All Topics  
American Greetings

 
American Greetings

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

American Greetings
 
 
  Topics American Greetings Topic Home

American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card
Greeting card

A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions, such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feeling....
 company. It is based in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border....
 and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products (such as wrapping papers and decorations), and electronic expressive content (e.g., ringtones and images for cellphones). In addition to the American Greetings brand, the company owns the Carlton Cards, Tender Thoughts and Gibson brands of greeting cards.

American Greetings is also famous for their toy design and licensing division, Those Characters From Cleveland (now American Greetings Properties).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'American Greetings'
Start a new discussion about 'American Greetings'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


American Greetings Corporation, Inc. is the world's largest publicly-traded greeting card
Greeting card

A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions, such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feeling....
 company. It is based in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border....
 and sells paper greeting cards, electronic greeting cards, party products (such as wrapping papers and decorations), and electronic expressive content (e.g., ringtones and images for cellphones). In addition to the American Greetings brand, the company owns the Carlton Cards, Tender Thoughts and Gibson brands of greeting cards.

American Greetings is also famous for their toy design and licensing division, Those Characters From Cleveland (now American Greetings Properties). The most-popular copyrighted properties owned by this division include Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake is a Licensing#Artwork and character licensing owned by American Greetings, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products....
, the Care Bears
Care Bears

The Care Bears are a set of characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik....
, The Get-Along Gang
The Get-Along Gang

The Get Along Gang were characters created in 1984 by American Greetings' toy design and licensing division, Those Characters from Cleveland , for a series of greeting cards....
 and Holly Hobbie
Holly Hobbie

File:DVD Holly Hobbie and Friends Surprise Party.jpgHolly Hobbie is an American writer and illustrator, and the name of a fictional character based on this person....
. American Greetings also holds an exclusive license for Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon is an United States cable television network owned by Viacom International, founded in 1977 as Pinwheel. The Pinwheel name was used until 1981....
 characters. In 2008, American Greetings announced the sale of its Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake is a Licensing#Artwork and character licensing owned by American Greetings, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products....
 and Care Bears
Care Bears

The Care Bears are a set of characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik....
 properties to DIC Entertainment (now part of Cookie Jar Entertainment
Cookie Jar Entertainment

The Cookie Jar Group is a Canada producer of children?s entertainment, consumer products and educational materials. Made up of three divisions: entertainment, consumer products, and education, Cookie Jar Group is one of the world?s largest independent children?s entertainment, consumer products and education companies with ownership and lice...
). However, on January 9th, 2009. it was announced that the planned sale had been called off. As a result, the properties remain under American Greetings' ownership as the company searches for a new buyer.

History

Founded in 1906 by Polish immigrant Jacob Sapirstein (1885-1987), who sold cards from a horse-drawn cart, American Greetings has been run by members of the family since its inception. Irving I. Stone (Sapirstein's oldest son, who changed his surname to Stone) was stuffing envelopes at age five, handling the business during his father's illness when he was nine, and worked for the company fulltime on leaving high school. He was succeeded as CEO by his son-in-law Morry Weiss in 1987, and took the title "Founder-Chairman" previously held by his father, when Weiss became chairman in 1992, before dying in 2000. In 2003 Morry Weiss's sons Zev and Jeffrey became CEO and President respectively; Morry Weiss remains Chairman. In early 2007, American Greetings replaced Kellogg's as the sponsor for Dragon Tales
Dragon Tales

Dragon Tales is an United States animated children's television series chronicling the adventures of two siblings, Max, Emmy, and their neighbor, Enrique , and their dragon friends Cassie, Ord, Zak and Wheezie....
. American Greetings has also branched out onto the Internet, and owns a network of websites. On October 25, 2007, it announced the purchase of Webshots
Webshots

Webshots is a large free online photo sharing site owned by American Greetings....
 from CNET for $45 million in cash.

