Multiple category launches for legendary Bamforth seaside postcard collection

JELC, Global licensing agent for the Bamforth Vintage Collection, has announced that exhibitors Little Black Dog, Spencer and Fleetwood and Raiseprint will all be launching Bamforth-based ranges at the show.

Yes, the words and images that made Bamforth a multi-billion selling postcard powerhouse for more than a century are now driving the growth of an exciting new brand — and it’s a brand with massive potential, as visitors to the NEC will quickly discover.

At stand K06 in Hall 4, Little Black Dog, a major name in books and related items aimed at gift and greeting card retail, will be showing off its smart and saucy bookmarks and coasters ranges. Meanwhile, at stand B26 in Hall 5, Spencer and Fleetwood, experts in the novelty gifts and cheeky confectionery market since 1986, will be bringing the naughty but nice humour that Bamforth made classic and unforgettable to a range of high quality gift confectionery. At stand C02 in Hall 6, Raiseprint, one of the UK’s best-known names in design and print services for thirty years, will be exhibiting a range of specially produced metal signs, bringing the sly and saucy humour of Bamforth to a whole new medium.

The ranges, which will launch at retail later this year, are likely to have a strong core market in male gifting and among young adults but are also expected to appeal to a wide secondary market across all ages from teen and tween upwards.

These three exhibitors, along with greetings cards innovator Moonpig, which is launching its new range of personalised greetings cards in time for the show, will be joining the growing number of planned or potential licenses inspired by Bamforth, the original Yorkshire-based comical postcard company.

The interest is hardly surprising. The Bamforth Collection contains more than 21,000 entertaining, charming and often slightly naughty images available for licensing, many of them classic and iconic in their own right — a treasure trove for potential licensees.

Janet Woodward, Director of JELC, says: “The Bamforth Vintage Collection is a legendary name and many of its words and images are comedy classics, but it is also a brand of today with its combination of very British charm and cheekiness with colourful, arresting images. And this is a brand perfectly suited for the launch of high quality product across a wide range of specialist and mass market licences, both here at Spring Fair and throughout the year.”