Greeting Cards

2004-02-18T02:06:00.000-08:00

VOANews.com

Valentine's Day, a Romantic Time in Washington DC
Robin Rupli
Washington
14 Feb 2004, 02:05 UTC

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Renaissance Mayflower Hotel
The origin of the ancient holiday, Valentine's Day, isn't known for certain. Some authorities trace it to a martyr in the early Christian Church St. Valentine, who secretly helped young couples to marry. Another version traces it to an ancient Roman festival linked to fertility; still others believe it has to do with birds that mate in the spring. Today Valentine's Day, which falls every February 14 is largely associated with romantic love. Alison Novella, a holiday expert with Hallmark cards in Kansas City, Missouri, says Valentine's Day, the second biggest card exchanging time of the year, has been emerging into something broader.
"I think Valentine's Day used to be thought of in more of a narrow sense by consumers and used to be what I term as an exclusive holiday, in that people used to think, 'well, I don't' have a love relationship in my life this Valentine's Day so I won't be buying any cards and I won't be receiving any cards,'" she says. "But when you broaden it, when you think about it as a day to really express affection and respect for all the people in your life, then anyone can give or receive ten or fifteen Valentines this year."

It is evident by looking at the cards in the Trover Book Shop on near the US Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. that what Ms. Novella says is true. In addition to cards expressing romantic love are cards wishing Happy Valentine's Day to Mom, or Dad or Grandma; the babysitter; for someone special; even a valentine from the dog. Joshua Anderson, a clerk in the Trover Shop, talks about the Valentine business this year.

"Right after February began it was very good," he says. "And then it tapered off for a few days and then it's been steadily increasing. And we suspect that it will continue to increase up to the 14. And probably even the 15 and 16 when people realize, 'Oops! I didn't get my wife (or whomever) anything and have to come running in and get something.'"

Valentine's Day is also one of the busiest times of year for florists, candy merchants, even diamond salesmen. Hotels have even gotten in on the act in recent years, by offering Valentine's Day specials, of reduced room rates, complimentary champagne and an extended check-out period.

One place which may be one of the most romantic places in Washington for couples in love is the bar inside Washington's historic Mayflower Hotel. Antique fixtures and overstuffed chairs fill the wood-paneled room, providing a kind of living room atmosphere. The tinkling of romantic music is provided by Dan Ruskin, who has been playing piano at the Mayflower for more than two decades.

"These days everybody's in love," he says. "You see them coming in, they put down their briefcases where they have been probably arguing over the budget and all of a sudden could be the music, it could be something in the air they start gazing deep into each other's eyes. And everything falls away. And it's kind of victory of hope over common sense, I think! And when they want a song, they write it down on one of these cocktail napkins and they bring it up." Dan Ruskin gets a lot of requests for My Funny Valentine, but also, this year, everybody wants, As Time Goes By.

"I'm more than an observer," says Dan Ruskin. "As the 'captain' of this piano bar, I may not be unlike a preacher who can say the magic words. You see lots and lots of people who come back every year on that one day when they met, and celebrate, or rekindle the magic that they had. I can name a dozen people who through the years have gotten married to this kind of romantic music and this kind of romantic ambiance that we have in here. And you look at them, you know their favorite songs. You know people who want to hear, It Had to Be You, you know people who want to hear, Some Enchanted Evening. This year also, Dan Ruskin has a lot of calls for What's New?

2004-02-18T02:00:00.000-08:00

Kansas City Star | 02/14/2004 | Retailers' hearts flutter, too

Meanwhile, sentimental cards remain a big seller, said Rachel Bolton, spokeswoman for Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City.

Hallmark, which sells 3,600 Valentine's Day card designs, expects a 1 percent increase in card sales this year, she said.

Nationwide, about 200 million cards will be exchanged this Valentine's Day, she said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Business of the heart

More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold this year for Valentine's Day, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association estimates. Some other expectations, from a recent survey of 8,683 consumers for the National Retail Federation:

• Consumers will spend an average of $99.24 on Valentine's Day, up from $80.44 in 2003.

• The majority will buy a greeting card, with just over half buying candy. Nearly half the couples surveyed plan to go out to eat, and 64.9 percent of men and 16.2 percent of women will purchase flowers as gifts.

• More than two-thirds of the shoppers plan to purchase gifts for other family members such as children and parents.

2004-02-18T01:02:00.000-08:00

Scoop: MEDIACOM Marketing Digest 17 February 2004: "ONLINE
US Valentine buyers loved the Internet last year; they like it even more this year. Nielsen/NetRatings reports that gifts and flowers sites attracted 2.7 million unique visitors accessing the Internet from work last week, jumping 291% from 687,000 during the same week last year. It reports that the top site within the gifts and flowers category was Hallmark Shopping, which drew 798,000 unique visitors, up 16% from the same week last year. Gift site RedEnvelope.com spiked 87% to 498,000 unique visitors. FTD.com attracted 390,000 unique visitors, up 129% from a year earlier.
Market researcher Hitwise, which measures market share of sites relative to all traffic on the Internet, reports that for the first 10 days of February, the market share of visits to the Flowers & Gifts category increased 26% compared to the same period in 2003.
Godiva.com led flowers, cards, gifts and chocolates in market share growth in the run-up to Valentine's Day, up 36.9% over the year earlier, Hitwise says. Other popular sites in the category and their increases in market share vs. a year ago are RedEnvelope.com, up 34.7%, 1-800-Flowers.com, up 21.9% and Hallmark.com, up 7.4%.
Source: InternetRetailer.com "

2004-02-18T00:59:00.000-08:00

The Baby Einstein Company Expands Into Three New Categories of Products for Infants and Toddlers With Graco, Hallmark and Hamco

Press Release Source: The Baby Einstein Company

The Baby Einstein Company Expands Into Three New Categories of Products for Infants and Toddlers With Graco, Hallmark and Hamco
Tuesday February 17, 6:02 am ET
Complete Collection of Baby Einstein(TM) Products Are Relevant to Every Part of Baby's Day

BURBANK, Calif., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Baby Einstein Company, the award-winning creator of infant developmental products designed specifically for babies and toddlers, today announced plans to further extend its product line into three new categories, signaling the company's commitment to becoming a leading infant brand within the $6 billion(1) juvenile products market, reaching far beyond the video aisle. Introducing baby gear, party supplies and bibs and soft bath products with category leaders Graco, Hallmark and Hamco respectively, the new Baby Einstein(TM) product lines take everyday and special occasions to the next level by making every moment an opportunity for discovery. Following the successful launch of its juvenile products line in 2003 and on the heels of its toy line debut, the continued expansion of the Baby Einstein collection showcases the brand's commitment to offering a complete line of innovative products in the fastest growing segment for infants -- developmental products.

About Hallmark, Inc.

Kansas City-based Hallmark is known throughout the world for its greeting cards, related personal expression products, and television's most honored and enduring dramatic series, the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The company's Hallmark Entertainment, Inc. subsidiary is the world's leading producer of movies and mini-series for television; its Binney & Smith subsidiary, maker of Crayola® crayons, is the leading producer of student and professional art materials. Through licensing leadership and joint ventures, Hallmark continues to expand its product formats and distribution avenues. The company, which has wholly owned subsidiaries in 12 countries, publishes products in 30 languages and distributes them in more than 100 countries.

2003-11-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

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2003-11-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

Kansas City Star | 11/12/2003 | Crown Media plans new movie channel

Posted on Wed, Nov. 12, 2003

Crown Media plans new movie channel
By JENNIFER MANN
The Kansas City Star

Crown Media Holdings Inc., 70 percent owned by Hallmark Cards Inc., in January will launch a second Hallmark channel to show digital movies around the clock.

The new channel will join the Hallmark Channel, which was launched in August 2001 and is broadcast to about 110 million cable and satellite households worldwide. It reaches about 56 million of the 92 million U.S. households served by cable or satellite.

News of the new channel came less than a week after Crown Media announced a distribution deal with Comcast, the largest cable company in the United States. That deal is expected to give the Hallmark Channel access to an additional 10 million to 12 million U.S. households.

The Hallmark Movie Channel will tap into the 4,000-hour movie library Crown Media bought almost two years ago from Hallmark Cards for about $815 million. A Crown Media spokeswoman said the company was just beginning talks with distributors about carrying the new movie channel and did not know how many households it would reach with the new channel.

The library has about 700 titles, including “Moby Dick” starring Gregory Peck and Patrick Stewart; “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All,” with Cicely Tyson, Anne Bancroft, Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland and Blythe Danner and the winner of four Emmys; and “Storm in Summer,” a two-Emmy winner featuring Peter Falk, Nastassja Kinski and Andrew McCarthy.

The new channel will also buy movies from other providers and will tap into the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” titles it owns in the library purchased from Hallmark Cards.

David Evans, chief executive officer of Crown Media, said the channel was being launched for two reasons.

“First, viewers, distributors and advertisers love movies,” Evans said. “And second, Hallmark movies, with their long, successful legacy of compelling storytelling, resonate with our customers — they are asking for more movies, and with this new movie-only digital service, we are answering their call.”

Hallmark spun off Crown Media in a public offering in 2001. The Kansas City greeting card maker underscored its commitment to Crown Media in August when it lent about $400 million to the cable channel operator. The two also have a tax-sharing agreement whereby Crown Media gets to use tax gains reported by Hallmark and then compensates Hallmark for a percentage of the tax credits.

Crown Media's stock closed Tuesday at $8.80 a share, up 10 cents.

To reach Jennifer Mann, call

(816) 234-4453, or send e-mail to jmann@kcstar.com.

2003-11-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hello, Dolly:

Hello, Dolly

It's so nice to have you back where you belong

11/09/03

MICHELLE ROBERTS

Look out, Bratz dolls, with your tight jeans, lipstick and go-go boots. Shortcake's back in town, and she's ready to kick some serious . . . berry.

From Our Advertiser

American Greetings has re-released Strawberry Shortcake, the redheaded doll who smells like strawberries and first debuted in 1980.

The Care Bears have returned, too. So have My Little Pony and the Cabbage Patch Kids.

The nation's toy-makers are banking that these toy icons from the 1980s will sell just as big today as they did 20 years ago.

So far, they're right. Sales number in the hundreds of millions of dollars since these retro brands were relaunched during the past year and a half.

Marketers are targeting two distinct demographics: the women who played with this stuff as kids, and their daughters.

But moms say nostalgia is only part of the reason they're snapping Strawberry and her friends off the shelves. They also like the innocent play themes the toys offer, as opposed to the more mature Bratz and My Scene Barbie dolls that have dominated the girls' toy aisle in recent years.

"Girls with a passion for fashion" is the slogan for Bratz, the nation's top-selling mini-dolls until Strawberry recently threatened to dethrone them. Cloe, Dana, Jade, Sasha and Yasmin -- who go heavy on the makeup and light on the clothes -- can be accessorized with the Bratz Boyz, who come with dreamy bedroom eyes and real-sounding motorcycles. Vroom! Vroom!

Strawberry Shortcake, on the other hand, lives in a giant Strawberry in the magical world of Strawberryland. With cute and mischievous characters such as her sister, Apple Dumplin'; pals Ginger Snap, Orange Blossom and Angel Cake; and her pets Honey Pie Pony, Custard and Pupcake, Strawberry Shortcake explores lands with chocolate rivers and marshmallow clouds while learning valuable lessons. There is no need to worry about the intentions of her only male friend, Huckleberry Pie.

"Strawberry Shortcake is a wholesome little girl," said Holli Hoffmann, brand manager for Bandai America, the toy company licensed to reintroduce the doll. "It's a substitute for moms who don't like the Bratz and having their 4-year-old girl play with something that looks like Britney Spears."

The original Strawberry Shortcake made history as the first scented doll to hit the market. She was an instant smash. Girls from North Dakota to New York sniffed wrapped holiday packages in the hope they could detect Strawberry or one of her sweet-smelling friends, such as Raspberry Tart or Blueberry Muffin.

Girls began to speak a new language in which they replaced any word they could with "berry," as in "You are berry sweet," "Have a berry nice day" and "Berry Christmas."

First-year sales brought in more than $100 million. More than 25 million dolls flew off the shelves as retailers sold out across the country. In the 1980s, sales totaled more than $1.2 billion.

Three years into Strawberry's unprecedented run, American Greetings produced another phenomenon. Care Bears, with their iconic tummies and heart-bedecked paws, became "America's Teddy Bear." More than 40 million sold between 1983 and 1987.

Times changed Eventually, the girls of the demographic that would be dubbed Generation X started to move on to other things, such as leg warmers and Rick Springfield. And by the end of the "decade of decadence," Strawberry Shortcake and the Care Bears were discontinued.

These sweet, cheerful characters weren't seen again until the late 1990s, when American Greetings licensed the production of Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears T-shirts to be sold at retro-oriented specialty stores such as Claire's Boutique and Hot Topic.

In 2001, American Greetings commissioned a research study on the overall awareness of its character properties that found 88 percent of women knew the Care Bears and 78 percent remembered Strawberry Shortcake -- almost the same number who know what Pepsi is.

"That was pretty compelling," said Mickie Matheis, a licensing manager for American Greetings.

Add to that the fact that nostalgia comes in 20-year cycles and that the girls who once played with the toys were starting to become mothers.

American Greetings re-released the Care Bears in July 2002. That year, consumers bought $70 million worth of Care Bears merchandise. Sales are expected to exceed $250 million this year. So far, more than 10 million plush bears and 3.7 million Care Bear videos have been sold.

The successful relaunch of Care Bears set off a resurgence in 1980s toys, for both girls and boys.

Other resurrected brands include My Little Pony, Muppet Babies, Popples, Atari, My Pet Monster, Transformers, E.T., the Incredible Hulk, Rubik's Cube, He-Man, Masters of the Universe, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pac Man. Garbage Pail Kids cards are out again, and as disgusting as ever. This time, they've been updated with more timely satires such as "Harry Potty."

Pound Puppies, Rainbow Brite, Smurfs and Holly Hobbie will stage a comeback in the near future.

While many of these toys will last only until the 1980s retro-fad fades, marketers are trying to make sure some of these characters will stay around for at least another decade.

That's why American Greetings reissued Strawberry Shortcake with a more modern image. Instead of striped tights and a puffy pinafore, now Strawberry wears jeans and a T-shirt with a red sweater tied around her shoulders. Today, Strawberry's friends are more diverse and include a Latina named Ginger Snap.

"We determined that we should make Strawberry more relevant to today's girl," Matheis said, adding that the doll is targeted to girls ages 3 to 8. "She has a new look and a spunky, sassy attitude, but in a good way. She's nothing you have to aspire to, like Barbie or a Bratz doll. She's just going to be your friend."

Old, but modern, too They may hail from a time when Ronald Reagan was president and "Max Headroom" was cool, but make no mistake -- today's 1980s toys are thoroughly modern.

Today's Care Bears sing and dance.

An interactive version of the classic Strawberry Shortcake doll was introduced in August. It sings songs and says 100 phrases, including "We're sweet and sassy!"

My Little Pony -- which returned to stores in July, about 20 years after its initial debut -- comes with a castle play set that includes twinkling stars and a working elevator.

Twentieth Century Fox has released four video movies featuring the new Strawberry Shortcake this spring, which collectively have sold more than 2 million copies. A 3-D Care Bears video feature is planned for 2004, and a CD-ROM video game will be launched in time for the holidays.

But the success of these toys depends less on entertainment than on their inherent characteristics, which marketers and parents agree are as appealing today as they were two decades ago.

When My Little Ponys were relaunched in July, they were touted as a "wonderfully pure play experience" that would "instill important values like kindness, thoughtfulness and the importance of friendship."

In fact, licensors and publishers point out that many themes associated with these properties -- such as Care Bears' caring and sharing message, My Little Pony's focus on friendship and group play or Cabbage Patch Kids' adoption theme -- are perhaps even more relevant now than they were in the 1980s.

"Care Bears are pure and safe," Matheis said. "It's not as nice a world we live in today. People are looking for comfort and innocence."

And what it really comes down to is, parents just want their little girls to be little girls.

"It's safer for a parent to buy a Strawberry doll than a Bratz or Barbie doll," said Christina Stewart, a 31-year-old registered nurse who organized the first Strawberry Shortcake convention in Cleveland last summer. "Parents wouldn't mind if their little girl tried to be like Strawberry. Little girls shouldn't look like a Bratz. And they can't be Barbie -- there are enough adult women trying unsuccessfully to do that." Michelle Roberts: 503-294-5041; michelleroberts@news.oregonian.com

2003-11-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News:

Features: Life & Times

Last modified Saturday, November 8, 2003 8:09 PM PST

Time is finally right for Veterans Day and military greeting cards

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer

Veterans Day has never been considered a major holiday, so it was no great surprise that cards commemorating the day flopped when Hallmark introduced them in the past.

Times have changed. While the cards tested in 1985 and 1999 drew little interest, consumers in post-Sept. 11 America are much more eager to show appreciation for veterans, said Hallmark spokeswoman Rachel Bolton at the company headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.

"I think 9-11 changed everything," Bolton said. "It brought home very acutely how much we value and appreciate the people who keep us free. The mood of the nation changed. People had emotions they wanted to express."

At a Hallmark store in Escondido, employee Barbara Palembas said the cards sell surprisingly well.

"They're selling a lot better than I thought they would," Palembas said. "We've had people asking for them specifically this year because of the war, I think."

The interest in patriotic cards isn't just reflected in Hallmark, and it's not just for veterans.

Internet Web sites that deal with electronic greeting cards for every occasion now include Veterans Day as well as military-themed and patriotic cards in general.

PatriotGreetings.com has e-cards recognizing every branch of the service and every occasion. There are congratulations for promotions and retirements, well-wishes for Christmas and birthdays, sympathy for deaths and even romantic cards for separated couples.

GreetSomeone.com offers Veterans Day e-cards that shows a soldier holding a rifle in front of an exploding hillside with the message, "Today is a day to thank veterans for all they have given this country."

Walking.About.com has Veterans Day cards, including a photo of the Waal Crossing Memorial in Nijmegen, Holland, recognizing a historic WWII crossing during Operation Market Green.

Other Web sites with Veterans Day greetings include AmericanGreetings.com, 123.Greetings.com, FreeWebCard.com, Greetings.Yahoo.com, Marlo.com and KingCards.com, among many others. Still more Web sites have cards with broader patriotic themes that extend beyond July 4, Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

Another site ---- http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/MessageSend.html ---- allows family members to post greetings to loved ones who are deployed overseas.

Bolton said Hallmark brought the cards back last year after former Hallmark product manager Keri Olson gave a thank-you card on Veterans Day to her father, who had fought in Vietnam. Her father was moved to tears, and Hallmark decided to produce a line of 20 Veterans Day cards, this time not bothering with test markets.

Even before Olson gave her father the card, other people were asking Hallmark to create a line for veterans. In Claremont, a woman named Robyn Cole began writing the company in 1998 and eventually collected a petition with 50 signatures asking for Veterans Day cards. Bolton said she remembers at least one other woman asking for a card for veterans after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bolton said the company believed they would receive orders from 5,000 stores, but instead heard from about 16,000. This year, stores have requested the cards earlier than expected, which she takes a sign that they are well-received.

At a Hallmark store in Encinitas, employee Melissa Siemienczuk said customers are welcoming the cards.

