Dandelion, Earlybird, Hallmark, Co-Op and Wrendale help rev up Thinking Of You Week action
Action is now revving up for Thinking Of You Week, which kicks off on Monday – and is particularly poignant as it’s now the day of Her Majesty The Queen’s State Funeral.
Dandelion Stationery has taken the “create a wave of love, caring and happiness” ethos to heart by card-bombing packs of greeting cards and TOYW information at random spots around its Derbyshire base.
“We’ve been doing a bit of hide and seek,” said Dandelion’s studio manager Jess Greaves, “and we’ll continue with our hide and seek mission to spread the TOYW word over the next few days! We’ve left packs in Chellaston, Shardlow, Aston on Trent, Melbourne, Barrow on Trent and Derby city centre so far.”
Owner Jo Wilson and her Dandelion team have put together packs containing bundles of Thinking Of You cards, and labelled the packs with information on what the GCA’s TOYW initiative is all about, with instructions to take one card and send it to a loved one during the week, which starts on Monday and runs to Sunday, 19-25 September.
And Royal Mail has announced the TOYW postmark usually used to frank all mail sent during the week will be going ahead but from Wednesday, 21 September, because the company, understandably is using an In Memoriam postmark in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.
GCA ceo Amanda Fergusson said: “Because of the In Memoriam postmark for The Queen, there will be a knock-on effect for the Thinking Of You postmark. Clearly the focus for Monday will be on the funeral so we absolutely understand and are pleased that they are continuing to support TOYW with their special Thinking Of You Week postmark after this.”
Over at Earlybird’s shop in London’s Stoke Newington, the TOYW message is front and centre with a full display filling the main window, and the retailer-publisher creating a special delphinium design card printed, drawn by the team’s in-house artist Hannah Sharman.
The publisher’s printer Hartgraph has generously donated the cost of printing the card meaning the retailer can sell the design in its shop with profits being donated to a local community garden, run by Peter Bedford Housing Association, which provides safe accommodation for those affected by homelessness.
“With many others around the country we’re celebrating how easily sending and receiving cards can bring people together, and have made up our window just for the occasion with some ideas of who and why you should send a card,” said Earlybird co-owner Heidi Early.
“We’ve covered the window in envelopes with fake addresses like ‘Fabulous friend, who’s feeling down, just a note, to brighten your day’. Plus, there’s Hannah’s new Delphinium Card, with the flower symbolising cheerfulness and goodwill used to communicate encouragement and joy, so we thought it was perfect – don’t forget sometimes the best reason is nothing more than just because!”
At Hallmark, head of commercial Fiona Pitt confirmed the publisher’s merchandisers have installed special Thinking Of You card clipstrips in Co-Op stores around the country ready for the annual campaign to persuade people to send a card and deliver a smile.
Meanwhile, at Wrendale Designs the publisher is adding a free The Thistle Finch card to all UK retail orders placed between today and next Sunday, 16-25 September, with marketing assistant Erin Dunn explaining: “It’s so our customers can send on a message to friends and family to let them know they are thinking about them.”
Wrendale is a proud supporter of Thinking Of You Week and love to get involved, encouraging the team to send their own handwritten cards to their loved ones during the week by offering them the publisher’s cards of their choice.
Team member Alysha said: “I decided to send the card Thanks A Bunch, from our party animal collection, to my childhood friend Megan who now lives in London. Despite us both living in different areas of the country, she continues to support me in everything I do, even sending me the odd bottle of prosecco in the post from time to time! And I’m extremely grateful for her friendship.”
Miriam sent the Family Pride design from the Zoology collection to her brother and sister-in-law and their young son back home in Germany as she hadn’t seen them in three years due to the pandemic, and the Thank You So Moooch occasion card was Charlotte’s choice to her in-laws for allowing them to stay while saving for a house: “They generously let us and all of our furniture live with them – they were very supportive and fun to live with, there was never a dull moment. We are very grateful for all of their help and support, we can never thank them enough.”
Among the many retailers supporting TOYW with a special window display are Stationery Supplies in Marple and Wilmslow, and Papilio At Heritage in Thornbury.
To feature in the Thinking of You Week Gallery please send a jpeg of your card design and website address to adriana@gca.cards, and if you have a Thinking Of You Week event that you’d like to shout about please email jakkib@max-publishing.co.uk. To find out more about this annual GCA initiative please visit the website where there is lots of information and resources including a downloadable toolkit.
Top: Dandelion’s card-bombing packs and Earlybird’s special TOYW window
