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Every industry needs strong leadersand few would deny that UKG has

borne this responsibility well, cateringsuperbly for the needs of bothindependents and multiples, both onthe publishing front and in categorymanagement. So it’s no surprise thatUKG is committed to its investment inhumour and continued productdevelopment - resulting in bigsurprises being revealed at PG Live,proof of the teaser marketingcampaign ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot isgoing on with Hanson White?’.

“We have some very strongevergreen humorous ranges under ourHanson White brand, Giggles being the

most notable - 27 years old and stillselling incredibly well,” points outRebecca Turton, who through her 16year career at UKG, on both theproduct and retail management side,has gained a well rounded view ofwhat the retailer and end consumerlook for in a greeting card. “Being giventhe freedom (and responsibility) tobuild on the successes of ourevergreens, and investing in thedevelopment of new strains ofhumorous cards, to appeal to allgenerations and genders, has to be thebest job in the world!”

It has very much been a shared‘best job’ for the last year. “For this toreally work, we knew we needed topull together the best design andwriting talents that we have in-house,as well as harness extra creative energyand fresh ideas from further afield. Atthe same time ensuring that we aretotally aligned with the consumer,either directly or through retailtesting,” reveals Rebecca.

“A massive humour launch is nowready to be unveiled at PG Live, but wehave stacks of new ideas to be workedup and plenty more already in thehumorous pipeline,” she adds.

That ‘pipeline’ can be traced backto The Humour Lab, a room in UKG’s

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What’s It All About?

“We, as a nation, really are living in a boom time for humour,it is coming at us from all angles – YouTube, Twitter, comedyclubs, Instagram, TV or just general banter. It’s just great thatwith the major launch of 250 brand new humorous designs- across 20 new collections - that we are able to properlyreflect this changing world through our humorous cardranges,” says Rebecca Turton, UKG’s creative director forhumour, with an infectious enthusiasm.

PG follows the laughter and opens the door of HansonWhite’s new Humour Lab to find out what is bubblingaway in readiness to be officially unveiled at PG Live atthe start of June.

Above: Giggles has been totallyrevamped as part of HansonWhite’s new humorous thrust,which has seen it welcome somenew design treatments, colourpalettes and artwork styles, such asthis font approach.Right: Prepare to be surprised byHanson White’s new Whiskey TangoFoxtrot approach to humorouscards. (Seated at the front) RebeccaTurton, UKG’s creative director ofhumour, with just some of the teamwho have been involved in the newonslaught on the humorous cardfront, pictured in The Humour Labwith some of the new livery.Inset: Behind the doors of Hanson’sHumour Lab in Dewsbury there hasbeen loads of chit chat, tons of jollyjapes, yelps of joy, squeals of gleeand heaps of laughter over the lastfew months – and the team saythey have been “working hard”!

Enter The Humour Lab

This publication was written,designed and produced by MaxPublishing, publishers ofProgressive Greetings. It wascommissioned by UK Greetings.

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Dewsbury head office, which wascommandeered in the name of humorous cards in the middle of last year.

“We’ve created an inspiring spacewhere we can brainstorm ideas,discuss new product concepts, revieweditorial directions and meet up withcopywriters and comedians, all in an

atmosphere thatencourages the ideas

to flow - we’re talking about creatingfunny cards so it makes sense to havea room that has a bit of fun about it,”sums up Rebecca, pointing to theupcycled furniture made frompainted pallets, the table football, thelarge random words (such as ‘MAMILS’- Middle Aged Men In Lycra, in casethis had passed you by!) pinned tothe large notice boards that flanksone wall.

For all the fun that has been had,the card racks and display walls arenow full with actual card sampleswhich celebrate what UKG set out todo on its self-imposed humorouscard challenge.

“We’ve got humorous card rangesthat have been created specificallywith different generations in mind.Plus, with our seven brand newfemale-to-female humorous ranges,we should be giving our retailcustomers lots of good reasons tosmile and laugh!”

Where Do You Fit In?Humour is down to personal taste,but life’s experiences andexpectations also come into play.So, when the UKG studio set aboutcreating a humorous range theyfirst needed to think of whichgeneration it is aimed.

So, who’s who and wherewould you fit in?● Generation Z - aged 5-19● Generation Y - aged 20-36- Early Gen Y - aged 20-26- Late Gen Y - aged 27-36● Generation X - aged 37-48● Shadow Boomer - aged 49-55● Leading Edge Boomer - aged

56-69● Silent Generation - aged 70-87

Below: This Mini Mottos design is bound to resonate!

What’s It All About?

Inset: Some of the UKG ‘humorists’ showingtheir funny sides and squashed bits.

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Above right: The eclectic mixwithin the brand new WhiskeyTango Foxtrot collection.Left: Female to female humourfeatures strongly in the newhumour portfolio, includingBatty Birds, which will appealto younger women.

