Updated 31st January 2023
The UK greeting card industry is a vibrant and diverse industry with an eclectic mix of cards celebrating nearly every possible occasion.
The Greeting Card Association recognises the importance of continuing to progress on all diversity and inclusion fronts, supporting our black publisher members, as well as those who cater for other the LGBTQ+ communities, all religions and the disabled. To facilitate consumers wanting to find cards to match their needs and expectations, the GCA’s work encourages retailers to broaden their card selection to make it more diverse and inclusive.
This blog highlights the work being done in the industry to develop this agenda and ensure that greeting cards continue to connect everyone.
2023 update from GCA D&I sub-committee chair Mark Callaby
We continue to see publishers and retailers celebrate diversity and inclusion within their own businesses. The GCA Council lead on Diversity and Inclusion is Mark Callaby, MD of Ohh Deer.
I work closely with many retailers at Ohh Deer and diversity and inclusion is always at the top of most their buying decisions which is so good to see.
Mark Callaby, MD Ohh Deer and chair of the GCA D&I sub-committee
Mark shared this update on GCA activity:
Following the success of the Black History Month Greeting Card Campaign the GCA ran with Sainsbury’s in 2021, this initiative was expanded further in 2022. It has been really rewarding to see many of the designs Sainsbury’s originally picked filter out into more stores across the country now, either through licencing or direct sell.
The Henries Diversity and Inclusion Award, launched in 2021, has been similarly successful and Henries organisers, Max Publishing, continued with the award in 2022 and it looks set to become a regular award going forward. It’s encouraging to see so many diverse publishers and designers enter this award and long may this continue. Click here to find out about some of the 2022 finalists.
The 2022 GCA also asked my advice on who they should get to design the GCA Christmas Card. We were really keen to pick someone with a diverse background and I instantly suggested David Rice from Ricicle Cards because I fell in love with his Christmas Collection that was nominated for the Henries last year.
Mark Callaby
We’ve also actively discussed age and ageism and published A call for Age Friendly cards!
Highlighting some of the stereotypes that come with either being young or old, and offering cards that celebrate age and recognise that not all young people like to get drunk for example.
The fantastic GCA Schools Project, led by GCA’s Adriana Lovesy, is another great example of the work being done in the industry. Linked to Thinking of you week and the Queen’s 70th Jubilee, the project is working to bring together 70 groups of children from the UK, to exchange greeting cards with 70 groups of children from Ghana. Not only did this celebrate the power of the greeting card, it also provided a valuable experience for children in learning about different cultures.
Over the last year we’ve seen an increase within our diverse membership too. Our industry has so many avenues to follow when selling cards and it’s encouraging to see such a rich and diverse mix of people choose our industry to work in. Watch this space as we continue to build diversity and reach out to under-represented groups in our wonderful industry.
GCA Diversity and Inclusion Policy
The GCA’s Diversity and Inclusion policy ensures that the GCA’s values are easily accessible for all, and helps to ensure that the whole industry is held accountable to them.
The GCA wants everyone to feel safe and welcome within the association, and our industry, regardless of who they are.
We encourage all companies to review their own diversity and inclusion policies and practices to ensure that these values are embedded across every part of our industry, please feel free to use text from our policy available on this link.
How to find publishers of diverse greeting cards
The members’ directory on the GCA website allow card buyers to filter into new diverse categories such as ‘Black’ and ‘LGBTQ+’. This feature allows retailers and other groups to quickly identify which cards are available from which publishers.
Our industry benefits from a broad range of card publishers – with many setting up business to provide cards for a community that wasn’t previously represented.
The website means that members such as Becky, co-owner of 1 Tree Cards who set up her business after “Having received some questionable same-sex cards, we saw that there was a need for more inclusive cards on the market so with all this in mind, the idea for 1 Tree Cards was born”, can highlight their ranges to retailers as well as to the consumer and the media.
Paper Yam are a publisher whose designs are influenced by a range of cultures – see their Thinking of You Week competition for more about their brand.
See our blog on Why card sending for Eid is Growing, part of a series of blogs highlighting diverse occasions the GCA is also building up,
Diversity and Inclusion Publisher and Retailer Discussions
In 2020 the GCA created a Council sub-committee dedicated to Diversity and Inclusion and engaged in several conversations with our diverse membership and industry partners to push the agenda forward, resulting in a number of actions and putting the wheels in motion for further progress on this front.