"Most definitely, with the current climate the way it is," she said. "We also carry cards for people who are entering the services. Because we're so close to Camp Pendleton, we do sell a lot of those, too."

Siemienczuk said a woman recently came in looking for a card for someone who had given his life for the country, and a Veterans Day card was just what she was looking for.

June Queen, who owns that store and another in Encinitas, plus one in Del Mar, said the cards are not "barnburners," but people appreciate them, and she appreciates the veterans' contributions.

"They do need us to know that we appreciate everything they do for us and our country," she said. "My veterans make sure I'm free to run a business."

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.

2003-11-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Witness says she was shut out of talks on big Kmart contract:

Witness says she was shut out of talks on big Kmart contract

November 6, 2003

BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The government's star witness in the criminal trial of two former Kmart Corp. executives testified Wednesday that one of them froze her out of negotiations on a major greeting card contract and then deceived her about how to handle a $42.3-million contract payment.

Susan Pifer, Kmart's former divisional vice president for finance, said Tony Montini Jr. excluded her from negotiations with American Greetings Corp., which paid Kmart $42.3 million in June 2001 for the exclusive right to sell greeting cards in Kmart stores.

She said Montini also told her there were no so-called payback provisions associated with the payment, which prompted Kmart auditors to book it in a single quarter rather than recognizing it over the life of the 5-year contract.

Federal prosecutors say the deception caused Kmart to understate its losses for second quarter 2001 by 6 cents per share, or 32 percent, which misled investors about Kmart's financial situation. Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2002. The company emerged from bankruptcy last May with new ownership after closing 600 stores.

Montini and a subordinate, Joseph Hofmeister, are charged with securities fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"He said there were no commitments associated with the payment," Pifer said Montini told her around June 2001 when she first questioned Montini about how to account for the $42.3 million. She also said it was unusual that she would be excluded from the American Greetings contract negotiations because she was supposed to function as Montini's financial consultant at Kmart.

Later, when she requested a draft of the agreement between American Greetings and Kmart and discovered that American Greetings was to be repaid part of the $42.3 million if Kmart prematurely canceled the contract, she said Montini denied it. She testified that Montini angrily reprimanded Hofmeister for fouling up the language of the agreement.

In the weeks that followed, Pifer and internal auditors were concerned about potential payback provisions and asked Montini and Hofmeister to obtain a clarification letter from American Greetings to assure there were none..

American Greetings complied, prompting Kmart to recognize the payment in the second quarter.

Later that month, when Pifer learned about a side letter from American Greetings spelling out repayment provisions, Pifer said she confronted Montini, who denied ever telling her that there were none..

When Montini asked her what should be done to correct the problem, she said she told him to consult a lawyer. She said her boss, Jeffrey Stark, vice president of finance, told Montini to figure out how to rescind the letter containing the payback provisions.

In the end, Kmart restated its earnings for the second quarter.

Pifer of Williamston said she left Troy-based Kmart in early 2002 because of the long daily commute, long work hours, health problems, and her relationship with Montini. She now works for the Michigan Treasury Department.

And, she added: "I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable doing business Mr. Montini's way." Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Robinson didn't ask her to elaborate.

Montini's lawyer, Marcie Ziegler, spent the afternoon showing Pifer exhibits to try to show that Montini hadn't excluded her from contract negotiations and that they were on good terms.

Pifer is to return to the witness stand today for cross-examination by Ziegler and Hofmeister's lawyer.

2003-11-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Witness says she was shut out of talks on big Kmart contract
November 6, 2003

BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The government's star witness in the criminal trial of two former Kmart Corp. executives testified Wednesday that one of them froze her out of negotiations on a major greeting card contract and then deceived her about how to handle a $42.3-million contract payment.

Susan Pifer, Kmart's former divisional vice president for finance, said Tony Montini Jr. excluded her from negotiations with American Greetings Corp., which paid Kmart $42.3 million in June 2001 for the exclusive right to sell greeting cards in Kmart stores.

She said Montini also told her there were no so-called payback provisions associated with the payment, which prompted Kmart auditors to book it in a single quarter rather than recognizing it over the life of the 5-year contract.

Federal prosecutors say the deception caused Kmart to understate its losses for second quarter 2001 by 6 cents per share, or 32 percent, which misled investors about Kmart's financial situation. Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2002. The company emerged from bankruptcy last May with new ownership after closing 600 stores.

Montini and a subordinate, Joseph Hofmeister, are charged with securities fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"He said there were no commitments associated with the payment," Pifer said Montini told her around June 2001 when she first questioned Montini about how to account for the $42.3 million. She also said it was unusual that she would be excluded from the American Greetings contract negotiations because she was supposed to function as Montini's financial consultant at Kmart.

Later, when she requested a draft of the agreement between American Greetings and Kmart and discovered that American Greetings was to be repaid part of the $42.3 million if Kmart prematurely canceled the contract, she said Montini denied it. She testified that Montini angrily reprimanded Hofmeister for fouling up the language of the agreement.

In the weeks that followed, Pifer and internal auditors were concerned about potential payback provisions and asked Montini and Hofmeister to obtain a clarification letter from American Greetings to assure there were none..

American Greetings complied, prompting Kmart to recognize the payment in the second quarter.

Later that month, when Pifer learned about a side letter from American Greetings spelling out repayment provisions, Pifer said she confronted Montini, who denied ever telling her that there were none..

When Montini asked her what should be done to correct the problem, she said she told him to consult a lawyer. She said her boss, Jeffrey Stark, vice president of finance, told Montini to figure out how to rescind the letter containing the payback provisions.

In the end, Kmart restated its earnings for the second quarter.

Pifer of Williamston said she left Troy-based Kmart in early 2002 because of the long daily commute, long work hours, health problems, and her relationship with Montini. She now works for the Michigan Treasury Department.

And, she added: "I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable doing business Mr. Montini's way." Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Robinson didn't ask her to elaborate.

Montini's lawyer, Marcie Ziegler, spent the afternoon showing Pifer exhibits to try to show that Montini hadn't excluded her from contract negotiations and that they were on good terms.

Pifer is to return to the witness stand today for cross-examination by Ziegler and Hofmeister's lawyer.

2003-11-08T12:02:00.000-08:00

Federated Pilots In-Store Partnerships With LensCrafters & American Greetings

November 07, 2003 10:32 AM US Eastern Timezone

Federated Pilots In-Store Partnerships With LensCrafters & American Greetings

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2003--Federated Department Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FD)(PCX:FD) today said it is piloting in-store boutiques with two leading consumer brand companies to offer categories of merchandise not currently available in most department stores. Focused merchandise areas initially being developed with LensCrafters and American Greetings are designed to maximize customer convenience and enhance the Federated shopping experience for the holidays and beyond.
"Customers tell us they want to buy a wider range of merchandise within our stores, and with brands they know and trust," said Federated Vice Chairman Tom Cole. "Through these partnerships, Federated strengthens its role as a one-stop shopping destination better able to meet the needs of our customer."

The first optical boutique, designed with LensCrafters, opens today in Tacoma, WA at Bon-Macy's Tacoma Mall location. Additional optical boutiques are planned for:

-- Ft. Myers, FL: Burdines, Edison Mall - opening November 19

-- Scottsdale, AZ: Macy's West, Scottsdale Fashion Square - opening November 21

-- Sacramento, CA: Macy's West Downtown Shopping Plaza - opening February, 2004

-- Concord, CA: Macy's West Sun Valley Mall - opening February, 2004

The 1,500-square-foot optical boutiques will be located adjacent to accessories or apparel areas and will blend seamlessly with Macy's store design. The merchandise assortment also will be tailor-made for Macy's customers - more than 1,000 prescription and sunglass frames from designer brands such as Ray-Ban, Prada, Versace, Brooks Brothers, Kenneth Cole and Persol, as well as an exclusive Tommy Hilfiger collection. In addition to free eyewear fashion consultations, Macy's customers will enjoy free cleaning and adjustments to glasses anytime.

The optical boutiques will be full-service, open during store operating hours. A Doctor of Optometry will be available 40 hours a week to give complete eye exams. Contact lens customers will be able to choose among a full range of contact lens products, including daily disposables and color contacts.

The upscale Winking Moon Press line from American Greetings will be available in kiosks in forty-one Federated stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's East, Rich's/Lazarus/Goldsmith's-Macy's, Bon-Macy's and Burdines. The cards are featured in gift locations throughout the store, primarily home, bridal and children's departments, complementing the stores' positioning as prime locations for gift giving.

"We will carefully monitor results of these pilots and roll out concepts that are successful with our targeted customer," Cole said. "Based on results, we also plan to identify other partners that can make shopping our stores more interesting, exciting and productive."

Federated, with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation's leading department store retailers, with annual sales of more than $15 billion. Federated currently operates more than 460 stores in 33 states, Guam and Puerto Rico, under the names of Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bon-Macy's, Burdines, Goldsmith's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's and Rich's-Macy's, as well as macys.com and Bloomingdale's By Mail.

(NOTE: Information on Federated and its operating divisions is available on the Internet at www.fds.com.)

Contacts

Federated
Jean Coggan, 513-579-7315
or
LensCrafters
Kathy Clark, 513-765-6242

2003-11-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

KRT Wire | 10/28/2003 | Those excessive `80s reemerge in our clubs, clothes, lives:

Also returning: Care Bears, the colorful teddy bears that first appeared in 1983 and were featured in children's books, movies and their own television show.

Care Bears reappeared in stores last summer on clothing, said Charlotte Bean, the licensing specialist for American Greetings, the company that owns the rights to the Care Bears. The apparel is sold in specialty stores, such as Hot Topic and Claire's.

The stuffed animals were put back on the shelves, and Care Bear lunchboxes and cards are selling well, Bean said.

In January, American Greetings also re-released Strawberry Shortcake, the red-headed doll who smelled like strawberries and debuted in 1980. Bean said that companies who have licensed the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake products from American Greetings are reporting sales increases of 50 to 500 percent

2003-11-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

Time publishes holiday issue of Hallmark magazine - 2003-11-04 - The Business Journal of Kansas City

11/4/2003

2:58 PM CST Tuesday
Time publishes holiday issue of Hallmark magazine
Hallmark Cards Inc. and Time Inc. have collaborated to publish the holiday 2003 issue of Hallmark magazine.

Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Kansas City-based Hallmark started distributing 380,000 copies of the magazine's holiday issue on Monday to newsstands in retail outlets throughout the country and in almost 400 Hallmark Gold Crown stores, the company said in a written statement.

Time Inc. Custom Publishing is leading the creation of the magazine's editorial content with guidance from Hallmark creative staff members, Hallmark spokeswoman Kristi Ernsting said Tuesday. The magazine's editorial staff at Time Custom Publishing is led by Celia Barbour, previous editor of Martha Stewart Baby and Martha Stewart Kids magazines.

The magazine's holiday issue is the second test issue, Ernsting said. The company introduced the magazine with a May/June 2003 preview issue of 100,000 copies.

Hallmark plans two more test issues, tentatively scheduled for April and August, Ernsting said. The company will decide after the April issue whether to officially launch the magazine, she said.

The magazine retails for $3.95.

Kansas City-based Hallmark posted revenue $4.2 billion in 2002.

Time regularly publishes about 130 magazines with 300 million readers. The company is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.

2003-11-03T05:46:00.000-08:00

AP Wire | 10/29/2003 | Jury selection continues in Kmart security fraud trial: "Posted on Wed, Oct. 29, 2003
Posted on Wed, Oct. 29, 2003

Jury selection continues in Kmart security fraud trial
Associated Press

DETROIT - Jury selection continued for a second day Wednesday in the criminal case against two former Kmart Corp. executives accused of inflating the discount retailer's earnings.

Selection, which began Tuesday, was scheduled to resume Thursday in U.S. District Court. Opening statements were expected to begin after the jury's seating.

After two days of questions, Judge Paul Borman and the lawyers had qualified 21 prospective jurors for a 40 member pool from which the jury will be selected.

Joseph Hofmeister, 53, and Enio A. "Tony" Montini Jr., 51, are accused of securities fraud, conspiracy and making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Troy-based Kmart filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2002 and emerged from bankruptcy in May as Kmart Holding Corp. However, prosecutors have been barred from using the store's bankruptcy as a part of their case.

The government says Montini and Hofmeister helped Kmart meet Wall Street's earnings expectations during the second quarter of 2001 - boosting its earnings by 6 cents a share - by causing the company to improperly record a $42.3 million payment from vendor American Greetings Inc.

Attorneys for the men say they were following Kmart's accounting procedures and that accountants disagree about how to handle that type of payment.

2003-11-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

The Standard Democrat
Festival serves for Halloween

10/29/03
Leonna Essner

Apparently Doyle Elementary is moving with a national trend. According to trend spotters at American Greetings, in celebrating Halloween, some families now prefer a more seasonal approach to festivities.

On average, 55 percent of Americans decorate their homes for Halloween (second only to Christmas). Of these, 44 percent decorate for both fall and Halloween, American Greetings reports. This statistic shows that Halloween is no longer a one-night event but an entire season of celebration. The trend, dubbed “Falloween” by some, is the marriage of fall and Halloween, and typically lasts from early September until Thanksgiving.

While many area schools continue to hold their Halloween parties, some other area schools are also getting into the spirit of “Falloween.”

2003-11-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

Communities scare up fun with Halloween traditions - 10/30/03:

Thursday, October 30, 2003

Communities scare up fun with Halloween traditions

By Joel Kurth / The Detroit News

NORTHVILLE -- Forgive the children of Northville if they lose sight of the true meaning of Halloween: candy.

There's plenty to distract them. Costume contests are so competitive judges themselves wear disguises. Vaudeville revues on front lawns favor schtick and shuffling feet over trick or treat. City-sponsored pumpkin parties a week before Halloween sell out in hours.

"Every year, we have to keep topping ourselves: 1,450 kids come to the door in two hours," said Sue Tucker, 40, whose family has constructed elaborate sets featuring everything from human-sized Monopoly boards to a Silly String-spouting volcano on the lawn since 1988.

From hayrides in Milford and Armada to witch train tours in Walled Lake and booze bashes, costume parades and haunted houses everywhere in between, Halloween isn't about just the kids anymore. And it isn't about just one day.

Targeted by social crusaders for the scrap heap 20 years ago, the holiday has grown so family friendly that it's now used by municipalities to foster a feeling of community among sometimes estranged neighbors.

"Halloween has never been more important," said Chris Riddle, senior creative consultant for American Greetings Corp. in Cleveland. "It's lost its sinister edge and gives us a warm feeling when the pressure's on, the present is up in the air and we don't feel as good as we used to."

In Howell, that warm feeling will manifest itself in a huge ensemble of jack-o'-lanterns on the lawn of the old Livingston County Courthouse downtown. The city is trying to top the world record that Keene, N.H., set last weekend with 28,952 on its town square.

Howell probably won't come close, but organizers aren't worried.

"We're hoping for a few thousand pumpkins just to make the community beautiful and give us a new tradition," said Mary Ellen Ahmad, owner of Aria Booksellers. "Things like these make it a fun town and give people something to look forward to."

In Canton Township, more than 500 youngsters will collect candy door-to-door in the offices of the community center, Summit on the Park. Township employees and volunteers dress in costume and stage scary scenes, said Thomas Yack, township supervisor.

"This is a way to weave part of the fabric of our community," he said.

Taking it seriously

Few communities take Halloween as seriously as Northville.

Streets around the downtown of the Wayne County city are such a magnet for youngsters that the city closes off about seven blocks from 6-8 p.m. Household candy bills of $250 or more aren't uncommon.

"It's beyond comprehension how big Halloween is here," said longtime resident Carole Jean Stockhausen. "Everyone goes all out."

She's already bought 700 pieces of candy. She expects they'll be long gone within 90 minutes.

Each year, architect Greg Presley and his pals don fake hillbilly teeth and perform skits on a stage on his lawn. One year, it was "Phantom of the Opera." Another, it was the Hallo-Wheel of Fortune. This year, they'll perform "7 1/2 Mile" raps on the "Ed Skullivan Show."

Nearby, the set of a 1950s-style diner and drive-in already dwarfs the Danol family's house.

The family's 16th consecutive Halloween extravaganza, the set is authentic from the neon "EAT" arrow to the life-sized classic car models. It ought to be. Every free weekend and many lunch hours since August have gone into planning the $1,000-plus project, Sue Tucker said.

On other lawns, there are Wild West cemeteries, fortune tellers and carhops. Most aren't unveiled until Friday, to both build suspense and avoid weather damage.

"We make memories," said Tucker, who builds the sets with her parents, Terry and Marlene Danol, and sister Linda Danol.

"This brings families and neighbors together. Friends and relatives may pass on, but you'll always have that time you painted the yellow brick road together for the 'Wizard of Oz' display."

The phenomenon has grown since about 1965, when Fire Chief Jim Allen swung upon the doors to the fire hall for trick-or-treaters. They still come for the cotton candy, cider and costume contests, Allen said.

The city also hosts a pumpkin walk for youngsters a week before Halloween. Tickets go for $6 a child, and all 350 sold in six hours. Next year, organizers will print more tickets, said Traci Sincock, the city's parks and recreation director.

"Kids can't go out all night and collect pillow cases full of candy anymore," Sincock said. "The world doesn't work like that anymore. It's up to us civic leaders to provide activities for them."

Beloved holiday

Halloween has swung in and out of society's favor for about 150 years, but has become one of the nation's most beloved holidays within the past 20 years, said Edmund Kern, a Halloween expert and history professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.

Americans spend $6.9 billion on the holiday, second only to Christmas, said Riddle of American Greetings. It's the third-biggest adult holiday behind New Year's Eve and Super Bowl Sunday. It's the eighth most popular occasion to send greeting cards, Riddle said.

The growth is fueled by a Halloween industry that takes its cue from nostalgic Baby Boomers. Plagued by bogus candy tampering scares and links to the occult in the 1970s and 1980s, Halloween roared back as Boomers settled down, Kern said.

Presley, the 55-year-old behind Northville's "Ed Skullivan Show," can relate.

"Do we want to get older? No. Do we want to turn back the clock? Yes, and this is one way to do it for at least one night," he said.

You can reach Joel Kurth at (313) 222-2610 or jkurth@detnews.com.

2003-11-03T05:39:00.000-08:00

Wausau - Halloween: When you can be anyone or anything Grown-ups like to:

Fri, Oct 31, 2003

Halloween: When you can be anyone or anything
Grown-ups like to pretend, too

By Jessica Bock
Wausau Daily Herald
jbock@wdhprint.com

A survey conducted last year by American Greetings found that 63 percent of women and 56 percent of men in the study said they planned to celebrate Halloween at work by wearing costumes, carving pumpkins and decorating cubicles.

The biggest supporters of the Halloween retail trend are men and women between 18 and 34 years old, according to the National Retail Foundation, the world's largest retail trade association.

2003-11-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times: Muslims Reach Out to Share Their Faith:

Muslims Reach Out to Share Their Faith
The holy month of Ramadan provides an opportunity to teach others about Islam. Some of other religions join the fast.
By Teresa Watanabe
Times Staff Writer

November 1, 2003

This week, Muslim American poet Najeeba Syeed-Miller took the holy month of Ramadan to a new and unfamiliar audience: low-income and mostly Latino children who live in the Maravilla Housing Development in East Los Angeles.

