News

Strategic meetings were held by the Greeting Card Association’s (GCA) Associate Members, Postal Affairs Committee, the LOUIE Awards Committee and the Convention Committee last week at the GCA Winter Meeting at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C. To keep all GCA members in the know, a synopsis of what was discussed is included below:

Postal Affairs Committee Meeting
The Postal Committee, chaired by George White of Up With Paper, had two very productive meetings during the GCA’s Winter Meeting. First, Committee members were joined for a working lunch by Postal Regulatory Commissioner Ruth Goldway. She gave a review of the current political situation regarding postal issues, as well as an advance review of her testimony at a committee hearing at the House of Representatives last Wednesday morning. She was also very complimentary of the efforts that the GCA continues to make on behalf of the USPS and toward a vibrant Postal Service providing universal, six-day service at affordable rates.

The Committee then met with Paul Vogel – the new president of Mailing & Shipping Services – and his senior staff, to discuss how the GCA and its member companies could work collaboratively with the USPS to promote the purchase and mailing of greeting cards. These types of discussions led to the introduction of the Butterfly Stamp last year. Several good new ideas were discussed, and the Postal Affairs Committee hopes to be able to announce further cooperative efforts in the coming year.

LOUIE Awards Committee Meeting
The LOUIE Committee, led by Andy Meehan of Development Solutions Global and assisted by next year’s chair, Katy Greenspan of Cardstore.com, reviewed details for the upcoming 23rd Annual LOUIE Awards gala to be held at Espace in NYC this May, including display concepts, event setup and timing and table centerpieces – the latter which are still in the works but will definitely be crafted of paper.

The idea of starting a student or industry competition to design the centerpieces for 2012 was brought up. Also discussed was the status of the party invitation and Awards program. A greater quantity of the program will be printed this year to be distributed to winners and key retailers, and to be used for other promotional activities.

The Committee also explored several additional opportunities for sponsorships for the LOUIEs gala, including reaching out to other trade associations (floral, candle, gift), buying groups, large licensing agents, large rep groups, paper wholesalers and distributors. Among sponsors already on board for this year’s Awards is the USPS, which is a Gold Sponsor.

Convention Committee Meeting
The Convention Committee, co-chaired by Jason Evans of Birchcraft Studios and Christy Kaprosy of American Greetings, met in Washington to hear more in-depth details regarding this year’s convention theme, “Staying Relevant.” Members brainstormed ideas for speakers, sponsorships, social events and convention format. The role of the Associates and how to continue to make the convention valuable for them was also talked about. In addition, the timeline for getting various duties done in order to pull off a great convention was reviewed and next steps were discussed.

Finally, there was discussion around the highly popular convention booklet that was introduced in 2010. It was decided that a booklet will once again be produced, and roles and responsibilities were determined around the production of this important communication piece.

Associate Members Meeting
The Associate Members, led by Sue Charlier of Independent Printing Co., met to go over several key projects and areas. A top priority for the Associates is updating the Resource Guide to give new associate members an opportunity to participate and to allow existing associate members an opportunity to update their information, if needed. The Associates member list is being reformatted to make updates less cumbersome in the future. The goal is to have updates ready to distribute at or before convention in September; and possibly adding an opportunity to order additional copies via the website and/or a reminder of the Resource Guide in the newsletter.

The Associates also reviewed the membership “drive” effort headed up by Brad Cannaday of Neenah Paper. A mission statement is in place and a pipeline of contacts is being reached out to in an effort to grow membership. The group is also working on updating and adding new materials to be distributed to potential members.

Additionally, a number of associate member companies are assisting with the production of the LOUIE invitations and programs. Associates will also work with the Convention Committee to offer assistance on any needed materials. Lastly, the Associates are looking into the possibility of adding a separate link closer to the masthead on the GCA website to make finding the list of associate members (and publisher members) easier.

The Membership Committee was unable to meet during the Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., due to time constraints; however, it has been conducting conference calls to review and discuss action plans in a number of areas.

For more information, visit www.greetingcard.org.