Hallmark Cards Inc, a US$4 billion empire built on a demand for printed sentimentality, enters its second century facing a weak economy and what could be an even greater challenge: a generation that has grown up posting its sentiments online.
Hallmark has thrived since Joyce Clyde Hall peddled postcards in Kansas City 100 years ago, rising to become the US’ largest greeting card company with more than US$2.5 billion in annual revenue.
“They’re the biggest. They’re the giant,” said Emily West, a communications professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Nevertheless, Hallmark, a privately held company that releases limited information about its finances, has endured two straight years of falling revenues. Its consolidated revenue of US$4 billion last year was 8 percent lower than the year before. In 2008, Hallmark revenues were off 2 percent from the previous year.
Last year, Hallmark dropped 8 percent of its work force.
Whether the revenue declines and layoffs were due to the recession or from the generational shift to more spontaneous forms of communication is still unclear.
Don Hall Jr, grandson of Hallmark’s founder, isn’t alarmed about the possible fallout from the sluggish economy. He also waves off concerns about electronic media being the death of the greeting card; Hallmark has heard it before.
“There were people telling my grandfather all the time that the telephone will lead to the demise of greeting cards,” Hall said.
“Then during my father’s years, it was the fax machine. If you can send a fax ... same thing,” he said.
“Then it happened a decade ago with e-cards, and they said e-cards will replace greeting cards,” he said.
Hallmark, he said, always saw its way through.
“Throughout our 100-year history we’ve seen changes, but we’ve always been able to remain relevant in people’s lives and use new technology,” he said.
Remaining relevant has involved crafting the Hallmark blog, Facebook page, YouTube offerings and a Twitter account. Electronic greeting card books, cellphone greetings and Web-based e-cards show the company is trying to roll with technology.
The company also owns crayon manufacturer Crayola and a real estate development firm, and is a majority owner of cable broadcaster Crown Media, which operates The Hallmark Channel.
Overall greeting cards sales in the US account for about US$7.5 billion in business, according to the Greeting Card Association, a national trade group. The association says in comparison, an estimated 500 million e-cards were sent each year.
Pam Danziger, who analyzes the greeting card industry as president of Unity Marketing, said Hallmark would likely have to change some aspects of how it does business to stay viable.
One move could involve cutting down on its manufacturing investments and large art staff, Danziger said.
Hallmark’s 700 artists include writers, photographers and more at the company’s headquarters.
“The whole model of today’s greeting card industry is really a 20th-century model, where there’s mass printing and writers and poets,” Danziger said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2