Hallmark’s Shoebox Line Ads to Include Cards

Hallmark Cards Inc.’s Shoebox division plans to announce a new $3-million advertising campaign that will include free greeting cards. The three-month campaign will consist of ads in 16 national magazines, including People and Cosmopolitan, said Shoebox General Manager Ellen McKeever. The ads, which will begin appearing in some July issues, are expected to reach more than 15 million households. Privately held Hallmark is the nation’s biggest greeting card maker, with about $3.6 billion in annual sales. Shoebox, a collection of humorous cards, makes up about 16% of the Kansas City company’s sales of everyday cards. The new campaign comes just three months after Cincinnati-based American Greetings Corp., Hallmark’s closest competitor and the largest publicly traded greeting card company, launched a campaign to boost sales of its “Anytime” line of cards. That campaign included real--but unusable--cards inside national magazines.