about Blue Eyed Sun cards…

    Greeting Cards - 2000 - Noughties Glass Enamels (2001), Suncatchers (2003) and Kaleidoscope (2006) cards by Blue Eyed Sun.

    Noughties

    In 2000, Blue Eyed Sun launched its first range of Glass Enamel cards on the market at Top Drawer (the one in May that became Pulse). They were an instant hit as nobody made anything quite like them. Hugely time consuming to hand fire in hot kilns, they were a niche product that got us noticed and garnered our first Henries awards nomination in 2001. One of the original designs even made its way into the V&A archive collection. 

    In 2003, we added our Suncatchers range, which included pieces of hand-painted resin that you could hang on your Christmas tree or in your window. We won a Gift of the Year award for Best Design-Led Cards that year. A host of other ranges followed, including our hand-glittered Kaleidoscope cards, which still sell internationally. Eventually, we built up enough profit to move away from using generic card blanks onto which we affixed our motifs onto our first litho printed ranges. 

    Danny joined our team from Woolworths in 2008.

    Greeting Cards - 2010 - Teens Vintage (2012), Jingles (2011) and Jade Mosinski (2019) cards by Blue Eyed Sun.

    Teens

    We’ve launched a large number of different ranges over the years. Not all have been successful, but we’ve always managed to keep pushing until we found what worked. In 2011 we had our first cold foiled range, Jingles, which we licensed onto almost 100 gift products. Our biggest range to date has been Vintage, which caught the huge ‘make do and mend’ trend, and still makes up 25% of our sales. Despite numerous look-a-likes I feel they still are the nicest ‘stitched’ designs around and look like real fabric has been attached to the cards.

    The future

    Our 2020 vision includes lots of lovely cards by new designers like Jade Mosinski and more exciting licences, as well as a determined focus to cut single-use plastics and be even more environmentally friendly than we currently already are.

    It’s amazing seeing our lives mapped out through the cards we send one another. Not just those of the people who buy them and receive them, there’s all of the thousands of people involved in creating, publishing, distributing, retailing and mailing them. Who knows where this wonderful tradition of reaching out to one another will be in another hundred years? Hopefully, people will still delight in pulling out their greeting card memories and enjoying them once more.

    Attend the GCA AGM 2019 and hear more about the history of cards

    Click here to see what's new from Blue Eyed Sun

  • 14 Reasons to attend the GCA AGM

    GCA AGM 2016For years I didn’t often attend the GCA AGM. Life was always so busy with the business and one thing or another that I just didn’t prioritise it. I made excuses to myself that it was too far to travel or that the speakers didn’t seem that relevant to me. In the early days I might also have felt like an outsider that didn't know anyone.

    These days I don’t like to miss the GCA AGM and I’ve been thinking a lot about why this is. Last month’s was an especially good one and so I wanted to share some of my thoughts on what makes the annual meeting so special and why you might like to consider attending next year. It’s not just for card publishers, so if you’re a retailer or supplier you may also benefit from reading further.

    1. The Venues

    One of the things I like most about the GCA AGM is the wonderful locations Sharon Little (GCA CEO) discovers for us to all meet in. They are always an adventure in themselves. Recent venues have included the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Design Museum, the Ironmonger’s Hall and the National Space Centre. The 2016 venue was the magnificent Royal Horseguards in London. It’s an incredible Grade I listed building modelled on a French Chateau and steeped in history and opulence.

    2. The Speakers

    If you really want to get to the heart of what we are as an industry, whether you are a retailer, a publisher or supplier the speakers bring it all. I love hearing from leading retailers like Timothy Melgund (Paperchase), John Procter (Scribbler) and James Daunt (Waterstones). Publishers like Andrew Brownsword (Forever Friends) and others who’ve spoken are so inspiring to all of us. I’m always hugely grateful that they have made the time to share their stories, thoughts and experience with us.

    3. The Passion

    The passion in our unique industry is infectious. Hearing Dominique Schurman (Papyrus and Clintons) last year and more recently Giles Andreae (Purple Ronnie, Edward Monkton) really get to the essence of what we do in our business was really moving. Our industry is all about emotional connection. Cards are used to help people to feel more loved, more cared for, nurtured and supported in the world. It is a privilege to be a part of this and you can feel it in the air at the GCA AGM.

