Christmas Cards have been around since the 1800's as a way of helping people keep in touch with family and friends. More recently, businesses have used them as a way of marketing themselves and to help build relationships with customers and suppliers. The first modern day Christmas Cards can be traced back to 1843 when 1000 lithographed cards were distributed via British Post at a cost of 1 Pence each. It wasn't until 1875 that US citizens could purchase locally published cards and, in places like Australia, it is only in the last 20 years that cards have started changing from scenes of Santa in the snow to more familiar local summer scenes. In the last 5 years, the Internet has brought us eCards which are popular ways of sending messages via email, in addition to the cards sent via the post. Christmas 2005 sees another development in the history of the Christmas Card with the introduction of a new style eCard. It is called the Better Christmas Card and has been designed to help raise money for Charities and Local Community Groups around the world. You can purchase a personalized card with a photo of you, your family or favourite scene for as little as US$10, that you can send to all of your family, friends and or customers. You can also phone in to a toll free 1-866 number in the USA and leave a personal audio message for your friends and loved ones to listen to as they view your eCard. One of the fun things is that your card is added to a Christmas Cards Board. The board is a web page collage of what could well become thousands of other cards. It is based on the same 'Pixel Ad' system that saw 21 year old UK entrepreneur Alex Tew earn himself over $900,000 in three months. Each day there is a Treasure Hunt to find winning prizes behind the cards on the Cards Board. Card sale proceeds will be divided so that 10% goes into a prize pool to be drawn on January 10th and 20% will be distributed to charities, chosen by the participants. Community Groups such as Schools, Churches, Sports Club and Charities can earn up to 40% commissions on sales as a Christmas Fundraiser. They are also entitled to free cards. Rob Anderson, founder and CEO of Community Enabler Pty. Ltd., the Australian parent company of BetterChristmasCards and Co-OpWorld.com (a company created to bring local communities together), explained why he created this product. "We were looking for a fun and simple way to help foster the Christmas Spirit. There are so many different cards on the market, but we knew there was space for something that was much more personal. After all, this time of year is largely about celebrating friendships and acts of giving. What we just need now, is the support of everyone. We need people to tell their friends, businesses and community groups about us, so we can raise as much money as possible for Charities and Community Groups around the world. In particular, we are hoping businesses will see how this product can help them stand out from the crowd and foster stronger relationships with their suppliers and customers. They can get started for only $10 a year to contact all their customers. Plus, it also acts as an advertising product. We are convinced it can help bring businesses new customers as they are seen to be supporting worthy causes." There will no doubt be more Christmas Card innovations as technologies, such as the Internet and multimedia, become a bigger part of our lives. Better Christmas Cards will be just one of many new products that helps people better connect with friends and family at Christmas time for only a few cents per contact, just like those first British Christmas cards. More Info: http://www.betterchristmascards.com/ Contact Person: Rob Anderson (Founder)
Community Enabler Pty Ltd
1 Mayfield Ave
Camberwell 3124
Australia
Email: media@co-opworld.com Australia 61-3-98090075 USA - 1-206-984-3026 |
