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Beyond Santas and Snowmen

Kathy Krassner -- Gifts and Dec, 6/20/2011 3:07:07 AM

Rainbow Foil cards feature full-coverage, multifoil effects. $15.95/box of 14. Design Design. 800.334.3348. If your store's mix of Christmas cards has gone from "ho, ho, ho" to ho-hum, it's time to spruce up your selection with new and unique holiday cards that go beyond the expected imagery and colors of the season.
Nontraditional themes and colors are making Christmas card sales merry and bright
     While traditional themes certainly still sell well, adding Christmas cards that feature updated colors and modern motifs can help expand your customer base - resulting in greater holiday sales.
     "I don't think that Madison Park Greetings' holiday line has any new Santas this year!" claims Megan Gandt of The Madison Park Group.
     "Santa, reindeer and snowman are strong icons, but we are seeing good movement on other icons when they are sprinkled in," adds Jeff Schalk of Meri Meri. Traci Sellner of Carlson Craft agrees: "Many customers are looking for a card that is something ‘out of the box' and will convey their own unique personality and interests."
Peace card is silkscreen printed. $3.95; $14.95/box of eight. Great Arrow Graphics. 800.835.0490.     Going to the Birds In general, nature scenes - featuring birds, pets, and other fl ora and fauna - are increasingly appearing on Christmas cards. "Many of the holiday cards in our collection are inspired by nature, highlighting winter birds, trees, fl owers and other cute woodland critters," relates Katherine Dikeakos of The Madison Park Group.
    Among the most popular themes on holiday seasonal cards this year are birds, and Great Arrow Graphics, for one, is featuring numerous bird images: cardinals, robins, doves, partridges and even penguins. Avian imagery has been prevalent on everyday cards and stationery items, as well as in home decor items in recent years, so it's no surprise they're proving just as popular for Christmas. Cardinal card is from the RSVP line. $2.50; $12.95/box of 15. Sellers Pub. 207.772.6833.
     Cards featuring pets, especially in a humorous way, have long been bestsellers for many companies, but when it comes to pet-themed cards, Jumping Cracker Beans takes the theme even further, offering dog lovers a card that has a small bag of real dog treats on the cover.
     On the opposite side of nature, cityscapes are gaining ground as a more graphic, contemporary motif. Great Arrow Graphics, says Alan Friedman, offers both: "Scenes that incorporate the holidays in a nature setting have been very strong for us; and for those who enjoy the nature of cities, a dachshund ice skating against a city skyline is a favorite."
More Than Red and Green
Urban Stockings card is die-cut and features 3-D elements. $16/box of eight. The Museum of Modern Art. 212.708.9800.     Paralleling trends in holiday decor lines and helping to differentiate these nontraditional motifs is the use of unexpected colors that go beyond the typical red and green usually associated with Christmas.
     The Museum of Modern Art in New York regularly incorporates trendy colors into its Christmas card offering. "We create a unique color palette as a guide for artists each year," explains Dawn Bossman, MoMA Retail. "It is based upon trends that we see at international and local trade shows, popular hues in the fashion world, and the MoMA color palette (which provides a framework for all MoMA-developed products)." She shares that this year's collection of holiday cards from MoMA Urban Stockings card is die-cut and features 3-D elements. $16/box of eight. The Museum of Modern Art. 212.708.9800. www.momawholesale.org CIRCLE #959 integrates traditional hues with nontraditional colors, including pinks, turquoise, purples and light greens. Kibble handmade card includes a bag of dog treats, $4.95. Jumping Cracker Beans. 408.396.8335.
     Adds Jan Keefe: "This year, reds have taken a more playful turn toward orange and also to shades of pink and plum. Greens have shift ed to brighter, more vibrant tones and occasionally varied into blue-greens or aqua colors." She notes that metallics and glitter continue to add sparkle to holiday cards, and that the company's RSVP line is now also using magenta foil in addition to silver and gold.
     Special treatments - particularly foils - are appearing on many new Christmas card lines this year, such as on Design Design's new range of boxed cards that features full-coverage foil treatments. "Even some traditional themes have been freshened up by using a unique foil color like copper, or by using a different treatment like laser cutting," mentions Traci Sellner.
Expanding the Customer Base
Silver foil and rich colors are featured on this holiday card by Melissa Crowley. $2.50; $11.99/box of 10. Madison Park Greetings. 800.638.9622.     Christmas cards that go beyond the expected images, colors and sentiments can help attract a wider customer base comprising varying ages, tastes, interests and religious beliefs.
     "Seasonal customers come in all shapes and sizes, nationalities, traditions and beliefs," acknowledges Friedman. Dawn Bossman agrees, emphasizing that, "More and more customers are looking for nondenominational cards."
     "Many people will be sending cards to friends and family who celebrate different winter holidays and don't want to be trapped in the traditional Christmas card mold," asserts Madison Park's Dikeakos. "By featuring a variety of unique designs, a retailer is becoming open to a larger audience while also differentiating themselves from other retailers."
     An important aspect of offering unique Christmas cards is to attract a younger demographic, which is key to keeping the holiday-card category profitable going forward. Observes Brian Carder of Design Design: "Nontraditional designs may appeal to those who are eco-conscious, followers of trends/ fashion, or younger consumers who normally use electronic media as their primary form of communication."
     Another benefit of selling such Christmas cards is that they help add excitement to store displays. "The expanded array makes an assortment more visually interesting and offers your customers that want to be different something to choose," notes Jeff Schalk.

Holiday cards can be personalized with choice of verse, imprint color, signature line and more. $125-$150/50 cards. Carlson Craft. 800.328.1782
	Colorful Birds card features real feather attachments. $5.95; $30/box of six. Meri Meri. 650.508.2300.

"Christmas card shoppers are always looking for something new and different to send to the special people in their lives at the holidays," says Judy Dugan of Jumping Cracker Beans. "Some are replacing gift s with greeting cards, so they want those cards to show the extra care they spent in selecting a special card."

Bird and berries card says "Season's Greetings" inside. $12.98/box of 10. Palm Press. 800.322.7256.
	Forest green colored cards are offset printed. $5 each. Banquet Atelier & Workshop. 604.710.6923.

The bottom line is that adding nontraditional cards to your Christmas seasonal card mix is essential to increasing your bottom line this fourth quarter. As Keefe points out: "Nontraditional designs give people a way to express their own sense of style or their sense of humor and playfulness. Having more variety and choice is always a good thing."

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