    4. The Community

    What other industry has such well attended break out groups in the afternoon where experienced publishers share advice on key subject areas like sales and marketing, product development, brokerage and business development? These are businesses helping competitors within their industry, both large and small. It really warmed my heart seeing these groups contributing to one another after lunch this year. They were all buzzing.

    5. Contribution

    Just by attending you are supporting and nurturing the industry. It’s also so important that our industry leaders attend this event, speak and share their stories and vision. If greeting cards are to survive and thrive it is essential that we nurture and support new generations coming through. It’s not just about the speakers though. It was so good to see retailers like Scribbler, Moonpig and Paperchase amongst the audience. Our association is for our whole industry and it’s vital we all work together to grow it successfully.

    6. The People

    Then I first attended I didn’t know people. It’s such a welcoming industry that it’s impossible not to meet one or two new people at the event. I’ve been fortunate enough to have made some lovely friends in this wonderful industry of ours; customers, suppliers and fellow publishers. It’s so nice to catch up with many of them at the AGM and hear how they are getting on. With my exploration into social media I have been using Facebook more and more for connecting with friends in business. It’s a great way of learning a little bit more about one another and for growing relationships.

    7. Networking

    It’s a word that puts the fear of God into some people and I’ve had an on/off relationship with the idea of it over the years. The truth is networks are important to all of us. The broader and more wide ranging, the more opportunities come to you. Studies have shown that it’s often the weaker links that are most valuable and bring us more opportunities. Although networking tends to be more suited to extroverts, I’d encourage everyone to talk to strangers at these events. You never know where it could lead and what opportunities may arise from a few words with someone new.

    8. Opportunities

    This year’s GCA AGM highlighted several business opportunities for Blue Eyed Sun as I am sure it will have done for others who attended. For some it might be a conversation wth a new supplier, a buyer, an agent or a broker. For others it might be hearing the CEO of Waterstones observe that the proportion of greeting card sales is lower in Waterstones than in his independent group of stores, signalling a focus on growing greeting card sales going forward. I’m looking forward to following our own opportunities up and am sure that the business generated will have been more than worth the time spent attending the event.

    9. Content

    Visiting the GCA AGM also gives me a great chance to discover and share some great greeting card focussed content on my blog and social media channels. My followers on Twitter love to keep up to date with what’s going on in our industry and I get likes, retweets and shares of my photos and posts from the event as well some insightful info from the speakers, which I can use on my blog.

    10. Video

    Recently I have helped the GCA out by videoing the keynote speakers at last year’s AGM and other events. If you missed any of them before I’d encourage you to visit www.youtube.com/GCAClips to watch them online. There are some fascinating insights from key industry figures. My preference is seeing the talks live and being able to ask the speakers questions or chat to them afterwards. If you can’t fit it in for some reason, the GCA YouTube channel is a great backup plan.

    11. Golden Nuggets

    Sometimes it’s one small nugget of information or a passing comment that shifts your thinking on something. This year I found it incredibly useful to hear how Nigel Willcock from Paper Rose analysed the cost of a sales agent visit to a shop versus a sales rep visit. Hearing how much this costs a company on average has shifted my perspective on field sales and the way I think about them going forward.

    12. Face to Face

    There is nothing like face to face meetings to grow your presence in a marketplace. If you want to be known within the industry the GCA AGM is a must. So many of the key players within our business attend and grow their relationships and businesses from there as  result.

    13. Bellwether

    The AGM is also a great opportunity to get a sense of where our industry is at and what to look out for on the horizon. You can see highlights from the GCA market report which is available to buy from £500 from the GCA (it’s free for members). I find it useful just to hear first hand from other companies as to how their businesses are doing and how they perceive the current economic climate.

    14. Attendance is growing

    What’s most exciting about the GCA AGM is that attendance is growing. More and more members are getting involved and engaging with our industry to improve it. This is great for all of us and exciting to be a part of.

    Blue Eyed Sun has been a member of the Greeting Card Association since 2003. Our membership has been invaluable to us over the years, not least for the support and help from CEO Sharon Little.

    What I love most about our membership, besides the great deals and benefits on offer, are the events. Moments in time where we stop working in our business and work on our business. Meetups where we look at the bigger picture and think carefully about the meaning of what we are doing. Places where we can carefully consider opportunities and threats to the card industry. Events where we can grow and learn. The GCA AGM has all of this and more. I hope to see you at the next AGM. Click here to book your place.

    Learn about GCA Initiatives like Festive Friday

    What is Thinking of You Week?

