Radio 4 and influencers join industry for annual card-sending initiative
Persuading a confirmed non-card sender to mail out their first Christmas greetings is a pretty good Festive Friday achievement – and that’s just what Dandelion Stationery has done.
The publisher’s enthusiastic founder Jo Wilson managed to thaw Grinch Bob Walker when the BBC Radio 4 You And Yours journalist arrived at her Derbyshire base on the day, Friday, 2 December, to interview her for the programme about the GCA’s Festive Friday initiative and cards in general.
“What a lovely chap!” Jo told PG Buzz, “although he dared to admit he’d never written and sent a Christmas card! So, we rectified that – he has a good look through our brochure and took away 16 cards that he promised to write and send this year, including four Welsh Christmas for some friends in Wales.”
With the segment due to be broadcast on the You And Yours programme at 12.04pm on Monday, 12 December, on BBC Radio 4, that keeps the impact of this year’s Festive Friday event running for longer – as does the Good Housekeeping competition which runs through until the big day, 25 December.
The five prizes of greeting card bundles from publishers Hallmark, Second Nature, Caroline Gardner, Danilo, Raspberry Blossom, Cardology, Abacus, and Belly Button Designs, have been organised by the GCA’s pr partners PR Direct, along with giving samples to social media influencers to really push the annual message of Festive Friday to the public and how sending a card delivers a smile.
The GCA’s annual event encourages everyone in Britain to buy and send their festive cards, as receiving them reminds people to send their own so it kicks off the annual exchange of season’s greetings, and is a real feel-good activity, particularly in the current tricky economic climate.
And it was enthusiastically received, as PR Direct co-owner Sarah Seltzer explained: “We’ve been working with over a dozen family-friendly and lifestyle influencers who jumped at the chance to work with us on what they see as a lovely idea – they covered it via Instagram reels, grid posts and stories.”
Among those in the industry who joined in were GBCC with their special visitors for the day, designer and TV presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his team, while Abacus Cards’ sales team were out and about on Friday spreading Christmas cheer across stores including Greetings From The Heart in Bourne, Allen’s Newsagents in Rothwell, Mains Of Drum in Aberdeenshire, and Etwall Post Office, as well at the publisher’s Newmarket base.
At Danilo Christmas jumpers were the order of the day for the whole team, although md Daniel Prince had some very strange letters on his, which may not have been in this order “Purss”!
And at Dandelion, Jo and her helpers ploughed their way through writing no less than 500 cards to ensure the festive greetings arrive through the post as well as via the BBC. There were also loads of other companies joining in as the pictures below show.
