PG’s Warren Lomax and Ohh Deer’s Mark Callaby address American GCA’s workshop this week
Brits are getting a big say at the US GCA’s first in-person workshop and retreat event in four years with three of the 15 sessions this week dedicated to the UK point of view.
PG’s very own Warren Lomax will deliver a speech on Cards In The UK: Brokerage, Distribution, And Retail, while Ohh Deer co-owner and UK GCA council member Mark Callaby features in two events – and the schedule means attendees can hear them all!
The three-day workshop – the US association’s first one since 2019 where tickets cost from £696 ($850) to £1,065 ($1,300) – kicks off tomorrow, Wednesday, 18 October, at Hallmark’s Kansas City hq in Missouri, with an evening keynote speech from the publishing giant’s trends strategist Melissa Donoho talking on Societal Evolutions Through The Social Expressions Lens.
Then at 10.15am on Thursday, Warren’s billing gives him a 45-minute slot – “I’ll be talking about the history of PG, PG Live, The Henries Awards, etc and the health and trends of the UK market.”
Warren, who set up PG over 30 years ago with long-time business partner Jakki Brown, will also be highlighting some of the differences and similarities between the two markets, while exploring ways American publishers could seek to enter the UK and other overseas territories.
And this topic will be continued in Understanding And Expanding In The UK And Beyond, which is at 11.15am and involves Mark as well as Up With Paper’s Monika Brandrup, Jason Carberry from Fine Moments, and Notes & Queries’ co-owner Vanessa Harnik.
Acknowledging the UK as “one of the most important and active greeting card markets in the world”, the session is being moderated by Vanessa, who works with her dad Alan distributing for a great many different publishers, primarily from Britain.
They always ask a potential new trading partner “why do you want to export” so that’s the focus of the panel conversation, exploring issues of distribution, cost differences, naked or wrapped cards, shipping, product placement, and trade show opportunities – Vanessa said: “Ultimately, if export is the direction that a maker wants to expand into, where is the best place to start?”
The full schedule is available here, with Mark following up as one of only two speakers on Friday, with an 8.30am session entitled The Bootstrap Story Of Ohh Deer: You Can Do Anything But Not Everything, giving the background to the company he and business and life partner Jamie Mitchell started in grandma’s attic in 2011 after meeting at Kingston University.
Before setting off for his US trip, Warren added: “Jakki and I have been so privileged to be at the centre of this vibrant creative and friendly industry for over three decades and I look forward to finally addressing the American association.
“We were due to do this in 2001, and had already arrived at the convention centre at Lake George, when 9/11 tragically occurred and the convention was immediately cancelled but going to Kansas City, the birthplace of the American greeting card industry, and addressing their best makers, is an honour and a privilege.”