    Find out more about the Ladder Club for new greeting card publishers

    Watch Giles Andreae's great talk from the GCA AGM 2016 below:

     

  • Thinking of You week announced by the GCA

    Thinking of You Week 2014

    I am very excited to share with you details of a project I have been working on with the Greeting Card Association this year. Following the success of our Festive Friday card sending campaign, the GCA are proud to announce 'Thinking of You Week' which will highlight the emotive power of sending and receiving hand written cards.

    Thinking of You week is to be held from the 22 - 28 September 2014 and marks 7 days of friendship and love for those that are near and dear to our hearts and those we may have lost touch with or want to connect with in a closer, more meaningful way. Life is so busy for all of us these days that it's important to stop and reconnect properly with those we care about. Thinking of You Week aims to facilitate this by encouraging us all to send seven cards during one week in September this year. 

    Cards are great to receive and especially so for those in need of a lift. It's been scientifically proven that receiving a handwritten card makes people feel more special than receiving texts, emails or messages on social media. Receiving cards can even stave off the early stages of depression.Think how lovely it will be for all of us to send out a wave of good cheer and love across our amazing planet.

    Below is a draft poster for the campaign.

    Click here to download the Thinking of You Week Toolkit

    Thinking of You Week 2014

  • Cello bags for greeting cards and the environment

    Cello bags for greeting cards

    Cellophane bags are commonly used on greeting cards in the UK and around the world. Whilst there was a time when lots of retailers would stock cards without wrapping, these days many are now demanding it from their suppliers. Cello bags protect greeting cards from the many fingers that touch them on a daily basis in retailers' card racks. Purchased cards are opened in good condition and consumers feel that they get value for their purchase in much the same way that many shoppers now like to have their fruit and vegetables wrapped and protected at supermarkets. Yet we all know that plastic can be damaging to the environment and takes a long time to degrade.

    Recently I spoke to Richard Smith from Wrapid Manufacturing at a GCA Council Meeting to see if there is anything we can do as card publishers to reduce our impact on the environment, specifically in regard to cello bags for greeting cards. Here's what I learned:

    There are currently three main options of cello bags for greeting cards:

    PLA (aka Corn Starch film)

    PLA (poyl-lactic acid) is a bio plastic obtained from starch or sugar taken from plants such as corn, sugar beet, sugar cane, potatoes and many others. One of the benefits of this option is that plant photosynthesis removes CO2 (carbon-dioxide) from the atmosphere to transform it into sugar or starch which is then processed (through fermantation) into PLA. This bio plastic is then turned into compostable packaging material.

    PLA is 100% compostible and will fully degrade into CO2, water and biomass which can be used as fertiliser in agriculture. This works well if consumers know to dispose of these compostable cello bags with their food waste. Composting only works if the compost heap is regularly turned. If not, the bag just sits in a pile and will take much longer to degrade. In fact testing has proven that bio-plastic films do not biodegrade in landfill conditions due to low moisture content. Composting is also not easily available to everyone wanting to compost their corn starch cellophane bags. So what else can we do with them?

    Poly-lactic acid film is 100% combustable and can be incenerated and transformed into clean energy. The CO2 previously absorped by the plants is released back into the atmosphere to be absorped by plants again and converted into starch and sugar once more. PLA can also be mechanically recycled after grinding, recrystallisation and re-granulation. It can also be chemically recycled back into lactic acid, purified and polymerised into high quality 1st grade PLA resin. Of course some of these processes require a lot of energy in order to recycle the material effectively. Also, because PLA requires food product to be used to make it, is it morally acceptable to be using food for packaging instead of feeding people? Will we have enough to do both?

    I know of several publishers who have tried to use corn starch cello bags for their greeting cards over the last few years.  A common problem with PLA is that it can degrade too quickly when exposed to moisture. Some retailers report that the bags fall apart before the cards in them have been sold. PLA film also creases and crinkles very easily. The cello bags can look poorly made which can also have a negative effect on card sales for retailers. PLA cello bags are also more expensive than regular cello bags for cards at roughly four times the price.

    Modified Polypropylene

    This option takes regular polypropylene cello film and adds a proprietary formulation to special processing conditions that accelerate the degradation of the packaging when discarded. These conditions include the availability of oxygen, natural light, pressure and slightly elevated temperatures (over 30-40 degrees C, typical in landfill sites). It also degrades in the open air if the plastic is properly disgarded as litter. Under these conditions the cello bags will degrade within 8-18 months by a process of abiotic oxidation. In oxygen rich atmospheres, micro organisms attack under enzymatic action and convert the final mineralisation of the material into water, CO2, methane and biomass.