Syeed-Miller said she asked the students to draw pictures of their own conflicts, and to share the stories about their fights. Then, she explained how Muslims tried to fast from both food and anger during Ramadan.

"I was trying to make connections between Ramadan and their own lives," she said, "and explain that you could break your fast on a spiritual level as well as a physical one."

The foray into East Los Angeles represents one of many new ways that Muslims are sharing Ramadan with the broader non-Muslim community. Such efforts multiplied after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks sparked widespread public curiosity — and some hostility — toward Islam, and seem to be reaching new levels today.

Around the world this week, more than 1 billion Muslims began observing Ramadan, a season of spiritual rejuvenation marked by fasting from dawn to dusk, charitable acts and special prayers. The fasting by healthy adults is aimed at developing self-control, better health, greater consciousness of God and compassion for the poor and hungry. The month of Ramadan also marks the time that the Koran was first revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad.

But in the United States, where ethnic and religious traditions are so often shared and intermingled, Ramadan is becoming a season of spiritual reflection for many non-Muslims as well.

Some people are trying the fast or joining interfaith and intercultural fast-breakings known as iftars. The Muslim student associations at USC and UCLA, for instance, are recruiting non-Muslims to join a "Ramadan fast-a-thon" to raise money for health care and hot meals for the homeless.

At UCLA, Muslims have lined up several local businesses to pledge $1 for each person who fasts for a day, and recruited members from such campus organizations as the Progressive Jewish Students Assn. and the Indian Students Union to participate, said Mariam Jukaku, president of the Islamic group.

The fast-a-thon "will help share the ideals of Ramadan with non-Muslims — the self-renewal and sacrificing of material things in order to remember God," Jukaku said.

Sam Soleimany of the Jewish group said he was planning to participate both to raise money for the hungry and to build better relations with Muslims on campus. Although he grew up hearing stories about life in a Muslim country from his Iranian immigrant parents, Soleimany said that this year would mark the first time he has ever participated in any Ramadan events.

At Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, Muslims will share an iftar with a diverse group of other Southern Californians who plan to present a program of poetry and music on issues of peace, justice and civil rights.

The program will feature a choral poem that explores parallels among the deportations of Muslim noncitizens since Sept. 11, the relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II and the repatriation of Mexicans in the 1930s. In addition, poems written by the East L.A. children will be read by them around a peace altar, candles will be lighted in remembrance of those displaced and a Native American friendship dance will close the ceremony.

The program is the brainchild of Nobuko Miyamoto, a Senshin member and artistic director of Great Leap Inc. whose own outreach toward Muslims began at home when her son embraced Islam. Her collaborators include Syeed-Miller and Ruben Guevara, a Mexican American writer and performer who had never met a Muslim before this project and knew little about Islam.

All 12 performers are fasting on Tuesdays before their rehearsals. Miyamoto plans to fast for the entire month as a way to "show solidarity" with her Muslim neighbors, understand their experiences and gain spiritual benefits.

"It pulls you into yourself and makes you more thoughtful," Miyamoto said of her fasting so far. "It also makes you feel more peaceful."

As Ramadan gains wider public recognition, some businesses are also capitalizing on the tradition. For the first time ever, Hallmark Cards Inc. is offering a line of greeting cards pegged to the Islamic holy season. The Kansas City-based firm this year launched a small product line of greeting cards for Eid-ul-Fitr, the joyful occasion marking the end of the monthlong fasting season, after what a spokeswoman said was a "big increase" in requests for them over the past few years.

Hallmark spokeswoman Deidre Parkes said the cards have been a hit and have already sold out at most of the 500 retail stores offering them.

The cards "seemed to be a natural," Parkes said. "We were honestly surprised it was picked up as quickly as it was."

Other businesses have also recognized the growing clout of Muslim consumers. Staples, for instance, began including Ramadan on its desk calendars about five years ago, and Microsoft offers an automatic feature to list Islamic religious holidays on its Outlook calendar. Some Muslims say they have seen Ramadan and Eid greeting banners in banks and other offices.

The growing mainstream recognition startles people like Omar Ricci, co-owner of a software company and a board member of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.

Fifteen years ago, he said, he began trying to get office supply companies to list Ramadan on desk calendars and was most often greeted with blank stares.

" 'Who are you guys again? Who are Muslims?' " Ricci said he was typically asked.

Such unfamiliarity still exists in some quarters. At Party City in Pasadena, for instance, a store clerk said the firm carried products for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Asked about Ramadan products, he responded: "Never heard of that one."

Still, Ricci said Ramadan and Eid have grown tremendously in recognition both inside and outside the Muslim community. Nowadays, he said, he and other family friends make it "a big, big day" with presents and a trip to Disneyland for their children, along with the holiday prayer service.

Outside the community, Ricci said, his non-Muslim business partner and friends are now familiar with Ramadan and take a personal interest in it — asking him how his fasting is going, for instance.

"People know about it, and they're fascinated by it," he said.

2003-10-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

American Greetings Corp Investor Relations:

American Greetings Corp. (ticker: AM, exchange: New York Stock Exchange) News Release - 3/9/2000

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American Greetings Completes Tender Offer for Gibson Greetings, Closes Acquisition

CLEVELAND, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) today announced that it has completed its cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Gibson Greetings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GIBG) common stock at $10.25 net per share, and that the acquisition of Gibson Greetings by American Greetings has closed.

In the offer, which commenced November 9, 1999 and expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on March 8, 2000, a total of 15,431,420 shares were validly tendered and not withdrawn, representing about 97.4% of all outstanding common shares of Gibson Greetings, all of which were accepted for payment.

Each Gibson Greetings share not tendered was converted into the right to receive $10.25 in cash, without interest, pursuant to a merger of Gibson greetings with a wholly owned subsidiary of American Greetings. The total value of the transaction was approximately $175 million.

2003-10-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

American Greetings Corp Investor Relations:

American Greetings Corp. (ticker: AM, exchange: New York Stock Exchange) News Release - 3/2/2000

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American Greetings Gets Approval for Gibson Acquisition, Updates Earnings Estimate for Fiscal 2001 And 2002

CLEVELAND, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings (NYSE: AM) said it learned today that the Federal Trade Commission will allow the company to complete its pending acquisition of Gibson Greetings (Nasdaq: GIBG) as planned. American Greetings hopes to complete the acquisition within the next several days.

American Greetings also announced its has recently completed its planning process for fiscal 2001 and expects earnings to increase by about 15 to 20 percent for the year. This updated estimate excludes expected losses from the company's Internet unit, AmericanGreetings.com, as well as any integration costs associated with the Gibson Greetings transaction.

The company reaffirmed its previous estimate that earnings for fiscal 2000, which ended February 29, are expected to be about $2 per share and in line with Wall Street expectations. Those expected results exclude the impact of restructuring charges, as well as anticipated losses of about 20 cents per share from AmericanGreetings.com. Full year results will be announced March 28.

Morry Weiss, chairman and chief executive officer of American Greetings, said the company continues to believe earnings from operations contributed by Gibson should be break-even for the fiscal 2001. While some integration costs are likely, Weiss said the extent of those costs will not be known until some time after the transaction is closed.

The Gibson transaction is expected to generate about $50 million in expected cost reductions by the beginning of fiscal 2002, which should provide a significant increase to earnings in that year. Weiss said the Gibson transaction is still expected to add about 30 cents to earnings in fiscal 2002. That transaction, combined with other initiatives, could allow American Greetings to grow earnings in FY'02 by about 35 to 40 percent.

"We are excited to be moving forward with the Gibson transaction," Weiss said. "It will be a solid addition to our core greeting card business in the United States and also will complement our growing presence in the United Kingdom.

"Including Gibson, we announced several acquisitions last year that should help us continue to grow in future years. Our party goods unit will benefit greatly from the acquisition of Contempo Colours, as will our international operations from the addition of two strategic acquisitions earlier in the year. As we move into the new fiscal year, we will continue to explore acquisitions that allow us to grow the greeting card business as well as our emerging businesses."

American Greetings is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. With headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and has one of the largest creative studios in the world. For more information on the Company, visit our site on the World Wide Web at www.americangreetings.com

The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, the following risks: retail bankruptcies, consolidations and inventory reductions, a weak retail environment, competitive terms of sale offered to customers to expand or maintain business and operational needs of the company's Internet subsidiary. These statements also could be affected by revisions in the company's financial planning processes and risks associated with the integration of new businesses and the introduction of new products. Please see the Company's Form 10K for the year ended February 28, 1999, for other risks and uncertainties that may affect future results. SOURCE American Greetings Corporation

CONTACT: Dale A. Cable, Vice President, Treasurer, 216-252-7300, or Jim King, Manager, Investor & Media Relations, 216-252-4864, both of American Greetings Corporation/

2003-10-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

American Greetings Corp Investor Relations:

American Greetings Corp. (ticker: AM, exchange: New York Stock Exchange) News Release - 12/17/1999

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Department of Justice Requests More Information on American Greetings' Acquisition of Gibson Greetings

CLEVELAND, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings (NYSE: AM) and Gibson Greetings (Nasdaq: GIBG) today announced that they have received a request for additional information from the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice ("DOJ") in connection with the proposed acquisition of Gibson Greetings by American Greetings.

American Greetings and Gibson Greetings noted that such a request is not unusual in these circumstances. The companies will work expeditiously to respond to and cooperate with the DOJ's request.

American Greetings' tender offer for Gibson Greetings is currently scheduled to expire on January 5, 2000. If necessary, American Greetings will extend the tender offer as appropriate.

The information agent for the offer is Corporate Investor Communications, Inc. Questions about the offer may be addressed to them at 877-842-2411.

American Greetings is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. With headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and has one of the largest creative studios in the world. For more information on American Greetings, visit our site on the World Wide Web at www.americangreetings.com .

Gibson Greetings, Inc., an industry innovator in the greeting card business, is pursuing a strategy of marketing relationship-fostering products that provide strong entertainment value. Gibson distributes more than 24,000 individual relationship communication products (over 5,000 new products last year), including greeting cards, gift wrap, party goods and licensed products. E-mail greetings featuring Gibson content are available through the Egreetings Network ( www.egreetings.com ), in which Gibson holds a minority equity interest. Gibson cards are also available through the Internet from Sparks.com ( www.sparks.com ), a leading online provider of greeting cards. For more information on Gibson Greetings, please visit our web site at www.gibsongreetings.com .

SOURCE American Greetings Corporation

CONTACT: Dale A. Cable, Vice President, Treasurer, 216-252-7300, or Jim King, Manager, Investor & Media Relations, 216-252-4864, both of American Greetings Corporation; or Adam Friedman of Adam Friedman Associates, 212-391-7596, or adam@adam-friedman.com; or James T. Wilson, Chief Financial Officer of Gibson Greetings, Inc., 606-815-6000/

2003-10-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

American Greetings Corp Investor Relations

American Greetings Corp. (ticker: AM, exchange: New York Stock Exchange) News Release - 12/6/1999

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American Greetings Extends Tender Offer for Gibson Greetings

CLEVELAND, Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings (NYSE: AM) today announced it filed Premerger Notification and Report Forms on December 2, 1999 with the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice regarding its pending $10.25 per share cash tender offer for any and all outstanding shares of the common stock of Gibson Greetings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GIBG).

The required waiting period with respect to the Gibson acquisition will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on December 17, 1999, unless earlier terminated by the FTC or the Antitrust Division or if American Greetings receives a request for additional information or documentary material prior thereto.

The required waiting period with respect to the indirect acquisition of Gibson's equity interest in Egreetings Network will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 3, 2000, unless earlier terminated by the FTC or the Antitrust Division or if American Greetings receives a request for additional information or documentary material prior thereto.

American Greetings also announced that it has extended the expiration of the cash tender offer to 5:00 p.m., New York City Time, on Wednesday, January 5, 2000.

As of the close of business on December 3, 1999, a total of 850,448 shares of Gibson Greetings common stock had been tendered and not withdrawn.

The information agent for the offer is Corporate Investor Communications, Inc. Questions about the offer may be addressed to them at 877-842-2411.

American Greetings is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. With headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and has one of the largest creative studios in the world. For more information on the Company, visit our site on the World Wide Web at www.americangreetings.com

SOURCE American Greetings

CONTACT: Dale A. Cable, Vice President, Treasurer, 216-252-7300, or Jim King, Manager, Investor Relations, 216-252-4864, both of American Greetings/

2003-10-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

American Greetings Corp Investor Relations

American Greetings Corp. (ticker: AM, exchange: New York Stock Exchange) News Release - 11/3/1999

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American Greetings Announces Plans to Acquire Gibson Greetings Inc

Company expects $10.25 per share offer to be additive to earnings after takeover

CLEVELAND, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- American Greetings (NYSE: AM) today announced plans to acquire Gibson Greetings Inc. (Nasdaq: GIBG) in a cash transaction that is expected to produce ongoing synergies and be additive to earnings for American Greetings in the upcoming fiscal year.

"This acquisition marks our most important step yet in implementing our long-term strategic plan by providing ongoing growth to our US and international greeting card business and our electronic marketing unit," said Morry Weiss, chairman and chief executive officer of American Greetings. He said the companies signed a definitive agreement yesterday and the respective boards of directors approved the transaction. The acquisition still requires regulatory approval.

American Greetings expects the acquisition to generate ongoing revenue of about $225 million and ongoing annual cost savings of at least $50 million. American Greetings expects the acquisition to be slightly accretive to earnings in the first 12 months after the transaction is complete. Once the integration is complete, the transaction is expected to add about 30 cents per share to earnings.

American Greetings has agreed to pay $10.25 for each share of Gibson stock upon completion of the transaction. Weiss said American Greetings is in a unique position to realize the full value of Gibson. Terms of the transaction reflect the value from the following three distinct business segments:

Gibson's US greeting card division will provide ongoing sales opportunities for American Greetings from several new retail partners, making American Greetings a stronger and more effective competitor across all channels of distribution.
Gibson's UK greeting card division will add incremental growth to American Greetings current UK units -- Carlton Cards, Camden Graphics and Hanson White -- generating significant synergies.
Gibson's creative content and investment in electronic commerce will enhance the electronic marketing division of American Greetings.
"After integration, Gibson should enhance our already strong cash flow to help us to fund possible additional opportunities in several other product categories," Weiss said. "Our commitment is as strong as ever to continue growing our party goods, candles, stationery and educational products."

Additionally, American Greetings plans to continue to use the Gibson name to extend its current branding strategy into other emerging retail channels. This means consumers can select from a broader and more relevant selection of greeting cards from American Greetings. The acquisition also should result in improved productivity for the current retail partners of Gibson Greetings.

"This is an exciting opportunity to expand our greeting card business into another channel with a proven brand name, Gibson. This will benefit our consumers, retailers, shareholders and associates," said Ed Fruchtenbaum, president and chief operating officer. "We expect the acquisition to create substantial ongoing synergies that add economic value for our shareholders. Those synergies will help us compete more effectively and efficiently in an increasingly competitive marketplace."

Frank O'Connell, chairman and chief executive officer of Gibson Greetings, said the sale to American Greetings "represent the best opportunity for Gibson to enhance shareholder value."

"We also are happy that American Greetings values the 150-year heritage of Gibson and the value of our brand in the marketplace," O'Connell said. "Our key accounts should welcome the opportunity to partner with American Greetings with its greater array of products and services and we expect our customers to benefit from this transaction."

Weiss said the acquisition of Gibson is another example of American Greetings commitment to its long-term strategic plan and its goal to enhance shareholder value.

"Since we unveiled our strategic plan in 1997, we have taken a series of steps to grow all of our businesses," Weiss said. "We also have introduced innovative greeting card lines and signed important licensing agreements that have enhanced our entire product offering. Those factors, coupled with an improved focus on managing our capital resources continues to allow American Greetings to grow while adding value to all of our key audiences."

American Greetings is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. With headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and has one of the largest creative studios in the world. For more information on the Company, visit our site on the World Wide Web at www.americangreetings.com .

Gibson Greetings, Inc., an industry innovator in the greeting card business. Gibson distributes more than 24,000 individual relationship communication products, including greeting cards, gift wrap, party goods and licensed products. E-mail greetings featuring Gibson content are available through the privately held Egreetings Network ( www.egreetings.com ), in which Gibson holds a minority equity interest. Gibson cards are also available through the Internet from Sparks.com ( www.sparks.com ). For more information on Gibson Greetings, visit our web site at www.gibsongreetings.com .

Forward looking statements contained in this press release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated. Factors that could cause such differences include this risks associated with the businesses of American Greetings and Gibson Greetings generally, transactional effects, integration risks and other investment considerations described from time to time by companies in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE American Greetings

2003-10-26T17:36:00.000-08:00

Gibson acquired by American Greetings - 1999-11-03 - Cincinnati Business Courier: "November 3, 1999
Gibson acquired by American Greetings
American Greetings will acquire Gibson Greetings Inc. for approximately $163 million. The deal, which offers $10.25 in cash per share of Gibson stock, will be completed as soon as possible. American Greetings plans to continue to use the Gibson name to extend its current branding strategy into other emerging retail channels. "

2003-10-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

TheStreet.com: American Greetings to Buy Gibson Greetings for About $163 Million: "

American Greetings to Buy Gibson Greetings for About $163 Million
By Carolyn Koo
TheStreet.com/nytimes.com Staff Reporter
11/3/99 11:52 AM ET

The world's second-largest greeting card maker, American Greetings (AM:NYSE - news), said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Gibson Greetings (GIBG:Nasdaq - news), the No. 3 company, for about $163 million.

American will pay $10.25 a share in cash for Gibson. That sum is almost double the price of Gibson's stock, which closed Tuesday at 5 1/2. The acquisition will be completed as soon as possible, subject to regulatory matters. American Greetings will keep the Gibson brand name.

Gibson's shares surged 65% Wednesday, rising 3 19/32 to 9 3/32 in late morning trading. American Greetings also rose, gaining 13/16 to 25 7/8. [American Greetings closed up 3/4 to 25 13/16 while Gibson finished up 3 7/16 to 8 7/8.]

"The offer by American Greetings represents the best opportunity for Gibson to enhance shareholder value," said Frank O'Connell, chairman and chief executive of Gibson Greetings, in a statement.

Although the deal will create a greetings card giant, the combined company will still rank no. 2 in the industry after Hallmark Cards.

This was not American Greetings' first bid for Gibson. Back in 1996, Gibson rejected an $18-per-share offer from American and hired new management in an attempt to prove it could stay independent. "But since then, management has not done enough and underestimated how difficult conditions in the industry had become," said Eric Bosshard, an analyst at Midwest Research.

Those conditions include the advent of the on-line greeting card, which is taking market share from conventional retailers. E-greeting card companies such as Blue Mountain Arts now control 10% of the market. Last week, Excite@Home (ATHM:Nasdaq - news) agreed to pay up to $1 billion to acquire Bluemountain.com.

Gibson has experienced other problems, including several earnings shortfalls over the last few quarters that have caused the company's shares to nosedive 50% in the last year. It also has a weakened competitive position because of the loss of major accounts like Wal-Mart (WMT:NYSE - news) and Kroger (KR:NYSE - news). "They haven't been very innovative or cost competitive," said Jeffrey Stein of McDonald Investments. Stein rated Gibson an underweight and his firm has done no underwriting for the company. He rates American Greetings a hold and his company has participated in underwriting for the company.

