Greeting cards received some really positive PR when Sharon Little, ceo of the GCA appeared at peak time on Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Radio 2 yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 28 February). Sharon was invited as the ‘greeting card expert’ after a discussion arose on Simon’s show the previous day around whether people still send greeting cards. She left Simon Mayo’s millions of fans in no doubt that they do – and reminded them of the merit of sending Mother’s Day cards.
The interview came about after a ‘confession’ segment in Simon’s show in which listeners tell their stories about something they have done in the past that they now want forgiveness for. The confession, which aired on Tuesday (27 February) concerned a father and mother who took their young daughter into a card shop a few years ago and while they spent 45 minutes choosing four cards, the daughter licked closed every envelope in the shop! After the confession, Simon and team debated whether this would happen now and whether the same number of greeting cards are still sent.
Sharon went on air the day after to tell Simon’s 5.82 million listeners that we send more greeting cards per person than any other country in the world. Sharon told an incredulous Simon that: “We buy more cards per person than any other nation, two billion greeting cards every year in the UK and that hasn’t been affected by digital communications or social media.” Simon was surprised at the statistics and asked whether youngsters don’t prefer sending digital messages. Sharon told Simon that while young people are digitally engaged they also like to receive cards. “They want it all. They need snapchat, they need Facebook, they need their social media, but they also need their birthday cards. Birthday cards, or any sort of card provide something that digital can’t. And that is something that is real, something that is tactile. We love to display our cards in our homes and we keep them.”
Sharon didn’t waste an opportunity to plug Mother’s Day, ribbing Simon when he asked if he could just send his mother a Mother’s Day text message!
Listen again here
This is an edited version of an article which appeared on PGbuzz.net on Thursday 1 March 2018.