An innovative ‘end of term’ initiative by independent card shop, Dragonfly Cards and Gifts, Knaresborough, forged links with school children and their teachers and it resulted in soaring sales of cards and gifts for the award-winning retailer.
Rachael Barnes, who co-owns Dragonfly with her mum Rita Knibbs in the picturesque North Yorkshire market town, was determined that the school term would end on a high note for the hard working teachers in the local schools.
Its Thank you Teacher campaign involved inviting local primary school children to collect an apple template from the shop which they then decorated and stated who they thought was the best teacher and why.
“We had a great response, involving children from six different schools. The ‘apples’ adorned our shop windows for a couple of weeks, which created a lot of attention, and we received brilliant coverage on social media too, with lots of teachers tagging each other in posts,” reveals Rachael.
The initiative also had a positive knock-on affect of its sales of Thank you Teacher cards and gifts. “Our sales up on the previous year, and we have had so many lovely comments from parents and teachers, it has definitely created a lot of goodwill,” said Rachael.
The winning entry was from seven year old Scarlett Jenkinson of St John’s Primary School who praised her teacher Mrs Eckard “for making learning so easy.” On the last day of term Mrs Eckard was presented with a gorgeous balloon bouquet (provided by Dragonfly) while Scarlett received a large Beanie Boo as part of her prize. “In the end we also chose to give everyone who entered a little prize too as they all put so much effort in!” said Rachael, who is now well underway with plans for the shop’s next campaign, a Design a Beanie Boo competition in association with Ty, which will again be aimed at involving children.
Dragonfly Cards & Gifts won the Best Retail Initiative Award in The Retas 2016 for its 10th Anniversary programme of events.
