American Greetings and Taylor Swift Celebrate One Year Anniversary in the Card Aisle

News provided by

Mar 22, 2011, 09:17 ET

CLEVELAND, March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Last spring, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) introduced greeting card enthusiasts to cards written and inspired by four-time GRAMMY winner, Taylor Swift. Over the past year the popular collection has grown and evolved as it continued to always find ways to add uniqueness to the card aisle. As the greeting card company and singer/songwriter celebrate the first anniversary of their partnership, a new line has been introduced to commemorate spring birthdays, friendship, and love.

The spring collection includes 28 designs and features the "handmade" format that was introduced for Valentine's Day as well as all-new music cards. Highlighted by everything from paper tip-ons and photo corners that look as if an actual glossy photo is attached to the front of the card, these greetings capture the look and feel of cards that take hours to create. In addition to these personal touches, there are also six new music cards featuring several of Taylor's hit songs, including "Love Story," and "You Belong With Me."

This latest collection is actually as special for the people who worked on it as it will be for the consumers who use it share their feelings with family and friends. Looking back at one year of collaboration and creativity, the American Greetings team has definitely love, love, loved every minute of the work that has gone into bringing this collection to life.

"Partnering with Taylor Swift has been an awesome experience. We all really appreciate the challenge that comes from bringing such an honest and authentic voice to the card aisle and continuing to make the product fresh and exciting," states Lindsay Kalback, a member of "Team Taylor" at American Greetings. "As a group we want to top ourselves with each new line and the spring collection is a great example of that. The cards really use Taylor's inspiration to capture a moment and allow you to tell that other person how amazing they are in a way that is personal and truly beautiful."

The Taylor Swift spring greeting card collection can be found at select American Greetings retail partner locations stores nationwide. Those who enjoy sending e-cards can share Taylor Swift cards online from americangreetings.com.

For more information, including store locations in your area, please visit us at www.corporate.americangreetings.com. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanGreetings and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amgreetings.

About American Greetings Corporation

For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships. The Company's major greeting card lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards. American Greetings also has the largest collection of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc. (the Company's online division). In addition to its product lines, American Greetings also creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.6 billion, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide. For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.

ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT

Taylor Swift is a four-time GRAMMY winner, the top-selling digital artist in music history, has had singles top both the Country and Pop radio charts, and in 2010 sold more albums than any other artist in any genre of music. With 1,046,718 copies sold in the US in the first week of release, her Speak Now album scored SoundScan's biggest single-week sales total since 2005 and is the biggest debuting country studio album in history. With the release of Speak Now, Taylor made history on the Billboard Hot 100, charting a record-breaking 11 songs from one album in a single week. Taylor, who writes all of her own songs, has career record sales now in excess of 17 million albums and 31 million song downloads. Her Fearless album was 2009's top-selling CD, and she was the top-selling artist of 2008.

Last year, at the age of 20, she became the youngest artist in history to win the music industry's highest honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. Also at the 2010 GRAMMYs, she took home the awards for Country Album of the Year, Best Country Song, and Best Country Female Vocal Performance. Her 6x-Platinum FEARLESS album is the most awarded album in Country music history.

In 2009, she was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards, and also became the youngest artist in the 43-year history of the Country Music Association to be awarded country music's top prize when she took home the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. Taylor currently holds the Billboard all-genre records for the longest charting album of this century, for most Top 20 debuts in a calendar year, and for the largest overall airplay audience for a country-based act.

Taylor is on tour in support of SPEAK NOW, and is currently slated to play 90 shows in 19 countries in 2011. Her 15-month, 107-date FEARLESS 2009/2010 Tour sold out arenas and stadiums in 88 cities in five countries spanning four continents

SOURCE American Greetings Corporation