Hallmark’s 2006 Sound Card Product

Launch: Sweet Music!

Hallmark Cards with Fleishman-Hillard Inc.

An Analysis Produced By:

Shayla Bailey
Dulce Cantley
Sarah Muse
Ethan Smith
Lorraine Thomas*

12 April, 2019

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………....3

ROPES Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………....4

Research ………………………………………………………………………………….4

Objectives ………………………………………………………………………………10

Programming …………………………………………………………………………..12

Evaluation ……………………………………………………………………………....17

Stewardship ……………………………………………………………………………..18

Recent Developments …………………………………………………………………………..19

Guidelines/Recommendations ………………………………………………………………….21

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….24

References ………………………………………………………………………………………25

Commented [1]: this section needs to be concised to a

Executive Summary (5) (Sarah)
page. maybe try and get rid of any fluff bc we have
more than enough pages now
Commented [2]: Isn't it still a page as is or do you only
want around 3 paragraphs?
Commented [3]: I put some of the sentences into a
paragraph near the end, lmk if u think its fine.

2
 Due to the rise of digital media, Hallmark was experiencing a complete lack of card sales

In 2005, innovation was brought to the forefront and Hallmark capitalized on public interest in

sound cards.Hallmark partnered with Fleishman Hillard, a public relations and marketing

agency, to launch a five month campaign to increase card sales. The focus of the campaign was

driven by sound cards, which had already existed, but was to be revamped through this campaign

with a fresh and exclusive feel. In total, the campaign budget was $200,000 and they saw a a 3.1

percent sales increase in 2006.

The “Sweet Music!” campaign’s purpose was to increase attraction to sound cards among

designated publics to positively drive Hallmark’s sales. Initial research was crucial to the

longitude of the campaign and reach important awareness and action objectives they created for

specific audiences. By analyzing the campaign through the ROPES model, it is clear that

Hallmark details their end results more than their research execution.

The objectives the campaign revolved around included raising consumer awareness of the

soundcards and increasing sales by driving traffic to Hallmark Gold Crown Stores with a new

“shopping experience” ((Hayes et al., 2012, p. 275) Though their objectives aren’t very explicit,

they are directly tied to their goals. Their evaluation tied in directly with their objectives which

overall created a better experience for the customer, though we are unsure if adequate evaluation

measures were explicit enough. There was an abundant lack of stewardship from this campaign

which was crucial to creating the buzz of sound cards alive.

Overall, Hallmark was able to increase their sales and awareness of sound cards but only

for a short period of time.

The Application of ROPES

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 RESEARCH

Research on the Issue

In the early 2000s, there was an increase in cell phones, Blackberries, and instant

messaging (IM) usage, allowing for more convenient channels of communicating gratitude or

life milestones. Hallmark Cards created the “sound card” to tap into “deep human emotion and

more specifically tie[d] into our culture’s music obsession” (Hayes, Hendrix, & Kumar, 2012, p.

273) to address the problem of decreasing card sales. In 2005, product research on the card line

development began to understand the use of music as a marketing vehicle and how it would

attract publics. At the end of the year, consumer focus groups revealed consumers inclination to

buy the sound card based on the “wow” factor of the product (Hayes et al., 2012).

2012, p. 274). The sales data research had an initial test run for Valentine’s Day in 2006 which

was a huge hit and had Hallmark working to produce hundreds of new cards in five months just

in time for the summer 2006 launch. In its final research study, Fleishman-Hillard had 1,000

Hallmark consumers polled on what they did or did not like about the cards.

Major research findings were:

● “Consumers wanted to use music to communicate a unique message” (Hayes et al., 2012,

p. 275).

● The element of sound added a unique surprise and a sense of enjoyment to both the giver

and the receiver which meant this would be something that would be prominently

represented through publicity tactics

● The card was a hit with non-Hallmark Gold Crown Card members which gave the team

an opportunity to reach out to new consumers

Through this research, Hallmark and Fleishman-Hillard will be able to create two objectives

(which will be outlined in the objectives section) to ensure successful execution of the campaign.