    This option for greeting card cello bags is cheaper than PLA and it still biodegrades, but it isn't compostable. It's designed to suit landfill and degrades faster than conventional polypropolene cellophane. It can be mechanically and chemically reused after grinding, re-crystallisation and re-granulation. It can also be incenerated, but this sin't the most environmentally responsible method.

    As you can imagine the relatvely short life span and danger of degrading on the shelves can affect the perceived value of the cards that are wrapped in modified polypropylene in the same ways the corn starch bags often do. Pricing wise this option is 50% cheaper than PLA.

    Conventional Polypropylene

    This is the most commonly used packaging medium for wrapping greeting cards as well as most other forms of packaging worldwide. It's also the least green option when considering biodegradation or compostability. Having said that, it is 100% recyclable through council refuse collection facilities linked to managed recycling programmes. What's important is that consumers know they can add the cellobag to their plastic recycling. If they do, then our greeting card cello-bags can be mechanically or chemically recycled into low grade plastic products like carrier bags and coloured plastic bottles. If they don't, polypropolene bags can take over 400 years to degrade in landfill. Inceneration is also not a very environmentally responsible method of disposal.

    I think there are two main reasons why polyproylene is used by publishers for their cello bags: It's the cheapest option available commercially and polypropylene cello bags add to the perceived retail value of the product. Because polypropylene doesn't crinkle and crack as easily as other options do these cello bags make cards look and feel more expensive. Combine these two main factors with others like the fact that they don't fall apart on retailers' shelves and it's easy to see why everyone uses them.

    New Green materials?

    Research and development work is currently ongoing with the prospect of some new technology being released into the market which will be totally different to the esisting substrates. It is expected that these will be coming through for general supply in about 12 months time. This could be exciting news, but we shall have to wait and see whether these options are viable commercially and will work operationally with existing production processes.

    To be green costs money

    When we first met with Richard, I was hoping that using the combined power of our industry we could encourage the development of more environmentally friendly cellobags for the greeting card marketplace. The truth is that greeting cards are a tiny blip in the world of packaging. To put it in perspective, the manufacturers that supply our suppliers with the film they use to make our our greeting card cello bags supply 30 times more to other packaging markets. 

    Who will pay for the premium commanded for technologically advanced films? In theory, if everyone in the supply chains contributed by paying a little more (and consumers added to this when purchasing) then we can all contribute to making a difference to the planet for future generations. The realities of making this happen are challenging. A key driver will be consumers demanding more advanced, eco friendly film for food packaging which uses the majority of polypropylene film. The supermarkets will have a big role to play in this. Already a lot of attention is focussed on reducing the use of plastic carrier bags in the UK, if we can do this with other packaging too the drive will be turned from a "should" into a "must" for everyone involved.

    What can card publishers and retailers do?

    Recycling virgin polypropylene (standard films) through council recycling programmes is the most responsible and affordable approach for our environment. We need to encourage our greeting card cello-bags to be recycled. Labelling and good comminication with retailers and consumers is key for this.

    Another thing we can do to reduce the impact on the environment is to down guage the film thickness and limit the amount of material. Certainly we should discourage the use of greeting card cello bags that are greater than 40 microns. There really is no need to go thicker than this. If we could all shift our bags to 30 microns we would have a 25% reduction in the material used. This would be a massive improvement although it will be challenging to achieve, as many publishers use 40 micron bags because they feel nicer and more expensive than 30 micron. It could be damaging to business if your products were thought of as becoming less commercially appealing because of a change in the cello thickness.

    Finally we can reduce the use of plastic in our everyday lives. The biggest way of doing this is to look at how much polypropylene is in your shopping basket at the supermarket. See if you can make alternative choices like buying fruit and veg loose instead of prepackaged for example. Let your supermarket know that this is important to you as a consumer. If the supermarkets can push the polypropylene manufacturers to come up with more enronmentally friendly solutions this will have a knock on effect for our industry too.

    Read about Germany's first waste free supermarket by clicking here

    Click here to read more card industry news

    Find out more about the Greeting Card Association

    Visit Wrapid's website for greeting card cello bags

    If you're interested in the environment and waste then you might also find this informative 

  • Festive Friday 2013 at Blue Eyed Sun's workshop

    Festive Friday 2013 at Blue Eyed Sun

    Today is Festive Friday 2013, the day that kick starts the UK Christmas card sending season and we've been busy.

