May 1, 2012

National Stationery Show 2012: Green Banana Greetings Debuts Unique New Pop-Up Card Products

Green Banana Greetings, a new, innovative company full of outrageously clever and colorful pop-up greeting cards, gift card holders, announcements, invitations and more, will showcase its product lines at the National Stationery Show in New York City from May 20-24, 2012 in booth 1934. This is the company’s first time exhibiting at the National Stationery Show. The show has not even begun, yet they’ve been recognized and were named finalists for Product Innovation under $5.00 in the 2012 LOUIE awards, which are called the Academy Awards of the greeting card industry. They are awarded once a year by a panel of industry experts, including retailers, manufacturers, and the media. They are also finalists in the National Stationery Show’s Best New Products Competition in the Paper Style category. Both are significant achievements for a company who’s exhibiting for the first time.

Established by Seattle area graphic designer, Michael King along with his wife Candace, the company launched their abundant line of fun pop-up card products locally… and as a hobby in 2010. After considerable encouraging by customers, friends and family – they decided to take their “hobby” to the next level – the national debut at this year’s National Stationery Show.

What inspired Michael and Candace to develop their cards? “When I had a previous design studio, I came up with this pop-up idea for our business cards. I was amazed at how many people, including CEOs, had our cards popped up… and staying up on their desks. They loved the concept. So years later, after a lot of concepting and prototypes our cards were created. We both realized that everyone loves the concept of our cards that pop-up and stay up!” They’re cards measure 6.25″ x 4.5″ and fit in standard A6 envelopes. They retail for $3.95 for individual cards and $23.95 for 8 card packs.

Their very first product was Peek-A-View!™, a line of cards for giving gift cards as gifts. “We searched around and could not find anything unique to give a gift cards in for Christmas – they were either standard cards that you just threw your card into or were too bulky and impractical to send via the mail. Volia! We developed Peek-A-View… which family and friends loved! Our tagline “The Smile’s Inside” is very fitting for our products.”

With continued development they’ve went on to create numerous products and product lines – Fill’er Up!™ (recipe card line), Now HEAR This™ (birth & moving announcements), Time’s UP™ (Save the date cards), What’s UP!™ (party invitations), Getting’ UP There™ (Birthday invitations), Fresh Squeezed™ (greeting cards), InSights™ (business card greeters) and DayToDay™ (calendars). They are also continuing to work on numerous “secret” products that they hope to debut later this year and in the future.

Mike exclaims, “My biggest heroes of inspiration are Walt Disney and Steve Jobs – both these men were innovators and creative thinkers. They weren’t afraid of the challenges of creating something new… they had an idea and they created it. I want… in just a little way… make people see things differently and I think our pop-up cards will stand out… and stand UP in the creative stationery market.”

About Green Banana Greetings
Created by the husband-and-wife team of Michael and Candace King – Green Banana Greetings is a boutique stationery company based in Washington state. Michael, who’s self-proclaimed business title is Top Banana, has been an award-winning graphic designer for almost two decades and has been running LoudEdge, Inc., his graphic design & advertising studio, for the past 10 years. Throughout his career he’s had the wonderful opportunity to express his creativity with many clients, including: U2, Microsoft, Seattle Seahawks, Disney, Weyerhaeuser, LPGA, WorldVision, Coinstar, and many others. His wife, Candace, a stay-at-home mom who also homeschool their 12 year-old son and who’s business card title reads Second Banana, is the company’s artistic director, she helps art direct new card designs, helps with product development and in her words “Keeps Mike in line and grounded with all his rampant ideas.”

For more information, visit www.greenbananagreetings.com or visit Green Banana Greetings at the National Stationery Show in booth 1934.