The GCA hosted several Zoom meetings with publishers and retailers in to discuss diversity within the industry. Retailers within this group, including Scribbler, Card Factory and Moonpig, openly discussed what their companies are currently doing to support the agenda with publishers, including GCA members AfroTouch Design, Cardology, HueTribe, Hallmark, My Ethnic Cards, Nicola Lespeare, UKGreetings, Nyha Graphics 1 Tree Cards and Handmade Cards by Dayo, among others, drawing on their own experiences. Progressive Greetings trade magazine reported on these meetings which generated further engagement (see PGBuzz June 2020, PGBuzz July 2020)
Ruth Turner-Blood, writing studio director at Hallmark said “We’re taking action to ensure that the diverse needs of our consumer base are fully reflected throughout our product. Now, more than ever, our focus is to address inequality and make a positive difference for our consumers and for the world we live in. We know that our product exists to help bring people together but we also know that we need to do more, to bring about greater diversity and inclusion in our ranges”
“Scribbler have been working with diverse designers for a while now so this isn’t something new but recent events have definitely been a catalyst for us to review what we are doing and push to do more.” said Aisling Crosland head of design at Scribbler. “You will start to notice more diversity appearing in our banners, social and emails. We already stock cards with diversity but after the GCA meeting we realised it isn’t enough to just have the cards, we also need to be making a conscious effort to promote them!”
“I think we’re definitely seeing a positive shift when it comes to diversity in publishing, whether that’s books, greeting cards or mainstream magazines” said Tineka owner of Huetribe and GCA Council Member “But it’s important to always remember that we’re not there yet, but we will be one day.”
These conversations are generating ideas on what the GCA can do to help drive and encourage the industry to push for diversity and inclusion.
Strengthened representation on the GCA Council
We were delighted to welcome two Black owned publishers to the GCA Council in October 2020; Adriana Lovesy from Mrs Lovesy and Tineka Smith from HueTribe. This was an important step in ensuring that our council is representative of the whole industry.
Mark Callaby from Ohh Deer joined in 2019 which brought a fully LGBTQ+ owned publisher onto the council, joining council member Raj Arora, who joined in 2015, and set up his business Davora to cater for ethnic occasions.
The GCA Council in 2022 is made up of 11 men and 9 women, including business owners from the Black, Asian and LGBTQ+ communities.
Black History Month
In 2021 the GCA teamed up with Sainsburys and ran a Design A Card For Black History Month competition over Instagram.
Almost 1,000 greeting card designs were entered, making Sainsburys selection of 26 very difficult! The final 26 designs will be printed onto cards and go on sale in 107 Sainsbury’s stores in October 2021, displayed in a dedicated shipper to mark Black History Month.
“This initiative is very much part of the GCA’s on-going commitment to drive diversity and inclusion within the industry,” explained Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA. “We are absolutely delighted with the enthusiasm for this project, highlighting the importance of building connections through greeting cards, and also engaging the next generation of artists and card senders”
For more details see our Black History Month blog
Diversity featured prominently at the 2020 GCA Conference and AGM
Mark Callaby (managing director of Ohh Deer) introduced a panel discussion on Diversity within the Industry where retailers including Waterstones, Paperchase, Card Factory joined publishers and fellow GCA Council members Tineke Smith from Huetribe, Adriana Lovesy from Mrs Lovesy and Rachel Hare GCA president and owner of Belly Button Designs about discussing how important representation is within the industry, the positive steps that are being taken on this front, while accepting more progress is needed.
The 2021 GCA Conference in Manchester heard from David Greaves, co-owner of Emotional Rescue, who spoke eloquently about his business story and his unique take on business as a Black leader in the industry for over the last 30 years.
University, College and School Talks
As part of the GCA’s programme to engage with the next generation of card senders, Adriana Lovesy, owner of Mrs Lovesy and GCA Council Member, presented to students at University of Hertfordshire.
Adriana she spoke about building her business, the greeting card industry, and the importance of knowing your Unique Selling Point.
The GCA has developed an educational tool-kit that can be fully utilised by members who also want to visit their former college or local school to inspire the next generation. The GCA is keen to support members and where appropriate to link them with other members to talk about the greeting card industry and the careers available.
Meet the Member Blogs
The GCA’s ‘Meet the Member’ blogs provide an interesting insight into our members’ business stories.
Each blog is a short interview with a member, showcasing their collection of cards and learning more about what their business and brand.
These blogs were launching initially in 2020, when we launched with the focus on our diverse publishers eg Nicola Lespeare, 1 Tree Cards, Davora
GCA sponsorship of the new Diversity and Inclusion Award at the Henries
The Henries Awards are the ultimate accolades in greeting card publishing, judged by retail buyers, each year sees over 14,000 of the best new cards in the industry brought before the judges.
In May 2021 Max Publishing, owners of the Henries, announced the launch of the Diversity and Inclusion award sponsored by the GCA.
2022, the second year of this award, saw even more entries celebrating the UK card industry design innovations.
This award will be an opportunity for the industry to celebrate, highlight and further expand our vibrant diversity in the greeting card industry.
Further Information
The GCA is currently working on a number of other projects to champion diversity in our industry, both supporting publishers of diverse greeting cards to grow their businesses, and also to encourage and build retail sales. Click here to see more
We will continue to update this blog as we move forward with this agenda, below are some of the projects we are currently working on.
If you would like to contribute to this agenda, would like to feature in a ‘meet the member’ interview, or have ideas and want to get in touch with any members of the Council sub-committee please contact us