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 Research on the Organization

Hallmark was founded back in the early 20th century by a young Joyce Clyde Hall who

stepped off a train in Kansas City, Missouri, with his postcards and a dream. Joyce’s brother,

Ronnie Hall, helped cultivate his entrepreneur aspirations by joining him to establish their

company, the ‘Hall Brothers’. After a fire burned down their office and inventory in 1915, the

brothers were forced to start over and realized that the postcards weren’t what the public desired

anymore. From the ashes of their beloved postcards, rose the production of their own greeting

cards (Founding 1910s, Hallmark).

In the Sweet Music! campaign, Fleishman-Hillard Inc., does not do much research on the

organization itself, but rather focuses mostly on the situation Hallmark faces. There is no public

relations audit of the internal/external environments or public perception like Smith (2017, p. 48)

suggests for the second step of the strategic planning process. According to a Forbes (Reifman &

Murphy, 2005) list of America’s largest private companies, Hallmark Cards 2004 revenues was

$4.16 billion. It is significant to note Hallmark sold more than just greeting cards at the time. The

company’s Hallmark Entertainment subsidiary produced their own mini-series programs and

movies as well as making art supplies (e.g. Crayola crayons and markers). But Hallmark is

widely known for their greeting cards and so, continuing the sales and creating an innovative

way to do so was a critical issue they faced. Hallmark’s greeting card is their, Mainstay, so much

so that Hallmark has often been mistakenly credited with inventing it” (Harpham, 2006).

Continuing an upward movement of sales and thinking of innovative ways to do so was (and will

always be) an issue Hallmark encountered.

Hallmark is no stranger when it comes to thinking of different ideas to maintain product

and company relevancy. From the very beginning, in 1912, Joyce Hall noticed that the postcard’s

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appeal was limited and were novelty items rather than a proper means of communications. He

realized greeting cards were the answer to replacing the long handwritten letters people did not

have time for anymore (Harpham, 2006). This was also before the time of long-distance calling

which made the greeting card a perfect alternative. In the decades following, the Hall Brothers

advertised persistently through ads in the Ladies’ Home Journal and introducing an open display

fixture for greeting cards to be in-sight of customers. In 1932, the company gained usage rights

of Walt Disney™ characters to be put on their products. Hallmark also used World War II to

their advantage by targeting friends and loved ones of military personnel with the slogan “When

you care enough to send the very best” (Harpham, 2006). In the mid-1980s, Hallmark found

small greeting card companies rising up to compete in the same market. Hallmark responded

with its Personal Touch and Shoebox Greetings series. The latter was introduced in 1986 and

was Hallmark’s brand of humor cards. The Personal Touch line, however, was discontinued due

to competitors suing over copyright reasons.

Hallmark’s most substantial challenge occurred during the early 1990s where they saw a

continuing loss of market share to other leading competitors in the greeting card industry. The

Hallmark share was estimated to have fallen by five percent due to changing buying patterns

among women, who opted to buy cards at more convenient locations. According to Harpham

(2006), twenty years prior, “More than half of all cards were sold in specialty shops” and by the

90s, only 30 percent were. One of Hallmark’s strategies was to diversify their business portfolio,

though many of these endeavors taking place in the early 1990s failed or were cast aside by

Hallmark. Hallmark continued pursuing tactics that would make their cards unique with an in-

store kiosk that allowed customers to personalize their greeting cards in 1991 and cards that

senders could record their own personal messages on in 1994. In 1994, Hallmark also debuted

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their Hallmark Gold Crown Card to reward loyal customers at select Hallmark retail stores.

Hallmark constantly promoted their cards the rest of the decade and launched the ‘Warm

Wishes’ line in 1999 with cards priced at only 99 cents, targeting more cost-conscious

consumers (Harpham, 2006). This line was successful in increasing Hallmark’s share of greeting

cards by five percent in just two years.

