November 2018
Dear GCA Member:
I was so excited to see so many of you at this year’s 77th Annual Greeting Card Association Convention in Cleveland. I had the pleasure of catching up with old colleagues, meeting new members, and experiencing the passion and enthusiasm we all have for our products. I also enjoyed hosting attendees at American Greetings Creative Studios for a tour of our new world headquarters and a wonderful evening reception. For those of you who had the opportunity to attend, I hope you left this year’s Convention with a new set of tools, insights, and connections that will help drive your company’s continued success. I would once again like to thank Alana Campana, Lawrence Yeh, the GCA staff, our wonderful speakers, and the generous sponsors for making this year’s convention truly remarkable. For those of you who were unable to attend, I hope that you will join us at next year’s Convention in Naples, Florida, in September 2019. It is sure to be an incredible event.
I would also like to recognize and celebrate the debut of Thinking of You Week in the United States, which took place the last week of September. Nicky Burton (Calypso), Dave Phipps (Avanti Press) and their team did an outstanding job launching the initiative in the United States, which included a website, social media presence, the sharing of many thousands of cards nationwide, and our continued partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPS helped support the initiative with a Thinking of You cancellation mark that was used on all first-class, stamped mail during the month of September, which resulted in nearly half a billion impressions! The goal of the week was to highlight the benefits of sending and receiving handwritten correspondence and I think we achieved just that. Thank you to all who participated and helped spread the word to retailers and consumers alike. I look forward to seeing how this program will grow in the future and how we will continue to create a wave of happiness throughout the world.
Last but not least, we are looking forward to welcoming the greeting card community – publishers small and large – to Noted: The Greeting Card ExpoSM, next May. GCA members receive reduced rates so I encourage you to apply to exhibit at this new community event!
Wishing you all the best,
Christy Kaprosy