Fringe BenefitsKeen to ‘fish where the fish are’ for new humorous talent andfresh observations on modern life through comedic spectacles,UKG’s ‘Team Humour’ went on tour - to the Edinburgh Fringefestival last August.

They were suitably attired for the task - each wore a t-shirtemblazoned with the message ‘UK Genius! I had an idea for acard that was funny. I sent it, they liked it and paid me somemoney,’ as well as having a social page through which peoplecould get in touch and submit humorous ideas.

“We stalked stand-ups, talked to hundreds ofpeople about what they found funny, saw some greatshows, and some not so great ones, and came backexhausted, but with our heads full of ideas and somegreat contacts, some of which has already fed into theranges, with lots, lots more to follow,” revealed Rebecca.Above and left: Some of ‘The UK Genius team’ up in Edinburgh when they wereon a mission to absorb ideas and inspirations and make contact withperformers about collaborations on card ranges.

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For many employees, watchingYouTube, reading Twitter, laughing

at the latest unexpected memes asthey crop up on the internet, flickingthrough Hello magazine and thetabloid newspapers during a workingday would be cause for a disciplinary,but for UKG’s editorial manager MarkGraham, if he didn’t fit these in, hewouldn’t be doing his job properly.

“Greeting cards are a potentmedium of social communication, butto be effective they need to reflect thewords and the tone of those who buyand receive them," explains Mark. “And

this is even more important if themessage is being conveyed throughhumour. Language is constantlyevolving with the internet and socialmedia making a massive contributionto this evolution. For humorousgreeting cards to stay relevant and be

funny you need to have a grip of whatthe public are into.”

Mark may have studied English atOxford University, but he is adamantthat there are no set qualifications orcareer path for becoming a greetingscard humour writer. "In the humour

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The Language Of Laughs

“Art attracts, copy sells. In humorous cards, the copy is theking, but then I do have a somewhat biased view!” admitsMark Graham, who as UKG’s editorial manager for the lasteight years has been performing linguistic gymnastics togreat aplomb across a myriad of humorous card ranges.

The Write Stuff

Above right: The Lettering rangesare likely to appeal to the Twitterati.

Below: Mark Graham is UKG’s resident wordsmith.

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team we have an ethos that goodideas can come from anywhere.This is reflected both in our diversepool of freelance talent and thefact that the whole team in thestudio contribute gag ideas to newproduct development".

“The only thing my Oxforddegree taught me that has beenuseful for greeting cards is thatpeople are still laughing at some ofthe same things they were laughingat in Chaucer's time, six centuries

ago - drinking, sex and toilethumour,” comments Mark. “I believethese will always be staples ofhumour cards; the challenge is tokeep framing them in a way that'srelevant to today's market,alongside current humour trends.”

As well as ensuring thatmainstream humour continues tobe as fresh and popular as ever, Markkeeps an eye on the traffic onpopular meme sites, while Twitterfeeds give other new ideas.

“Social media has definitelybroadened the scope and thepublic’s appreciation for succinctword play – we have never lived insuch a ‘pun-ny’ time, which is greatnews for a humour editor.”

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Where Do The Words Come From?Mark is not a lone lexicon ranger who pounds the corridors of UKG’s Dewsburyoffices with a Thesaurus in one hand and a dictionary in the other.

“We have a wide and varied team. In addition to our in-house troupe wework with lots of freelance copywriters and humorists of all ages. There is noset criteria as to who has the gift of the gab where writing copy for humorouscards is concerned – but it is a talent that I am keen to encourage whetherthey are professional copywriters, retired hobbyists or youngsters who mighthave found us from receiving one of our You’ve Got Mail cards,” he says. “Iwould like more people out there to see it not only as an income stream forthem, but to also build the respect for this genre of writing.”

Right: Agnes definitely has her own voice andhas her own way of saying things that so manypeople are thinking, including about beardy,manbag-carrying coffee pretentionistas!Far right: Mark Graham is always ready to ab-sorb changes in common parlance, spoken andwritten, such as on this notice board that was atthe Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Below: The use of ‘little trump’ rather than ‘fart’is the key to this design working linguistically.

The Language Of Laughs

To Be Or Not Taboo?While there are some perennially popular subject matters for humorousgreeting cards, there are some areas that historically have been considered offlimits - but things may change of course, they always do, and with all theWhiskey Tango Foxtrot action, orthodoxies are definitely being challenged!

The Five Ds Of Doom‘Death’ ‘Divorce’ ‘Disability’ ‘Drink-driving’ ‘Dentures’Below: UKG’s Hew Ma takes ‘toilet humour’ into her own hands!

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What’s New?“If you have a winning humorous design on yourhands, it is foolhardy to discard it, but you have to keepit looking fresh,” explains Phil.

While the 15 artists, designers and copywriterswho are involved in maintaining Giggles’ status in theindustry are constantly coming up with brand newideas for the range, they also share the challenge ofupdating some of the best selling designs, either bychanging a word here or there or giving it a differentdesign treatment.

