Post on 17-Jul-2020
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92 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
I am not sure how many, but I would imagine
about 80% of The Ladder Club Facebook
group had submitted their designs into The
Henries awards and many had presented
boards for the Most Promising Young
Designer Or Artist category.
Year on year we have had some strong
representation from The Ladder Club in The
Henries finals and this year was no exception. In
the 2015 finalists line-up there are a total of 12
different companies who at some point over
the years have attended The Ladder Club’s
seminars; it’s an incredible achievement.
This is a reflection of the way new card
publishers, some being Henries finalists in their
very first year of business, are leading the
industry in design and innovation. Some who
have only been trading for a very short while
are really making an impact on the market.
Others - such as Paper Salad, who has just
celebrated its tenth anniversary and just gets
better and better in every way - are now major
card companies, expanding year-on-year.
Wrendale Designs, another Ladder Club
‘graduate’ must be the fastest growing card
publisher in the country, now with an
operation in America, large warehousing
facilities, team of committed agents and a
major licensing deal with Royal Worcester. The
company, owned by the delightful Hannah
and Jack Dale, produces all of its own
stationery and tins to the highest of
standards. Hannah and Jack make a
formidable team. Now, just in the third year of
trading and they have won a Henries award
every year since they started the business. It’s
an incredibly inspirational company, headed
by the very modest and delightful husband
and wife duo.
This is all a far cry from five years ago
when sadly the greeting card industry was
losing fresh talent, as new publishers just could
not sustain their companies to keep going.
Now, we have a strong bunch of new
Ladder Club card publishers who are a force
to be reckoned with, many of them forging
names for themselves, going
from strength to strength, and
are hotly sought after by
independent and multiple
retailers as well as
licensing companies.
So what can we
put this incredible turn
of events down to?
It is of course
down to several things.
One of the important
pieces of the jigsaw is Progressive
Greetings Live, the launchpad for newbies
and also where those who grow meet
multiple retailers and export customers. While
most other trade fairs are now at last listening
to the needs of new publishers, appreciating
that they have special requests (ie one metre
depth stands that are cost effective and
placed in good locations in the halls), no one
understands the needs of the new publisher
more than the organisers of PG Live.
This year there were 46 Ladder Club card
companies exhibiting at the fair in the
Springboard section. It’s an area of the show
where visiting card retailers first stop before
visiting the more established larger companies.
New companies exhibiting at the fair, and
who have attended at least one Ladder Club
seminar, know each other both through the
event as well as via the dedicated Facebook
group. This means they don't feel isolated
when they exhibit at PG Live for the first time,
which was the case before
the show came into being.
All exhibitors at PG Live
are given a half day advice
session at its venue, the
Business Design Centre,
before the show, and for the
first 12 weeks of the year I do
a series of prompts to remind
the Ladder Clubbies of what
they need to be doing in
preparation in the three
months running up to the fair.
There is a lot of hand-holding on the
days building up to the fair and there is a
massive amount of camaraderie in the
Springboard areas, where the air of
anticipation is evident.
PG Live’s organisers are passionate about
cards. They know about them and are totally
supportive of new publishers, seeing them as
the lifeblood of the industry and should be
encouraged and respected.
We have seen an incredible change in
how greeting card newcomers’ trade stands
LYNN’S LINES
On the ball comments by retailer and publisherLynn Tait of The Lynn Tait Gallery.L L
So everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting to hear thenominations for the auspicious Henries awards which were announced
a couple of days before I settled down to write this article.To say there has been a buzz of excitement on The Ladder Club
Facebook page would be an understatement.
In The Club
Above: The Ladder Club Facebook page has recently been excited aboutThe Henries awards finalists.Below: Wrendale Designs produces a whole array of lovely gift itemsfeaturing its Country Set images.
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PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 93
look - they are now very professional with the
publishers putting their own stamp on their
stands. At PG Live there was not one weak
trade stand, they were all very different and
reflected the innovative and original ranges
that are out there now carving a place in this
competitive but wonderfully friendly industry.
Moving on to another reason that
newbie Ladder Clubbies have done so well is
how they have embraced the opportunities
that digital printing affords to start up
companies. The big advantage
now to when The Ladder Calub
was starting out 13 years ago is
that publishers no longer have
to commit to large print runs.
This advancement has allowed
companies to try out original
designs without having to risk
a lot of money. Consequently,
all this new greeting card
talent has been allowed to flourish by printing
to order and not running into cashflow
problems at the start.