    The UK Greeting Card Association launched the Festive Friday campaign to encourage card publishers and retailers to send their Christmas cards early to spread the love and to 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 in the first week of December it will have a fantastic ripple effect from those first million gestures.

    At Blue Eyed Sun we decided to get 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 102 Christmas cards between us, which have been winging their way via Royal Mail this week to their lucky recipients.

    As you can see our team had a lot of fun on Festive Friday 2013 with some fantastic Christmas jumpers and Santa hats to get us in the Christmas mood. Even Rachel's new puppy, Bert, got into the spirit of things. It's so heart warming to think about all of the love going out into the world from this short amount of time dedicated to card sending rather than card making and we'd recommend it to all publishers and retailers who read this blog.

    Even if you are not in the card industry, it is a great 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 2014. Do it this week. Spread that festive cheer around the world.

    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?

    You can download the last UK posting dates in a PDF by clicking here.

    Find out more about Blue Eyed Sun's Christmas cards for 2013 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.

    Royal Mail Christmas Sending Dates 2013

  • The Ladder Club Seminar 2013

    Ladder Club 2013 GCA Speakers

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

    I have been the keynote speaker at the event for the past nine years of it's fourteen year history and have had the privilege of meeting and helping many fantastic 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 mediums instead of on cards.

    We 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. Jakki Brown, the co-founder of the Ladder Club, compered the day in the absence of Lynn Tait who organises it with the help of her two stars Trudy and Pauline. The day started with an introduction to the Greeting Card Association with CEO Sharon Little. Warren Lomax from Max Publishing spoke about PG Live, the Henries Awards and how to make the most of Progressive Greetings magazine's free editorial section.

     

    Ladder Club 2013 Greeting Card Printers

    Simon 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 some useful information packs.

    Ladder Club Car Industry Suppliers 2013

    Everyone got to learn about the different substrates and boards they could print on in an entertaining talk from Mark at paper merchants GF Smith. Julie 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. Simon Boyd 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 shows.

    Ladder Club Card Publishing Speakers 2013One of my favourite talks was from Ian Bradley, a Midlands greeting card agent, who helped everyone to gain an insight into how working with freelance sales agents can benefit their greeting card business. 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. Retail expert Henri Davis spoke on the second day about how to approach large retailers in a very informative talk drawing on her experience of buying at large chains like the National Trust and WH Smiths. I found it incredibly useful

    to gain an understanding of what buyers of large multiples need and want from publishers. I also had a few things to so say about my experience in the card business running Blue Eyed Sun.

    It seems that everyone had a great time and all of those attending found the Ladder Club extremely useful and well worth their time. Thanks to the Ladder Club delegates and sponsors I have raised almost £500 towards my £1000 goal for the Anthony Nolan Trust, who I am running the Berlin Marthon for next year. I was inspired to do this by Lynn Tait, the organiser and founder of the Ladder Club, who was in hospital undergoing a stem cell transplant on the same day.

    Click here to help me raise £1,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

    Click here to join the Ladder Club Facebook Group

    Click here for the Ladder Club LinkedIn Group

    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

    10 Business Basics to get right before using social media

    Social Media Tips on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

    The Ladder Club Delegates & Speakers 2013 - Day 2

  • 9 Tips for Retailers to Improve their Greeting Card Sales

    9 Tips For Retailers To Improve their Greeting Card Sales I recently met up with Chris Houfe, Sales Director at the Great British Card Company and incoming GCA President, to discuss how retailers could improve their greeting card sales in this current challenging environment. Here's what he said:

    Whether you’re a specialist greeting card retailer or cards just form part of your business, you’ll understand how important their profitability is to your business. Unfortunately too many retailers become complacent with their business, rather than going that extra mile to seek on-going improvements. Is this because some people just become stuck in a rut or perhaps they see it as a sign of weakness in asking for advice? (A bit like a man asking for directions!)

    As with any business, a good understanding of what’s working is so important. Take a step back and review your business with a fresh pair of eyes. For starters, have you got the right mix of cards, gift wrap, gifts, chocolates, jewellery etc? Don’t just think about turnover, think about your profit. Ask many retailers ‘what’s working’ they often say everything! This can’t be true as every product group has best sellers and poorer sellers.

