There is an anewed focus on ‘wellbeing’ at UKG, both within the designs its greeting card portfolio as well as in the company’s approach towards its staff.
“Wellbeing and mindfulness are both trends that have been gaining momentum for sometime and are on our radar more than ever before,” said Sandi Parisi, UKG creative director highlighting a pertinent statistic from the Global Wellness Institute which has tracked how social conversations around ‘wellness’ have grown by 228% in the past five years.
“No longer is wellness just linked to food and fitness. People understand more than ever that we must look after our minds as we do our physical health; as a result people feel more comfortable talking about mental health and sharing their own experiences,” adds Sandi.
Lois Holdcroft, UKG’s head of research champions the research findings from American Greetings (UKG’s parent company) “into how sending greeting cards contributes to wellness, much of which focused on the feelings of happiness that are associated with both sending as well as receiving greeting cards” which have dovetailed into the UK card publisher’s own consumer insights while it fresh look at certain caption areas, notably Get Well and Thinking of You, to ensure that the designs it publishes under its various brands cover the much broader needs of these sends.
Elaborating, Sandi explained how UKG has taken several approaches to range development around wellbeing. “We’re questioning the traditional captions of ‘Get Well’ and ‘Thinking of You’ – are they right for what consumers want to acknowledge in these situations? We’ve looked closely at our ‘Get Well’ section and ensured some designs are specifically there for those situations where a demand to ‘get well soon’ or ‘feel better’ or ‘keep your chin up’ may not be right or relevant – sometimes it’s just about a simple hello or a hug to ensure encouragement or support.”
As previously announced on PG Buzz, UKG has recently launched a card range with mental health charity MIND – donating 20p to the charity for every card sold.
The publisher’s acknowledgement of the growing importance of wellbeing is extending into the company’s own HR. The company’s Mindful May campaign saw the kick off of a series of Wellness events incorporating elements of health and financial wellbeing to create a positive working environment. Mindful May was just the beginning, UKG is to host events and launching initiatives throughout the year to help support the health and wellbeing of people at UKG.
Top: A trio of designs from UKG which reflect the wellness trend.