Bosshard, for one, expected the acquisition. "The management and board realized it couldn't make it work," he said. "This is a move they had to make for shareholders." His rating on both companies is neutral. Midwest Research does not engage in underwriting activity.

For its part, "American Greetings now has the opportunity to grow through acquisition in an environment where organic growth is difficult because of competition in the industry," Bosshard said.

American Greetings expects the acquisition to generate revenues of about $225 million and an annual cost savings of at least $50 million. Bosshard considers the latter figure "a little aggressive," but acknowledges that the deal will lead to considerable savings.

Stein finds the number reasonable, saying the new company will derive much of its savings from shipping from outsource production to in-house production, as well as shutting down Gibson's headquarters, combining benefit plans and having better purchasing on raw materials.

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2003-10-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

Can anyone save Gibson Greetings?

E N Q U I R E R B U S I N E S S C O V E R A G E

Sunday, July 11, 1999
Can anyone save Gibson Greetings?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Card company needs a strategy to lift stocks and sales

BY LISA BIANK FASIG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Three years ago, the few analysts who followed Gibson Greetings were content in thinking a cowboy could rescue this long-beleaguered card company. These days, they're not sure he can save himself.

In the staid, consistent industry that creates America's greeting cards, that's what incoming Chief Executive Frank O'Connell was — a cowboy. Exuberant and highly energetic, the smiling CEO stormed Gibson with both guns blazing.

Bam! Bam! Bam! A rapid fire of fresh ideas blasted from his new creative teams: alternative card lines for teens, a risky marketing approach and funny little beanbags that talked.

In an industry whose concepts and innovations were collecting cobwebs, where the greeting card aisle was the domain of middle-aged women, Mr. O'Connell was wild and woolly.

Wall Street took notice, and was willing to bet the executive's risks would pay high. Within months, analyst coverage of the company multiplied. Firms that never gave Gibson a thought were suddenly throwing loads of money into it.

“The gentleman in charge now seems to be exactly what they need,” Rick Berry, an analyst with Murphey, Marseilles, Smith & Nammack, said at the time.

But over time, a posse of problems caught up with Gibson. Waning consumer interest, retail indifference and oppressive competition pulled the horse out from under Mr. O'Connell and his company.

In April, Gibson warned its investors that first quarter and annual earnings would fall significantly short of plan. Shares dropped more than 33 percent to the $6 range and haven't recovered. In a statement of regret, Mr. O'Connell conceded “certain components of our strategy simply aren't working in this increasingly competitive environment.”

The company pledged to closely examine all of its operations, released more than 100 workers, abandoned the toy business outside of its Silly Slammers beanbags, and then bunkered. A move to Northern Kentucky has been indefinitely postponed, and Gibson's annual meeting twice rescheduled — it's now dated Aug. 26. Shareholders have yet to see a complete proxy with issues to be voted upon.

Mr. O'Connell has been vacationing and could not be reach for this story. But James Wilson, the company's chief financial officer, said last week that Gibson's focus has not changed: It strives to stimulate consumer interest in greeting cards, and does so through continued development of alternative lines.

“We're concerned about the decline in unit volume,” Mr. Wilson said. “We need to be able to counteract that. We need to get consumers to buy cards, and to do that, we need to give them product that they want.”

To continue in the card industry, Gibson has to tunnel into the aisles of major retailers. And it has to win over fickle, time-strapped consumers.

Analysts and investors think Gibson's concepts are good and necessary considering how tough the card industry is. But they wish it would change some things, such as Mr. O'Connell's status as noninvestor in the company.

Some wonder if Gibson would sell itself to a larger competitor.

“In fairness, I think they have done some of the right things. This was a very sleepy company,” said David Fondrie, an analyst in Heartland Advisors, once a major investor in Gibson. “Time will tell if he can be successful in a really competitive industry.”

Breaking into the oligopoly
Gibson is not alone in its problems. The greeting card industry for some time has been scrambling to regain lost sales caused by declining consumer interest.

Forget cruising for the elusive perfect card. Many shoppers have begun substituting card purchases with e-mail, cell phone calls and pagers. Card companies are trying to make up for declining sales by raising card prices. Gibson began raising its prices in the fall.

“Unit sales are down because people are changing the way in which they communicate with one another,” said Jeff Stein, an analyst with McDonald & Co. Securities. “(It's) affecting all card companies.”

But Gibson's position as No. 3 in an industry dominated by Hallmark and Cleveland-based American Greetings makes it especially vulnerable to consumer trends because it has a harder time gaining exposure. Gibson is more likely to be squeezed out of the most-visited stores as its competitors demand exclusivity.

“The real problem for a company like Gibson is distribution,” said Roger Blackwell, a marketing professor at Ohio State University and a retailing consultant. “Unfortunately for Gibson, both Hallmark and American Greetings have been fairly successful in establishing their own niches.”

Hallmark, for instance, managed to land Wal-Mart while also selling through its own well-known specialty stores. But Gibson has had the misfortune of losing some of its major accounts, such as Phar-Mor and Woolworth's, to bankruptcy or similar misfortune.

Gibson for years has tried to fit into this oligopoly as best it could, which often meant fighting for its 7 to 8 percent market share. Mr. O'Connell wanted that and more, and immediately upon arrival in 1996 set to shifting product and distribution methods.

He introduced new words to the contented card-industry lexicon, such as “entertainment” and “relationship-building.” Meanwhile, his management teams formulated a new merchandising system and eschewed standard upfront fees and other trade terms expected by retailers.

It got attention. Whitney George, a portfolio manager with investor Royce & Associates Inc. in New York, said his firm followed Mr. O'Connell into Gibson because it liked his energy and ideas.

“We became excited,” he said. Gibson never interested Royce before.

At the time, it was exciting. In its first 18 months with Mr. O'Connell, Gibson introduced its hugely popular Silly Slammers beanbag toys and several card lines for baby boomers and Generation Xers.

A program called “Relativity” was developed to usher Gibson into more doors by packaging its top alternative lines with brands from other vendors. Its progress is yet undetermined, but consumer behavior experts like the alternative card concept.

“I think greeting cards have a reputation for being for middle-aged ladies, and that was the dominant market for some time,” said Meryl Gardner, a marketing professor who studies buyer behavior at the University of Delaware. “The card companies have not really recognized all the nuances, and all the integrity that we need.”

A twofold problem
The most dramatic shift in Gibson's operations occurred in 1998, when it closed its manufacturing plant and began farming out work to contractors who could offer more printing options and faster product turnaround.

From the beginning, followers of the company said the closing was necessary for Gibson to reduce expenses and remain competitive.

“I think they had to do it. Their business (was) shrinking,” said Eric Bosshard, an analyst with Midwest Research Maxus Group in Cleveland. “(They) had to reduce cost structure.”

But perhaps the outsourcing could have been better handled. In October 1998, shares fell 40 percent on news the card maker's annual earnings would come in below plan. This was in part because a delayed holiday shipment worth $20 million created a loss in the third quarter.

Then in April, Gibson executives told analysts it expected significantly lower earnings in the first quarter and for the year. The company said it did not meet the sales needed to pay off expenses related to acquisitions and a shift in production mix.

Gibson's twofold problem existed before Mr. O'Connell came along: declining card sales and an inability to land large accounts. As Mr. George put it, quoting Warren Buffett: When a great manager meets a mediocre business, the business always prevails.

Now, a third problem has emerged: a bargain-basement stock. Shares are trading at less than $7 each. Four months after Mr. O'Connell joined Gibson, it was trading at around $20.

In May, Bennett LeBow, chief executive of cigarette maker Liggett Group, purchased a 5.01 percent stake in Gibson to influence business decisions at the card maker.

Gambling on strategy
So now investors and followers of Gibson wait for word on what it will do to remain competitive.

Some have suggestions. Almost all analysts and investors think Frank O'Connell and other corporate executives should independently be holding shares in their company. Presently, none of Gibson's executives outside of Senior Vice President Gregory Ionna own shares that are not options.

“That's the type of thing that if we were at the (shareholders) meeting, we would raise the question,” said Mr. Fondrie, with former investor Heartland Advisors. “If the management of the company has confidence in the business, they sure should own the stock, especially while it's undervalued.”

Investors also wonder why Gibson doesn't buy back some stock, since it is at below book value. In the past, Gibson held off because it was considering acquisitions.

Mr. Wilson said there are other uses for the cash. As for executive investments, “Each individual makes that decision on their own,” he said.

Then there is the idea that Gibson can be a takeover target itself. American Greetings twice made overtures at Gibson and twice was rebuffed. Its last offer, in spring 1996, equaled $18 a share.

But Mr. George of Royce & Associates wonders if Mr. O"Connell wouldn't be more inclined to take Gibson private and turn it around.

Mr. Wilson and American Greetings declined to comment on talks of acquisition.

But if Gibson remains independent, it is going to have to change the way American consumers think so it can increase unit sales, or it will have to change the way it operates.

It's a gamble. Bailing out of toys will help Gibson focus on cards. And investments in an e-greetings company will help it diversify and develop brand equity in a new venue. But Mr. Wilson said Gibson still wants to remain in mainstream retail — despite declining unit sales.

He seems confident Gibson has enough cowboy left in it to capture a market.

“If we can counter (consumer disinterest), we can get the units back to where they should be,” he said. “We want to provide the best product out there.”

2003-10-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

More U.S. Muslims work to change attitudes about Islam:

More U.S. Muslims work to change attitudes about Islam
By KHURRAM SAEED
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: October 25, 2003)

Tired of having their faith under the constant spotlight of suspicion, Muslims in the United States are taking a hands-on approach to change the way many Americans view them and their religion.

Some have donated more than $1 million to supply books, tapes and videos on Islam in nearly half of the nations' libraries. Others, including those in Rockland and Westchester, are seeking to build mosques and schools that will serve the entire community. Still others are discussing ways that Islam can adapt to a new era.

These actions seek to move Islam into mainstream America, but they are also part of a conscious effort, made more urgent since Sept. 11, 2001, to change hearts and minds about the world's second-largest religion, which still inspires fear and distrust in the West.

Monday is the first day of Ramadan, the monthlong period in which a Muslim cleanses the body by fasting from sunrise to sunset and purifies his or her soul through introspection.

Gilbert Gordon, president of the Jerrahi Mosque in Chestnut Ridge, said the terrorist attacks made Americans curious about Islam, and the 6 million Muslims in the United States must act now to distinguish the faith's core teachings from its radicalized messages.

"Good deeds are a much better advertisement for Islam than all the talk in the world, which, unfortunately, Muslims do a lot of," said the Chestnut Ridge resident, who converted to Islam in 1977.

Since 2000, mosque members have donated school supplies to families living in an affordable-housing complex in Spring Valley. At the same time, they have also given tens of thousands of dollars to aid the poor in Afghanistan, North Korea, Turkey and Iraq.

"What would affect the opinions of the American public the most is when they see Muslims helping, when they see Muslims doing good deeds and not just for Muslims," Gordon said. "Being good human beings makes more of an impression than eloquence."

In September 2002, the Council on American Islamic Relations launched the Library Project, which aspired to put a package of 18 Islamic scholarly and children's books, DVDs, videos and audiotapes in all 16,300 libraries in the United States. A sponsor would pay $150 toward the multimedia set, which then was donated to a library in the sponsor's hometown or state, or the sponsor could leave it up to CAIR to decide.

To date, nearly 7,000 sets have been placed, including in every library branch in Maryland.

"There are many misperceptions about Islam and the Muslim community," CAIR spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed said. "We figured one way to combat these misconceptions was to educate people."

It was also a way to ensure that Muslims became more proactive by donating to a cause that benefited society at large, she said.

"These are signs Muslims are working on initiatives that make their communities more normal in the eyes of others," Ahmed said.

To that end, the Islamic Cultural Center of New York has been seeking since 2001 to open a "liberal" Islamic religious and community center in Tarrytown. One of its goals is to make Islam and Muslims easily accessible to the public, said Adel Akel, a New Rochelle resident who is president of the 21-year-old organization.

"We feel it is our challenge to explain to our neighbors who we are and what we believe in," said Akel, a retired economist and statistician who has worked for the United Nations and the World Bank. "We learn from them also."

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the center's members have spoken at churches and synagogues to answer questions about Islam.

Like the Jerrahi Mosque, the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, which operates out of Stamford, Conn., has invited non-Muslims to join its members in breaking the fast and listening to a religious talk after dinner.

Akel said the dialogues have benefited all of those involved.

"Many people that had the wrong idea, after they met with us and listened to our explanations, they seemed to be convinced of what we are saying," Akel said.

There is ample evidence that Islam has been gaining in prominence in America over the years.

Five states, including New Jersey, have passed consumer protection laws for food prepared in accordance with Islamic dietary laws known as halal, which is similar to kosher regulations for Jews.

Two years ago, the U.S. Postal Service introduced its Eid stamp, which offers greetings for Islam's two most important holidays. After an initial run of 75 million, the stamp is part of the agency's "Holiday Celebration" series and there are no plans to discontinue it.

There's even an Iranian Muslim character on "Whoopi," a new prime-time NBC sitcom that tweaks stereotypes.

At the moment, some 5,000 Muslims are paying $10 a month for a channel that does not yet exist. But the gesture is meant to show media operators that there is a large enough U.S. audience to support the channel, called Bridges TV.

"The thirst is out there to have our own voice, to be heard and to have our lifestyle shared with ourselves and the mainstream," said Muzzammil Hassan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, who expects it to be on the air by next fall.

For years, some communities have incorporated the star and crescent, both symbols of Islam, in winter holiday displays, and President Bush will soon host a fast-breaking dinner at the White House, although some national Muslim organizations are calling for a boycott of it over concerns about foreign policy.

For the first time, Hallmark test-marketed Eid greeting cards this year. Although the number of cards produced was relatively low, they sold out quickly, said Deidre Parkes, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City, Mo.-based company.

"It tells us that the demand is out there," Parkes said.

Omid Safi, an assistant professor of Islamic Studies at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., said that while Eid stamps and greeting cards are "nice acknowledgements" that have some impact on the masses, they are not enough to change how most Muslims are perceived.

What will be more long-lasting and transformative are conversations about Islamic reform by American Muslims, who, unlike their counterparts overseas, have the freedom and opportunity to pursue those difficult questions in the United States, said Safi, who is the editor of "Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism."

He said Muslims are beginning to openly talk about the role of women in Islam, homosexuality, growing conservatism among younger Muslims and the undercurrent of tension between immigrant communities and black Muslims, who represent 35 percent of Muslims in the United States.

In 1970, there were about 100,000 Muslims in the United States, but now there are an estimated 6 million. Yet Omid said Muslims are "woefully behind" in political participation and underrepresented in the arts, media and humanities, areas that influence society.

Whether it's voter registration drives or lobbying for religious pluralism, changes are happening, he said.

"The whole conversation is being had in a different way than it was before," said Safi, who is also a member of the American Academy of Religion's Study of Islam steering committee. "I think it's about time. In fact, it's past time."

Asra Chapnick came to the United States as a child in the mid-1970s. Her parents lived throughout the Midwest and, at one point, her father was the imam, or spiritual leader, of a mosque in Las Vegas.

Then, the Tarrytown resident said, she was seen as a novelty because nobody knew what a Muslim was, why she fasted or why she didn't date in high school. Today, Chapnick, who is the director of the New International Muslim Association of New York, a 5-year-old nonprofit, educational Islamic organization, said most people know the very basics of Islam.

A mother of three who dresses in a black overcoat in public, Chapnick said American Muslims have a unique opportunity to share their faith with non-Muslims, as they shape its future.

Chapnick said she hadn't experienced any type of backlash since the terrorist attacks, and felt comfortable as a Muslim in the United States. She has prayed on airplanes, in airport baggage areas and at rest stops along the highway. That was something her father would never do while they went on road trips.

"Back then people didn't know what those weird positions we were doing were," Chapnick said. "But now everyone has seen that. I would say that now Muslims would have no hesitation about praying anywhere in America."

Send e-mail to Khurram Saeed

2003-10-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

Diversity's in the cards: "Diversity's in the cards
Muslim and Hindu holy days are celebrated with commercial printed greetings

Hallmark will offer greeting cards for Hindus this year for the first time. -- Hallmark

By Courtenay Edelhart
courtenay.edelhart@indystar.com
October 25, 2003

The United States has always been a diverse nation of many faiths, but corporate America has only recently begun to acknowledge it.

The latest company vying for the dollars of ethnic communities is Hallmark Cards, which this year for the first time will offers cards targeting Muslim and Hindu consumers.

Beginning this month, the Kansas City, Mo., greeting card giant will sell cards for Eid al-Fitr, a three-day festival at the end of Ramadan, when Muslims fast for a month during the day to mark the revelation of the Quran to the prophet Mohammad.

Based on a lunar calendar, Ramadan starts about Oct. 26 and continues to roughly Nov. 24, depending on the first sighting of the new moon.

Hallmark also is selling cards for Diwali, a Hindu holiday known as the "festival of lights." It honors the Hindu god Lord Rama's return from exile after having conquered evil. It is being celebrated today.

No one knows for sure how many Muslims and Hindus live in the United States. Estimates vary widely, but the communities are large and growing and marketing to them makes economic sense, said Hallmark spokeswoman Diedre Parkes.

"It was a no-brainer," she said. "We've had tons of communication from consumers who are thrilled to see the cards because they can't find them anywhere else."

For competitive reasons, Hallmark declined to say how many cards it was printing, but it said both collections will start small and possibly expand next year, depending on consumer response. It's up to retailers to order the cards, so availability will vary from store to store.

Mohammad Tahir, 54, is a Muslim who lives in the Geist area and works for a crime lab. He is looking forward to seeing the new cards.

"Usually I have to buy blank cards and fill them in," he said. "Or sometimes I'll just buy a postcard of Indiana."

Asked if he worried about commercialization of a sacred holiday, Tahir was unfazed. "Everything is commercial," he said. "Why not? Both sides benefit."

Girdhar Ahuja, a 67-year-old Hindu doctor who lives on the Southside, called the new collections an "excellent idea."

"Right now, we have to get cards from Indian stores, or online," he said. "Or sometimes we just make them ourselves. With computers, now, you can customize."

Ethnic cards aren't totally uncharted territory. Greeting-card companies have successfully marketed special collections for blacks, Jews and Hispanics for years, and some of those have crossover appeal.

Non-Jews buy Hanukkah and High Holiday cards for Jewish friends, for example. And cards from Hallmark's licensing agreement with black poet Maya Angelou have drawn buyers of all races.

Hallmark is among many mainstream companies looking at niche marketing because of the nation's changing demographics, said Shanker Krishnan, associate professor of marketing at Indiana University.

If current immigration and birth trends continue, by 2050 there could be more nonwhites in the United States than whites, he said.

"Some of our stereotypes in terms of what is mainstream eventually aren't going to be true anymore," he said. "All of these groups have their own subcultures and traditions, and while there is some degree of assimilation, there's a lot more willingness today to hang onto these cultural and religious traditions."

There is money to be made in these untapped markets, but there are pitfalls, too.

Seattle toilet seat maker Sittin' Pretty Designs withdrew toilet seats depicting Lord Ganesha and Goddess Kali a few years ago following a campaign by offended Hindus, and apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters this year stopped selling flip-flop sandals with Ganesha images on its insole after a similar outcry.

