No holiday season produces more greeting card sales than the Christmas season, and Hallmark Cards Inc. is one of the industry’s top sellers. Today, Hallmark is known for much more than just their greeting cards. The Hallmark Channel and their famous Christmas movies have become the center of holiday traditions in many households. Expanding their reach and breaking into a variety of industries, Hallmark even owns the art supply company, Crayola. So, when a child picks up a crayon to make their own greeting card at home, Hallmark is still involved. But Hallmark’s expansion from greeting cards into multiple industries did not just happen. The foundation for everything the successful, family-owned business is today was laid by its founder.
Born in 1891, Hallmark founder J.C. Hall learned the value of salesmanship at an early age. To help his struggling family, Hall began selling perfume door to door when he was 9 years old. His older brothers saved enough money to buy the small bookstore they worked at and allowed Hall to work there as a teenager. The brothers decided to go into the postcard business when Hall was 16. At age 18, Hall dropped out of high school to pursue this entrepreneurial venture. Facing slow business in his small Nebraska town, he left with two shoe boxes full of postcards and went to Kansas City. There, he sold to gift shops and drugstores just to keep his business alive. Eventually, Hall’s brothers joined him and with combined funds, they opened a new store. Firmly planting their roots in Kansas City, it soon became the birthplace of the early Hallmark card.
The Hall brothers’ store specialized in selling stationary, gifts and books in addition to postcards. In the earliest part of the 20th century, postcards became extremely popular. The craze eventually died down almost as quickly as it came, leading the brothers to find their next budding trend. Once they decided that greeting cards were the way to go, they began selling them in their store. However, the brothers faced tragedy in 1915 when a fire destroyed their inventory. Determined to bring their business back to life, the Halls took out a loan and reopened in a new building. They also made the pivotal decision to purchase an engraving company, which was used to manufacture greeting cards with original designs.
Serving as the card company’s president, Hall possessed a stellar intuition and a natural instinct for business. It was his idea to begin branding the Hall Brother greeting cards as “Hallmark cards” because he knew the catchy name would be great for branding. He recognized the value of advertising and began purchasing ads in magazines, radio and eventually, television. His goal was to have his company name heard by as many people as possible. Sponsoring programs under the Hallmark name became an important strategy for him, starting with “Tony Wons’ Radio Scrapbook” in 1938. During every broadcast, the host would read Hallmark greetings and encourage listeners to purchase the company’s cards.
Some of Hall’s most impactful business decisions came when he turned his attention to the visual entertainment industry. Back in 1932, Hall entered a licensing agreement with his friend Walt Disney. Under this agreement, Hallmark Cards would have permission to print designs featuring Disney characters. This mutually beneficial agreement still stands today. As Disney continues to grow, Hallmark continues to acquire new material for designs, including “Star Wars” and Disney Pixar characters. The agreement allows parents access to cards with their kids’ favorite characters and allows Hallmark to benefit from the latest Disney films’ popularity.
In the 1950s, Hallmark began producing their own films and television programs. Following the same strategy as he did with radio, Hall decided to sponsor a television opera called “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” The program aired on Christmas Eve, 1951, on NBC and marked the start of Hall’s “Hallmark Hall of Fame” series. “Hallmark Hall of Fame” is an ongoing anthology series of television films that continues to produce and air new films to this day. Hall’s film anthology differs from other TV anthology series like “The Twilight Zone,” which aired new episodes weekly, brief enough to fit standard TV episode timeslots. Still, the made-for-television nature of “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movies allows the aired series to be regarded as the longest-running primetime television series in history. It was also one of the first television series to air in color.
After leaving a lasting legacy and setting his business on a path for success, J.C. Hall died in 1982. The company was left to his son, Donald Hall. Donald Hall eventually stepped down and let his own son, Donald Hall Jr., take on the CEO and president positions. The 1980s and 90s were an important era for Hallmark expansion. In 1984, Hallmark acquired Crayola. In 1994, Hallmark purchased a television production company that they renamed as Hallmark Entertainment. The company collaborated with The Jim Henson Company on many products, as well as the eccentric sci-fi drama “Farscape.”
In 1998, Hallmark Cards and The Jim Henson Company purchased large stakes in a television channel called Odyssey Network. In 2001, the channel was renamed “Hallmark Channel.” Today, the Hallmark Channel continues to air its own original television series as well as those romance movies that have rebranded the company’s image. The year 2009 was when the Hallmark Channel first hosted its own “Countdown to Christmas.” Considering the company’s greeting card roots, it is easy to see why Christmas is their holiday of focus. After all, Christmas cards sell more than any other seasonal greeting card.
Hallmark’s greeting card business is staffed with a small, exclusive team. As of 2016, every Hallmark greeting was written by 1 of 24 staff writers. Additionally, the company employs photographers, illustrators and graphic designers to create each greeting card. The company does not take unsolicited materials from outside sources and all contributions come from their own team. Going back to the ideals of their founder, quality is everything for Hallmark. J.C. Hall made his business motivations clear in his autobiography, “When You Care Enough.” As written in the book, “Producing a first-class product that is a real need is a much stronger motivation for success than getting rich.” It is true that the Hallmark brand has grown immensely from where it began. Their product lines now include jewelry, clothing and more. Former CEO Donald Hall is said to have a net worth of 1.3 billion dollars. Still, Hallmark never completely abandoned their identity as a greeting card company and remains Hallmark Card Inc., never forgetting the product that made their business a success.