    Here are Chris Houfe's Top Tips for improving greeting card sales…

    1. Presentation is a key factor. Take a leaf from fashion retailers who are always updating their displays, giving their customer something different to look at on a regular basis. This doesn’t have to be always new, move things around.

    2. Are your fixtures looking tired? Remember less can be more and there are many innovative alternatives to standard card racks.

    3. Buy what your customers will want to buy, not just what you like. Engage your customers for regular feedback but filter their comments.

    4. Have you got the correct product mix and caption balance across your display? Why not ask a few Account Managers or Sales Agents for their advice.

    5. Try planning your birthday and blank ranges in quads (6’s, 9’s, 12’s, 16’s, etc), rather than in columns. You will be able to increase the number of ranges in your display.

    6. Plan like genres together, e.g. humour, photographic, art, etc rather than by publisher.

    7. Change is a good thing, so try something new, but ensure you deal with Publishers who’s Account Managers actually manage your business rather than just sell you cards.

    8. Maximise all seasons and promotions and support your sales with appropriate gifts. This should include exam good luck, thank you teacher, exam congrats, wedding and anniversary, etc.

    9. Review your competition to ensure you offer something different. Also visit the retailers who have won a recent Reta Award in your area. Many retailers will share information as long as you’re not a direct competitor.

    Click here to see the latest Retas Award winners.

    Read more:

    10 Things to do in the next 10 days to grow your business

    6 Ways to track Gift, Stationery and Greeting Card Trends

  • 6 ways to track Gift, Stationery and Greeting Card Trends

    The UK card market is world leading and acknowledged to be up to 10 years ahead of other greeting card markets. Being aware of trends in the card and gift sector can help your shop stand out from the crowd and drive customers to your door. I'm not just talking about trends where leopard print or certain colours might be in fashion, although it useful to adopt these in your marketing and shop design each season. What we all need to be aware of are trends in products that are selling well or are about to sell well in our market place.

    Whenever I speak or write about trends in the card and gift industry, I'm often struck by how they make sense in wider sociological, economic and political situations we find ourselves in. Experienced marketeers can tune into this and almost feel what might come next. If you don't have time to pay attention to these things yourself you can always take the following short cuts.

    Here are six useful ways retailers track trends in our market:

    TrendsInTradeMagazines

    1. Trade Magazines

    The editors of the major trade magazines often write on trends in the marketplaces they cover. Magazines like Progressive Gifts and Progressive Greetings by Max Publishing both have What's Hot sections where retailers list out best selling products and top suppliers in different categories. The companies that are doing well often advertise in them too, Gift Focus is a bi-monthly publication that adds their advertisers from their trade magazine to their online directory on their website. They also regularly write on trends in the gift industry. Greetings Today magazine and Gifts today by Lema Publishing have regular columnists like John Ryan and myself who comment on trends and retail issues. Greetings Today also sends out useful emails if you subscribe to their list. All of these magazines are now available to read online via the links in this section.

    Trends at Trade Shows 2. Trade Fairs

    Another good place to keep an eye on trends is at trade shows. You can pick up a visual clues by wandering the halls, reading the show guides and attending free seminars. Clarion Events organise the design led Top Drawer trade shows in London in January and September which are great for cutting edge design. They also organise Pulse in May and Home & Gift in Harrogate in July and have one on one surgeries where you can get advice from experts. i2i Events organise Spring Fair and Autumn Fair and are good at producing buyers guides and organising useful seminars on trends. They also have excellent websites that have great supplier listings with lots of images. There's even the specialist London International Card Show called PG Live held in London in May. You can see all of the shows Blue Eyed Sun attends by clicking here.

    Trends At Awards 3. Trade Awards

    Trade Awards tend to be judged by leading industry players and can give you a good indication of which products and suppliers are ones to watch. The Gift of the Year awards are organised by the Giftware Association and held at Spring Fair each year. Winners will often develop point of sale material that can help boost sales in your store. Here's a list of last Gift of the Year 2013 Winners and Finalists. For greeting cards, The Henries Awards are held in October each year and have an excellent cross section of leading publishers. Here's a list of the Henries Finalists 2013. It's also worth paying attention to retailers who win awards at The Retas for card shops and The Greats for gift shops. Check out the shops who are short listed to learn what has made their businesses successful. They often have a close eye on what trends sell well.