Hallmark researched Muslim and Hindu holidays to be sure text and images were culturally sensitive, said spokeswoman Parkes. "We have members of both communities on our staff who were consulted."

Hallmark rival American Greetings Corp., of Cleveland, has so far limited its Hindu and Muslim offerings to e-cards on the Internet. The company said e-cards can be killed or altered quickly if there's a mistake, whereas paper cards are hard to control once they've gone out to retailers.

"Historically, we have always tried to be sensitive to the nuances and needs of different cultures and religions," said spokeswoman Laurie Henrichsen. "We do not want to rush to market with cards for occasions that might not be appropriate for greeting card sending."

Another potential hazard of niche marketing is the risk of backlash by mainstream consumers, said Indiana University's Krishnan. Fundamentalist Christians are critical of companies that reach out to gays and lesbians, for instance.

Krishnan doesn't think that risk should deter companies interested in branching out, but cautioned that they should tread carefully.

Call Star reporter Courtenay Edelhart at 1-317-444-6481.

2003-10-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

Silicon Valley Biz Ink :: The voice of the valley economy - ScreenTime Introduces First Tool to Create Flash Based Wallpaper for Mac OS X : "

* Hallmark Cards, which is producing a new interactive wallpaper every
month to help build brand equity. Monthly designs have included
whimsical animal animations, a floating hot air balloon doubling as a
system clock, calendars with dynamic 'on this day' information, and
links to various products and offers on Hallmark.com."

Designers Build Innovative Dynamic Desktops for Clients

Now You Can Build On the Most Valuable Real Estate in Cyberspace - The Desktop
- as ScreenTime Media Releases SWF Desktop for Macintosh

ESCONDIDO, Calif., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- ScreenTime Media, the company
that pioneered the use of Flash- and Director-based screen savers as corporate
promotional tools and more recently introduced the ability to create and
distribute Flash-enabled Windows wallpaper, today released the extension of
its Flash wallpaper creation tool for the Macintosh platform with the new SWF
Desktop for Macintosh. Now, for the first time, designers and marketers can
offer downloadable dynamic wallpapers to both Windows and Mac customers.
SWF Desktop for Macintosh enables designers to create computer wallpaper
that can deliver branded, updateable content, images, animations, news,
calendars, links, web applications and games directly to users' desktops.
These interactive desktops are more valuable to the marketer than static
screens, and are also more useful and more fun for end users.
"SWF Desktop lets you push content that consumers want directly to their
desktop. You can't really ask for better than that," said Michael Levine,
president of Massachusetts-based Pileated Pictures, a creator of online
advergames and interactive content that began using the Windows edition
shortly after it was released in January. "It's an innovative and powerful
way to reach consumers online."

Wallpapers created with SWF Desktop to date include projects for:
* Something Corporate, a rock band for which Pileated Pictures developed
wallpaper featuring new photos and diary-style entries for each day of a
six-week studio recording session. The Flash-enabled "studio journal"
allowed the band and its label, MCA Records, to give fans a behind-the-
scenes look at the studio activities on a daily basis and build momentum
for the new album.
* Hallmark Cards, which is producing a new interactive wallpaper every
month to help build brand equity. Monthly designs have included
whimsical animal animations, a floating hot air balloon doubling as a
system clock, calendars with dynamic "on this day" information, and
links to various products and offers on Hallmark.com.
* Nintendo, which used a branded desktop to promote the release of a new
GameBoy Advance title called "Golden Sun: The Lost Age." The wallpaper,
created by Seattle-based POP Multimedia, depicted characters from the
game and linked gamers to weekly episode updates on the Golden Sun site.
The desktop also included teasers for upcoming episodes to keep interest
high.

David Flusser, interactive producer for Comedy Central, plans to use SWF
Desktop to create wallpaper promoting new shows. Wonderpixel, a German
interactive agency, has developed an active desktop for German folk musician
Matthias Reim featuring photos, calendar and news updates, and an audio player
previewing Reim's newest songs. And Jay Clow, new media services manager for
Virginia-based Communication Technologies Inc., is in the process of creating
wallpaper on behalf of a government agency that will point users to a variety
of government-sponsored distributed learning programs.
"Downloads for our new active wallpaper have been much higher than for the
static desktops we have offered on Hallmark.com for some time," said Tim
Stout, a designer for Hallmark Cards. "This is very popular with our
customers."

How SWF Desktop Works
SWF Desktop enables developers to create wallpaper in three easy steps --
just design the desktop content in Flash, open the resulting .swf file into
the SWF Desktop application, and click the "build" button. SWF Desktop
automatically generates a one-click application that will install the
wallpaper and set it as the current desktop.
The wallpaper can include vector graphics, pictures, animations,
interactive controls, XML news feeds, web services, applications, hyperlinks,
video, and chat rooms. Almost Anything that can be done in Flash can be
incorporated into Mac OS X wallpaper.

Pricing and Specifications
Both SWF Desktop for Macintosh and the wallpaper it produces run on Mac OS
X. (10.2) The product is compatible with Flash 4 through MX, and is available
direct from ScreenTime Media at http://www.ScreenTime.com. The Professional
Edition lists for $99.95.
A free trial edition can be downloaded at
http://www.screentime.com/swf_desktop/demo_form.html .

About ScreenTime Media
ScreenTime Media is the leading provider of professional grade tools that
deliver fun and informative branded content directly to the user's desktop for
maximum marketing impact. ScreenTime Media helped establish screen savers as
a vital marketing tool by creating the first software that easily converted
Macromedia Director (1995) and Flash animations (1997) into screen savers.
The company has since introduced the first application to create dynamic
Flash-enabled wallpaper. Nine of the top ten interactive ad agencies now use
ScreenTime Media products as an integral part of their online marketing
campaigns, and thousands of screen savers created with the company's software
are installed on millions of computers worldwide. For more information, visit
http://www.screentime.com or call ScreenTime Media at 760/747-5995.

2003-10-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

AP Wire | 10/23/2003 | Trial set for former execs accused of inflating Kmart's earnings

"The recording of the $42 million had absolutely nothing to do with Kmart declaring bankruptcy," a statement released after the indictments on behalf of Montini and Hofmeister read. "In fact, the American Greetings deal produced a substantial ... benefit to Kmart."

2003-10-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

Business 2.0 - Web Guide - American Greetings Corporation (AM) -e1

2003-10-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

American Greetings Corporation prnewswire.com

2003-10-19T23:03:00.000-07:00

AAA Traveler - greeting cards: "Sending his very best
Joyce Hall of Hallmark put his stamp on greeting cards

Published: Nov/Dec 2002
By Sally Snell

Sending greeting cards is as much a holiday tradition as exchanging gifts or celebrating with family. But it was only in recent history that sentiment cards became available to the public. The vision of Joyce C. Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, forever changed the way we express ourselves.

Modest roots

He was named for a Methodist preacher who visited David City, a small Nebraska town, the day Hall was born in 1891. The family had a hard life and often went hungry for long stretches. His father left when Joyce was seven. Hall would later say that lack of food and a desire to eat regularly gave him an extra drive to succeed in business.

Hall and his older brothers now had to support the family. They took any job that was available, even selling cosmetics door-to-door for the forerunner of Avon Products. By 1902, Hall moved to Norfolk, Neb., to help his older brothers, Rollie and Bill, at their bookstore. Fate and luck stepped in when a post card importer came to the store to discuss wholesaling opportunities. Hall had money saved from selling popcorn to trainloads of homesteaders. Brother Bill matched his investment. They were in the card business.

Joyce Hall quickly realized he needed to relocate to a bigger market to have the best chance at success. It was the Kansas City spirit that drew him there, though for months he had to use his room at the YMCA for both office and warehouse.

By 1912, “I began to see that greeting cards were more than a form of communication–they were a social custom,” Hall wrote in his autobiography, “When You Care Enough.”

One day, a salesman idled away time writing humorous Christmas poems while he waited for his order of Valentine cards. He showed the poems to Hall who enjoyed them so much, he encouraged the salesman to write more. These poems became the first humorous sentiments used on greeting cards for special occasions, said Hall.

The name of Hallmark was taken from 14th-century London, when gold and silversmiths used a mark to show the quality of their merchandise. Hall Brothers began printing Hallmark on their products in 1928. The crown was added in 1949, and they officially changed the name of their company to Hallmark in 1954.

Kansas City’s Crown Center was completed in the late 1980s. “The architectural planning of Crown Center has been aimed at bringing people and their families back to the city,” Hall wrote in his autobiography.

A few milestones

Some of Joyce C. Hall’s ideas were groundbreaking.
Greeting card display fixtures. Prior to 1935, consumers had to sort through a shipping box to find the desired card.
The first Emmy ever presented in 1961 to a sponsor for the Hallmark Hall of Fame Series for uplifting the standards of television. The first Hallmark Hall of Fame aired Dec. 24, 1951. It was the opera, “Amahl and the Night Visitors” by Gian Carlo Menotti.
Hallmark today

Joyce C. Hall died in 1982, but his legacy lives on in his children and grandchildren. Joyce C. Hall’s grandson, Donald J. Hall Jr. was named chief executive officer and president of Hallmark in January. His father, Donald Joyce Hall Sr. is chairman of the board.

Today, Hallmark has more than 20,000 full-time employees worldwide. About 5,500 employees work at the Kansas City headquarters and 12,000 are associated full-time with the U.S. personal expression business. Products are manufactured in 30 languages and distributed to more than 100 countries.

Hallmark Visitor’s Center

The winter holiday is an excellent time to tour the Hallmark Visitor’s Center in Kansas City’s Crown Center Complex. Three special holiday exhibits are on display for the 2002 season. The “J.C. Hall Christmas Tree Collection” is comprised of the annual gift given to Joyce C. Hall by his employees from 1966 to his death in 1982. The “Historical Showcase” has the Christmas cards used by Joyce C. Hall to send to friends and families. And 11 framed paintings illustrating scenes from “The Christmas Carol” by Hallmark master artist, Gary Head is the special exhibit. Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday and most holidays 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Sally Snell is a contributor from Topeka, Kan.

2003-10-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com: "Creating holidays
Creating holidays - 9/27/2003":

It's safe to assume we can all feel connected to Blame Someone Else Day (Jan. 13).

As you're reading this -- on Dwarf Tossing Ban Day and Whoopee Cushion Day, no less -- you're probably wondering where all these holidays come from. Many blame the card companies, even naming some of the invented days "Hallmark holidays."

"Hallmark doesn't create holidays, nor should it," says Rachel Bolton, spokesperson for the greeting-card giant in Kansas City, Mo. "Frankly, Hallmark doesn't have the power."

The company only provides cards for holidays in which the public has shown an interest, she says. That interest, combined with research, marketplace testing and sales analysis, helps decide which holidays get a card and which ones get the shaft.

"Let's say we wanted to do National Cantaloupe Day. We could make all the cards we want and it would be a bad decision, because there is no need."

No need now, sure. But someday a melon maven could stand up and insist on a day on a par with National Watermelon Day (April 3).

And if cantaloupe fans can't, chances are Tom Roy can. A former radio disc jockey and part-time actor -- you may remember him as the preacher in the movie "12 Monkeys" (by the way, Monkey Day is July 21) -- Roy and his wife, Ruth, have created 72 holidays. They run the gamut from ridiculous -- Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day (Aug. 8) -- to ridiculous-er -- What If Cats & Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day (March 3).

More than 15 years ago, Pennsylvania-based Roy was thumbing through "Chase's Calendar of Events," the bible of calendar listings and best friend to newspaper editors and broadcast producers everywhere. He came across a form for submitting new holidays.

"Originally, I just did it on a lark; I didn't have a goal. I still don't really have a goal with it."

2003-10-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "American Greetings quarterly loss narrows"

Thu September 25, 2003 11:56 AM ET
(Adds company comments, share movement)
CHICAGO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Greeting card maker American Greetings Corp. (AM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday said its quarterly loss narrowed as improvements in its supply chain and other cost-cutting measures paid off.

The company, which typically posts a loss in the fiscal second quarter because of seasonal dips in the greeting card business, also said it expects earnings per share in the current quarter to rise as much as 18 percent from last year.

But sales in the second quarter were about flat, excluding a boost from the weaker dollar, as retail traffic continued to be sluggish, the company said.

American Greetings' stock was down 2 percent at $20.00 on the New York Stock Exchange around midday. The stock gained about 4 percent in the company's fiscal second quarter.

The largest publicly held U.S. manufacturer of greeting cards posted a loss of $9.7 million, or 15 cents a share, in the fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 31, compared with a loss of $15.8 million, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 1.7 percent to $403.5 million, but would have been about flat if not for the weakness of the dollar against other currencies, the company said. The weaker dollar boosts the value of sales in other currencies when they are converted to dollars on American Greetings financial statements.

The Cleveland-based company, which competes with privately held Hallmark Cards Inc., has been improving its supply chain by reducing the number of products it offers, shrinking product development time, and consolidating purchasing to take advantage of its size.

The company is also putting a new product line in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) with bar codes that will allow it to see which specific cards are selling well. Under the current system, it can only track sales by card price, Zev Weiss, chief executive, said in a conference call with analysts.

American Greetings is recovering from the decision by customer Kmart Holdings Corp. (KMRT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) to close hundreds of stores as it worked its way through bankruptcy and also from losing grocery store operator Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. (WIN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as a customer last year.

American Greetings is on track to complete the roll-out out of its products at 1,400 Albertsons Inc. (ABS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) stores by the end of the year, company executives said during a conference a call with analysts.

American Greetings said it expected profit of 68 cents to 73 cents a share in the third quarter, up from 62 cents a share a year ago.

Asked by analysts if the company planned to resume paying a dividend, Weiss said the company and the board of directors are considering options but focusing first on performance in the second half of the year.

2003-10-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

AP Wire | 09/25/2003 | Religion News in Brief:

Posted on Thu, Sep. 25, 2003

Religion News in Brief
Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Hallmark has created its first greeting cards for the Muslim holiday Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the monthlong fast of Ramadan.

Fasting on Ramadan is one of the five pillars, or obligations, of Islam and is one of the most important times of the year for Muslims.

One of the cards includes the traditional Arabic salutation, "Eid Mubarak," which means "Happy Holiday," and also contains the message, "May Allah bless the world with His peace and love."

Another card reads, "Eid brings us all closer together... brothers and sisters, friends and family, united in faith, joy and thanks on this happy and blessed day. Eid Mubarak to you and yours."

The date for Ramadan is determined by a lunar calendar and is expected to begin this year some time between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27. Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, then break the fast with special meals with family and friends. On Eid-al-Fitr, Muslims also exchange gifts.

The American Muslim population has grown significantly since the federal government loosened immigration restrictions in the 1960s and more U.S. companies are creating specialized products for them. Estimates of the number of American Muslims vary from 2 million to 6 million.

---

2003-10-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

PR Newswire - A United Business Media Company: "American Greetings reports improved second-quarter results
Cleveland, Ohio, September 25 /PRNewswire/ -- - EPS ahead of prior-year second quarter"
American Greetings reports improved second-quarter results

Cleveland, Ohio, September 25 /PRNewswire/ -- - EPS ahead of prior-year second quarter

- Integration of 1,400 stores from major account on budget and on schedule

- Supply chain transformation progress continues

American Greetings Corporation today reported results in line with its estimate for the second quarter of fiscal 2004.

American Greetings realised a net loss of US$9.7 million, or 15 cents per share, on net sales of US$403.5 million, for the fiscal 2004 second quarter ended Aug. 31, 2003 (all per-share amounts assume dilution). These results compare to a net loss of US$15.8 million, or 24 cents per share, on net sales of US$396.9 million in the second quarter last year. The Corporation historically realises a net loss in its second quarter because of the seasonal nature of its business.

The Corporation reported net income of US$10.0 million, or 15 cents per share, on net sales of US$857.9 million, for the first half of fiscal 2004. This compares to net income of US$28.7 million, or 41 cents per share, on net sales of US$881.1 million, for the same period last year. Last year's first-half results include a US$12 million pretax gain from the sale of an equity investment.

EBITDA for the second quarter of fiscal 2004 was US$17.6 million, compared to US$10.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2003. EBITDA for the trailing four quarters ended Aug. 31, 2003, was US$313.1 million, compared to EBITDA for the year-ago trailing four quarters of US$339.1 million. EBITDA represents a non-GAAP financial measure, and is presented because certain of the Corporation's credit agreement covenants incorporate EBITDA as a component of their calculations. A table reconciling EBITDA to the appropriate GAAP measure is included in the notes to this release.

Management Comments and Outlook

"Our second-quarter performance is in line with our projections," said Chief Executive Officer Zev Weiss. "We had a meaningful improvement in our second-quarter results, due in part to our focus on cost management. Our cost management efforts included supply chain benefits that offset their related costs within the quarter. We are pleased with the progress of the supply chain initiative to date. We are also pleased with the progress we are making in the conversion of 1,400 stores for a major account, a project that is on budget and on schedule for completion before calendar year end due to the exceptional effort of our associates."

American Greetings projects earnings per share of 68 cents to 73 cents for the third quarter of fiscal 2004. The Corporation realised earnings per share of 62 cents for the third quarter of fiscal 2003.

2003-10-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

GoMemphis: Business - Cleo rushing to fill stores with Christmas wrap - Drill for December

By Jane Roberts
robertsj@gomemphis.com
September 24, 2003

URL: http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_2292720,00.html

Photographs by A.J. Wolfe

Once a defensive back for the University of Tennessee, Larry Mays now directs logistics for Cleo, Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of Christmas gift-wrapping paper.

Cleo rushing to fill stores with Christmas wrap
Drill for December

By Jane Roberts
robertsj@gomemphis.com
September 24, 2003

Larry Mays, a former Hamilton High quarterback who went on to wear Tennessee orange, still loves a good rushing game.

Good thing, too, because today he's rushing yards - millions and millions of yards of Christmas wrap - from Cleo Inc. at 4025 Viscount to Walgreens, Wal-Marts and hundreds of corner drugstores in between.

"By the end of September, we'll be shipping 25,000 to 30,000 cartons a day," said Mays, Cleo's director of logistics.

Right now, 75 truckloads and 40 less-than-truckload shipments are leaving the loading dock, carrying Cleo's 532 holiday wraps, plus bows, bags and tissues.

At peak season in October, Clarke Logistics USA, which handles Cleo's shipping, will have 4,000 to 6,000 trucks on reserve.

Cleo is the world's largest producer of Christmas wrap. Its output of fancy flocked papers, textured handmades, jewel-toned foils and Finding Nemos this year will wrap 15 times around the globe.

Its closest competitor, American Greetings, which owns PlusMark, has plants in Franklin and Greeneville, Tenn. Between the two companies, Tennessee produces nearly 90 percent of the Christmas wrap made in America.

"Most places ship all year-round," Mays said. "We have the opportunity to do good once a year, and that's in the fall."

Football season was no different.

By late November, Cleo will have 2.5 million cartons of wrap in stores and warehouses in nearly every county in America.

The two things that still can make Mays sweat - this from a guy who barely noticed the crowds in Neyland Stadium - are the possibility that his seasonal workers won't be reliable or that there won't be enough trucks to get the load out.

Wray Williams, head of Cleo's account for five years at Clarke Logistics, says not to worry.

