While The Henries 2018 greeting card awards celebrate the ‘hot hits’ of the current card publishing world, the theme of the awards event (on October 4) will be a blast back to the 1980s.
A trio of Henries’ judges – WHS’ Claire Castle, Postmark’s Mark Janson-Smith and Red Card’s Sally Matson – reveal what they feel were the best things about the 80s.
In addition, while ‘Greed is Good’ was the philosophy spouted by Michael Douglas in the 80s movie Wall Street Claire, Mark and Sally share their views on what would be ‘good’ for our industry right now.
Claire Castle, senior buyer of WHSmith
80s Hot Hits:
- The music was the best ever – Depeche Mode, Duran Duran etc!
- The clothes – at the time I really liked the big shoulder pads and shiny suits.
- Prawn Cocktails!”
Industry Boosters?
- Free parking in high streets.
- Smaller print runs for seasons.
- Set and adopt industry standards for environmentally-friendly packaging etc.
Mark Janson-Smith, director of Postmark, five shops in London:
80s Hot Hits
- Michael Jackson was my hero! Still to this day, 30/40 years on, his music feels current!
- Roller skates – nothing used to beat heading out on my roller skates.
- Neon! Used to love my neon shoe aces and t-shirts. These are now making a comeback, but nothing will beat the 80’s originals!
Industry Boosters?
- Something needs to be done about making business rates more realistic.
- Lower/ higher VAT rates for bricks and mortar/ online retailers
- Take VAT off Christmas charity packs.
Sally Matson, owner of Red Card in Petworth:
80s Hot Hits
- The Sony Walkman – I won one in a competition – portable music!
- Amazing movies – The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, ET – all favourites of my teen daughters now.
- Getting laid – (can I say that!?) if not, a high street full of independent shops!!!
Industry Boosters?
- To stop the closures of banks and post offices in small and medium-sized towns.
- Free car parking in small and medium-sized towns.
- More things like ‘my shop life collective’.