    Trends via Trade Associations4. Trade Associations

    The Giftware Association has been serving the gift and home industry since 1947 and is open to both supplier and retailer members. Retailers can benefit from discounts and special offers from supplier members at shows as well as various other benefits. They also have an excellent new directory show casing suppliers and an inspiring annual Members Day where you can learn from and network with industry pros. Members of associations tend to be more proactive with their businesses and pay closer attention to trends and products that sell. The Greeting Card Association is another great organisation that has a very good web directory of it's members.

    Trends via Sales Agents5. Sales Agents and Reps

    In many industries sales people are often regarded as focussing on their own interests to the point where customers have become wary of them. Blue Eyed Sun have had so many agents and reps (that are not our own) refer customers to us over the years that I really believe the card and gift sales folk to be different in this regard. For the most part they are genuinely focussed on helping their retail customers. It's worth grabbing a coffee with them and picking their brains on what's hot in the market place in addition to what their own best sellers are.

    Trends via the Internet6. The Internet using Social Media and Blogs

    I find tracking twitter activity at trade shows a great way of keeping up with what's going on in the market place. Social media can help with engaging with your customers and other retailers (who don't directly compete with you) to find out what trends are hot and what's selling well. Gifts and Greetings Review is an active trade blog that keeps you up to date with industry news and trends. I also like the Card and Gift Blog which regularly features up and coming card publishers. Print and Pattern is also worth keeping an eye on. So there you have it six ways to track gift, stationery and greeting cards trends: Trade magazines, trade shows, trade awards, trade associations, sales reps and the internet. Check out my other recent posts on trends and retailer buying habits below.

    Read UK Greeting Card, Stationery and Gift Market Trends 2013.

    Read How retailers are changing their approach to Buying

  • The Ladder Club 2013 for New Greeting Card Publishers

    The Ladder Club seminar for new greeting card publishers (and those considering the industry) will be take place on the Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th October 2013. It will be my ninth year as keynote speaker at this fantastic annual not for profit event and I am looking forward to an enjoyable two days helping our industry continue to grow.

    There are two seminars being held over two days at the Cliffs Pavilion, Leigh on Sea, Essex. It usually sells out so book early by emailing waiteandtaitbakery@hotmail.com or by calling Trudi or Pauline at Lynn Tait Gallery on 01702 480180.

    What is the Ladder Club?

    Organised by publisher and retailer Lynn Tait, this event is to support and nurture the UK card industry to be the best it can be. If you are new to greeting card publishing then this is the perfect place to start. Speakers include Sharon Little from the Greeting Card Association, Jakki Brown from Max Publishing (Progressive Greetings MagazineThe Henries Awards and PG Live), Claire Frost and Karen Wilson from Paper Salad, Jeremy Corner from Blue Eyed Sun and many other industry professionals including printers, envelope manufacturers, warehousing specialists and paper suppliers GF Smith.

    Who's the Ladder Club for? 

    Day One - Getting on the Ladder - Is for anyone considering the greeting card industry or who have just started their card business and is well suited to artists, photographers, illustrators, designers, writers and cartoonists considering their options.

    Day Two - Climbing the Ladder - Is more advanced and helps new card businesses that have been to one or two trade shows, have a turnover of more than £3,000 and would like to grow their businesses further. Anyone who has already attended the first day the year before may attend this day the following year.

    Networking Dinner

    Lynn also organises a dinner the night before each day, which is well worth attending if you are staying over. She seats card industry insiders on every table so you can pick their brains for help with your business and grow your knowledge as well as take the opportunity to network with other publishers. The dinner usually costs £23 for 3 courses.

    Is the Ladder Club worth it?

    It is very affordably priced at £40+VAT per day and I have received dozens of thank you cards for doing this over the years. Those that attended the Ladder Club answer this best though. Here's what some previous delegates have had to say about their experience of the day:

    "I just wanted to say thank you for putting on such an informative and useful day. I certainly felt I got my money's worth!! All the speakers were excellent and helped to put together the jigsaw puzzle of publishing cards." - Rayya

    "Thanks for my Ladder Club experience on thursday – it was well, well worth the trek from Bristol! It provided me with so much useful information and inspiration – it was just brilliant to hear from so many different people, and important to hear about the negatives as well as the positives. I drove home just buzzing with thoughts and excitement about my business" - Jenny

    "I have to say that you are all so inspirational and generous to organise these events and give up your precious time and I just wanted you to know that it's really appreciated. It's a fantastic industry to be working in and I wouldn't even be putting my toe in the water without all the help and encouragement that you and your industry colleagues have selflessly given." - Rose