“It’s a constant creative process that never stops -even the process itself never stands still… it’sexhausting stuff!” says Phil Renshaw, UKG’s artdirector of humour, explaining the cultivation ofUKG’s evergreen ranges. Dipping into the big bookof gardening metaphors, it’s like tending thehardy perennials while planting new seeds andnurturing fresh growth.

“We think of our 'evergreen' ranges as organic andprogressive, and are the results of our ongoing work inmaintaining their relevance to real people living in thereal world,” Phil explains.

Obviously ranges have lifecycles, and whilesome can be incredibly flexible and move withthe times, some fade and make way for new ideaswaiting in line for their moment in the sun -“being a seasoned gardener myself I can see a lotof parallels,” adds Phil.

“We're fortunate in having a strong portfolioof these evergreens, and heritage is a great thingto have, but it's important to build on that andkeep moving forward, sometimes small steps andsometimes big strides,” states Phil.

“Looking out for new evergreen potential is abig part of our range development work, andgrowing these into strong performing ranges thatconsumers recognise and return to is a greatcreative challenge to have,” he explains, adding: “You usually have an instinctas to which will strike a chord, but it's always nice to be surprised. However, when it happens it's creativelyvery rewarding to be a part of an exciting and ever changing process.”

The biggest ‘bloomer’ in the garden though has to be Giggles - a range with so much variety, it's justgot everything for a flourishing humorous greeting card range.

“It's unashamed humour - it’s brash and bold, and I like to think it's brilliantly British!” Phil says.Giggles has never been static and it has

seen more face changes than Doctor Who overits two and a half decade history… yes, twoand a half decades! Imagine the sheer amountof joy and laughter that has been created bythat one range alone!

Visiting The Evergreens

Top: A new logo will adorn all new Giggles cards.Above right: UKG’s art director of humour Phil Renshaw - his bannersays it all!Above middle: Some celebrities make an appearance in Giggles oncethey have shown they have moved into common parlance and havebeen around for long enough for lots of people to know who they are.Far left: This Traces of Nuts design is likely to resonate with a bigchunk of the population!Left: This Say Cheese design covers two of the perennial subjectsmatters for humorous cards – ageing and drinking.

EvolutionAnd Renewal

Below: Just some of the new Giggles designs which give a fresh treatmentto perennially popular subject matters as well as bringing new references.

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CapturingTheMoment

Phil went back to college recently -not to brush up his own academic

qualifications, but to inspireundergraduates to see greeting cardsas a viable route for their creativeoutpourings, as well as to encouragethem to give cartooning a go.

“I recently visited my old artcollege - Leeds College of Art - to speakto some of the students aboutappreciating the value of cartooning asan art form”, explains Phil. "It's all aboutthe immediacy and capturing amoment. The very 'first' cartoons werethe sketches used by the renaissanceartists to prepare their paintings. Theclassic 'pocket' cartoon that livens upthe columns and margins of everyperiodical and paper is an accessiblemedium and one that can get underthe skin of any subject."

Interestingly, joining HansonWhite's existing cartoon portfolio(which includes licensed treasuressuch as the New Yorker range as well asthe sassy female to female observationsfrom Dorrance) is Plonkers, whichfeatures the work of the well respectedcartoonist Ian Jackson, who inspired Phil many moons ago when he was

still at art college to pursue a career ingreeting cards.

While Ian Jackson’s cartoons aremore ‘traditional’ in style, new cartoonrange, Don't Give up the Day Job byKevin Hemmings is the contrary takingit's inspiration from the world of work.

“Office environments provideendless scope for humorousobservations, given the varietyof personalities in closeproximity” says Phil.

“I was aware of Ian Jackson’swork for Punch and Private Eyethrough one of my lecturers,who was also a cartoonist andsubmitted designs to RainbowCards in the early days, when Iwas looking for someone able tocapture a wry sideways glance atlife for the generation who mightbe flummoxed by an everbewildering array of technologybut are cheerfully in pursuit of thethings in life that really matter," recalls Phil.

Cartoon Time

“Punchline humour is all about timing, but a cartoon is about ‘thatmoment’ - it’s an immediate, accessible art form that has beenaround for eons, but is proving more popular than ever", says PhilRenshaw, who as art director of humour for UKG and a lifelongcartoon fan is delighted that the new humorous card line-upincludes “some stunning cartoon work by some great talent.”

It’s All About MimiThe namesake and creator of UKG’sDorrance collection is Denise Dorrance, acartoonist and illustrator who lived in New Yorkbefore moving to London. Her sharply ironiccartoons and elegant illustrations have featuredin The Sunday Times and Red Magazine andappear regularly in The Spectator and The Mailon Sunday's YOU Magazine.