Hallmark launched its corporate website in 1996 after acknowledging the Internet as a

smart and new channel of communication to reach and target customers. The site initially offered

company news and product information. The following year, Hallmark released a wide selection

of free electronic greeting cards as well as e-cards that sold for a dollar fifty and online retailing

for other gift products. In mid-1999, Hallmark announced its ten-year strategic plan aimed to

triple revenues by 2010 to $12 billion (Harpham, 2006). Hallmark said it would keep its focus on

their greeting cards, but also pursue growth in five additional platforms (Hallmark Retail,

Hallmark Home and Gifts, Crayola, Crown Media Family Networks, and Crown Center). Other

major developments included the launch of Hallmark en Español, a line with over 1,000 Spanish-

language greeting cards (later to be renamed Hallmark Sinceramente); Hallmark Fresh Ink, a

more risque line of cards aimed at women between the ages of 18 and 39, and Maya Angelou’s

signature for a licensing deal to develop cads and specialty gifts featuring newly written poetry

(Harpham, 2006).

Donald J. Hall, Jr., grandson of Joyce Hall, took over as CEO in 2002. As the new leader,

he quickly dismissed the ten-year strategic plan, claiming it was a distraction and that card sales

were stagnant due to new competitors and the rise of technology (e.g. IMs and text messaging).

Hallmark looked to cut down on costs and shut down the manufacturing plant in its downtown

Kansas City headquarters, sending the production to other factories. The company outsourced a

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lot of its information-technology services as well in 2004 and by the next year, the workforce

was at 18,000 from the original 20,000 when Hall Jr., became CEO. The fall before Hallmark’s

Sweet Music! campaign, the company launched a program that would restore its network of

Hallmark Gold Crown stores. Through this program, the company put a fresh mix of their

products in stores and reorganized floor layouts for better user experience.

Throughout its history, Hallmark has been aware of its internal/external environments

and the needs of its target publics. They have adapted to any changes they saw fit in order to

keep their greeting cards relevant and communicate with their publics through advertising of

their products and through their growing and diverse subsidiaries.

Research on the Publics

We believe that there was no target publics that were negatively affected by the issue of

card sales declining, but employees and artists of the greeting card company could be impacted if

the issue continues. In the ‘Situation Analysis’ of the case study, card sales were generated by

purchases of both Hallmark Gold Crown Card (HGCC) members and non-members. Later, in the

objectives, Hallmark will only mention consumers as their target public.

We do not think Hallmark targeted the right publics because they didn’t clearly identify

one specific target. Consumer focus groups, which happened in December of 2005, were a good

research method to use but did not explain who participated. Based on findings from the product

research explained in the case study, we think Hallmark should have targeted:

● Big fan groups of artists featured on the sound cards ages 16-30

● Adults ages 20-80 who have children/grandchildren or friends celebrating birthdays or

graduations soon

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There were four research studies conducted to gain a better understanding of the product to

potentially help solve Hallmark’s situation (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 274):

1. Product Research: Looked at the use of music as a marketing tool and found it would

help “social expression” and “brand relevance”

○ The type research method was not specified, but we assume it was a mix of casual

research and secondary research, using informal interviews with “colleagues and

other helpful individuals” and systematically looking for existing information on

music (Smith, 2017, p. 26).

2. Consumer Focus Groups: Revealed that the “wow” impact of the card as an incentive to

purchase

○ This type of research method was primary research

3. Sales Data Research: Discovered through preliminary results what appealed to consumers

(HGCC vs. non-HGCC) about the 2006 Valentine’s Day themed sound cards compared

to 2005 Valentine’s Day

○ This type of research method was we assume both primary and secondary

research

4. Consumer Online Idea Exchange Research: Showed what consumers did and didn’t like

about the cards

○ This type of research method was primary research

The research Fleishman-Hillard did was adequate, but we believe their formative research

should have discovered more distinctive publics to target. This way the campaign could have

been planned and evaluated easier. Two ways this could have happened would be:

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 1. Done secondary research/causal research on the company itself and found out more about

the demographics/psychographics of their main consumers

2. Created various focus groups with those specific demographics/psychographics (i.e.

parents, grandparents, and music lovers)

Collecting qualitative or quantitative data from these focus groups would help further the

objectives and the overall campaign.