"We will have the equipment here, even if we have to pay to reposition it in to cover Cleo's needs," said Williams, senior vice president. "I will pay my vendors to bring empty equipment to Memphis to make sure Cleo's shipments move on time."

Cleo is among Clarke's 10 biggest customers.

"What sets us apart is that we realize Cleo's window to sell is very small," Williams said. "If we don't deliver their product within their time limits, you can't sell it."

Clarke dispatches trucks and trailers here from across the nation to cover the peak.

Part of the pressure is that every Cleo customer - Walgreens alone has more than 4,000 stores - gets a different order, including designs and roll sizes, and times delivery to coincide with advertising schedules.

This year, for the first time, every Walgreens will get its Cleo order delivered to the store instead of to a distribution center.

"This way is much more labor intensive and requires a lot more trailers," Mays said. "The probability of making an error increases because suddenly we have 4,000 orders to keep straight instead of 15.

"We rely on teamwork and the attitude of our associates in the warehouse," Mays said. Many have been with Cleo for 20 years.

Store orders are picked by hand in the warehouse and labeled with a bar code that when scanned in the staging area, generates a shipping label for the box.

The big orders, some thousands of cartons at a time, go out in full truckloads to one address.

It's all the same to Mays, whose zeal for gift-opening is central to Cleo's corporate culture. "I look forward to people seeing the paper for the first time and then ripping open their gifts."

- Jane Roberts: 529-2512

Copyright 2003, GoMemphis. All Rights Reserved.

2003-10-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

Kansas City Star | 09/20/2003 | List of nation's richest people includes 11 from Kansas, Missouri: "Fortunes from Kansas City-based Hallmark Cards Inc. earned repeat listings for Donald Joyce Hall, 75 of Mission Hills, worth $1.9 billion and ranked 104; and Barbara Hall Marshall, 79 of Kansas City, worth $960 million and ranked 278."

2003-10-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Kansas City Star | 09/17/2003 | Jury awards $8.9 million in Hallmark lawsuit: "Posted on Wed, Sep. 17, 2003"

Jury awards $8.9 million in Hallmark lawsuit
By JENNIFER MANN
The Kansas City Star

A jury late Monday awarded $8.9 million in damages to a company that sued Hallmark Cards Inc. for infringing on patents for a ribbon-curling machine.

The case stemmed from a dispute involving a British company, Group One, and its owner, Fredric Goldstein. U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple presided over the two-week trial in U.S. District Court in Kansas City.

The jury found that Hallmark acted willfully, giving the court the discretion to triple the damages.

Pat Lysaught, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff, said his team also would ask that the court order Hallmark to pay interest on the judgment going back to May 1996 when the case was filed and to pay legal fees.

"The important thing is that the jury found that Hallmark acted willfully, that it wasn't a mistake on their part, that there was clear and convincing evidence that they infringed on the patents," Lysaught said.

Hallmark spokeswoman Linda Odell said, "Obviously, we're disappointed in that verdict and we're going to take the appropriate steps to have it overturned."

According to court records, Goldstein contacted Hallmark in June 1991 to discuss a machine he had developed to make decorative curled ribbons.

Goldstein discussed his machine in a telephone conference with a Hallmark engineer Feb. 14, 1992, and a meeting was scheduled for three days later, court documents said.

However, Hallmark canceled the meeting, court documents said, and in July that year sent Goldstein a letter saying that it had developed its own machine "for curling and shredding ribbon, and therefore we are not presently interested in purchasing such a machine from your firm."

In early 1995 Hallmark began making a product that had cascading, curled ribbons attached to a small adhesive card.

Goldstein subsequently claimed that the machine Hallmark was using for the product infringed on two of his patents for his ribbon-curling machine.

One of the main issues the trial centered on was that Goldstein's machine used an air-blowing device as part of the process, whereas the machine used by Hallmark uses a suction device.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To reach Jennifer Mann, call (816) 234-4453 or send e-mail to jmann@kcstar.com.

2003-10-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

Beacon Journal | 09/06/2003 | Scrapbooks converting anti-crafters: "Posted on Sat, Sep. 06, 2003"

Scrapbooks converting anti-crafters
As America's newest hobby, they're easy, foolproof, can be enjoyed for years to come
Mary Ethridge
Beacon Journal business writer

What really divides the country? Religion? Politics? Race?

How about crafting?

There are those Americans who love nothing more than finding a way to turn ribbons and Popsicle sticks into a holiday present.

Give me a break, say the anti-crafters. Who wants to spend a weekend doing that?

I believe a lot of anti-crafters have tried a few projects on the sly and failed miserably. Somewhere along the line, they decide if you can't join them, beat them up.

But now there's a hobby uniting both groups. It is converting even the most anti of the anti-crafters because it's easy and nearly foolproof. And the final product is one people will actually use and enjoy for years, unlike, say, a crochet toaster cozy.

Scrapbooking is America's newest hot hobby. An enormous industry estimated at $2.5 billion has evolved around it, with spectacular growth in the last two years.

Retailers report that growth in 2002 was between 30 percent and 80 percent, according to Don Meyer of the Hobby Industry Association. Industry experts say the scrapbooking industry will continue to grow for at least two to five more years.

Scrapbooking has sprouted direct mail and Tupperware-style companies and left the major greeting card and stationery corporations to scurry to keep up.

There are scrapbooking clubs, cruises, slumber parties and conventions. Gatherings known as crops (as in cropping pictures) last for days.

There are about 2,500 scrapbooking stores in the United States, said Meyer. Craft giant Michaels has opened two scrapbook-only stores called Recollections with more to come. Jo-Ann Stores Inc. devotes 92 linear feet to scrapbooking in its ETC stores plus 24 feet of stickers and 68 feet of rubber stamp and card supplies also used in the hobby.

The traditional Jo-Ann stores carry the basics in a 24-foot section, said Stacey Gough, who oversees the category for the Hudson-based retailer.

In late October, a new model of ETC store with a pumped-up scrapbooking section is scheduled to open in University Heights. Eventually, all stores in the chain will be converted to the format.

``It's the strongest growth category in the business,'' said Gough. ``Nothing comes in a close second.''

Scrapbooking is far different now than in the days when dewy-eyed high schoolers pressed prom corsages and ticket stubs on construction paper. The modern scrapbook is more of a pictorial journal and archive of life.

``You're scrapbooking emotions,'' said Gough of Jo-Ann.

Photos are enhanced with stickers and high-quality, acid-free papers designed to preserve photos and mementos. Photo captions are written in fine pen with as much detail as the scrapbooker wishes.

``We don't see it as a craft, we see it as a way of preserving memories,'' said Deidre Bullock, a consultant for the Minnesota-based Creative Memories, the largest nontraditional retailer of scrapbooking products. ``It keeps the art of storytelling alive.''

Bullock, who is the youth minister at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Akron, uses scrapbooking in her ministry with junior high and high school students. It helps remind them of the joys of life and the importance of their relationships, she said.

It's widely believed throughout the craft industry that scrapbooking originated in Utah, where the activity grew out of genealogy. The interest in family history among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints began overlapping into mementos and albums. Slowly, in other parts of the country, crafters began learning how to archive their keepsakes.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 two years ago, Americans took to scrapbooking with a new dedication and passion, said Unity Marketing's Pam Danziger, who studies the consumer paper, stationery and greeting card industries. She estimates that 20 percent of households now have scrapbooks compared to 13 percent two years ago.

``The 9/11 attacks were a catalyst for a trend that had already started. It really brought home the fact we need to connect with each other,'' said Danziger. ``The essence of this trend is scrapbooking. It's the biggest, hottest thing going.''

Statistics show that most crafters are young mothers, sorority members and teen-age girls.

Scrapbooking will never leap completely from the female world of crafting into the mass market unless the major corporations embrace it, said Danziger.

Hallmark Inc. of Kansas City and American Greetings Corp. of suburban Cleveland would need to make far more of a commitment to the hobby than they have. She calls it the ``biggest missed opportunity'' for them she can imagine.

``We're getting there,'' said Allison Landers, director of Create and Print for Americangreetings.com, the online division of the company. ``The scrapbooking boom is growing too big to ignore.''

Create and Print allows scrapbookers and others to design and print cards and do photo embellishment on their home computer. The annual fee is $19.95 for unlimited access to thousands of designs and layouts.

The designs are grouped by occasion to make it easier. Consumers can insert their photos in the computer or print out the design and paste them on the paper.

Landers, who scrapbooks herself, believes the advantages of using a computer to scrapbook are ease and simplicity.

``Sometimes you walk down a store aisle and it's so overwhelming,'' she said.

Computers also allow consumers to throw out what they don't like and start over -- a costly prospect when the materials were purchased at a store, taken home and used. Also, she said, new designs are being added all the time.

Scrapbooking can be expensive. The average scrapbooker spends $54 on the hobby, but dedicated scrapbookers spend nearly $1,600 on it, according to the Hobby Industry Association.

Albums run from $20 to $40. Extra pages, protectors, pens and other embellishments are extra. There are carrying cases, specially treated boxes to preserve memories, scissors, rulers and templates.

But scrapbookers have shown they're willing to spend.

``Memories,'' said Bullock, ``are priceless.''

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Ethridge can be reached at 330-996-3545 or methridge@thebeaconjournal.com

2003-10-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Estes: Take time to honor your grandparents 09/06/03:

Estes: Take time to honor your grandparents

By Vicki Estes
Special to The Capital-Journal
Sunday marks the 25th anniversary of National Grandparent's Day. If you're like me, you didn't realize it existed until your parents became grandparents or you entered that "spoil a kid and send them home" club.

The cynic in me first thought, "Oh, great, another Hallmark holiday," while the journalistic-integrity part of me said, "Time to surf the Net." And so I did.

I was wrong. Hallmark, American Greetings and all other greeting card companies out there had nothing to do with the establishment of National Grandparent's Day. It was the work of Marian H. McQuade, a housewife from Fayette County, W.Va., whose primary motivation was to bring attention to the lonely elderly in nursing homes. It was her hope that "grandchildren would yearn for the wisdom and heritage grandparents provide.

I would bet that 25 years after Marian persuaded President Jimmy Carter to proclaim a National Grandparent's Day she had no idea the role many grandparents would play in raising their grandchildren in the year 2003. For some, grandparenting is more than just being there to enjoy the birthdays, sporting events and family reunions. They are legal guardians of their grandchildren for various reasons. They awake at 3 a.m. to soothe a crying child or leave work in a frenzy and drive to school to pick up a sick adolescent. These grandparents deserve a super-sized Grandparent's Day.

According to the official Grandparent's Day Web site, September was chosen to honor grandparents because it signifies the "autumn years" of life.

What are you doing for your grandparents to honor them this day? If you already have sent a card or gift or planned an outing with them, you are way ahead of me.

If you have just realized that Sunday is Grandparent's Day, it isn't too late to touch the hearts of your long-distance grandparents by one simple act, and it has nothing to do with e-mail. Pick up the phone.

But before you dial, here's something you might do: Think about an indelible memory you have of your grandparents. Write down what you remember, how you felt and especially, how they have changed your life. Recite a quote or saying they always had that stuck with you all these years. (My favorite is "just buck up and go on" courtesy of Busia, my Polish grandma.) Let them know the legacy they've helped to create and will leave behind.

This simple five-, 10- or 15-minute phone conversation will nourish your grandparents through any lean times yet to come. They won't forget it.

If, unfortunately, your grandparents have passed on, you can still offer nourishment to those most hungry for it. Call a nearby nursing home to find out what activities are planned on Sunday and take your kids to visit the residents. Or, if you prefer something one-on-one, schools, churches and senior organizations help children to adopt a grandparent. Imagine the comfort and sense of belonging you would provide to someone who has no one.

Enjoy your Grandparent's Day activities Sunday, then "buck up and go on" to the next holiday.

Vicki Estes is a Topeka freelance writer. Her column appears on Wednesday and Saturday. She can be reached at vaestes@sbcglobal.net.

2003-10-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Taipei Times - archives:

Indulging the inner child is big business for adults

The producers of children's products are finding that an increasingly large section of their market is being made up of adults reliving their youth

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK
Tuesday, Sep 02, 2003,Page 16

"'We're seeing this phenomenon worldwide,' said Debra Joester, president of an independent licensing company that handles Care Bears, one of the lines of discontinued toys and merchandise recently reintroduced in part because of pent-up demand from grown-ups. A 2001 market research study by American Greetings, the creator of Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears, showed that 'purchase interest' was identical among women who wanted to buy a doll for their child and those who simply wanted to rekindle a love affair of their own. 'This consumer wants Care Bears in their life,' Joester said. 'And not just to share with their children.'"

2003-10-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Greeting card maker capitalizes on intellectual property:

By JULIE MORAN ALTERIO
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: September 1, 2003)

Whether it's chimpanzees wearing tutus or dogs playing poker, people love funny animal pictures. There's really no other way to explain our zeal to pamper our pets and at the same time to humiliate them in quasi-artistic ways.

When American Greetings card designer Terrill Lee Bohlar contemplated his own contribution to this oeuvre, he envisioned something a bit "edgier."

"To do humor with animals, most of the time you either have to catch them in the moment of doing something humorous or put them in a humorous situation. Both of these are tentative at best. So I turned to the computer to find something new and fresh," Bohlar said.

Using software that morphs photographs like silly putty, Bohlar exaggerated the animals' features.

Eyes were enlarged. Tongues stretched. Heads made pointy. The Twisted Whiskers line was born.

The cards avoid sentimentality. A popular birthday card features a dog with bulging eyes. The message: "Getting older sure beats getting neutered. Happy Birthday."

Twisted Whiskers has been a conspicuous new hit for the Cleveland card company, whose best-known icons — Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Hobby — date from previous decades.

When Twisted Whiskers debuted in 2001, American Greetings sold 311,000 cards in one retail outlet during a three-and-a-half week period, something no other card line has achieved, according to market research firm Mintel.

Numbers like that have American Greetings looking to Twisted Whiskers as the next licensing hope during a time when revenue from greeting card sales is stagnant.

Though 90 percent of U.S. households buy at least one greeting card a year, 99-cent cards and free online greetings have the $7.5 billion a year "social expressions" industry in need of its own get-well card.

American Greetings has responded by taking tens of millions in costs out of its supply chain, trimming its card offerings and pursuing new sources of revenue.

It turns out that a century worth of intellectual property has the potential to generate cash, according to Mike Brown, American Greetings' vice president of licensing.

Companies such as Mohawk Carpet, Procter & Gamble and Ty are buying the right to use American Greetings' images.

The card maker is also reintroducing its best-known characters, such as the Care Bears, which returned in July 2002. With names like Funshine Bear and Tenderheart Bear, the characters were wildly popular in the 1980s, generating billions in sales and spawning three full-length animated films.

Fellow 1980s' phenomenon Strawberry Shortcake was revived this past January — sporting jeans instead of a gingham dress. Holly Hobbie waits in the wings.

Today, Brown said 240 companies license Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and other American Greetings' intellectual property. "Two years ago, it was 45," he said. "Two years from now, it will probably be 500."

As a result, Care Bears has become a $250 million brand this year. And next fall, for the first time in 22 years, there will be a new Care Bears video distributed by the same company that peddles Barbie movies.

A new Strawberry Shortcake video sold a million units in four months this spring.

"We are platforming Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Hobbie as a start for bigger things to come down the road with brands we are already creating," Brown said.

Animal attraction

Among the most promising of those is Twisted Whiskers.

American Greetings is already selling its own mugs, plush toys, gift bags and calendars featuring the distinctively warped animals.

No outsider has licensed Twisted Whiskers yet, but Brown predicts he'll have 40 companies signed within six months. "I have more people calling me than I am calling them right now on Twisted Whiskers," he said.

Animal lovers say the cards tickle their funny bones.

Congers resident Kim Eskridge, a cat enthusiast and college student, said she's sent a few Twisted Whiskers cards. She was drawn to the silly animals with "squashed-looking" faces. "I just thought they were funny," she said.

Because the cards feature animals, Twisted Whiskers could also open the door to sales at pet supply stores such as PetSmart. The images could also end up on dog bowls or leashes.

"This gives you an opportunity to get into a location or chain you wouldn't normally be in," Brown said.

Capitalizing on its own intellectual property was a natural for American Greetings — 10 percent of its sales are derived from licensed goods.

Nickelodeon, Elvis Presley and Helen Steiner Rice are among the 130 brands that license their content to American Greetings.

No. 2 behind Hallmark, with about $2 billion a year in sales, American Greetings is the largest publicly held card maker.

All in the family

Even so, it has elements of a family dynasty. Chief executive Zev Weiss is the great-grandson of company founder Jacob Sapirstein and son of Chairman Morry Weiss. Zev's brother, Jeffrey M. Weiss, is president and chief operating officer.

Stock analyst Omarr Aleem, who follows American Greetings for FTN Midwest Research in Cleveland, wasn't thrilled when Zev Weiss took over as CEO in June.

"I think it's a real disadvantage," Aleem said. "I think you need fresh blood. I think you need fresh ideas."

Weiss counters by pointing to a slate of four vice presidents new to American Greetings from careers at Amway, Booz Allen Hamilton, PepsiCo and General Electric.

Moreover, given the turnover in the executive suites of corporate America, appointing a scion to CEO has its advantages in Weiss's book.

"What it does for the board and for our shareholders is first of all it shows that the management has a tremendous amount at stake, and that we have a very long-term view," Weiss said.

"We're not in here to prop something up in the short term and then be gone."

Slimmer operation

Weiss is stepping into the top job as American Greetings gets its balance back after more than $236 million in losses in two years. Last year's profit of $121.1 million was the fruit of some very "blunt" cost-cutting, Weiss said.

This year's planned $75 million in cost reductions will be more surgical.

A key initiative is shortening the greeting card development cycle from 18 months to less than a year — ideally as little as six months.

Under the old way, card designers would have been planning Valentine's Day 2005 this September. Instead, they won't start until after next year's holiday.

Knowing what worked the last time around gives card planners the confidence to create fewer offerings. Fewer varieties of cards means less manufacturing time and less warehouse space.

Societal shifts can play a bigger role in influencing card lines if the product timetable is shorter, too. After Sept. 11, for instance, the country's mood moved toward inspirational cards and away from humorous offerings.

"People were much more thoughtful. They wanted to connect with people from their pasts and they wanted to do it in a much more serious way," Weiss said. "If you could recognize that kind of trend, you could be much more refined in your product offerings."

So far, the initiative has enabled the company to shut a distribution center in Arkansas.

"One of the reasons we were able to close that distribution center, which took a lot of fixed costs out of our business, is because we were able to cut our cycle times," Weiss said.

The focus on slimming operations to drive profits has won the approval of John Miller, senior vice president of portfolio management at Ariel Capital Management Inc. in Chicago, which owns 14.8 million shares, or 22.4 percent of the company.

"We think it will be a slow and steady type of improvement," Miller said. "It is a mature business, but it is a very profitable business. The business generates a tremendous amount of cash."

After falling out of favor with investors during the dot-com boom, American Greetings stock is up 17 percent this year at $18.50.

Greetings from the Web

The company has given up its dream of spinning off its Americangreetings.com unit as a separate public company. Even so, the site is among the few Internet card companies attracting paying subscribers. More than 2 million people pay $13.95 a year to send Web greetings. American Greetings also owns the Bluemountain and Egreetings.com sites.

