Hallmark Cards history

Founded in 1910 by teenage entrepreneur J.C. Hall, and remaining a private company with family members on the board of directors today, Hallmark’s businesses employ approximately 27,000 worldwide and generate revenues of approximately $3.5 billion.

Our story begins in 1910, when 18-year-old Joyce Clyde Hall stepped off a train in Kansas City, Mo., with nothing but two shoeboxes of postcards under his arm.

The postcard business soon outgrew the store's resources, and Joyce moved it to Kansas City in 1910.

11, 1915, a fire destroyed their office and inventory.

The fateful fire resulted in the decision to buy printing presses and begin producing their own greeting cards in 1915.

By 1915, the company was known as Hall Brothers and sold Valentine’s Day and Christmas cards.

In addition, Hallmark tended to rely less on its ten thousand retail shops (most run as independent franchises) and more on large discount chains, such as Kmart and Wal-Mart (see entries), and supermarkets and drugstore chains. It will do so because of its philosophy toward its employees and customers, which can be summed up in the verse that appeared on the very first Hallmark card in 1916: "I'd like to be the kind of friend you are to me."

In 1922, the company expanded throughout the country.

The trademark name "Hallmark" first appeared on the back of cards in 1925.

In 1928, the company introduced the brand name Hallmark, after the hallmark symbol used by goldsmiths in London in the 14th century, and began printing the name on the back of every card.

Meantime, the company’s first licensing deal was concluded in 1932, when it gained the right to use Walt Disney characters on its products.

In 1944, Hall Brothers introduced its now famous slogan, "When you care enough to send the very best." It also began sponsoring the wartime radio show, "Meet Your Navy."

1944: First use of the slogan "When you care enough to send the very best."

In 1951, Hall sponsored a television program for NBC that gave rise to the Hallmark Hall of Fame, which has won 80 Emmy Awards.

The Hallmark Hall of Fame television specials began in 1951.

In 1954, the company name was changed from Hall Brothers to Hallmark.

1959: The Ambassador Cards line is launched to serve shoppers at mass merchandisers.

Hallmark then created a lowend line of cards called Ambassador in 1959 to be sold through mass merchandisers, foreseeing the time when card buying trends would shift away from card shops and more toward discount food and drug stores.

The new brand fills a gap between the original Hallmark line and the Ambassador line, which first appeared in 1959.

In 1973, Hallmark Cards started manufacturing Christmas ornaments.

The Crown Center development suffered a disaster in 1981 when two suspended walkways at the center's Hyatt Regency hotel collapsed, killing 114 people and injuring 225.

Hallmark bought Crayon-maker Binney & Smith in 1984.

In 1986 Donald Hall retired as CEO and handed the post to president Irvine O. Hockaday Jr.

In 1987 Hallmark, after being a prominent advertiser in the broadcast media for many years, became an owner as well when it acquired a group of Spanish-language television stations from Spanish International Communication.

The United States Supreme Court refused to hear the case in 1988, allowing a lower court ruling against Hallmark to stand.

In 1990 Halloween ranked third on the list of most popular occasions for adults to attend parties, behind New Year's Eve and the Super Bowl.

In 1991 the "Personalize it!" in-store kiosk was introduced (later called Touch-Screen Greetings), through which customers were able to create computer-generated personalized greeting cards.

Likewise, Hallmark's venture into Spanish-language television was abandoned in 1992 at a loss of $10 million when Univision was sold to Grupo Televisa.

In 1992 competitor American Greetings introduced computerized card-making kiosks to the marketplace.

Moreover, in 1994, Hallmark developed recordable greeting cards in partnership with Information Storage Devices.

Despite the increased competition, which caused the slight decline in market-share, the company posted record-high sales of $3.8 billion in 1994.

Then in 1995, Hallmark purchased a 9.9 percent stake in European broadcaster Flextech for $80 million.

United States and Canadian operations were consolidated and a 1995 restructuring brought together for each Hallmark card brand its administrative, marketing, and product-development function.

Research by Hallmark Cards revealed that Halloween was the eighth most popular occasion for exchanging greeting cards in 1995.

The company teamed up with National Geographic TV in 1995 to create a series of made-for-television movies.

Since 1996 he had also served as vice-chairman of the company’s board, a position he retained.

Since consumers wanted the convenience of finding Hallmark products wherever they shopped, the company launched a new line of cards, Expressions from Hallmark, in 1996.

Hallmark racked up net sales of $3.6 billion in 1996, placing thirty-fifth on Forbes list of the largest privately held companies in the nation.

Still in expansion mode, Expressions from Hallmark arrived in 1996.

In October 1997 Hallmark's brand equity was ranked fourth among 282 national brands in a study by Total Research Corporation.

The company also announced plans to introduce a new brand name in 1997, Expressions by Hallmark.

In 1997 the company purchased William Arthur, Inc., a West Kennebunk, Maine-based maker of customized and prepack-aged stationery products.

In 1997 alone Hallmark sponsored 87 films and mini-series for television, including Gulliver's Travels and Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo.

And why should they? Thanks to a generous profit-sharing program, employees now own one-third of the company." (Company literature placed employee-ownership at 25 percent in 1998.)

By 1998, 11 million American households collected Hallmark ornaments, and 250,000 people were members of the Keepsake Ornament Collector's Club.

In 1998, Hallmark made a number of acquisitions, including Britain-based Creative Publishing (a recent spinoff of Fine Art Developments), and United States-based InterArt.

A second acquisition in 1999 brought The Picture People into the Hallmark fold.

As the 21st century began, Hallmark had to contend with an enlarged competitor in the form of American Greetings, which purchased the number three card company, Gibson Greetings, in 2000.

In 2001 Odyssey's name was changed to the Hallmark Channel, and the network began stepping up its showings of Hallmark Hall of Fame productions.

2001: The Odyssey channel is relaunched as the Hallmark Channel.

Later in 2001 Hallmark lost a major account when Kmart Corporation elected not to renew its contract with the greeting card giant and to instead make American Greetings its exclusive card supplier.

At the end of 2001, Hockaday retired having shepherded the company through a decade and a half during which revenues increased from less than $1.5 billion to more than $4 billion.

Hallmark now has its own cable television channel, the Hallmark Channel which was established in 2001.

Under these market pressures, Hallmark began seeking opportunities to shave costs, and in mid-2002 it started shutting down the manufacturing plant at its downtown Kansas City headquarters, shifting the production to other factories.

Hallmark made a change in leadership in 2002 when Donald J. Hall Jr. was named president and CEO, replacing Hockaday, who retired.

In the fall of 2004 the company launched a program to revitalize its network of Hallmark Gold Crown stores.

In early 2006 the Hallmark Entertainment production company was sold to the unit’s president, Robert Halmi, Jr., and the private investment firm Kelso & Co.

In the meantime, Hallmark boosted sales at its Gold Crown stores with the introduction in 2006 of a new line of “Say It with Music” greeting cards, retailing at $4.99 apiece.