“If we can’t send more cards as an industry then what hope do we have for the future?” Jeremy Corner , md of Blue Eyed Sun asks. Having dedicated the last year to The Greeting Card Project, making and hosting a weekly video of his own card sends, Jeremy is now hoping to inspire others in the trade to take the project forward.
At the beginning of 2017, md of Blue Eyed Sun, Jeremy Corner made it his mission to send more greeting cards and document his journey on YouTube with one video every week. Thus the Greeting Card Project was born. “At the start of the year I confessed to the world that, despite having published cards for the last seventeen years, I didn’t actually send that many greeting cards myself,” says Jeremy. “My New Year’s resolution for 2017 was to change this and send more cards.”
Jeremy purchased and sent over 250 cards from over 150 different publishers in 52 different stores in the UK and Europe during 2017. He spent around £250 on postage, £750 on cards and £600 on travel to complete the project. The 54 videos on YouTube had 10,589 views by the year end with an average view time of two minutes each. Halfway through the year, Jeremy started posting the videos in Facebook and other platforms and the total views of the videos during 2017 on all channels was 20,779.
“I’m really pleased with these stats,” he says. “I never expected the channel to go viral and this wasn’t my intention anyway. I wanted to create something that was of interest to our community and to people who love cards. I’m really glad I did the project. I love sending cards and it’s reminded me to make it a weekly habit for myself personally. I’m still enjoying using my fountain pen and I do feel like I’ve got closer to my friends and loved ones this year through the project.”
So where now for the Greeting Card Project? “I’m hoping to encourage other publishers, retailers and suppliers to commit to sending more cards themselves this year,” says Jeremy. “Buy a book of first class stamps, keep a stock of cards and the next time find yourself writing a Facebook message for someone’s birthday, pull out your pen and write and send a card instead. If we can’t send more cards as an industry then what hope do we have for the future? Ideally I’d also like more people in the industry to share videos and images of their stories and feelings about card sending and receiving online. Social media is fantastic for amplifying important messages like this. We can definitely do more of this kind of thing online. It is a golden opportunity for us.”
As he adds, “It’s so important that we share the stories that make greeting cards so special. Social media is an amazing tool for communicating the power that a greeting card has to strengthen and nurture our relationships, to connect on a deeper level and to really feel loved and cared for. Video and images are the best way to amplify this message on these platforms so I really want to encourage others to have a go and tell their card sending stories,” says Jeremy.
Progressive Greetings’ Jakki Brown and JP Pozzi’s David Robertson have already taken on the challenge posting their own videos.
Jeremy is now challenging everyone in the industry to take up the baton and send more cards and share their experiences using #TheGreetingCardProject on social media.
Join the Facebook Group to get started: www.facebook.com/groups/TheGreetingCardProject
Watch The Greeting Card Project weekly videos at www.YouTube.com/TheGreetingCardProject
