Tag Archives: greeting cards

Yes, you

Posted on March 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Today is a holiday that I’m pretty sure Hallmark didn’t invent.  There are no cards or e-cards to send.  The banks are open.  The mail is scheduled to arrive.

But it sounds like a fun one to celebrate, nonetheless.

Today is ‘National I Want YOU to Be Happy Day,’ the most unselfish holiday of the year.

The goal?  Think about little things you can do to make other people happy.

Smile at passersby on the street.  Pay a compliment.  Do a small favor.  Buy a surprise lunch for a friend or co-worker.

Yes, those would all make me happy.

But I have to admit…when I hear the phrase “I want you to be happy,” it sounds more like a blanket acceptance of the choices a person has made –  a promise to no longer judge a person’s lifestyle just because it is different from my own.

Ya know — that would probably make people even more happy.

Perhaps we should all give that a whirl today, too.

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Posted in Advertising, Commentary, Family, Friends, Holiday, Humor, Life, Relationships

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Grin and bear it

Posted on August 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

When I started at Hallmark Cards in 1992, my first position was in licensed properties.  I was the editor for Peanuts and Garfield cards, and later Cathy and Ziggy and Disney and  “Saturday Night Live” and pretty much any other licensed character that could sell a humor card.

I even traveled to Disney in California at one point and attended ‘Pooh College’ — as in Winnie the Pooh — and became somewhat of a corporate expert on how Winnie should look and sound to greeting card audiences, whether they be children, young adults, teens or even adult Pooh fans.

Because each Pooh is different.  (You can quote me on that.)

Winnie the Pooh is also the World Ambassador of Friendship.  The United Nations made an official declaration in 1997.

It’s a piece of trivia that you might find handy, because it’s National Friendship Day.  Yep — Congress made that official as well, way back in 1935.

So, here’s my official note of gratitude to my friends — the ones I see every day, the ones I miss every day and the 340 I ‘talk’ to every day on Facebook.

I’m sure Pooh would approve.

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Posted in Books & Mags, Family, Holiday, Humor, Life, Relationships

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Title-lation

Posted on April 27, 2010 | 1 Comment

When I was a humor editor at Hallmark Cards, part of my job was to think of all the ways those funny jokes, puns and one-liners could be taken the wrong way.

We didn’t want them to sound dirty unless we meant for them to sound dirty.

So, I am fascinated that a ‘hilarious comedy for the whole family’ could be released with the name “Furry Vengeance.”

I don’t mean to be crude, but the first time I heard this movie name, I thought it was a porn film.  Am I the only one who sees the possible innuendo attached to this troublesome title?

If it were a film with a target audience of the “Pineapple Express” ilk, it would make a bit more sense.  But this is pure family fare, with a very green-friendly ‘save our forests’ message.

Why the borderline nasty name, Participant Media?  You, whose other films include “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Fast Food Nation,” and “Syriana.”  I applaud your issue-oriented choices, but you need to put a bit more thought into the marketing of this title.

Unless you meant for it to sound dirty to expand your audience.

Shame on you.

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Posted in Humor, Movies

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Sticky start

Posted on January 12, 2010 | 4 Comments

Long before bloggers blogged — or even had a fun word for it — I wrote a weekly web column on the then oh-so-new Hallmark.com.

Back in its infancy, the Hallmark Cards website was purely informational, and I was ‘Carla the Card Queen,’ who along with her dog Emotion and faithful friend Mimi, answered questions from site visitors on everything from unrequited love to the right table decorations for Thanksgiving dinner.

Carla’s life and times were fictional, and her advice tended to point to product solutions — hey, it was marketing, after all — but the relationship she forged with her readers around the globe was a real one.

After two-and-a-half years, Hallmark.com had become very much a commerce site, and the Card Queen went on to conquer other kingdoms.  I left the company myself in 2000, but will always cherish my years spent among ‘the very best.’

Hallmark Cards taught me the business of humor and introduced me to the Internet. I was on the lucky team whose job it was to figure out what e-cards would look and sound like. My dot.com experience broadened my skill set and opened many doors for me in the years that followed my seven years at the ‘big house.’

So thank you, Hallmark, and Happy 100th Anniversary. I will always be proud to say “I was a Hallmarker.”

Your gracious Queen

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Posted in Books & Mags, Humor, Internet

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