OBJECTIVES

“Objectives grow from the organization’s goal statements, which themselves emerge

from the mission or vision statement that the organization has defined for itself. Thus, objectives

are responsive to a particular issue that the organization has recognized as important to its

effectiveness” (Smith, 2017, p. 109). Hallmark recognized the issue that industry-wide card sales

have been flat for years so they created the music cards to tap into deep human emotion. By

doing so, Hallmark’s sound card product launch created two core objectives (Hayes et al., 2012,

p. 275)

● Raise customer awareness of the new sound cards (Awareness)

● Increase sales by driving traffic to Hallmark Gold Crown stores to try the new

“shopping experience” (Action)

Their first objective of raising customer awareness for the new sound cards is an impact

objective and their second objective of increasing store sales and providing a new shopping

experience for customers is an output objective . Both of these objectives are goal-oriented

which emerge from Hallmark’s research finding to build a “wow” factor with the new sounds

cards. Additionally, these objectives are public-oriented due to the fact that Hallmark is aiming

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to spread awareness of their sound cards to their publics. However, as mentioned in our research

section above, Hallmark only describes consumers as their target public which isn’t very

specific.

The objectives themselves don’t include a percent increase within a certain time frame.

The overall time frame is included by mentioning that this campaign was conducted over a 5-

month timeframe and planning sessions took place in April through May of 2006, while rollout

occured in July through August 2006 (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 275). As a suggestion, Hallmark

could of included these dates into their objective statements to make them measurable by stating

they will raise customer awareness by 50 percent by the end of May 2006 for their first

objective, and increase sales by 15 percent by driving traffic to Hallmark Gold Crown stores by

the end of May 2006.

Although these two objectives are goal-oriented, they are not measurable which is a

standard of an objective according to the Smith book. As Smith states, “An objective is a clear

and measurable statement, written to point the way toward particular levels of awareness,

acceptance, or action” (Smith, 2017, p. 107). Therefore we recommend these three objectives to

manage this issue:

● Awareness: Hallmark’s first objective for this campaign aims towards awareness

however, they don’t state what specific public they will expose the music cards to.

We suggest the new objective for awareness be, “To have an effect on the

awareness of music fans between the ages of 16 and 30 by 40 percent by the end

of the next financial quarter.”

● Action: Hallmark’s second objective for this campaign aims towards action

however, they don’t specify on how they plan to bring customers into Hallmark

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 stores. To bring specification to this objective, we recommend that the new action

objective should say, “To increase the acceptance of consumers between the ages

of 16 and 80 toward the sound cards by 10 percent within the next financial

quarter.”

● Acceptance: Since there isn’t an objective on acceptance, we created the

objective, “To increase the sales of consumers between the ages of 20 and 80,

specifically who are parents/grandparents with children/grandchildren/friends

celebrating birthdays or graduations soon by 20 percent within the end of the next

financial quarter.”

PROGRAMMING

Hallmark and Fleishman-Hillard put four different strategies in place to achieve their

objectives. The first strategy implemented was to create a sense of surprise and excitement to

generate media attention, drive traffic and attract consumers (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 275). This

was a proactive strategy that coincided with both the objective to raise consumer awareness by

creating a sense of surprise and generating media attention and the objective to increase the sales

of the new sound cards. This is considered a communication strategy because they gained

publicity and generated news with their surprise factor, according to Smith (2017, p. 141). Much Commented [4]: change
Commented [5]: I guess u also have to find a page
like the first strategy, Hallmark sought out to leverage the cards themselves. They planned on number too if u are quoting from the book

doing this by demonstrating the key attributes of product and sound technology. By

demonstrating the use of music to communicate a unique message through the card itself they

garnered media attention. This is a proactive strategy because they generated news as well as

formed coalitions with artists to be featured in their cards (Smith, 2017, p. 123). Commented [6]: change

