Friday, December 07, 2007

Latest and Hottest Stationery Trend....

HOT CHOCOLATE

By Kathy Krassner

The latest hot "flavor" in the stationery industry is chocolate. From delicious chocolate images to rich shades of chocolate brown to luscious chocolate-scented papers, these products are seeing sales that are far from plain vanilla!

"Chocolate has become a modern classic. It has outlasted other color trends by its ability to be paired with a variety of colors, thus keeping it fresh," states Stephanie Sklar, v.p. of sales & marketing at Name Maker, Inc., which offers a "Chocolate Couture" holiday collection of giftwrap and ribbons that features hues of chocolate, red and white.

William Arthur features a chocolate-brown paper stock within its line of colored wedding invitations. "We know from working with the fashion designer Vera Wang that chocolate is their best-selling color for bridesmaids' dresses," comments Sean Tabb, director of marketing for William Arthur, Inc. "Chocolate's modernity and warmth make it extremely appealing for weddings. And, we see it being used for all four seasons. We also see it in the top three best-selling ink colors across all personalized categories - wedding, stationery, invitations."

Photographic images of chocolate candies appear on scrapbook papers in Masterpiece Studios' "Stemma" line. "We know there are a lot of chocolate lovers out there - ourselves included, so we brought that theme to the line," says Annie Escalera, marketing manager at Masterpiece Studios.

The tempting aroma of chocolate can also be found on several stationery items, including "Scent-A-Message" notecards from Rocking Chair Studio, LLC; and the new "It's a Chocolate Thing" line of scented notecards, bookmarks and pens from The Greeting Place.
"Who doesn't like the smell of chocolate?" asks Michael Rance, owner of The Greeting Place. "We chose a chocolate scent because it has such a wide appeal at the consumer level," he explains."Chocolate's scent positively stirs the emotion of desire - the desire for romance, the desire for decadent foods," asserts Frank Fabian, executive director of Rocking Chair Studio, adding, "Chocolate appeals to many women. Age doesn't really matter. In times of stress, a little chocolate - or, in this case, chocolate scent - can trigger powerful memories of less stressful times."

Fabian suggests displaying chocolate-related stationery merchandise with real chocolate items, such as a box of chocolates. Or, cocoa beans can be used to catch customers' attention.
"Chocolate is the new coffee," states Masterpiece Studios' Escalera. "It's a relatively affordable obsession, even when purchased by the piece in boutiques." And, it's a trend that shows no signs of melting anytime soon. According to Escalera, Masterpiece Studios will be introducing more chocolate-themed product in the near future, including scrap pads.

"I think chocolate is popular now because personal comfort and 'being good to oneself' is popular. It doesn't hurt that dark chocolate has gotten good health reviews also," remarks Rance of The Greeting Place. Adds Rocking Horse Studio's Fabian: "Chocolate has always been popular, but now with the media touting chocolate's health benefits, chocolate is the new 'health food' ... not really, but we like to think so." Happily, these tempting paper products are completely calorie free!

(source: Greetings Etc.)