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DID
YOU KNOW???
Historical
Connections…
• Sending greeting cards
to friends and family is a tradition dating back hundreds of
years -- the Chinese celebrated the advent of the New Year
with messages of good will and good cheer, and the Germans
printed New Year’s greetings from woodcuts as early as the
year 1400.
• In the early to
mid-1800s, most of the greeting cards were hand delivered and
quite expensive – sent primarily by the elite wealthy. But
with the introduction of the postage stamp in 1840, greeting
cards gained mass popularity.
• By the 1850s, printers
and manufacturers designed both elaborate expensive cards as
well as simple affordable ones.
• Cards gained strong
popularity in the late 1800s and early 1900s offering some of
the most unusual art.
Love
is in the Mail
• Valentine greetings
were popular as far back as the Middle Ages – written
Valentines didn’t begin to appear until after 1400.
• The oldest known
Valentine greeting card is on display at the British Museum.
• The first commercial
Valentine’s Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were
created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland.
• Esther Howland, known
as the Mother of the Valentine, made fancy Valentines with
real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as
“scrap.”
Season’s
Greetings…
• Christmas cards were
introduced in 1843 in London by John Calcott Horsley, the
artist of the first Christmas card.
• Louis Prang, known as
the Father of the American Christmas Card, perfected the
lithographic process of color printing and in 1875 introduced
the first line of Christmas cards to the American
public.
• The most popular
card-sending holiday is Christmas, which accounts for more
than 60 percent of all individual seasonal cards sold.
(source: Greeting
Card Association .org)
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MORE
FACTS ABOUT GREETING CARDS
After a long day at work,
you arrive at home and grab the mail. You flip through the
pile of bills until that one piece of mail captures your
attention – you stop flipping. Unlike the rest, this
envelope is not legal-sized with your name and address typed
neatly behind a clear window. It is handwritten and says that
someone took the time to let you know that they were thinking
about you. It feels good.
It seems simple, but yes,
a greeting card makes you feel loved or appreciated – we
have all experienced it. The majority of Americans agree
traditional methods of personal communication, such as
greeting cards, beat out their point-and-click counterparts,
such as text messaging and e-mail, by making people feel more
special, according to a recent study* on behalf of the
Greeting Card Association (GCA).
The
Power of the Card
• A single greeting card
has the power to touch people in a special way. For years, the
practice of sending and receiving cards has been integral in
keeping family and friends connected.
• While traditionally
cards have been sent to connect on seasonal occasions, such as
Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day
and Easter, today there are cards for every relationship,
every occasion, every ethnicity, every age group, every gender
and every special interest group.
The
Average Mailbox
• 90 percent of all U.S.
households participate in the greeting card category,
purchasing at least one greeting card per year. Those
households on average purchase 30 individual cards per
year.
• The average person
receives more than 20 cards per year, about one-third of which
are birthday cards.
Deliver the Letter … the
Sooner the Better
• Nine out of 10
Americans look forward to receiving personal letters and
greeting cards because cards allow them to keep in touch with
friends and family and make them feel that they are important
to someone else.
• Personal greeting
cards and letters are the primary types of mail people most
look forward to receiving, opening first and reading
thoroughly.
Popularity
Contest
• The most popular
card-sending holiday is Christmas, which accounts for more
than 60 percent of all individual seasonal cards sold. The
next most popular holidays in order are Valentine's Day,
Mother's Day, Easter and Father's Day. The most popular
recipients of seasonal cards are parents, who receive about
one out of every five seasonal cards.
• The most popular
everyday card is the birthday card, which accounts for 60
percent of all individual everyday cards sold. The next most
popular everyday cards in order are anniversary, get well,
friendship and sympathy. The most popular recipients of
everyday cards are friends, who receive about one out of every
three everyday cards.
The
Business of Greeting Cards
• Americans purchase
nearly 7 billion greeting cards every year, generating nearly
$7.5 billion in retail sales. Cards range in price from 38
cents to $10, with the average card retailing for $2 - $4.
Cards featuring special techniques and intricate designs are
at the top of this price scale.
• There are an estimated
3,000 greeting card publishers in America, ranging from major
corporations to small businesses. GCA members together account
for approximately 95 percent of the industry market
share.
*The Emotional State of
the Union survey was conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland
Associates, Inc., a national research firm, to determine
Americans’ emotional connections and plans for
communication. Copyright 2004)
=====================================================
AND
YET MORE ABOUT THE GREETINGS CARD!!
GREETING
CARD SALES BLOOM
Mother’s Day, Father’s
Day and Graduation Make Spring Second Most Popular Time of
Year to Send Greeting Cards to Special People in Our Lives
-
• Nearly 98 percent
of consumers celebrate Mother’s Day and 80 percent of
consumers celebrate Father’s Day each spring, making
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day two of the top five
holidays for sending greeting cards.
-
• Forty-nine percent
of U.S. households give Mother's Day greeting cards and
purchase an average of 2.7 cards per household.
-
• The typical high
school graduate receives 17 cards, and a typical college
graduate receives 7.5 cards.
-
• About 49 percent
of graduation cards are given to friends, both by the
graduate and by the graduate's parents, among others.
GREETING
CARDS REFLECT FEELINGS, CHANGING TIMES
Creativity
of Cards Keeps Personal Connection New
-
• While the world of
high-tech communication provides more and more ways to
communicate, the creativity within the greeting card
industry keeps alive the tradition of sending a special
message.
-
• Greeting card
creators continue to monitor the emotional pulse of today’s
society to create greeting cards that reflect societal and
cultural trends and address situations that require
sensitivity and caring. It’s all about helping people
express themselves.
-
• Compared to 20
years ago, the cards available today deliver sentiments in
different ways reflected in the designs and writing.
PASSING
DOWN THE "LOST ART" OF GREETING CARDS
Writing
Cards Helps Keep Families Connected • • • r • •
-
Much like diaries and
scrapbooks, greeting cards are a great way to preserve
special memories.
-
Parents can create a
heritage of sending greeting cards by passing down the
tradition to their children, thereby teaching their
children the value and etiquette of personal
communication.
-
It’s important to
connect with friends and family in meaningful ways, such
as sending a card to remember a special occasion or to
brighten someone’s day out of the blue.
BEHIND
THE GREETING CARD
Artisans
of Their Time: Geeting Card Writers and Artists Help People
Show They Care
-
It takes more than a
printer and paper to create a greeting card – it takes
inspiration, research, creativity and shared sentiments.
-
Taking an inside look
at how a greeting card is created, from conceptualization
to illustration to production, shows that it takes a
significant amount of intellect, creativity, and time to
capture feelings in a card.
TECHNOLOGY
AND TRADITION
Greeting
Cards Still Top Way to Deliver Special Message
-
The advent of the
Internet has provided a whole new channel -- e-cards --
and people are embracing both e-cards and paper cards.
-
Sixty-four percent of
Americans prefer the old-fashioned way – communications
that are handwritten and from the heart.*
-
Seventy percent of
women and 70 percent of singles give greeting cards an
even higher approval rating than other communication
options.*
-
Unlike the recent
forms of instant communication, such as e-mail, instant
messages and text messages, the handwritten word continues
to be the most preferred gesture.
*The Emotional State of
the Union survey was conducted on behalf of the GCA by Penn,
Schoen & Berland Associates, Inc., a national research
firm, to determine Americans’ emotional connections and
plans for communication. The survey of 911 adults, 18 years of
age or older, was conducted in January 2004. The overall
margin of error is +/- 3.3 at the 95% confidence level.
And there you have
it......hope you enjoyed this "hardly trivial" view
of Greetings Card information!!
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