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 Other strategies implemented by Hallmark and Fleishman-Hillard included using

Hallmark’s creative experts to tell a story and leveraging the product’s ability to reach beyond a

core target and speaking to a “nontraditional” secondary audience. The creative experts at

Hallmark put both of these strategies into action when they demonstrated the cards through buzz

generating tactics including:

● Providing sample cards at the MTV VMAs to generate buzz in the music industry that

attracted new music artists to the concept, and had a handful of celebrities’ order cards

● Targeting new consumers by reaching out to fan club sites of different featured music

artists

● Generating buzz among music fans by doing trade-for-mentions on radio stations that

would give away five “box sets” of cards that matched the genre of the station as well as

doing a radio media tour by having DJs play the cards on air

● Used customized pitching to target media outlets with card samples that fit the outlets

niche (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 276)

In this case the “nontraditional” secondary audience, we assume, is likely to be music

fans so the creative experts reached this audience through music-related tactics (Hayes et al.,

2012, p. 273-275). These strategies and tactics would be considered proactive action strategies

because they engaged the audience/publics in different events/special events such as the VMAs

and the radio stations (Smith, 2017, p. 122-123). Both of these strategies were useful for raising

consumer awareness about the cards as well as being able to bolster the card sales. The team’s

key strategy was to leverage their extensive research about the consumer need/desire to raise

awareness about the cards. We agree with the strategies and tactics they put into place to reach

their objectives. These strategies were effective in raising the sales of the cards as well as

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forming the foundation for Hallmark’s new “innovations” platform (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 274).

The strategies were also efficient in being able to reach the target audiences that they set out to

reach as well as the “nontraditional” audience in music lovers.

We believe that Hallmark and Fleishman-Hillard put many communication principles

into effect throughout the campaign’s life. Ethos, pathos and logos were all used during the

product launch as well as verbal communication. According to Smith, ethos is based on the

character of the speaker and on the common ground shared by speakers and audiences (Smith,

2017, p. 203). We see Ethos being demonstrated throughout Hallmarks’ tactics. When they

provided sample products at the MTV VMAs they were able to secure multiple partners that

would be featured in their cards. More than 200 celebrity partners were reached including Snoop

Dogg, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At the Disco (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 276). They were able to

showcase their three C’s of effective communication as well:

● Credibility: With a backing of over 200 musical artists and years of card making

intuition, Hallmark more than demonstrated their expertise on the subject. This is shown

through their cadence in working with the musical industry (i.e., VMAs and the radio

shows) in order to further promote their product towards their target audiences. They

showed competence as well when they rode off the success of their focus groups and

consumer online idea exchange research in order to drive sales from the product into a

positive margin.

● Charisma: Hallmark is already known by a wide margin of American citizens so the

familiarity factor has always been there. Throughout the product release Hallmark was

able to demonstrate the attractiveness of the new product. Aiming towards improving on

an old product in the “sound card,” Hallmark was able to produce a card that appealed to

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 music lovers and gave them a chance to express their feelings through famous artists’

songs and lyrics.

● Control: With the overarching theme of the campaign being set to revive a dying product

Hallmark set out to produce a powerful new product that would reward its buyers. The

power behind Hallmarks success was the reward of a more “personalized” musical

experience per designated target. Perhaps, one could also consider the guilt appeals that

may have been put into place when an individual person presents a card that does not

have the same “personalized” musical experience to a loved one.