In addition to featuring in the greetingcard range from UKG, Mimi, Dorrance’s mainfemale protagonist, now stars in her ownhandbag-sized book of 100 cartoons, 'It's allabout Mimi'. Mimi is a delightfully sharp andwitty fashionista who is as self-indulgent as she is funny. Right: Dorrance’s distinctive cartoon style and gutsy take on life has proved popular on cards for UKG.

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Below: Revered cartoonist Ian Jackson, creator of the new Plonkers range –and his four-legged friend Midge who was the inspiration for the logo!Below left: The distinctive cartoon style of Ian Jackson and his observationson life will appeal to card buyers of a certain age.

Below left,: The New Yorker range, which is now beingprinted on textured art board, continues to add aconsistently strong cartoon presence to UKG’s portfolio.Below: Kevin Hemmings’ contemporary graphical styleof cartooning on the Don’t Give Up The Day Job rangecelebrates the absurdity of office life.

Drawing On Ian Jackson’s Life“As a child I drew prolifically, dad would come home with reams of unwantedpaper from his office – it didn’t matter that one side was full of boring work stuff,the reverse was blank! I would hurry for my pens in ‘my drawer’ of the sideboardand I would lie on my tummy in front of the fire and telly and draw - alwaysanimals or Disney characters.

Years passed and thoughts of being a vet or a zookeeper and later apaleontologist gave way to the possibility that I might actually be able to earn aliving from my drawings. Sure enough, after two years studying graphic design atLeeds College of Art I was spring-boarded into the world of professional art,

unexpectedly being offered a full-time job in thestudio at W.N.Sharpe (Sharpe’s Classic GreetingCards) in Bradford. It was 1982 and I was 17.

The world of journalism then beckoned meand I joined the art department of the YorkshirePost trying to sneak cartoons into otherwise dullreports on budgets or articles about fish andchip shops.

It was during this period that I started tosubmit cartoons to Punch magazine, the urge tomake people like Alan Coren, the then Editor,laugh or at least smile was a strong one - it still is.

I got my first cartoon accepted at the age of19, it was an association that was to last for tenyears until Punch finally, tragically folded. Other

work came my way via Punch. I cartooned for a number of publications and comicswhich was great fun. Animation work followed on a number of ideas for the BBC,Cosgrove Hall, King Rollo (makers of Mr Benn etc.) and various other studios.

I am once again doing what comes most naturally to me - drawing andloving every moment of working for UK Greetings!“

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FairytaleFunniesLike most parents with little girls,

Ben Whittington, creative managerfor humour and Disney at UKG, has satthrough countless replays of theblockbuster Frozen, is word perfect onmost of the songs and can quickly bepersuaded to roleplay Olaf, Anna or Elsaat cute request from his daughter Lizzie.But unlike millions of other daddies, Benhad his own sub-plot: it was part of hisresearch to crystalise Frozen and otherDisney gems into a range of humorousgreeting cards (at least that is what hetold his trendy mates!).

Moreover Ben’s superpowers havealso extended into the Marvel Comics’(also part of Disney) catalogue ofcharacters, including those that haveappeared in the films and in the classiccartoon strips.

“It was a great honour winningthe Golden Mickey for Best NewLicensee, especially in our first yearworking with Disney, and it’s anabsolute privilege to be given theopportunity to bring the first Disneyhumour line to market,” says Ben.

Having been part of the humourcreative team for many years, Ben was

well aware that “humour is notsomething that can be forced, and theprocess is more challenging when youhave to stay true to the essence of aDisney or Marvel character.”

Having been a big fan of Marvelcomics since he was a boy, inherentknowledge of The Muppets, plus anadmiration for the Pixar films, Ben felt itwas important that the inauguralhumorous range from this reveredstable should reflect the rich resource.

“Disney is a massive licence but todo it justice we felt it was vital toinclude some classic designs into ourfirst humorous range, as well asrecognising the huge popularity ofFrozen,” explains Ben.

On the Frozen front, Ben sayswhile he knew that the hugeawareness of the film would work inthe designs’ favour, especially for the‘Gen Y’ market, to make them work ashumorous designs for adults it had toecho “the attitude of the film” as well asbeing funny and fitting for the sendingsituation.

“Frozen’s success has gone waybeyond the kids - its popularity withadults, as evidenced by the viralactivity of sing-along videos, provesthat. Having well known phrases, suchas ‘Let it go’ certainly helped, but we

also needed to make surethe designs worked withthe characters,” states Ben.

He admits that he hada lot of fun with the two

Muppets cohorts - Statler andWaldorf - who, as a couple ofcurmudgeonly old geezers, lend

themselves to age-related referencesor behaving badly.

While some popular humoursubject matters were off limits “alcoholreferences for example would not havebeen accepted, but we could tap intoparody as well as using some of theactual dialogue from the comic art asthe starting point,” says Ben.

With the first tranche of designslaunching next month, Ben is alreadywell underway on follow-upcollections, including a humorousadult age range and some Minnie andMickey Mouse humorous designs.