"Consumers are interested in our content. If we develop great content, they have shown that they are willing to pay for it," Weiss said.

Despite the ink spilled on the e-mail greeting phenomenon, the company's online take of $25 million or so is a tiny part of overall sales.

Weiss doesn't think online greetings or any other trend will shake the fundamentals of a century-old business rooted in the basic idea of one person expressing a feeling to another.

"The more mundane things like e-mail become, the more valuable things that differentiate themselves from e-mail are for people," he said. "People value communication, they value relationships, and they value the opportunity to enhance relationships. That's what we're about as a company."

Cards are still king

Doreen Uhl, shopping on a recent weeknight at American Greetings' Carlton Cards shop in the Palisades Center, said she won't abandon printed greeting cards for the Web.

"I still like to send a regular card," she said. "It's more personal."

The 51-year-old Congers resident was buying two cards for a friend turning 40.

"It's a milestone, and you have to get a funny card and you have to get a sentimental card to go with it," Uhl said.

Uhl, a secretary in Nyack public schools, buys as many as five cards a month. "I just love reading them," she said. "It's everything you want to say and it's there for you."

Send e-mail to Julie Moran Alterio

More FYI:

Timeline
1906: Jacob Sapirstein opens a one-man business on the streets of Cleveland selling penny postcards.
1929: American Greetings introduces the first self-serve display fixtures for cards. Before that, shoppers flipped through an album and asked a clerk to pull a card from behind a counter.
1940s: Sapirstein's sons, Irving, Morris and Harry, change their last name to "Stone."
1952: American Greetings shares are sold to the public.
1956: Carlton Cards is purchased.
1957: The Hi Brows, irreverent, witty cards with a Beatnik flair, are introduced to appeal to the Bohemian counterculture.
1967: Holly Hobbie is introduced amid nostalgia for simpler times during the Vietnam War era.
1981: Strawberry Shortcake generates $500 million in retail sales.
1986: Sales break the $1 billion mark. Founder Jacob Sapirstein, 101, witnesses the milestone.
1996: Americangreetings.com opens on the Web.
2000: American Greetings buys Gibson Greetings for $170 million.
2001: Egreetings and BlueMountain.com are purchased.

Getting personal

What was your first job?
My first published work appeared in the Oklahoma Monthly magazine. My first paying job was newspaper delivery boy.
What was your college major and why did you choose it?
I was interested in two careers: geologist or commercial artist. One day I was looking in my paperback dictionary that I carried around in my back pocket and, as is my custom, I was lost in reading the meanings of words instead of the word I was supposed to be looking up. I came across the word "photography," and in one of the lesser definitions it said, "the blending of art and science." I remember thinking, "That's me!"
What is your next professional goal?
To find and produce another project that is as successful as Twisted Whiskers is.
What are you reading now?
I just got finished reading the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which I somehow missed in my youth. I have just started a book about a piece of software called Painter. I tend to read more technical stuff than entertainment. And I read my Bible weekly.
What makes you laugh?
Life makes me laugh! So do Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall.
Who do you most admire?
Jesus Christ, and my father and mother. The photographer I most admire is Edward Weston. The artist I most admire is Salvador Dali.
Age: 43
Honors: "Louie Award," Greeting Card Association; Hall of Fame, The Art Institute of Colorado.
Education: The Art Institute of Colorado; Cuyahoga Community College.
Hometown: Oklahoma City, Okla.
Family: Married to Ginger. Father of son Aaron, 12, and daughter Terra, 17.

2003-10-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Lawsuit alleges toy knock-offs 8/30/2003:

Cleveland-based American Greetings Corp. the world's largest publicly traded greeting-card maker, claims discount retailer Dollar General Corp. is selling knock-offs of the Care Bears plush toys, jeopardizing the relaunch of the 1980s-era toy.

Introduced in 1981, sales of the bears reached $1.5 billion between 1982 and 1987 at the height of their popularity. American Greetings began a new push to sell the Care Bears last year and has spent more than $25 million to promote the toys and related products. Sales are expected to reach $250 million this year, according to a lawsuit.

2003-10-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Care Bears maker sues Dollar General Corp. over plush toy line - Saturday, 08/30/03: "By KEITH RUSSELL
Staff Writer

The maker of Care Bears is seeking to force Dollar General Corp. to stop selling what it describes as ''knock-off'' versions of the plush toys in the Goodlettsville-based retailer's discount stores.

In a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month, American Greetings Corp. claims that Dollar General's selling of an ''amazingly similar'' line of plush teddy bears is hurting the Cleveland-based company's efforts to ride a resurgence of interest in Care Bear products. The company wants cash compensation and a court order blocking Dollar General from selling its version of the bears, which are made in China and distributed by Los Angeles-based Hugfun International.

Dollar General could not be reached for comment yesterday, but in court papers the company said its version of the bears does not infringe on American Greetings' copyrights. The retailer operates more than 6,000 ''deep discount'' stores in 27 states.

Carrying names such as ''Birthday Bear,'' ''Share Bear,'' and ''Funshine Bear,'' the Care Bears family of toys first became wildly popular in the early 1980s, helping American Greetings generate sales of $1.5 billion from 1983 to 1987, according to the company's suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

After interest fizzled in the late 1980s, American Greetings decided to re-launch the Care Bears toys in January 2002, a strategy that has met with considerable success. The company has shipped 8 million of the pastel-colored animals through April 2003 and expects to reach sales of $250 million by year's end.

In its lawsuit, American Greetings says it purposely avoided selling Care Bears in dollar stores, based on the belief doing so tends to ''degrade the value of high-profile'' merchandise.

2003-10-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

AP Wire | 08/27/2003 | Sculptures Bring Smiles Into Backyards:

Posted on Wed, Aug. 27, 2003

Sculptures Bring Smiles Into Backyards
JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press

WATERVILLE, Ohio - George Carruth's face scrunches up at the thought - just like some of the faces he carves. Could he ever create a sculpture that was, well, ordinary?

Carruth's whimsical garden art sculptures sprouted 20 years ago from a garage workshop and now can be found in back yards across the nation. His studio produces nearly 600 pieces cast in stone every day. Each has its own personality.

"I don't want to do anything sterile or boring," he says. "When I was teaching my son how to carve, I said, 'Don't make anything symmetrical.'"

There's King George, a bullfrog with a big belly who wears a crown, and the Garden Grouch, a grumpy-looking cousin of the jovial Garden Smile, Carruth's most popular piece and his personal favorite.

He has gone from peddling his work at art fairs in northern Ohio to selling sculptures, candles and indoor art in 2,500 floral shops and landscape centers across the nation. Annual sales are about $5 million.

More homeowners are now decorating their gardens, and Carruth's style is appealing to many, said Mandy Sirofchuck, owner of Main Exhibit Gallery in Ligonier, Pa.

"People have more fun putting things in their garden than they would in their home," she said. "Whimsy seems to be the order of the day in the garden."

David and Marilyn Bertelsbeck have about 20 Carruth pieces scattered in their garden and built into the outside walls of their home in Westerville near Columbus.

"What could be a boring wall turned into something interesting," said David Bertelsbeck. "They give it a lot of pizazz and character, and they really do make people smile."

Within the last year, Carruth, 51, has been expanding his range by designing outdoor lighting and patio ornaments for other companies. He's also dabbling in creating toys, using his own designs to give a new look to some classic ones.

"I never run out of ideas," he says. "I just try to weed out the bad ones." Some come from browsing through books or just observing life. But sculpting remains his passion. He has about 300 original designs. "There's always some new technique I want try, some new texture," he says.

Carruth's work is often imitated and mass-produced overseas. It's an irritation to his wife, Deb, 48, who is a driving force behind the business. "We fight them as much as we can," she said. "We sue people. You have to."

But they can't stop bigger retailers from selling the knockoffs at cheaper prices. Carruth's prices vary from $72 for the cat birdbath to $39.50 for a statue of the bashful bunny.

They also acknowledge the knockoffs have taken away from potential growth.

"There's no way to prevent those things," said Del Preuss, executive director of the Bemidji, Minn.-based Ornamental Concrete Producers Association, which represents makers of concrete statues and other outdoor items.

He was browsing through a magazine and saw what he thought was one of his pieces. Instead, it was an import. "I thought it was our company," he said. "They were really well done."

Carruth grew up in Perryburg, a Toledo suburb, the son of a grain buyer and a homemaker. "My mom was into nature; Dad was serious," he said.

"As a kid in school, art was what I was always good at. I spent hours building things with sticks or carving things out of a soap," Carruth said. He once carved his dog out of soap. And in junior high school he would draw monsters and cars on T-shirts and then sell them for a $1.50.

But Carruth didn't have dreams of being an artist after he graduated from high school. He was content with working in a tile factory and riding motorcycles. But his brother, knowing that Carruth had a talent in art, persuaded him to attend art school where he was "basically starting from scratch."

In classes at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, he would paint or sculpt realistic works while everyone else would create abstract pieces. "They would actually snicker and laugh," he said.

He took a job sculpting ornaments at American Greetings in Cleveland, and it was there that he watched fishermen use screwdrivers to carve designs into the break walls along Lake Erie. He would go down to the lakefront to carve in the rocks and the walls where some of his earliest works remain.

"My dad never understood any of this," Carruth said. "His first comment was, 'Some people have more money than sense.'"

Deb Carruth signed her husband up for his first art show. They had to rent a car to haul the two dozen hand-carved sculptures from their home in Cleveland to a community festival two hours away in Perrysburg.

He didn't expect anyone to buy his work. "We sold all of them right away," she said.

Carruth quit his job within a year and his wife became his promoter and business manager. The big break came when a garden catalog put his cat birdbath on the cover.

After two years, he began using rubber molds to cast the sculptures in concrete so that he could keep up with demand. He wasn't sold on using the molds until he realized the potential to expand his work.

"I suddenly had a flood of ideas of things that I could do," he says. "It allowed me to do details that I couldn't before."

No longer are his sculptures just for the garden. There are nativity scenes, planters, bookends and candle holders. About half of the company's sales come from items that end up indoors.

When Carruth sculpts - usually at night in his home or studio - he cranks his stereo, listening to anything from blues to reggae to progressive rock.

"Something loud," he says.

Or he'll flip on the television.

"I can sit and watch TV and sculpt," he says. "Football is made for sculpting. The play lasts seven seconds and then they take 45 seconds to regroup."

ON THE NET

http://www.carruthstudio.com

2003-10-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Herald.com - Your Miami Everything Guide "Sculptures Bring Smiles Into Backyards":

Sculptures Bring Smiles Into Backyards
JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press

WATERVILLE, Ohio - George Carruth's face scrunches up at the thought - just like some of the faces he carves. Could he ever create a sculpture that was, well, ordinary?

Carruth's whimsical garden art sculptures sprouted 20 years ago from a garage workshop and now can be found in back yards across the nation. His studio produces nearly 600 pieces cast in stone every day. Each has its own personality.

"I don't want to do anything sterile or boring," he says. "When I was teaching my son how to carve, I said, 'Don't make anything symmetrical.'"

There's King George, a bullfrog with a big belly who wears a crown, and the Garden Grouch, a grumpy-looking cousin of the jovial Garden Smile, Carruth's most popular piece and his personal favorite.

He has gone from peddling his work at art fairs in northern Ohio to selling sculptures, candles and indoor art in 2,500 floral shops and landscape centers across the nation. Annual sales are about $5 million.

More homeowners are now decorating their gardens, and Carruth's style is appealing to many, said Mandy Sirofchuck, owner of Main Exhibit Gallery in Ligonier, Pa.

"People have more fun putting things in their garden than they would in their home," she said. "Whimsy seems to be the order of the day in the garden."

David and Marilyn Bertelsbeck have about 20 Carruth pieces scattered in their garden and built into the outside walls of their home in Westerville near Columbus.

"What could be a boring wall turned into something interesting," said David Bertelsbeck. "They give it a lot of pizazz and character, and they really do make people smile."

Within the last year, Carruth, 51, has been expanding his range by designing outdoor lighting and patio ornaments for other companies. He's also dabbling in creating toys, using his own designs to give a new look to some classic ones.

"I never run out of ideas," he says. "I just try to weed out the bad ones." Some come from browsing through books or just observing life. But sculpting remains his passion. He has about 300 original designs. "There's always some new technique I want try, some new texture," he says.

Carruth's work is often imitated and mass-produced overseas. It's an irritation to his wife, Deb, 48, who is a driving force behind the business. "We fight them as much as we can," she said. "We sue people. You have to."

But they can't stop bigger retailers from selling the knockoffs at cheaper prices. Carruth's prices vary from $72 for the cat birdbath to $39.50 for a statue of the bashful bunny.

They also acknowledge the knockoffs have taken away from potential growth.

"There's no way to prevent those things," said Del Preuss, executive director of the Bemidji, Minn.-based Ornamental Concrete Producers Association, which represents makers of concrete statues and other outdoor items.

He was browsing through a magazine and saw what he thought was one of his pieces. Instead, it was an import. "I thought it was our company," he said. "They were really well done."

Carruth grew up in Perryburg, a Toledo suburb, the son of a grain buyer and a homemaker. "My mom was into nature; Dad was serious," he said.

"As a kid in school, art was what I was always good at. I spent hours building things with sticks or carving things out of a soap," Carruth said. He once carved his dog out of soap. And in junior high school he would draw monsters and cars on T-shirts and then sell them for a $1.50.

But Carruth didn't have dreams of being an artist after he graduated from high school. He was content with working in a tile factory and riding motorcycles. But his brother, knowing that Carruth had a talent in art, persuaded him to attend art school where he was "basically starting from scratch."

In classes at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, he would paint or sculpt realistic works while everyone else would create abstract pieces. "They would actually snicker and laugh," he said.

He took a job sculpting ornaments at American Greetings in Cleveland, and it was there that he watched fishermen use screwdrivers to carve designs into the break walls along Lake Erie. He would go down to the lakefront to carve in the rocks and the walls where some of his earliest works remain.

"My dad never understood any of this," Carruth said. "His first comment was, 'Some people have more money than sense.'"

Deb Carruth signed her husband up for his first art show. They had to rent a car to haul the two dozen hand-carved sculptures from their home in Cleveland to a community festival two hours away in Perrysburg.

He didn't expect anyone to buy his work. "We sold all of them right away," she said.

Carruth quit his job within a year and his wife became his promoter and business manager. The big break came when a garden catalog put his cat birdbath on the cover.

After two years, he began using rubber molds to cast the sculptures in concrete so that he could keep up with demand. He wasn't sold on using the molds until he realized the potential to expand his work.

"I suddenly had a flood of ideas of things that I could do," he says. "It allowed me to do details that I couldn't before."

No longer are his sculptures just for the garden. There are nativity scenes, planters, bookends and candle holders. About half of the company's sales come from items that end up indoors.

When Carruth sculpts - usually at night in his home or studio - he cranks his stereo, listening to anything from blues to reggae to progressive rock.

"Something loud," he says.

Or he'll flip on the television.

"I can sit and watch TV and sculpt," he says. "Football is made for sculpting. The play lasts seven seconds and then they take 45 seconds to regroup."

ON THE NET

http://www.carruthstudio.com

2003-10-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Beacon Journal | 07/29/2003 | American Greetings ex-chief, Edward Fruchtenbaum, to pay fines:

American Greetings ex-chief to pay fines

Edward Fruchtenbaum, the former president of American Greetings Corp., has settled accusations that he used insider information to avoid nearly $500,000 in stock losses, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday.

Fruchtenbaum, who has denied wrongdoing, agreed to pay back $79,437 of his gains plus $267,022 in fines and court costs. The settlement also prohibits him from serving as an officer or director of a publicly held company for five years, according to the SEC.

A message left Friday with Fruchtenbaum's attorney was not immediately returned. There is no telephone listing for Fruchtenbaum.

American Greetings spokesman Dave Poplar said the company had no comment.

Shares in American Greetings rose 15 cents Monday to close at $18.10 each on the New York Stock Exchange.

2003-10-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Audit finds flaws in Kmart contracts - 08/06/03: Wednesday, August 6, 2003- Audit finds flaws in Kmart contracts

By David Shepardson / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Kmart Corp.'s accounting firm found what it said is "firm evidence" of misconduct in connection with four vendor contracts in 2001 -- a subject two government investigations continue to probe.

In an Oct. 31 letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a lawyer for PricewaterhouseCoopers said an audit discovered that executives improperly counted revenue in a single quarter -- when the money should be spread out over the lifetime of a contract -- in a total of $16.4 million in payments to Kmart from Kodak, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo Inc. and Sherwin Williams.

The companies paid the retail chain to sell their products.

The largest amount involved in this deceptive practice, known as a "pull forward," involved $7 million from Kodak, the audit said. Another $2.25 million recorded as a payment to Kmart from Coca-Cola was "probably a pull forward," it added.

On Feb. 26, Enio A. "Tony" Montini, former senior vice president and general merchandise manager of Kmart's drugstore division, and Joseph Hofmeister, divisional vice president of merchandising, were charged with making false statements, securities fraud and conspiracy.

The vendor contracts disclosure is the latest chapter in the government's investigation of Kmart's fall into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2002.

The company emerged from bankruptcy this spring with a new controlling ownership and board of directors after closing some 600 stores and laying off 57,000 people.

Kmart has turned over to government investigators more than 460,000 pages of documents, including more than 80 anonymous letters that allege a series of financial wrongdoings by the company as well as five pages of voice-mail transcripts.

Thomas Newkirk, associate director of the SEC's enforcement division, said that "our investigation is continuing full speed ahead," Newkirk said. "A lot of work has been done, and a lot of work needs to be done."

He declined to set a timetable for when the government might bring civil charges against other former Kmart executives -- a move anticipated for several months by lawyers for former top officials.

"When another piece of the case is ready, we'll bring it," said Newkirk, who called the charges against Hofmeister and Montini as "the first piece."

In the case of Montini and Hofmeister, they are accused of improperly booking $42,350,000 that American Greetings paid to Kmart -- a $50,000 allowance for each of the chain's 847 stores.

The government says Kmart shouldn't have considered the money revenue solely in the second quarter of 2001 because it would have had to repay some of the money if it ended its contract with American Greetings before it expired.

The SEC has further accused Xerox and its accounting firm of using the same technique allegedly used by Hofmeister and Montini.

"(Pull-forwards) are taking credit for a vendor allowance before you're entitled," Newkirk said. "They are a source of considerable concern."

The letter about the PricewaterhouseCoopers audit to the SEC was made public in a recent court filing by lawyers for Montini and Hofmeister, who were indicted Feb. 26.

"The fact that Kmart accounting personnel booked other allowances in a similar way will show either that the American Greetings payment was booked in accordance with Kmart accounting policies or that Kmart accounting practices differed from Kmart's accounting policies," wrote Mark Srere, a lawyer for Hofmeister.

Kmart spokesman Jack Ferry declined to comment on the letter, except to say that Kmart continues to fully cooperate with the government's investigation.

In August 2002, Kmart revised its vendor-allowance policy to require the disclosure of information needed to assess when the company should record revenue from allowances.

In December, the company said it had $92 million in questionable vendor allowances, but hasn't identified any vendors except American Greetings.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman has set a Sept. 16 hearing on a series of defense motions that seek documents from the government -- including a controversial government e-mail that was discovered among thousands of documents.

