Stationery Supplies’ Sarah Laker sets social media activity programme
The social media campaign has already kicked off for National Stationery Week 2023’s action and greetings retailers are getting involved, not surprising as the whole campaign is being spearheaded by Sarah Laker, owner of Retas Awards winning retailer Stationery Supplies in Marple and Wilmslow.
“This year’s NSW campaign has got off to a great start already,” Sarah told PG Buzz, “with regular features on our social media feeds, such as #MemeMonday and #StationeryShopSaturday where we feature independent retailers who sell stationery.
“We’ve already featured Earlybird in Stoke Newington as I feel very strongly that greeting cards are a massive part of the stationery industry – and what better way to put pen to paper than in a greeting card!”
National Stationery Week, which runs over 15-21 May, is bursting its pencil case seams with a strong sponsor line-up, cajoled by Sarah, to include Maped Helix, Pentel, Snopake, Edding, Zebra, and Staedtler who each sponsor a day of the week.
“I’ve been blown away by the response from these world-renowned brands sponsoring NSW this year,“ Sarah added. “It’s going to be an exciting week filled with all sorts of amazing competitions and giveaways, a true celebration of all things stationery.”
As well as social media competitions, including the opening #Shelfie competition, and #StationeryShopSaturday, the events include:
Monday, 15 May: #CreativityDay sponsored by Maped Helix
Tuesday, 16 May: #LovePentelPens sponsored by Pentel
Wednesday, 17 May: #WorkHappy sponsored by Snopake
Thursday, 18 May: #MyNameIs sponsored by Edding
Friday, 19 May: #ItFeelsGood sponsored by Zebra
Saturday, 20 May: #SustainableStationery sponsored by Staedtler
The #Shelfie comp saw retailers asked to post a stationery display from their store and the public could then vote for their favourite, with Lampeter’s Creative Cove winning the bundle of Artgecko stock with a £500 rrp.
In the #StationeryShopSaturday posts, Warren & Co in Winchester, Oswestry’s Meraki Colour, Earlybird, Axminster Printing Company, and Creative Cove have been featured so far – if you’d like to be considered too, please email sarah@nationalstationeryweek.com.
Earlybird’s owners Heidi and Dom Early will be celebrating the shop’s 20th anniversary this year and said: “Greeting cards and stationery go hand in hand – something as simple and cheap as choosing, writing and sending someone a card can have a profoundly positive impact on someone’s day, how good is that?
“What makes us different from other card shops is that we design lots of the ranges ourselves, you’ll find us stocked in lots of other lovely shops across the country too. Having our own shop is very handy as it means we can test designs out on our unsuspecting customers before releasing them to the rest of the world!”
Sarah explained that, for the first time, there will also be a countdown to NSW sponsored by Studio Pens showcasing its Esterbrook and Kaweco pen collections, Jakar and Silvine, with online competitions on the four Sunday evenings prior to the event.
Then during NSW there are more exciting comps with great prizes for both retailers and stationery lovers, including a treasure hunt, window display competition, and pen samples.
Alex Butler, event director of NSW’s companion London Stationery Show – which takes place 16-17 May at London’s Business Design Centre – added: “It’s wonderful to see so many suppliers engage with this year’s campaign, and I can’t wait to see how the retailers interpret each of the daily hashtags in their own stores. It’s a privilege to be a part of such an important campaign which gets more people writing.”
Top: Maped Helix is one of the sponsors for National Stationery Week