“Who would have thought that mycomic reading youth would have beenso useful to my career!” quips Ben.

Disney Humour

It was a real fairytale moment recently when The Walt Disney Company presented UKG with a Golden Mickey for Best New Licensee 2015 for its innovative approach to the Disney licence - and that innovation goes up another notch with the unexpected launch of a Disney Humour range.

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Above: UK Greetings’ Golden Mickeyfor Best New Licensee.Left: Ben Whittington embracing thewonders of Disney.Below left: Vintage Marvel Comicsartwork combine with a modern dayreference on this Spider-Man design inthe new range.Below right: The Muppets’ charactersStatler and Wardolf lend themselvesperfectly to humorous greeting cards.Bottom left: With Frozen’s popularitytranscending children and into adultsmeant it was an obvious choice to befeatured in the first humorous range.

Exceeding ExpectationsJo Oldridge, product development manager, Disney:“Developing a full humour greeting card proposition within the Disney andMarvel portfolio had been on my wish list for some time, so working with theUK Greetings team provided me with the ideal opportunity in which to briefthem with the challenge!

Tapping into the adult market on humour with our franchises was alwaysgoing to be more complicated than our standard greeting card development,as retaining our characters integrity and original storytelling attributes is key toall our product development. UK Greetings rose to the challenge and I’mextremely happy and excited with the range they have delivered, both from acreative and editorial point of view - it more than exceeded my expectations!”

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Woman To Woman

FemaleIntuition“Women have no problems talking about what annoys them -important things like how taking off your high heels at the endof a big night is one of life’s big reliefs - and what they findfunny. What we’ve done is listened and turned these insightsinto humorous greeting cards that really do connect on thefemale-to-female front,” explains Rebecca Turton, who togetherwith Amanda Miles have been at the forefront of UKG’s driveinto significantly bolstering its female-to-female range offer.

Thanks to collaborations with celebrated comedians andleading artists, plus insight gained from consumer focusgroups (being all ears as the wine flowed and the tongues wagged!), UKG’s feminine charm has never beenstronger or funnier.

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UKG’s objective has been to create cards that really strike achord with the female market, bringing life experiences

and daily observations into humour product development.This has become a key driver in strengthening the female-to-female offer.

A team was established and Amanda Miles (who has hadmany years experience developing ranges under the Camdenbrand) joined, to help champion the cause and spearhead thedevelopment of range ideas.

Inset: Rebecca Turton in the UKGHumour Lab.Above: The ever bold Agnes!Right: So many women wouldunderstand this design from theScience of Happiness range.

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“Being a woman does give me abit of an advantage admittedly, but wewanted to ensure that we developedranges that really did speak to womenin different age groups. There are someoverlaps of course, but while youngGen Y women would acknowledgetheir healthy obsession with selfies,Gen X females would probablyrespond to a reference about Pilatesand lattes, and the Boomers wouldlove a shared joke about forgetting PINnumbers and their slightbewilderment with technology. It reallyisn’t about stereotyping, it’s aboutrelevance,” stresses Amanda.

But getting the words and subjectmatter right has only been part of thechallenge. “Women are really into styleand fashion so the ranges had to notonly include the relevant referencesand tone, but be designed in a waythat met aesthetic expectations ofeach target group too – oh and befunny of course!” she quips.

There are seven specificbrand new female-to-femaleranges launching at PG Livenext month (June 2-3), eachwith their own footprint and‘female voice’ – and there areplenty more to come.

And have the new rangessolved what started the wholeprocess off – are there now cardsto strike a cord withfemale consumers?“Oh yes, consumerswill be spoilt forchoice now!” laughs Rebecca.

Woman To Woman

Above left: Amanda Miles hasloved the challenge ofdeveloping a whole host offemale to female ranges.Below left: The home craftingtrend meets humour in theSew True range, the designs ofwhich are created by freestitching.Right: One of the in-housedesigners working on theBatty Birds range.

The Tamar-ing Of The Shrews Forming a major part of the research into thehearts and minds of the female species were thefew days the team spent at the Edinburgh FringeFestival which were followed by workshops in thepublisher’s Humour Lab with some of thecomedians and musicians they had met.

“One of the key objectives of our trip to theEdinburgh Festival was to find someone whototally understood the young Gen Y woman,”recalls Amanda. “To cover as much ground aspossible, we would go to see different shows, eachtalking to anyone there who showed potentialabout developing humorous card ranges.

On a wet afternoon at the Festival, Amanda was watching a show, but wasrather distracted by the noise emanating from the room above. “I could hearthe noise and laughter and remember thinking to myself ‘I wonder who ismaking everyone laugh up there?’”