The cards were able to produce an emotional appeal known as Pathos. Pathos was produced as a Commented [7]: this reads weird

positive appeal through the cards. This is presented through the music produced by the cards that

can provide many of the general positive emotional appeals including love, virtue, humor, and

sex appeals. Logos is presented by factual proposition which states that something exists, based

on provable evidence (Smith, 2017, p.215). These factual claims come from research done

before the initial full release of the card line. This includes the sales data research done on

Valentine’s Day in 2006. This research was able to show that the release of the music cards

brought in new and younger consumers when compared to 2005. In 2006, Hallmark also

conducted a consumer online idea exchange research. Hallmark polled 1,000 consumers about

their cards that showed that 91 percent of people found the cards appealing and 82 percent

indicated that they would purchase a card (Hayes et al., 2012, p. 274). As explained by Smith,

both forms of research link to awareness and helped Hallmark build greater understanding on

how to release and attract consumers towards the new product. Verbal communication was Commented [8]: Release consumers??

presented during many of the tactics put into place during the product launch. This is shown in

the radio media tours and trade-for-mentions, where Hallmark was able to:

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 1. Deliver key messages via creative spokespersons by giving DJs cards to play live

on air

2. Offer trade-for-mentions that generated buzz among music fans by having

giveaways on radio stations that provided cards of the station’s genres (Hayes et

al., 2012, p. 276)

The overarching theme of the campaign was to create a product with an immense “wow”

factor that would help maintain the company’s relevancy. This key message was strong because

it sought an innovative way to keep a dying product alive. With the creation of the Sweet Music!

line, the cards were able to tap into human emotion. Merging it with the rise of personalized

music, Hallmark re-solidified a brand that reminded consumers of the power of the greeting card.

Sound cards had already been invented, but Hallmark jumped on the opportunity to enhance the

experience with their approach of using original songs by original artists. This approach was able

to deliver an experience the industry never witnessed beforehand. Among other things, we Commented [9]: I feel like this is pretty repetitive and
the strategy or programming phase needs to focus
more on HOW they sold their card (tactics like their
believe the key message was perfect for what the company aimed to do. With it they were able to news releases or whatever)

create several objectives and strategies that delivered the impact they sought to create. Overall,

this generated a nine percent increase in cards sales from the previous year (Hayes et al., 2012, p.

273- 274).

EVALUATION
In the Hallmark campaign social research was conducted. By using high media platforms

such as MTV, radio and the social status of celebrities and getting them to write personalized

messages, this type of research successfully analyzed the specific demographics from the events

held. The evaluative research verified each objective by focusing on what the individual

customer wanted instead of analyzing or doing further research to understand what the company

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would financially gain. Both the objectives could be verified by evaluative research and were

appropriate.

However, we are not sure if it was an adequate evaluation that needed to be made since

both objectives are somewhat vague. In addition to Hallmark’s own evaluation of its campaign,

we found that Hallmark’s revenue between 2005 and 2006 increased by 115.706 million dollars

(Macrotrends, 2019). Hallmark saw a 9 percent increase in sales of every day cards compared

with 2005 according to their own evaluation. In the objectives section, it was never stated how

much Hallmark wanted to increase sales by, so we cannot be entirely positive if the action

objective just met the desired results or exceeded them. Although the objectives were vague, the

goal was to increase card sales, so we agree they were successful with this. Summative research

could have been done through the same consumer focus groups that we suggested in the

‘Research on Publics’ section of our analysis to understand acceptance of the cards. We could

complete a message recall which would allow us to figure out the awareness objective of the

card. The campaign case produced a lot of media results, declaring it had successfully raised

consumer evaluation. Even though the evaluation was considered to be adequate at the time, the

Smith (2017) book explains that evaluating message exposure with media impressions is not an

accurate indicator of target public awareness.

STEWARDSHIP
Kelly (2001) explains the importance of stewardship to PR as it being, “easier to keep a

friend, than make a new friend” and Hallmark was weak in communicating to music executives

and artists for their overall appreciation for their involvement. Without constant reciprocacy, the

music executives and artists were unaware on the developments of the cards and how Hallmark

17
believed they could be beneficial to the music industry in the ongoing future. If they had

stronger, long-lasting relationships, they could hold on longer to their fan audience and

secondary audiences, too.

