Thinking of You Week (ToYW), the GCA’s annual special card sending initiative, which this year falls September 20-26 in the UK, is gathering more support by the day from retailers, publishers and trade suppliers. Royal Mail is also to get behind Thinking of You Week more than ever before. Not only has Royal Mail committed to a stamp cancellation mark that will promote ToYW on millions of items of post in the run up to the event, but it is also working on a number of notable initiatives, one of which involves making a film which is to centre around the joys of sending and receiving greeting cards.
“We are delighted that Royal Mail is joining some many in our industry to promote Thinking of You Week and in doing so, reinforcing the importance of greeting card sending,” summed up Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA. To help bring Royal Mail’s marketing plans to live, the postal operator needs around 500 greeting cards and envelopes (all of which need to be suitable for Thinking of You Week, but not necessarily featuring the exact caption).
GCA publisher members are being asked to send any quantity of suitable cards to the association’s HQ, to arrive no later than Tuesday 24 August. They should be sent addressed GCA (ToYW), United House, North Road, London, N7 9DP.
ToYW is all set to make a splash at retail this year with Asda, Clintons, Sainsbury’s and Cardzone among the multiple retailers who are underway with their plans to support the initiative this year. House of Cards, the Home Counties-based specialist card group is leading the charge on the indie front, through its involvement with the Thinking of You Week student design competition with the University of Hertfordshire and GCA, which sees the winning design going on sale in its seven shops.
On the publisher and supplier fronts UK Greetings, Paper Salad, The Art File, Belly Button Designs and Dandelion Stationery as well as paper company GF Smith are among those putting the final touches to their plans for the Week.
Meanwhile, the GCA has commissioned the Lanther Black dynamic card and film making duo, Dominique Miranda and Jack Parker to create one their special videos that will be shared widely on social media and free to host on member’s websites to promote ToYW.
The GCA website (www.gca.cards) features a dedicated Thinking of You Week blog with inspiring ideas of how you can get involved as well as hosting a downloadable toolkit with the joyful branding that was created by Paper Salad and available to all for use.
Top: Plans are well underway for next month’s Thinking of You Week activities.