Thankfully, she had no trouble finding out as Rebecca was in that audienceand had immediately spotted the potential of the performer – TamarBroadbent, whose hour long musical comedy show, All By My Selfie, about

shame, self-loathing and gin, hit the spot."Firstly, you were hit by Tamar’s abundance of

energy and then as soon as she started to singand chat all of her subject matter totally hit themark in terms of Gen Y; everything was verytopical, very authentic and completely true tolife,” said Rebecca.

The enthusiasm and energy this youngmusical comedian showed on stage is now beingchanneled into greeting cards for UKG, with thefinal touches now being put into a range of cardsfor ladies that feature poems written by Tamar!

Above: Tamar Broadbent, the musical comedian who is working on arange of cards now with UKG. Left: One of Tamar’s poems, which shows her connection to Gen Y.

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Consumer Focus Groups

There is nothing like covering something from all angles- and with greeting cards, the buck (or should that be thedoe), stops with the consumer.

PG was a fly on the wall at one of the many noisyfemale consumer groups UKG initiated recently to listento bunches of women who were not backward incoming forward about what they wanted from ahumorous greeting card.

Right: This design from the newPastels range combines prettyflorals with some gentle humour.

Left and below: The Instagrams rangefeatures an Instagram-esque design

treatment with unexpected humorous quips.

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SpeechBubbles

“I like random stuff -and I love animals

in clothes.”

“I love funny cards, but I want them to be

girly and pretty.”

“I'm looking forsomething witty and

not too obvious.”

“I like original, different and a

bit cheeky”

Right: Is it art, is it humour – or is ita Victorian duck?! A design fromthe Whiskey Tango Foxtrot range.Middle right: A friendship cardfrom one of UKG’s lettering ranges.

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Consumer Focus Groups

Above: Sharing is caring! Cheerful,chirpy and upbeat typography in thenew lettering collection.

Right: The new Science of Happiness rangerecognises moments that make modern lifeworthwhile, whether it's a hundred selfie likes,wine o'clock or seeing your ex with someoneuglier than you.

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“I want funny cards for my friendswho've got to that certain age in life

when they can't remember what's goingon half of the time, but they haven't lost

their sense of humour and style.”

Above: As this Batty Birds design highlights, ageing isa fact of life, so we might as well as joke about it.

Right: Agnes, the namesake of a new range whodares to say things that so many are thinking!Far right: Going out is great, but there are somegood things about getting home – as this designin the new Vintage collection celebrates.

“I want cards that aretrue to life.”

“I'm looking for girlyhumour that showsmy group of friends

as we really are.”

Right: True to life self-justificationfrom the Rollover and Fetch range.

“I like ‘girly nightout’ humour.”Below: If only these lessons

were heeded! Two of therefreshed Giggles designs thatcelebrate a girls’ night out.

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While never taking for granted itsstrong position in the core

humorous market, UKG has taken thedecision to broaden its offer whichincludes delving deeper intoalternative humour as well as ensuringit has even more to offer the Gen Ycontingent. This broadening of itsreach will not only enable its existingretail stockists to cater for the

additional sending needs of theircustomers, but also engage moreeffectively with a younger audienceand encourage them to buy and sendmore greeting cards.

“Gen Y can be dismissive of corehumour product. We have to take anew approach to productdevelopment if we want to reallyspeak to a younger consumer”

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Decoded

Millennials, whose lives are punctuated by hashtags, are upon the latest memes, have tons of cool stuff on Instagramand converse by texting in acronyms, will now be well andtruly catered for by Hanson White’s humorous cardportfolio. The tons of new humorous designs are aimed atanyone looking for something new and different - it’sdefinitely ‘bear bants’ (ie big news to chat about)!

Far left: The creation of the WhiskeyTango Foxtrot brand further broadensHanson White’s appeal, taking itdeeper into the more alternativehumour genre.Inset: Chris Jones (left) and ChrisGoodson, who have been an integralpart of the product developmentteam on the WTF range.

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Above: This WTF design combines the popularity ofword play and ludicrous scenarios which are sopopular on the internet, with the contemporarygraphics adding a youth appeal.Left: The new collection includes phrases, such as‘Bear Bants’ which will resonate with the youngergeneration and encourage them to buy and sendmore cards.

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reveals Rebecca Turton, creativedirector of humour.

A pivotal part in all of this hasbeen harnessing the enormouscreative talent across all studios, notjust humour.

“We as a team have never reallydeveloped humorous ranges before. Itmeant that we could approach it withfresh eyes, translating modern dayreferences and design influences intogreeting card concepts that wouldchime with Gen Y,” explains ChrisJones, creative manager, who has beenan integral part of the new productdevelopment team.

With no holds barred, all thedesigners were invited to share theirpersonal revelations as to what madethem laugh and the source of theirmirth. The internet and social mediacropped up time and time again, withall manner of subject matters. Whilerandom thoughts had an airing, so toodid the meme-based variations onthemes such as funny pictures of catswith Post-it notes on their faces or aplay on words of celebrity icons.

