Spring Fever
Today’s Mom must find time on the weekend to shop, run errands, spiff up the house, and spend quality time with the children. Hallmark Gold Crown stores decided to do something to lend a hand with Hallmark Family Fun Day.
On March 20, families including grandmas and dads went to stores to shop for spring and take care of Passover or Easter needs, while the kids engaged in creative and fun activities ranging from hands-on art projects, to a photo op with a 34-inch stuffed Benson Bear, to participation in storytelling.
If Mom bought any three Hallmark greeting cards, her kids could take home a free Fun Pack filled with three packs of Crayola Model Magic Modeling Compound, ribbons, stickers, and instructions for a dozen activities they could do with Mom’s help.
We were challenged to develop activities that kids would enjoy and that could be executed within the confines of stores varying in size, shape, layout, and, in some cases, product. We went out and visited stores around St. Louis to measure floor space and talk to retailers and sales associates. We talked to kids, too.
A product called Hallmark Storybook Friends Presented by Crayola made storytelling a natural. This is a line of books, plush toys, and activity kits created through a partnership between Crayola and Hallmark. Hallmark merchandising drew up a number of floor plans with spaces for storytelling, a crafts table for art activities with adult supervision, an area for a photographer and balloon backdrop for the photo op, a register-to-win display, a spot for in-store demonstrations of Hallmark products, and a way to queue store traffic to circumvent the events.
We created a 12-page managers’ guide and a guide for sales associates that included everything from a day-to-day countdown calendar to phone numbers they could call to add child safety activities to their event. The guide featured suggestions for “over the top” ideas such as hiring local magicians, face painters, clowns, balloon sculptors, and rubber stamp demonstrators.
The program was billed as the world’s largest one-day reading event as local celebrities and teachers joined families to usher in the first day of spring.
