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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