WHAT’S IN THE CARDS
Hallmark faces identity crisis after more than a century in business, as it attempts to gain ground online,
PHILADELPHIA— Hallmark turned 108 years old last month.
With more than a century as an emotional connector, the conglomerate with $4 billion (U.S.) in annual sales creates 10,000 new and redesigned greeting cards every year. On Valentine’s Day this Wednesday, Hallmark’s busiest day of the year along with Mother’s Day, it plans to roll out new vinyl record cards, with 45 r.p.m. discs.
There also are Hallmark movies, home and decor products, accessories, and clothing for women and babies. It even acquired the Crayola brand out of Easton, Pa., in 1984.
Hallmark spokesperson Jaci Twidwell said that “our company has endured and prospered because we address the need to strengthen relationships and foster emotional connections. Needs that consumers will always have.” Mary Fran Bontempo of Southampton, Pa., a Hallmark loyalist, agrees: “Does anyone think anything else when they think cards? They tug at your heart, make you laugh and those darn commercials make you cry . . . Hallmark is the grand dame of card companies. They are my go-to for sentimental touching and heartfelt messages.”
The Kansas City, Mo.-based company’s products are distributed in Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Kroger, Tesco in the United Kingdom, and dozens of grocery store chains and online through Hallmark.com and Amazon.com. Beginning next year, Hallmark products will also be sold in all Dollar Tree stores.
But some say the family-owned firm has muddied its brand with shoppers and been slow to innovate online. They question whether a company founded in 1910 on sentimentality through the written word can thrive in the digital world.
“Hallmark is a classic example of a brand and retailer being upended by shifts in consumer habits, and is battling two separate and massive trends at the same time,” said Andrew Blachman, chief operating officer of Tophatter.com, a shopping app.
“First, anchor tenants at shopping malls have been shuttering as consumers find what they need online, which has reduced foot traffic that smaller stores like Hallmark rely on. Second, Hallmark may have strong brand recognition, but brand matters to consumers much less today than it did a decade ago, especially with younger shoppers.”
Hallmark employs 28,000 worldwide through its six divisions.
It sells gift wrap and greeting cards in more than 30 languages with distribution in more than 100 countries and 100,000 stores.
Its biggest competitor is American Greetings Corp.
Hallmark’s old message was about “when you care enough to send the very best,” and it offered “a promise of caring, quality, great service, premium and personal expression,” noted Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, the institute’s chief research officer. A Hallmark moment “is highly emotional.”
But in late 2015, he said, “Hallmark walked away from that” to focus on rational messages involving choice, value, connecting and self-help. There’s a “loss of emotional equity and overall reputation due to decline in emotional feelings,” he said.
Hallmark’s new slogan — “when you care enough, you can change the world,” or #CareEnough — was introduced last year.
“It’s a real time of confusion for Hallmark of what they are trying to do and what they really stand for,” said Pamela Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm in Lancaster County, who recently wrote a white paper on Hallmark.
“When consumers start asking who you are and what you are trying to do, (it) is really disastrous for a brand.”