The designers then let theircreative ideas run riot. It was stressed

that their doodles, sketches, phrasingor colours palettes did not have to fitinto a product pigeonhole. “The designbrief was… there is no design brief,”summed up Chris.

It wasn’t just the high number ofproduct concepts that were created inthe workshop, but the diversity ofstyles that was impressive.

These initial concepts were thendivided into broad categories, such asphotographic, font-based, modernsketch etc, and presented to the widerteam to collectively agree which fromthis rich crop of creative outpouringswas ripe for further development.Some of these have made their wayinto the inaugural Whiskey TangoFoxtrot range, a distinct range in look,

size (smaller format cards) and quirkypitch, while others are waiting in thewings for subsequent launches.

The striking branding for the rangehas also lent itself to carry the marketingmessage announcing that the HansonWhite portfolio has been completelyrevamped, strengthened andbroadened to contain lots of surprises, ofwhich the WTF range is one.

Overlaying the consumer insightsgained through UKG’s researchdepartment, as well as through itsconsumer focus groups, the resultantdebut Whiskey Tango Foxtrot rangehas maintained its eclectic flavour. ‘In’words and phrases, such as ‘numpty’,‘awkward’, ‘bear bants’ and ‘it’s owlgood’ are represented, but then sotoo are play on words. Stylistically it isa varied pick n mix offering, spanningfrom the obviously hand-drawn toquirky multi-media combos, from thebright block colouring to moderncartooning - and everything in between.

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Left: A cute quip from WTF.Below: Sentiment WTF style!Below left: A design from the new John Lemon range,which recognises the enormous impact that socialmedia is having on all our lives.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Decoded

The Font Of Knowledge“Gen Y is a ‘hashtag generation’ obsessedwith Facebook likes, Instagram postingsand keen to discover and participate inthe latest memes,” sums up Edd Burnet,creative manager at UKG, who has beeninvolved in the development of rangessuch as John Lemon, Agronyms andInstagrams, which are all aimed at thisconsumer profile.

“Our research also confirmed thatthis generation respond well to moretext-based designs, which we reflect inour lettering ranges,” adds Edd,referring to the variety of letteringcollections which include severaldifferent looks and feels, fromhumorous twists on popular acronymsto blackboard style handwritten funnies.

Top: UKG’s Edd Burnet makes a serious message abouthumour.Right: The power of acronyms is celebrated humorouslyin the Agronyms range.Below right: Typefaces and fonts are put to their pacesin various permutations in the Lettering collections.

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The Retail Buyers’ Eyes

Although some retailers have been given a ‘sneak peek’ of UKG’s newhumorous ranges, as well as the revamps to its ‘evergreens’, it won’t be untilPG Live (June 2-3) that they will be seen in all their full glory.

The retailer anticipation is mounting…and their feedback is somethingUKG takes very seriously indeed.

David Greaves, joint managing director of Cardzone:“As retailers we are very driven by sales, so established brands always appeal to us. There’s a reason that abrand has been around for 20+ years – because it sells really well!

The improvements UKG has made to the ‘bread and butter’ brands look verystrong, more interesting and more contemporary, but not so radical that it might turnconsumers off.

It’s great to have access to new ranges - they’re like the hundreds and thousandson top of the cake, but in this case Giggles is the cake, no bones about it - it covers allthe categories needed for a successful humour range.

RPG is a similar story to Giggles, verysuccessful with a proven track record.

I think what UKG has tried to do withGiggles is perfect – they’ve updated it, playedaround with the editorial a little bit, addedemphasis to the subject and improvedsomething which was already good. Then thenewer product - the ‘hundreds and thousands’,adds interest to the pitch - something abit different that just makes businessmore interesting.

The line is fantastic and the fact that UKG has delivered it on such a large scale is genuinelyimpressive - we're really impressed with what sits behind it, it’s much more research driven and we lovethat; it's a really good way of improving business.

We feel there is a much better chance of making product stick at retail after the rigorous retailtesting UKG has implemented and after the kinks are ironed out of the poor performing product. That'sgot to be good for any retailer.”

Retailer Punchlines

Top: Cardzone is looking toUKG to provide ‘the cake’(ie everygreens like Gigglesand RPG) as well as the‘hundreds and thousands’(ie new ranges).Above: The revamps ofGiggles updates the rangewithout losing its essence.Left: RPG is another coolrange with a great success story.

Anthony and Jane Bates, co owners of Best Wishes, Ashbourne: “Our current humour selection sells really well, but our customers are always lookingfor new designs. We have 14’ of the shop dedicated to humour and it’s constantly

evolving, so we are always searching outfresh ranges.

Giggles is our main humour range as itcovers quite a few bases to appeal todifferent customers’ tastes, especially as it’snot too risqué. It’s good to see the range ishaving a revamp - it will really freshen upour displays.

We also stock many other UKGhumour ranges as they are great sellers too.

