Moonpig’s design director Geoff Sanderson is urging publishers and retailers to retain a respect for IP, highlighting how the ease of the internet has resulted in increased incidents of copying among the greeting card community.
Geoff made the point towards the end of an otherwise uplifting and insightful keynote address that he delivered with his colleague, Sarah-Jane Porter, Moonpig’s head of licensing at the recent GCA AGM & Conference.
(http://www.pgbuzz.net/thoughtfulness-fortnite-and-pets-come-up-trumps-for-moonpig-card-buyers/)
Geoff brought up a slide to highlight ‘one snag’ in the greeting card industry. At the top of the slide was Moonpig’s call for ‘Keeping it differentiated…Respect for IP…’ Appearing underneath the headline were examples of unicorn designs that were available from Moonpig’s site as well as a couple of designs available from elsewhere that were very similar.
The usually mild-mannered Geoff shared his frustration of how the digital world has made it easier to plagiarise.
“One thing that annoys me with the internet is the right click – resulting in an increase in copying,” he stated.
While certainly not casting aspersions against anyone in the room, he highlighted the importance of the industry retaining its good practice of “respecting each other’s IP.”
As the leading online operator, Geoff affirmed that Moonpig was full committed to safeguard the sending of greeting cards, highlighting how its marketing efforts as well as its digital platform are serving to promote greeting cards, notably within the growing demographic of18-34 year olds s as well as the Kin+5 (nuclear family and five close friends) of card senders.
- Some16 million cards were ordered from Moonpig in the last year.
- The online operator’s brand enjoys a 83% consumer awareness against the prompt of ‘cards’.
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