The mentioning of famous artists who participated in campaign in some form gives

Hallmark’s campaign a more successful edge to it but Hallmark failed to give credit where it’s

due by thanking them and continuing its relationships with artists. Hallmark could have even

done a collaboration with artists and their new album releases with curated cards but they

didn’t— they profited off the artist’s buzzworthy name for a short term event. The artists are an

integral part to this music and sound inspired campaign and there just was not enough

recognition or consideration to the artists. Furthermore, Hallmark stressed the importance of

secondary audiences but those audiences had no engagement or input on what music they would

want on the cards. Most importantly, fans could potentially pick up on this lack of genuinity

from Hallmark sound cards. Hallmark did also not continuously report to their fans on the

direction of the campaign, as in what new music collaborations will be released.

Recent Developments
Hallmark is firmly planted in the lives of Americans across the country and people

around the world. Specifically, in regards to Hallmark Greetings, the business offers a “wide

range of greeting cards, gift wrap and related products in more than 100 countries and 100,000

retailer rooftops worldwide” (About Hallmark, Hallmark). In 2019, Hallmark and its subsidiaries

employ more than 28,000 people worldwide.

Hallmark’s current mission is creating a more emotionally connected world and making a

difference in the lives of others (About Hallmark, Hallmark). The company culture emphasizes

caring and creativity as the foundation of their company with the two translating into action.

18
Hallmark’s dedication to proving they care about employees and consumers has helped establish

a global creative community that is fulfilling the Hallmark mission every day. Diversity and

inclusion also play an integral role in Hallmark’s culture and values.

Steve Doyal, is the senior vice president of public affairs and communications has been

working in a variety of roles since 1974 at Hallmark’s headquarters. Doyal claims they have an

integrated approach when it comes to building the company’s brand and presenting themselves

in the marketplace. He says the difference in the PR work they did 10 or 15 years ago was a shift

from pushing information to welcoming conversation and dialogue. They’ve embraced

technology and recognized its convenience factor. This allows for a broadened circle of people to

keep connected, which is a core brand mark of Hallmark. Doyal said there was no challenges in

trying to reach a broad audience, because they don’t try to reach everyone. With great brand

recognition, their marketing and PR efforts focus on things that align with their core consumer:

“moms with kids, grandmas and moms with kids who are no longer at home,” (Jaques, 2011),

which he claims is the sweet spot Hallmark’s consumer target.

Below is a timeline with major developments and changes within the company since the

2006 Sweet Music! campaign. These embrace the Hallmark mission statement, as well show the

change in PR practices Hallmark has implemented.

2006: Hallmark Magazine, a women’s lifestyle magazine is launched (Harpham, 2011).

2009: Hallmark’s Ad Campaign from longtime agency Leo Burnett, features a series of

15 second TV spots showing how spouses, children and mentors respond to unexpected

cards (Mullman, 2009).

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2011: Life is a Special Occasion Campaign, Hallmark uses this campaign to talk with

consumers about moments instead of milestones, focusing on the real rather than ideal,

and inspiring moments that are spontaneous (Hallmark Cards Inc., 2011).

April 2015: Valentine’s Day Ad Campaign, this campaign is a social experiment

involving grown-up children expressing their appreciation without using the greeting card

standards of “Thank you” or “I love you” (Mahoney, 2015).

November 2015: Digital Holiday Campaign, this campaign was an opportunity to reach

target audiences through only digital devices. The campaign released a series of videos

#KeepsakeItTogether meant to reflect unconventional family antics during the holiday

(Dua, 2015).

January 2016: #HallmarkAtWalgreens Ambassador Campaign, this was a year round

campaign that included a series of influencer marketing flights at Walgreens working to

drive brand awareness of their products at Walgreens to show that Walgreens is the most

convenient location with the widest range of Hallmark products designed to generate

excitement towards Hallmark’s cards and products (Shorty, 2017).

February 2016: #CareEnough Campaign, series of video ads posted to Youtube that

included same-sex couples (Gryboski, 2016).

