GCU Forum - The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011

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The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011
Jun 20^th, 2011, 10:02pm

There was an article in The Wall Street Journal>Marketing & Careers section titled "Making Cards Cool Again". I think GCU is on top of this, you?

"Sales of greeting cards have fallen steadily in recent years amid the rise of social media and email. The greeting card industry posted sales of $5.9 billion last year, down 9% since 2005, according to market-research firm Mintel International Group"...82% of consumers aged 18-24 reported buying cards, 90% aged 35-64..."'My friends don't expect me to get them a card, but they'd be offended if I didn't wish them "Happy Birthday" on FB,'" said an 18 yo college student...Hallmark and Am Greetings are looking at those born from 1980 to 1990s, estimated 50 million who are at least 18 yo...Am Greetings has a new line of cards loaded with sarcasm and hipster references, eg. "Sorry I didn't get you a gift, but you have a lot of cheap crap anyway."...Am Greetings line includes online versions of many designs...Humor was difficult to capture with this group..."'we had to be willing to be a little punchy'"...Hallmark developed personalized card options on its website...personalized greetings is one of the fastest growing products..."'Cards today have to be about a specialized, personal touch, which digital can't match- everyone opens a handwritten card, but not everyone opens an email.'"

18-24 year olds, 50 million of them...Sarcasm and hipster...Start your engines! You have the green flag.

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dativer:
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Bambi_136382 Full Member artist Posts: 135	Re: The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011 Reply #1 - Jun 20^th, 2011, 10:13pm Nice piece of info. Thanks!
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Rebecca_140932

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Re: The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011
Reply #2 - Jun 20^th, 2011, 11:16pm

Hallmark and American Greetings are hard for GCU to compete with. They are really big. They do charge more for their cards, but they usually get it. We need to work harder as artists to make GCU the best it can be. It doesn't help when the competition has the same things we do either. If only we could come up with something unique that none of them has ever thought of. I know that more than likely they all would just copy it anyway, but if we were known for our new ideas, that would be reward enough and keep the attention of others. I think????? undecided

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Pamela_135500

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Re: The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011
Reply #3 - Jun 21^st, 2011, 5:24am

Great find Damyon

Watching for information such as this is exactly what we should be doing if we are serious about making successful cards that sell. The 'big' guys don't employ their artists to fill up the shelves with the same old cards, you'll notice they target current trends in colors, re-work the traditional to give them an up-to-date look, target age groups. We all have our own style but the key seems to be making that work within what is popular and what there is a demand for. I say watch out big guys we are coming to get ya!

My engines are revved and ready to go! Grin

Thanks so much for sharing this Damyon,
Pamela

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Rosalie_136698 Gold Member artist Posts: 981	Re: The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011 Reply #4 - Jun 21^st, 2011, 2:57pm Interesting news, thanks so much for sharing. Rosie Cards
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SunAtNight_145914

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Re: The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011
Reply #5 - Jun 22^nd, 2011, 7:08am

Awesome industry news!

In my opinion I really doubt that sales has plummeted due to social websites and email. It is really due to the price of paper pulp going up. Paper costs have really crept up just this past year although it has been a slow creep since 2005. No longer is .99 cent greeting card common. The ever popular .99 cent greeting card is still found in the marketplace, but consumers really have to hunt for it.

The paper companies really took a hit 3 years ago. This is the first year since then that it shows signs of recovering as some of the major paper companies have re-issued dividends to their shareholders.

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Susan J._131799 Full Member artist Posts: 118	Re: The Wall Street Journal 6/20/2011 Reply #6 - Jun 22^nd, 2011, 11:23am Great post Damyon! Thanks for sharing. Susan
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