Association secures 50 places for July’s Pride In London march and seeks sponsors
Everyone’s proud of the greeting card industry and the GCA has taken that further by securing 50 places to march in the Pride In London event on 1 July.
The industry association is set on being loud and proud about promoting the GCA as a whole and the diversity of greeting cards all along for the route from Hyde Park Corner to Whitehall Place for the event’s 51st outing.
“The Pride In London mission is to ‘unite the LGBT+ voice, amplify diversity and protest against inequality’, values that are supported by the GCA,” association ceo Amanda Fergusson explained. “We will be a 50-person walking group, supporting the LGBTQ+ community and celebrating the wonderful and diverse greeting cards that our industry produces.”
Ohh Deer’s co-founder Mark Callaby leads the GCA’s diversity and inclusion sub-committee, and initiated the GCA’s Black History Month project with Sainsbury’s in 2021.
He said: “I’m a proud member and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and have been wanting to do something that really supports and showcases this part of our industry for a while. Pride In London is the largest Pride event in the UK and I’m incredibly excited that our application was successful.”
And Mark stressed: “Greeting cards send a powerful message to anyone who receives them and as an industry we’re already producing a really rich and inclusive collection of cards that send messages of love and support.”
Publishers David Nichols-Rice, of Ricicle Cards, and Dean Morris Cards’ eponymous owner have volunteered to join the GCA Pride In London sub-committee alongside council members Mark and Amanda, plus Rachel Hare of Belly Button Designs, Max Publishing’s Jakki Brown, UK Greetings’ Darren Cave, Sarah-Jane Porter of Moonpig, and Adriana Lovesy from Mrs Lovesy.
Dean told PG Buzz: “My large collection of LGBTQ+ designs is just a small part of the diversity of cards now available and I think this needs to be proudly – and fabulously – shouted about.
“I’m primarily getting involved with the GCA march at Pride In London because I’m very proud to be a gay-owned business that has been trading for over 20 years. I can also pinpoint a couple of business situations back in the very early days where I actively hid my sexuality, something now that would be unthinkable and impossible for me.”
Mark added: “I’m very excited about this project and think it’s going to be great for our industry,” and, to cover the costs of the participation while making make it cost-neutral to the GCA, sponsorship packages are being made available as well as inviting donations.
There are five levels of sponsorship – £1,000 headline sponsor package with guaranteed walking place on the parade, £500 headline sponsor package, £250 mid-tier sponsor package, £100 sponsor package, and £20 donation – full details are available on the GCA website here.
The Imaging Centre has already pledged £500 sponsorship, along with printing all the cards which the GCA marchers can hand out along the route, Belly Button Designs and Ohh Deer are also signed up, and the sub-committee is working on the placards and banners for the walking group, with the slogan ‘Send a card with Pride’.
Mark explained the plan is to assign some of the march tickets for the D&I sub-committee and £1,000 sponsors, with a first-come first-served system for other GCA members to apply for the remaining places here – priority with be given to LGBTQ+ members, with a maximum of two per company. Places are free thanks to the sponsors, but marchers will be expected to cover their own travel costs.
A call-out will be made soon for family friendly designs that celebrate love, pride and the LGBTQ+ community so the cards can be handed out along the route for people to send on.
Parade rules mean individual brands can’t be included on banners, placards or t-shirts as the GCA has been accepted as a non-profit trade union/organisation but Mark said: “I believe mentions on the handout would be fine, so we’re considering the wording ‘Proudly supported by our members’ and then listing the names under. We can and should promote the Greeting Card Association as a whole.
“I believe Pride In London is the perfect event for us to be involved in and hand out a collection of our LGBTQ+ cards to people on the day. Encouraging everyone to pass on the love by sending a card with pride.”
The D&I sub-committee will be making further plans at its April meeting, and Mark added that everyone is really looking forward to joining the 500 groups and over 30,000 participants on the day. If you’re not lucky enough to nab one of the GCA’s walking place, you can still attend the free Pride In London event, watching from anywhere along the route, and there’s a main stage at Trafalgar Square as well as street parties everywhere!
For any questions or to offer a different donation value or contribute in another way then please reach out to mark@ohhdeer.com or amanda@gca.cards.
