Companies thinking about sending paper Christmas cards this year might want to think again.
At a time when postal strikes are threatening to disrupt business in the UK in the run up to the holiday season, a new survey has revealed that companies may be doing their reputation no good at all if they continue to send paper corporate cards through the post this Christmas.
In a survey carried out for personalised video production company www.121movies.com, 83% of respondents said that environmental concerns were such that companies should switch from paper cards to egreetings.
According to 121movies Creative Director John Clive: “Our research makes it clear that, while people do like receiving paper cards personally, they don’t believe that corporate cards are worth the environmental cost.”
The findings come at a time when thousands of companies are planning their Christmas greetings. Despite awareness of the environmental issues, the majority of company greetings this year are still expected be paper based.
Clive, a multi-award winning commercials director and digital artist, has pioneered a new kind of egreeting which he believes will help companies make the switch.
121movies are short, sophisticated movies – in full-motion 3D, rather than the traditional 2D flash format – that integrate the sender’s message and the recipient’s name into the movie itself, alongside the company's logo.
“It’s understandable,” says Clive, “that some companies see ordinary flash animation ecards as downmarket and impersonal. It’s quite a tired format. That’s why we’re determined to provide a new standard in creativity and personalisation of egreetings – providing real entertainment, pleasure and impact.”
Clive believes companies which send paper cards are shooting themselves in the foot. ”Sending a card is supposed to demonstrate appreciation; but for companies it appears to signal that you don’t care about the environment.”
The company has been running a successful consumer-facing site www.movietexts.com for the past year and the research was designed to probe consumer’s views about seasonal greetings and whether they could be persuaded for personal greetings to switch to ecards.
Among the other findings:
· 14% of people send more than 100 seasonal cards every year
· The most important factors that would make people more likely to send egreetings were having no advertising on the page and more ability to personalise the message – 80% cited each
· Despite widespread bad publicity about spam, only 16% cited fears about this as a factor in deciding whether to send an egreeting
“900,000 trees will be felled for cards this year in the US & UK alone,” says Clive, “Our unique personalisation process and the fact that neither the sender nor recipient sees any advertising, will help to overcome the perceived disadvantages of ecards for companies and individuals alike.”
Release date: 8 October 2007
For further information, please contact:
Richard Gold
07974 917 840
richardgold@121movies.com
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About 121movies
121movies was founded in 2006 by multi-award winning commercials and film director John Clive with the aim of creating a new standard in creativity and personalisation of egreetings and other messaging.
Unique to 121movies is its proprietary software MTXpress that lets users automatically personalise video content for greetings and messages (MovieTexts) and video ringtones (MovieTones). Input text is photo-realistically integrated into short movies. The software is the product of an unusual collaboration of professional skills: typography, filmmaking, 3d animation and programming.
The company’s corporate egreetings offer can be found at: www.121movies.com
The consumer website – with more than 80 movie greetings – is at: www.movietexts.com
About the survey
The survey was carried out by email in the first week of October with 102 respondents in the UK and US.