    " I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the seminar. I am amazed at how much was packed into the day and I have come away with some new ideas and useful contacts." - Jocelyn

    " I was very impressed at how open and helpful everyone is to potential newcomers/competitors. Obviously paper manufacturers and printers are happy to help new customers but I was also impressed by the lack of any kind of 'sell' by them." - Caroline and Greg

    " I loved it! Was the best seminar I've ever been to! Thank you so much." - Cheryl

    Ladder Club Alumni

    Many good card businesses have benefited from the Ladder Club seminar training and are making their way successfully in the card industry. Including: Wrendale Designs, Molly Mae, YTR Design, The Artrooms, Shine Publishing, Luvio, Full Colour Black, Lesser Spotted, Open Box Design, Iona Cards, The Art Lounge, Rosa Kitt Designs, Moobaacluck, Cutture, Megan Claire, Aiania and Big John.

    Why are you involved?

    Even though I am, in effect, helping the competition, I do this event every year for free because I believe a great card industry is good for all of us. Thanks to the generosity of the organisers and delegates, who have supported my many charity races over the years, I have also raised quite a bit of money for various good causes. With the support of last year's Ladder Club attendees and others I raised £1,162 for Save the Children by running Edinburgh Marathon. Thanks to everyone who donated.

    How do I book a place at the seminar?

    Please note that Blue Eyed Sun does not organise or take bookings for this event. You must email waiteandtaitbakery@hotmail.com or call Trudi or Pauline at Lynn Tait Gallery on 01702 480180 to book your place in advance. It sells out every year and is only held once annually so don't miss it.

  • Speaking on Social Media Strategy with the GCA at Birkbeck

    This week I was invited to speak on Social Media Strategy at a seminar organised by the Greeting Card Association @GCAUK at Birkbeck University in London. Blue Eyed Sun has had quite a bit of success using tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and our wedding stationery business, Ivy Ellen, has even been used as a case study in the Prentice Hall book Get Up to Speed on Social Media.

    The class was well attended with delegates including many well known greeting card businesses including @Woodmansterne@Paperlinkcards@The_Art_Group, @LensIdeas and @Gemma_Int. Attendees learned how to set up a business Twitter profile and how to create a Facebook page for business. Soula from @TheLondonStudio spoke on her experience using Twitter and James Mace told us about the success @TheArtFile were having on Facebook.

    If social media is completely new to you, the first thing to be aware of is that whilst social media is relatively young it is not used exclusively by the young. The following are some examples of social media tools and when they were launched: LinkedIn (2003), Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005), Twitter (2006), Pinterest (2009), Instagram (2010), Google+ (2011). To give you an idea of how extensively they are used, Facebook is accessed by 1 in every 7 people in the world and they spend an average of 15hrs a month on it. It’s used by people across all ages, creeds and colours. 57% are female, 43% are male. Incredibly, one of every five web page views online is on Facebook. Twitter has over 30 million users in the UK and the following age groups 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54 each make up around 20% of tweeters so it’s not just our youth that are babbling on about what they had for their lunch. In fact many of top politicians, journalists and business people have Twitter accounts and they are increasingly valuable tools for them.

    So what does this all mean for you and your business? Well, there is one of the largest social gatherings in history going on right now and if you are not involved you could be missing out. It’s not enough for us to have a website for our business anymore, our customers are spending more and more time online and they want to interact with us using tools they are familiar with. More and more people are choosing Facebook messaging over email. We recently took our first order via Facebook instead of email! When we look for new restaurants we are asking our friends online for recommendations rather than just searching Google ourselves. Even search engine optimization is being influenced by these tools, so if you want to show up on Google searches you can’t ignore them.

    The seminar was incredibly useful for everyone who came and I am sure the @GCAUK will be doing more in the future so do follow them on Twitter. You can read more about social media each month in my new column for Greetings Today and here on this blog over the coming weeks.

    Click here to follow Blue Eyed Sun on Twitter.

    Click here to like Blue Eyed Sun on Facebook.

    Click here to watch Blue Eyed Sun videos on Vimeo.

    Download the Small Business Guide to Social Media by our friends at Sage by clicking here

    GCA Social Media Seminar Speakers: Jeremy Corner from @Blue_Eyed_Sun, Soula Zavacopoulos from @TheLondonStudio, James Mace from @TheArtFile and Sharon Little from @GCAUK

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