David Hicks, the founder of greeting card and gift brands Really Good and Soul is on the verge of launching a nationwide design competition, appointing well-connected PR maestro and author, Jessica Huie to raise awareness and drive engagement for the initiative.
With Really Good having just celebrated its 30th anniversary in the trade and Soul, marking its 20th anniversary, David wanted to do something significant to support aspiring designers to break into the gift sector.
“This industry has been very good to me, now I would like to give something back to young designers out there,” David told PG Buzz.
Launching with a vengeance in April, the competition will open inviting unpublished design talent to enter their product ideas with one of the prizes planned being to take the winning designs to market.
David Hicks, who has enjoyed 30 years introducing designs into gift stores globally, is well known for his maverick approach and innate nous for product. A case in point is Really Good’s ‘Man Tin from its Bright Side collection (produced under licence with Rachel Bright) which has sold more than 600,000 units globally.
“There’s a large pool of young design talent that I’m looking forward to meeting and nurturing. I still get excited about a new design, so it’s exciting to think about who and what we might unearth,” said David.
The competition is been driven by Jessica Huie MBE, owner of award-winning public relations boutique agency JHPR. Jessica has worked with some of the world’s biggest stars and business people including Samuel L. Jackson, Simon Cowell, Sir Bob Geldof and Meghan Markle. When she set up her first business Color Blind Cards, it started an early national conversation around diversity in retail and is credited as one of the first independent multicultural greeting card line to be stocked in the UK high-street, earning her invitations to No.10 Downing street with the UK Prime Minister and an MBE award for services to entrepreneurship – all by the age of 34.
Her first book, Purpose: Find Your Truth and Embrace Your Calling comes out April 24. Jessica spoke about the new book in an article about female empowerment and living your life and business with purpose in the Sunday Times’ Style magazine last Sunday (February 25).