Reid Muoio, branch chief of the SEC's enforcement division, disclosed that the SEC approved bringing a civil suit against Hofmeister and Montini on Jan. 23 -- more than a month before it was filed in federal court in Detroit.

On Feb. 12, Muoio e-mailed a draft of the complaint to four other SEC attorneys and two SEC accountants. A week later, one of the SEC staff members e-mailed Muoio.

A defense lawyer, Tobin Romero, who saw the e-mail from the unnamed official, said it referred to "the weakness in the government's theory of prosecution."

Borman will have to decide if the e-mail is turned over to defense lawyers.

In Muoio's statement, he said that the government had established a "Kmart War Room" at SEC headquarters in Washington to safeguard the hundreds of thousands of Kmart documents until the end of the case.

The SEC noted that the author or authors of the anonymous letters have never been identified. The trial for Montini and Hofmeister is set for Oct. 14 and is expected to last around three weeks.

Defense lawyers maintain their clients had no motive to commit fraud and are not accountants. The government says this is a simple case of fraud.

The SEC's civil suit seeks to force Montini to repay a $750,000 loan Kmart made to him. The suit also seeks to bar both men from serving as corporate officers in any public company.

You can reach David Shepardson at (313) 222-2028 or dshepardson@detnews.com.

2003-10-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Kansas City Star | 08/17/2003 | Activists warn of climb in pervasive advertising: "Posted on Sun, Aug. 17, 2003

Posted on Sun, Aug. 17, 2003

Activists warn of climb in pervasive advertising
By SHELLEY EMLING
Cox News Service

NEW YORK - Asked to name public places where there is no advertising, consumer activist Gary Ruskin racks his brain. Churches and other houses of worship, he says eventually. National parks. The U.S. flag.

He sadly admits that the list just keeps growing shorter.

Ads and product placements have invaded books, films, public restrooms, city buses and music videos.

"It's an assault from which there is no respite," said Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a consumer awareness group based in Portland, Ore. "Ads won't leave us alone. There are fewer and fewer sanctuaries from aggressive huckstering."

Advertisers say they have been forced to become more aggressive by an age in which the public can no longer be reached simply by running commercials on the three broadcast TV networks. Thanks to cable and popular devices such as TiVo, an increasingly segmented public is more likely to skip commercials than to watch them.

As a result, advertisers are using new technologies -- touch-controlled video screens in the back seats of cabs are just one example -- to reach a captive audience.

Making matters worse, consumer activists say, are local governments and school districts faced with widening budget shortfalls and willing to try anything to bring in some cash.

The town of Amherst, N.Y., facing a $10 million budget gap, hired Kelly Enterprises Inc. in May to help forge corporate partnerships. It is considering selling residents' names and addresses to direct-mail advertising companies.

One idea already in place in Orlando and Milwaukee is the installation of TVs on city buses that show news, weather and, of course, advertising. The hope is that the systems, developed by ITEC Network of Orlando, could eventually reap a profit that would be shared with the cities' transit systems.

Ruskin and others name other new "advertising intrusions" as well.

The National PTA has turned to corporate sponsors such as Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. to contribute money to various PTA programs, such as one to generate more parental involvement.

Bank One has paid to become a presenting sponsor of the Chicago Bears, who are no longer "the Bears" but "Bears football presented by Bank One."

Even the pope has had a sponsor. The McDonald's fast-food chain was an official sponsor of Pope John Paul II's "pray-in" held in May at a Madrid airport. Some 500,000 attendees were given backpacks of papal goodies that included vouchers for food from McDonald's.

"There are TV screens in elevators and print advertisements above urinals," said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., a privacy advocacy firm. "There are all sorts of havens being invaded."

With tightening budgets, schools in particular have been looking at ways to attract corporate dollars, often to the chagrin of parents fearful of advertising's effect on impressionable students.

Some districts have allowed billboards at athletic fields. Others have permitted ads on school buses.

For years Channel One, the satellite TV network, has provided televisions and other materials to some 12,000 schools across the country in exchange for student viewers for its news programming -- and for its commercials.

Under the program, students in middle or high school watch 12 minutes of programming each day that includes about two minutes of ads.

But younger children -- even toddlers in preschools and day care centers -- are the focus of marketers.

An effort under way this summer features the Care Bears, licensed by American Greetings, on posters, worksheets and other materials. These items soon will be supplied free of charge to tens of thousands of preschools.

Joel Ehrlich, president of Youth Marketing International, which created the program for American Greetings, defended the plan.

"Teachers of America don't get enough materials and enough support, and if there's a way corporate America can find to teach kids better, then that's a good thing," said Ehrlich, a former teacher. "The idea is to bring entertainment or characters that kids know into teaching so that they are more likely to pay attention."

Ehrlich also pointed out that the Care Bears, popular in the early 1980s, are about caring and respect.

"We're not in the classroom giving out something that tells kids to go out and buy Care Bears," he said. "The company does get exposure, but it is a very subtle, very soft sell."

Even so, critics say advertisers are going too far when they go after children barely walking.

"This is a brazenness that should not be accepted," Ruskin said. "Children are being taught to glorify materialism."

2003-10-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Daily Journal "M&D to abandon plant in Manteno:

Scott Boehmer , The Daily Journal

August 21, 2003

A year after shutting down its balloon manufacturing plant, M&D Industries International, Inc., will be shutting down completely Aug. 29.

The plant employs 25 people, said Bill Vorderer, the controller of the plant. Some workers are moving to other positions at a Minnesota plant owned by M&D.

Amscan, a New York-based company, purchased M&D from American Greetings in February 2002. In June 2002, the decision was made to close the balloon manufacturing plant, displacing 111 employees.

A handful of employees lost their jobs in early 2003, and 18 were laid off in June of this year, Vorderer said.

Company officials said the structure of the balloon plant made it inefficient. The plant was housed in a converted office building on the Diversatech campus near Manteno, and efforts to make it more efficient proved unsuccessful.

After the balloon manufacturing was stopped, the facility switched to flexible packaging production.

The decision was made to close the facility because of the "performance of the plant, and ... because this is not the core business of the owners of the business," Vorderer said.

The decision was made July 24, Vorderer said. The building the plant is located in is owned by Scott Harris and rented by M&D.

While the Diversatech campus is losing M&D, it will soon gain a new employer. Chiquita Brands International, Inc., is opening a fresh-cut fruit processing plant at 1340 Sycamore Road which will employ 30 to 40 people.

2003-10-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

FRAUD AT KMART? Former execs' trial to spotlight retailer's troubles:
House of cards?
Montini, 51, of Rochester Hills and Hofmeister, 53, of Lake Orion were indicted in February. Montini is former senior vice president and general merchandise manager for Kmart's drugstore division. Hofmeister was former divisional vice president of merchandising in the same division.

Prosecutors said that from November 2000 to Jan. 21, 2002, the men conspired to deceive Kmart's accounting and audit staffs about how to handle a $42.3-million payment from American Greetings for a 5-year greeting card contract.

American Greetings agreed to pay the so-called vendor allowance in exchange for the exclusive right to sell cards in Kmart stores. American Greetings was to get back a prorated portion of the payment if Kmart prematurely canceled the contract.

Because of the men's actions, the indictment said, Kmart booked the entire payment in the second quarter of 2001 instead of spreading it over the life of the contract, as required by Kmart's accounting policies.

As a result, Kmart understated its losses for the quarter by 6 cents per share, thereby misleading investors about the extent of Kmart's rocky financial condition, the government said.

Prosecutors said the men were motivated by a fear of losing their jobs if they failed to post good second-quarter numbers. They said the pair excluded Kmart's finance and accounting staffs from contract negotiations with American Greetings and repeatedly told Susan Pifer, the division's vice president for finance, that there was no payback provision for the $42.3 million.

When Pifer discovered the payback provision, authorities said, she confronted Montini, who lied again and berated Hofmeister in Pifer's presence in a charade to make Pifer believe that Hofmeister had fouled up the paperwork.

When Pifer demanded proof, Montini and Hofmeister provided her with correspondence from American Greetings, but withheld a second letter, which said the $42.3-million payment had a payback provision.

On Aug. 23, 2001, Kmart filed its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission showing a net loss of $0.19 per share for the second quarter. The report met Wall Street analysts' earnings projections for Kmart to the penny, authorities said.

Seven days later, when Pifer learned about the existence of the second letter containing the payback provision and confronted Montini, he denied ever telling her that there were no strings attached to the $42.3-million payment, the government said.

Both men were fired with several other executives on May 10, 2002, five months after Kmart filed for bankruptcy protection.

Ridiculous, defense says
The men's lawyers said the charges defy logic.

They said neither man received any money from the American Greetings transaction and could easily have gotten new jobs elsewhere had Kmart fired them for failing to post good numbers for their division.

Moreover, the men weren't accountants and didn't understand the intricacies of Kmart's account policies. The lawyers said Kmart's internal investigation of the events leading up to bankruptcy showed that Kmart had improperly booked about $92 million in other vendor allowances in 2001 -- proof that Kmart accountants weren't following the company's accounting procedures.

The lawyers said Kmart accountants are blaming the two men to divert attention from their own mistakes.

Even after Kmart learned about the second letter, the lawyers said, it took accountants nine months to correct the problem -- an indication that reasonable minds could disagree about how the payment should have been handled.

Court documents said Hofmeister passed a polygraph exam, indicating he disclosed the side letter to Pifer.

The case could come down to the credibility of Pifer, a key government witness. It's unclear whether the two men will testify. Prosecutors have indicated they plan to call past and present Kmart and American Greetings executives to testify.

If convicted, Hofmeister and Montini could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1-million fine on the securities fraud charge and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the other charges.

The SEC is suing the men in Detroit federal court to prevent them from ever serving as officers or directors of a publicly traded company. The SEC also wants Montini to repay a $750,000 loan he received from Kmart on Dec. 3, 2001. He was among 25 executives who received a total of $28 million in forgivable loans weeks before Kmart declared bankruptcy.

The criminal trial is expected to take four to six weeks.

Although the trial has attracted news media interest because of Kmart's bankruptcy, jurors probably won't hear any mention of the bankruptcy.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman granted the defendants' motion Friday to exclude any reference to the bankruptcy.

"We're not going to allow the 'B' word," Borman said.

Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER at 313-223-4490 or ashenf@freepress.com.

2003-10-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Research Reveals Holiday Traditions Are Key to Celebrating

Press Release Source: Hallmark

Research Reveals Holiday Traditions Are Key to Celebrating
Thursday October 16, 4:42 am ET
Hallmark's Holiday Open House Kicks Off Season And Helps Families Honor and Create New Traditions

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Like the memorable aromas of spiced pumpkin, fresh pine and pungent peppermint, Americans identify some of their favorite sights, smells and sounds with the winter holidays. These are the memories we eagerly anticipate each year.
Recent Hallmark research shows that American families treasure and participate in these time-honored traditions. In fact, more than three- quarters of consumers celebrate by wrapping and exchanging gifts, sending holiday greetings, decorating and baking.

While each family has its own recipe for meaningful holiday celebrations, Hallmark Gold Crown® stores have all the essential ingredients for capturing holiday memories. This year, shoppers can get an early start on holiday preparations with exclusive gifts and special promotions at the Hallmark Gold Crown® Holiday Open House, Nov. 8-9, 2003.

What's In Store?

Why fight crowds of shoppers the day after Thanksgiving? Get an early start at Hallmark's Holiday Open House, which begins Nov. 8. Hallmark Gold Crown stores offer a wide assortment of new card and gift designs just right for everyone on your list - like a very merry pair of plush Caroling Snowmen (for $12.95, regularly $22.95), with any three-card purchase, at participating stores while supplies last. They dance and sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in duet.

Holiday Open House guests can also win a trip to California and a walk-on role in a Hallmark Channel production in the Hollywood Holiday Sweepstakes. Official rules are available in-store.

Hang on to Memories

As each ornament is carefully unwrapped and hung on the tree, thoughts of cherished moments, dear friends, and family bonds are fondly remembered. With nearly 300 new ornaments this year from Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments, Mom will find the perfect ornament to give to family, friends or neighbors for a special, personalized gift, such as the new Heart of Motherhood collection. Like a charm bracelet, the new Heart of Motherhood collection lets gift-givers create a personal "charm ornament," with year-dated token, girl and boy silhouettes, picture lockets, and Swarovski® Crystal birthstone charms.

Returning this year are favorite characters, pastimes, and series. The Family Tree is a collection of Keepsake Ornaments designed to display photos of loved ones that hang from branches on a decorative metal tree base. BARBIE(TM), Harley-Davidson®, PEANUTS®, Harry Potter(TM), Disney®, and more pop culture favorites are back. Ornaments for sports fans, pet lovers and teachers get a fresh look for 2003. And, for the first time, Hallmark is introducing Spanish-language ornaments.

Spread Holiday Cheer

Sending holiday cards is a long-standing tradition for many families. In fact, recent Hallmark research shows 90 percent of people surveyed send a greeting during the holidays. This year, Hallmark is offering more than 2,000 card styles to support the traditions of card sending. Included are more than 500 different styles of boxed cards, some for less than $1 per card. Families can work together to add personal touches to their holiday greetings by adding a photo, newsletter, message, or gift certificate to the wide selection of styles.

Wrap Up That Holiday Gift List

Hallmark Gold Crown stores are brimming with a wide variety of gifts that allow shoppers to purchase just the right present. Some of the most popular for 2003 include:

* Holiday Music CD. Steven Curtis Chapman brings his messages of hope and
love to the holidays with his CD, "Christmas Is All in the Heart,"
featuring original and traditional holiday music. The Grammy Award-
winning artist's Christmas album will be available exclusively at
Hallmark Gold Crown stores for $7.95.

* Baking kit from The American Girls Collection from Hallmark. Families
can combine their culinary traditions with "new" ones by making favorite
holiday treats popular in different periods in our country's history.
The step-by-step recipes are based on The American Girls Collection(R),
a line of historical books and dolls chronicling the lives of eight
fictional girls who lived during pivotal times in American history.

* Hallmark gift cards. With so many gift options, shoppers are choosing
gift cards. The third most popular gift in 2002, gift cards fit
perfectly into many holiday greeting cards from Hallmark.

* A tea-for-one set from the Maya Angelou Life Mosaic Collection. The
message from poet Maya Angelou reads, "Solitude can be a much-to-be-
desired condition."

* A Watering Can Snow Globe from Nature's Sketchbook by Marjolein Bastin.
The decorative piece features world renowned nature artist Marjolein
Bastin's unique view of winter's landscape.

To find a Hallmark Gold Crown store in your area, call 1-800-HALLMARK or visit www.hallmark.com .

ABOUT HALLMARK:

Kansas City-based Hallmark is known throughout the world for its greeting cards, related personal expression products, and television's most honored and enduring dramatic series, the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The company's Hallmark Entertainment, Inc. subsidiary is the world's leading producer of movies and mini-series for television; its Binney & Smith subsidiary, maker of Crayola® crayons and markers, is the leading producer of art materials for children and students. Through licensing leadership and joint ventures, Hallmark continues to expand its product formats and distribution avenues. The company publishes products in more than 30 languages and distributes them in more than 100 countries through a multi-national strategy. In 2002, Hallmark reported consolidated net revenues of $4.2 billion.

The trademark The American Girls Collection is used under license from Pleasant Company. BARBIE and associated trademarks are owned by and used under license from Mattel, Inc. Manufactured by Hallmark under license from Harley-Davidson Motor Company. PEANUTS United Feature Syndicate, Inc. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. and Disney.

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Source: Hallmark

2003-10-06T05:07:00.000-07:00

Kansas City Star | 09/30/2003 | Margaret Keating

Margaret Keating

• Title: Vice president-operations.

• Organization: Hallmark Cards Inc., 2501 McGee St.; (816) 274-5111.

• Details: Keating oversees Hallmark's North America manufacturing and distribution organizations, graphic arts, global procurement, global supply chain and operations planning, advancing technologies and product quality, as well as human resources and finance for the operations division. The division includes about 6,000 employees.

She said that communication is critical with a group so large and geographically dispersed, and that she spends a lot of time making communication clear, concise and compelling. That it has to be translated into different languages makes efficient communication even more important, Keating said.

"It has to make sense to people, it has to make sense to the audience, and the audiences are very different," she said. "And they have to be able to understand how they can help. They have to understand how their jobs make a difference or how they can solve a problem."

• Education: Keating has a master's degree in operations management from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a bachelor's degree in business/economics from the University of Wisconsin.

• Background: She joined Hallmark in 1979, holding various positions in the operations division. She became vice president-graphic arts in 1994, and a year later was named director of product quality execution. In 1997, she was named vice president-North American production and became operations vice president-global shared services in 2000. Before joining Hallmark she worked as an auditor control supervisor and credit manager for Scientific Products in Minneapolis.

• Thoughts: Keating pointed out that the operations division either makes or buys everything that Hallmark sells.

"It's a tremendous privilege, but also a huge responsibility," she said. "I've been in jobs in operations my whole career because I love the product and you're real close to it. Secondly, I love working with the people."

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2003-10-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

AP Wire | 10/02/2003 | American Greetings picks up Hallmark's American Stores account: "KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Hallmark Cards Inc. has lost its account to supply American Stores with greeting cards, giftware and partyware to Cleveland-based American Greetings Inc.
American Stores, a 1,400-store chain that includes Osco Drug stores, was bought by Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Inc. in 1999.

2003-10-05T23:36:00.000-07:00

American Stores dumps Hallmark - Business Briefs 10/03/03: "American Stores dumps Hallmark
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hallmark Cards Inc. has lost its account to supply American Stores with greeting cards, giftware and partyware to Cleveland-based American Greetings Inc.

American Stores, a 1,400-store chain that includes Osco Drug stores, was bought by Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Inc. in 1999.

How Hallmark lost the contract is unclear, although Albertsons had a deal with American Greetings for its other stores when it acquired American Stores. Financial information about the deal wasn't released.

Cleveland-based American Greetings doesn't discuss details of contracts or how they were negotiated, spokesman David Poplar said Thursday.

Hallmark, whose contract with American Stores ran out in August, claims it never had a chance to negotiate a new one.

Hallmark spokeswoman Julie O'Dell also said the company learned after negotiations had started with an Albertsons team in late 2002 that a previous Albertsons management team in 1999 already had negotiated a contract for American Greetings to become its sole greeting card supplier when Hallmark's contract expired.

"We were really disappointed because I know we have met all the financial measures outlined in the contract and had a good relationship with them for over 30 years," O'Dell said.

However, Albertsons spokeswoman Karen Ramos said the company gave both American Greetings and Hallmark an opportunity to bid for the business. Ramos said she couldn't say when the decision was made within Albertsons to go with American Greetings.

"We approached both Hallmark and American Greetings and asked them to submit a proposal for providing us with greeting cards in all our stores," Ramos said. "American Greetings was the company selected out of that process."

Poplar said the deal was announced in December 2002 and what's happening now is the changeover of stores. American Greetings will incur some costs from that change but should start earning money soon, he said.

"It will be a positive thing going foward," Poplar said.

2003-10-05T23:28:00.000-07:00

American Greetings Names Catherine M. Kilbane As Senior Vice President, General Counsel And Secretary

2003-10-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

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