HALLMARK HOLDS BIRTHDAY CARD GIVEAWAY, CONTEST
By Adnews Staff
Hallmark Canada will hold a free birthday card giveaway at its Gold Crown stores in Canada on Saturday. Between noon and 3:00 p.m. customers at any of the greeting card manufacturer's 300 Gold Crown locations will receive a free Shoebox Greetings card. The company is tying the promotion to a survey Hallmark recently commissioned from Ipsos-Reid about Canadian attitudes toward birthdays. According to the results, 86% of adults feel receiving a card makes their birthday special. Any given day is the birthday of approximately 85,000 Canadians. Only 5% of those surveyed choose to avoid or deny their birthdays. In addition to the giveaway, Hallmark has also begun a scratch and win contest. Purchasers of greeting cards between now and Sept. 3 will receive a scratch and win card. Approximately $4 million in prizes will be awarded, including four top prizes of $25,000. The card giveaway is being promoted with two newspaper ads in the Friday issues of the National Post and Metro Today. The contest is being supported with in-store materials at Gold Crown retail outlets and with a television commercial. The tagline is, "Hallmark puts the 'Happy' into Birthdays." The scratch cards and in-store materials were created by Capital C of Toronto. The television advertising was done by Leo Burnett of Toronto. Public relations are being handled by Strategic Objectives of Toronto.