So what part has The Ladder Club played
in all this and what are the plans for this year?
Six years ago, we realised that new card
companies that and had been in business for
two or three years and were growing found
themselves facing a different set of problems -
eg cashflow, exporting, warehousing/storage,
dealing with retail multiples, large orders.
So we decided to add a ‘day two seminar’
to The Ladder Club for those who need advice
on subjects such as the aforementioned to
enable their business to grow.
Our aim is to change the topics each year
on the second day seminar and to respond to
topics that are relevant at that time.
Last year, brokerage came through
strongly as a hot topic and so we covered this
during The Ladder Club seminar last autumn
(and have it on the agenda for this year too).
This year copying and licensing are
among the new topics that we have been
asked to include on the agenda.
We also have many people who have
asked for a ‘day three’ seminar, but through
having a changing programme to the
‘day two’ we can go someway to
encourage card publishers to attend the
second day again.
Social media has also appeared on
The Ladder Club agenda in recent years,
and as it gets more sophisticated with
Instagram etc, I am sure we will upgrade how
we cover this at the seminar.
We also have Ladder Club members
contributing much more, by sharing their
experiences in writing, which we are then
able to give out to new card companies
attending The Ladder Club. Kate Stenner,
owner of Sun Pennies is the latest Ladder
Clubbie to contribute in this way and is
penning an article about her experiences of
exhibiting at her first trade fair.
However, without a
shadow of doubt, what has
been the major influence in
more and more new
publishers being successful is
The Ladder Club Facebook
group. This is a closed group,
but anyone who has attended
(or booked to attend) a The
Ladder Club seminar is eligible to join.
Here, members post their questions and
anyone who has expertise on the subject
contribute. It is a very active group
where Ladder Clubbies share good
practice, show their cards, air their
worries, cite the names of suppliers
they recommend and generally give
support to each other. Every
conceivable subject has been raised,
and 95% of the time the subjects are
commented on and solved - from
trade fair queries to agents, delivery
companies, terms and conditions,
website advice, copying, carriage paid orders,
preparation for trade fairs and which fairs to
attend… it just rolls on and on daily.
Best of all, it is a caring, mutual support
group where members make life-long
friends and encourage each other. This week
with the announcements of The Henries
finalists, although I know a lot of members
were disappointed not to have featured on
the sacred list, they were first in the queue to
congratulate their fellow Ladder Club
colleagues who were so thrilled to be going
to the ball!
It is so wonderful to watch how these
‘newbies’ are moving up the ladder of our
industry at a time when some respected
publishers who I remember as the ‘new
generation’ - such as Janie Wilson, White
Cotton Cards, Rachel Ellen, Wendy Jones-
Blackett, Cinnamon Aitch and Belly Button
Designs - are moving onto the next stage of
their development and success, leaving room
for the ‘next generation’.
We (PG’s Jakki Brown and I) are still
putting the finishing touches to the plans and
agenda of this year’s Ladder Club seminars
(November 17 and 18 at Westcliff on Sea),
trying to keep some of the favourites in the
‘dolly mix’, while also introducing new
elements to make sure it will tick the boxes for
Clubbies new and old!
One change which has a special place
in my heart is that Trudi (Marsh), who has
been my right-hand super woman for the
last nine years, and has been incredibly
supportive on the admin side of The Ladder
Club, retired at the end of last month as she
has a ‘new job’, to to look after her grandson.
I am so grateful to Trudi for everything she
has done for me and The Ladder Club and I
will miss her a lot.
Thankfully, as admin is not my strong
point, the lovely Clare Davies (who looks after
all of the ticketing for The Retas, The Henries
and also the database for PG Live) has agreed
to continue Trudi’s sterling work on the
bookings front.
If you have expressed interest in one or
both of The Ladder Club seminar days please
forward your details to Clare Davies at
clare@createvents.co.uk and your place will
be reserved and you will hear from Clare
shortly after.
I am so looking forward to this year’s
Ladder Club seminars – and to welcoming
new talent into this very special industry.
LYNN’S LINES
Left: Ian Bradley, agent for the Midlands, was a speaker at last year's Ladder Club.Below: A card from Perkins & Morley, past attendees of the Ladder Club.Below right: Trudi Marsh (fourth from the left), Lynn's right-hand woman, with hercolleagues at her leaving party.
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