Swift Decision

Working with celebrities is nothing new for Michael Brown. During his 11 years at the Cleveland-based greeting card giant, the vice president of licensing for American Greetings has brokered deals with everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to Larry the Cable Guy.

But Brown was thrilled when Scott Swift, father of country/pop music superstar Taylor Swift, called the company last spring to propose creating a line of greeting cards penned by his daughter. Brown knew that the 20-year-old was more than just another pretty crooner.

“Every song that she sings, she either writes or co-writes,” Brown explains. “She is an incredible talent.”

Brown estimates that more than 200 cards by the singer-songwriter, from birthday to holiday greetings, will be introduced during the 18 months after the line’s March launch. And that’s just the beginning of the company’s multiyear partnership with Swift. Gift packaging, stationery, e-cards and online photo-personalization products, all bearing her name, are on the drawing board.

We recently talked to Brown about how American Greetings bested a competitor in signing Swift, how co-workers are developing her talent for the company’s specific needs and the benefits of an association with her.

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IB Why did Scott Swift call American Greetings instead of a competitor?

MB He called a competing greeting card company as well.

IB How did you win over her father and management team?

MB We looked at the opportunity to work with Taylor because of her writing talent and her ability to connect with people in a sender-receiver relationship. Our competitor didn’t do that. Our competitor really looked at her as Taylor the image.

IB Isn’t American Greetings planning to put her picture on cards?

MB Less than 20 percent of the line is going to have her picture on it. That’s true for all content that we create. It is not, again, about Taylor the image. It is about Taylor the writer.

IB Are you surprised that your competitor didn’t recognize that talent?

MB It’s one thing to be able to write great songs — you know she’s got that talent. But does that translate into writing great greeting cards? I would say [Taylor] was a calculated gamble.

IB Who is working with her to develop that talent?

MB We’ve met with her four times so far. ... We have the same small group of product-development and creative people at every meeting. We’ll give her blank cards to write with. Or we’ll give her a mocked-up card. On the inside, we’ll have a note that says, “Write a greeting card to a close friend you haven’t seen in a while.” Another one might say, “Write a greeting card to your mom, whom you love very, very much” or “Write a greeting card to your best friend for her birthday.” We’ll give her a stack of 50 or 100 of those. She also has some influence on the design. It’s a very unique process. In the 11 years that I’ve been at American Greetings, we haven’t ever done it this way.

IB Have you been pleased with the results?

MB Back in October, we gave Taylor her first 50 cards. We’d gone through the process of helping her understand what a sender-receiver relationship is, helping her understand how good content works in a greeting card and what we hope it will do. The first stuff came in, and we got 10 cards out of it. That kind of ratio would be considered on par with [that of] a pro at American Greetings.

IB How does American Greetings’ deal with Taylor fit with its corporate strategy?

MB Our corporate strategy is to align ourselves with content that consumers are familiar with and meets their needs and wants. The broader success we have is with content that cuts across multiple demographics. Taylor does.

IB What does American Greetings hope to gain from its association with her?

MB She connects with young adults. That connection is exciting to us because it can bring people who are more technologically savvy into the greeting card department, into a traditional market that right now has people 25-plus, 30-plus buying the product. It all goes back to the writing. Art attracts, verse sells.

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