Out of the new Hanson White collections we are looking forward to seeing more of is Critters, theanimal-based designs of which are similar to Hanson White’s popular You’ve Got Mail range. We are locatedin a rural region so there are lots of animal lovers in the area who will like this range.

We like the look of the Science of Happiness… range as it covers contemporary topical humour, such as internet shopping inbed. The ‘It’s Little Wonder’ range looks good too and is a range of animal models which prove popular. We also like the gold andblack ‘Agronyms’ range - I can see this tickling the funny bone with our consumers.”

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Above: Best Wishes dedicates14’ to humour cards.Left: One of the designs fromthe new Critters range.

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The Retail Buyers’ Eyes

Sarah and Paul Henderson, co-owners ofThree Wishes in Lymington, Ringwood,Verwood and West Moors:“Humour is an area of our greeting card offering that welike to refresh throughout the year, but with our core rangesremaining the same.

We stock lots of greatselling ranges from UKGreetings and tend to selectfrom the publisher firstbefore seeking outcomplementary designsfrom other card suppliers.From Hanson White, wecurrently stock Giggles,Traces of Nuts, RPG, NewYorker, You've got Mail, Outof the Ark, Querky Keys,Chicca, Vicky Values and SayCheese, all of whichperform really well. However,Hanson White’s Pickle andPatch is by far ourbestselling humour range -as generally we find cartoonhumour performs the bestin our stores.

Our first impressions ofthe new humour collectionfrom Hanson White is that itoffers such wide variety -there really is something for everyone!

The bolder fonts on some of the Lettering rangesmight be a bit too contemporary for our customer base, butthe ‘Gin ‘n’ Tonic’ range is the type of humour that would sellreally well in our stores.

Science of Happiness…, It's Little Wonder and thecolourful statement designslook like great ranges, and Iwould surmise have brilliantrack appeal. And the Don'tGive Up The Day Job rangeoffers something different toour current humour lines asthe jokes are about the work place.”

Top: Sarah and Paul Henderson at lastyear’s Henries judging.Above: The humour in the ‘Gin ‘n Tonic’range is likely to fit well with 3 Wishes’customers.Left: The ‘Don’t Give Up The Day Job’range offers something a bit differentas all the jokes are work-related.

Jane Chandler, director of the M&P Cards group of stores:“It is fantastic that UKG is investing so much in what is such animportant sector of the card trade. As a publisher, they reallyknow what they are doing. With a base of strong ‘classics’, suchas Giggles and Traces Of Nuts, they cover a wide customerbase for us, but as retailers and as a product sector we alsoneed to cater for niche needs - and by all accounts, the newproduct development sounds like it will do this.

It is also great that as a publisher they offer such a varietyof design styles - from the distinctive looks for ranges such asthe ‘model’ approach for Out of the Ark to top cartooning,such as the New Yorker and, from what I hear, there are lots ofnew permutations coming through. If the new female tofemale everyday ranges in its relations and occasions offering isanything to go by, its female to female collections on the humorous

side will be great too.Developing new ranges

and looks is always risky, but itcan bring big rewards for usretailers and for that we arevery thankful and glad to bepart of the trialling process, inorder that the consumerremains engaged withgreeting cards.

I can’t wait to see all the new UKG ranges in their full glory at PG Live!”

Top right: M&P Cards’ impressive Occasions Cards & Gifts store in Fareham.Right: The witty cartoon humour from a New Yorker design.Left: M&P Cards’ Jane Chandler (right) with the company’s operations director Rebecca Smith in its Fareham store.

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Roger Eames and Laura Didehvar, co-owners of Celebrations of Stourbridge:“Giggles always sells well for us. It covers a broadspectrum of designs to suit many types ofcustomers and so is a favourite buy - the new styleGiggles Hanson White is launching looks goodand will be great for our customers.

The new Science of Happiness… range alsojumps out at us. It’sfun and cheerful,featuring aninnocent littlecharacter, and has good general humour.

Bright and with striking colours, Gin ‘n’ Tonic really did make uslaugh and is the range we find the most appealing of the newHanson White collections we have seen. Featuring female favouritessuch as chocolate, cake and shopping, the female to female designsare sure to be popular. We have a sixth form college across the roadso we see a lot of younger ladies come in the store, but also we haveour older female customers, and of course local mums, so we havethe full spectrum of ladies come in to the shop.

Using nostalgic looking Instagram style photography andinspirational captions, the Instagramrange is a good option for somethinga bit different. While the model animalbased ‘It’s Little Wonder’ uses goodword play.

We also like some of the letteringcollections as mixed font designs arestill a strong area for cards and a keytrend at the moment.”Above: Laura Didehvar and Roger Eames taking abreather at PG Live.Above left: The styling and humour of the Science ofHappiness… designs are likely to strike a chord withCelebrations’ female customers. Left: Good word play on the It’s Little Wonder range.

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