2018: Free Card Friday Campaign, Free Card Friday invites consumers to visit their

local Hallmark Gold Crown store each Friday to select a complimentary card from the

“Just Because” card line to send as a simple act of kindness. These cards represent more

than one million opportunities to lift a spirit, support a friend in need, send an unexpected Commented [10]: +cantleydc@mymail.vcu.edu

Needs to be paraphrased
smile or celebrate a moment shared between loved ones (Voran, 2018).

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In Conclusion: Hallmark still remains the leading company in the greeting card industry. The

company never rests when it comes to thinking of campaigns to introduce new lines, partnerships

or business endeavors. Because of this, the company has been able to overcome obstacles for

over 100 years that may have caused the greeting cards’ insignificance.

Guidelines and Lessons Learned from the Campaign Analysis

Although Hallmark was able to create a successful campaign by their standards, we

believe that it was weak in almost all places of the ROPES analysis. From the very start, the

formative research lacked a lot of research methods that may have taken the campaign on a better

and more measurable route. The research Hallmark did should have informed them on who to

target and how to target them. It should have set up a benchmark or a specific way to measure

the objectives they would create later. From this, we learned just how pertinent research is as it is

the foundation to a great campaign.

Hallmark’s objectives were weak and this was mainly due to the inadequate research

done prior. Consumers were not specific on demographics or psychographics and objectives

were not time specific. It is not linked to any formative research as there is no distinct change

Hallmark states in either of the two. Hallmark only had two objectives and we learned from class

lecture that is ideal for three objectives to be paired with a goal. This allows for an awareness,

acceptance, and action objective and will later help lead the campaign when discussing strategies

and tactics. From this part of the study, we learned that good objectives will lead to a better

understanding of the impact made on the targeted publics when it comes time to evaluate the

campaign.

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 We felt that the programming section was the least flawed part out of the campaign. The

tactics Hallmark implemented were successful in achieving their objectives even though they

were weak. With only two objectives there was not much room for Hallmark to create multiple

defined tactics to help advance an objective further. This section of the study helped us to

understand the benefit of well-written objectives when considering tactics.

Hallmark’s evaluation of the campaign was weak due to the ways in which they decided

to measure the campaign. The objectives never stated how they would measure successfulness

which allowed for Hallmark to claim the campaign’s effectiveness. We understand that back then

the standards may have been lower, but a good campaign requires legitimate data or evidence to

prove the campaign actually achieved something.

Hallmark lacked stewardship methods that could have potentially elongated the success

of their campaign. Hallmark did no service to themselves to not truly connect with audience fans

or analyze them, they only really focused on the audiences they drafted for their campaigns

themselves. Creating long lasting relationships with their clients (music executives and artists)

could have benefited them in the future should they choose pursuits beyond their cards and into

their merchandise. Additionally, stewardship was genuinely completely omitted from their

campaign leaving us, as analyzers, to only assume any measures they would take in standard

business practice. We learned from this section of the case study, that stewardship is an

important part of any PR campaign that will foster relationships and draw the line between an

adequate campaign and a great campaign.

Conclusion

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 Overall, the Hallmark campaign had many mistakes. We believe those flaws stemmed

from the very beginning with the research phase. Without adequate research, they could not

support their end results. The analysis of the public's and organization could have been more

thorough but Hallmark chose to focus more on the problem and how to make their product sell,

rather than what consumers to sell to and why. The poor research created a chain reaction that

hurt the rest of the campaign all the way to the evaluation stage. This left us unsure if it was truly

an effective campaign based on the lectures and readings we learned from the ROPES process.

Despite this campaign’s flaws, we think Hallmark as a company has established itself as

a major leader in the greeting card industry, not only in sales, but in the many other innovative

ways in which it has kept its brand namesake alive. Looking at Hallmark’s history, as well as its

more recent changes pertaining to its PR practices, we believe the company still has a great

future ahead of them.

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