Licences

(Note: not all licenses are original creations by American Greetings. Some were licensed from third parties, where indicated)
  • Dragon Tales
    Dragon Tales

    Dragon Tales is an United States animated children's television series chronicling the adventures of two siblings, Max, Emmy, and their neighbor, Enrique , and their dragon friends Cassie, Ord, Zak and Wheezie....
  • Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures
    Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures

    Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures is a Slice of life story animated cartoon intended for young children. The show premiered on January 19, 2008 on most PBS Kids stations....
  • Care Bears
    Care Bears

    The Care Bears are a set of characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik....
  • Get-Along Gang
  • Holly Hobbie
    Holly Hobbie

    File:DVD Holly Hobbie and Friends Surprise Party.jpgHolly Hobbie is an American writer and illustrator, and the name of a fictional character based on this person....
     (original)
  • Holly Hobbie & Friends
  • Lady Lovely Locks
    Lady Lovely Locks

    Lady Lovely Locks and the Pixietails was a character property created by American Greetings Corporation in the mid-1980s. The characters were licensed for a toyline by Mattel, and for a syndicated animated television series by DiC in 1987....
  • Madballs
    Madballs

    Madballs were a series of toy rubber balls with strange and disgusting faces created by AmToy, a subsidiary company of American Greetings in the mid-1980s....
  • Maryoku Yummy
  • My Pet Monster
    My Pet Monster

    My Pet Monster is a plush doll first produced by American Greetings in 1986. As one of the few plush dolls marketed to boys at the time, My Pet Monster would prove popular throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s....
  • Paintbox Studios
  • Peppermint Rose
    Peppermint Rose

    Peppermint Rose was a line of dolls made by Mattel and American Greetings in the early 1990s. It also inspired an animated half-hour special that was made in 1993, aired syndicated and released on video....
  • Popples
    Popples

    Popples was a series of fictional characters created by Those Characters From Cleveland , a subsidiary company of American Greetings, and the plush toys were manufactured by Mattel....
  • Pretty Freekin Scary
  • Strawberry Shortcake
    Strawberry Shortcake

    Strawberry Shortcake is a Licensing#Artwork and character licensing owned by American Greetings, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products....
  • Sugar Sonic
  • Sushi Pack
    Sushi Pack

    Sushi Pack is a children's Saturday morning cartoon that is aired on CBS's KEWLopolis animated cartoon block. It features a team of wasabi, salmon Egg sushi, crab sushi, tuna sushi, and octopus sushi as they use their wits and their emotions to save the world and educate young children....
     (created by Studio Espinosa and Cloudco )
  • TinPo (created by UNKL )
  • Twisted Whiskers
    Twisted Whiskers

    Twisted Whiskers is a design for greeting cards developed and licensed by American Greetings since 2001. It includes digitally modified photos of animals, creating a caricature....


Cartoonists

  • R. Crumb
  • Peter Guren (Ask Shagg
    Ask Shagg

    Ask Shagg is a syndicated daily comic strip drawn by cartoonist Peter Guren since 1980. It is currently distributed by Creators Syndicate; it had been distributed by United Feature Syndicate from 1980 until 1995....
    )


See also

  • Cardmaking
    Cardmaking

    Cardmaking is the craft of handmaking greeting cards. Many people with interests in allied crafts such as scrapbooking and stamping have begun to use their skills to start making handmade cards....
  • Carlton Cards
    Carlton Cards

    Carlton Cards Limited is the Canadian branch of American Greetings. Their lines of cards include Carlton, Gibson and Tender Thoughts. They also distribute the American Greetings line of cards in Canada....
     - American Greetings' Canadian branch.
  • Carlton Cards Retail
    Carlton Cards Retail

    Carlton Cards Retail, Inc. is a subsidiary of American Greetings and owns and operates its card and gift stores throughout the USA and Canada. This is not to be confused with Carlton Cards Limited....
     - American Greetings' store management.


External links