Saturday, October 8, 2011

A Nice Gesture or A Complete Flop

I began to follow Hallmark Greeting Cards about 3 weeks ago due to the fast approaching holiday season! I am obsessed with holiday cards and since Hallmark adopted Halloween as an official card giving holiday my interest skyrocketed! I thoroughly enjoy reading the ranging card genres from humorous to sappy love poems. I then realized, why not use Hallmark Greeting Cards as my project subject? I was obviously way more interested in finding the newest cards and cutest sayings than looking at the same old information I continued to find for my first choice company. I switched my focus company and began from square one: research!

My first instinct was to Google Hallmark Greeting Cards. My research led me to a very particular article discussing the new line of cards the company was going to start printing. This new line of cards is geared towards job loss. Personally, I don't think I would want a card that was trying to console me after I lost my job.

I continued to look through opinion articles and blogs about the new condolence cards, but nothing really changed my mind and convinced me to go spend money on a card for someone who lost a job. Maybe just give the person the money you would've spent instead of spending it? This at least seems more logical than sending an "I'm sorry you don't have a job anymore" card. Obviously, none of the cards actually point out that the receiver no longer has a job, but the situation is still very touchy and a card probably won't do the trick! 

Even though I personally think it's a bad idea and it will probably flop doesn't mean that there isn't a positive side to having cards like these. I read an article from Creative Loafing Atlanta where the title described the new addition as "Don't Commit Suicide Quite Yet" greeting cards. The title itself was a tone setter for how the rest of the article was going to be.

To my surprise, the opinion piece wasn't all a bash on Hallmarks innovations. The article quoted Derek McCracken, creative director with the Hallmark Greeting Card Company. The statement was from when McCracken talked to NPR, "A job, like any loss, is a grieving process. We offer more ['you'll get through this' cards], versus dwelling on the loss of the job itself." This statement allowed for me to see the justifications the company had while developing the new product. Even though I understand why Hallmark started this line, I still hold strong in my belief that it will flop within a couple months. 

Sorry, Hallmark, but Every company has their bad ideas and execution plans and this will more than likely be yours!

2 comments:

  1. I agree, I don't think I would want a card stating that I had just lost my job. I would want to try to forget about it as soon as possible rather then having to be reminded about it in a card!

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  2. I feel like even though in this economy job loss isn't too uncommon it's still a taboo subject. Most people I know would be offended if put in that situation! I wonder how well it will work.

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