Buyers reveal what ranges caught their eye at Progressive Greetings Live
The recent Progressive Greetings Live 2023 show was a full-on two-day greeting card festival, bringing together retailers, overseas distributors and publishers of all shapes and sizes.
In the second of a series, PG Buzz shares the views from Tesco’s buying manager Sam Ody, Oliver Bonas’ card buyer Lucy Cornwall and indie Heidi Early, co-owner of Earlybird in Stoke Newington, who lift the lid on their top product picks from the show.
Lucy Cornwall, greeting card buyer for Oliver Bonas
“PG Live was a really great show again this year, and there was definitely a real buzz. It was lovely to catch up with old and new suppliers and see all the new collections.”
Stand outs
“There were some great stand out ranges for us this year, in particular The Violet Eclectic range from East End Prints caught our eye with its bold, fun colours and retro elements, and also the wonderful cards by Sakina Saidi with their empowering messages and great design.”
Heidi Early, co-owner of Earlybird Designs in Stoke Newington
“PG really was a great show wasn’t it? It’s our absolute favourite show from both a publisher and retailer perspective. There’s everyone there that I love and want to talk to!
“The organisation of the show is superb. As an exhibitor it’s so good to have electric, lights and furniture included in the package, plus the water stations, the free tea and coffee, the free lunch, the drinks in the evening – all of these really add up to make it stand out as a show. We really feel looked after, and we know if there is ever a problem then it’s sorted very quickly.
“This year we moved our stand from the Village Green up to a bigger one on the mezzanine – it really worked for us. It allowed us to have better meetings with customers on the stand and meant we could have a lot more customers on the stand at one time, and we certainly did! All three of us were flat out. A big thank you to team PG Live for all your efforts in creating a superb show that is a pleasure to exhibit at and visit.
“With my retailer hat on, I like the mid-year timing of the show and I think I enjoyed it even more this year because at the start of the year there was so much uncertainty over price rises – they were going up at a shocking rate and it was scary. But that seems to have calmed somewhat and I feel more confident about the next six months.
“I really feel that PG Live is absolutely the heart of our industry. Jakki, Warren, Tracey, Jim and Ian and the team are really visible, they sort any problems out promptly and they really know everyone, no one is just a number or just a stand. And I think, in today’s climate, this kind of connection and community is absolutely priceless!”
Stand outs
“I love that all my firm favourites were at PG Live – Ohh Deer, Stormy Knight, Brainbox Candy, Dean Morris, The Art File, Paper Salad, to name just a few – but then there’s also newer suppliers like Ickaprint with whom we spent our Retas’ Silver Ticket. Jess’s face was such a picture of joy when we handed the ticket to her! We love her colours and images, they fit our Stokey shop look so well.
“And we also found a new supplier, Henries Award winner Bewilderbeest, where we spent our Sunshine Ticket. His detailed illustrations give the funny puns trend a whole new lease of life.
“I also absolutely loved Hallmark’s paper flowers in the lunchroom, we had our own handmade paper flowers on our stand, so it felt like we were completely on trend!”
Sam Ody, lead buying manager of everyday cards for Tesco
“The show was so very good and we came away completely inspired. You could really tell there had been a real bounce back post-pandemic. Everyone we saw brought their A game to the show. There was lots of inspiration, newness and clears points of difference between the stands!
“We came en mass as it’s such a great show and we see it as important for everyone to come along to see the publishers and all the new product they’ve been developing and are on working on. Next year we’ve already said we’ll come both days as there’s so much to see.”
Stand outs
“We thought Paper Salad, Emotional Rescue and Danilo had some great new designs and ranges.
“It was great to see some new development from Paper Salad – branching out into Christmas crackers. We all loved Folx from Emo. Danilo had some great new licences and style guide refreshes, in particular Roald Dahl and some of the book-led licences.
“We also saw some new designers that would be perfect for our Introducing collection, but we’re keeping them under wraps for now!”
PG Live 2024 will take place on June 4-5 at the Business Design Centre. Well over 50 stands have already been booked. Contact Tracey Arnaud on traceya@max-publishing.co.uk to find out more about exhibiting.
