In the 1970's while working in Atlanta as a graphic designer, I decided to launch a greeting card company. Young and full of clever ideas, I named my fledgling company Bullfrog Press and got a printer friend to run off a batch of the six cards I had designed.
I then went into all of Atlanta's hip book stores and gift shops trying to place my awesome cards. Yet, in one store after another, I was met with icy stares and the same terse line, "We buy all our merchandise at the wholesale shows." It finally dawned on me that my sales plan was flawed. Instead of wearing myself out in the futile attempt of going from store to store, I needed to find a single distributor for my greeting card line. Luckily I found one such company in the Atlanta Merchandise Mart downtown and they agreed to take a look at my cards. After a quick perusal of my six cards, the owner looked at me, "These are great but where are your other ones?" On learning that I only had six cards, he took me over to a glass case. "These are the companies that you would be up against, American Greeting Cards and Recycled Paper Products each with dozens of cards in dozens of lines. Your six cards would be a most difficult sell." On seeing my crestfallen appearance, the owner smiled and agreed to give my cards a shot. "Your cards are quite good. Let's just hope they don't end up on the bottom of my salesmen's cases." Sadly, that is exactly what happened and the end of Bullfrog Press quickly followed.
2 Comments
1/10/2023 02:18:39 pm
Thanks for your comment. Three of those original six cards from long ago plus much more of my art on products can be found at my online store, www.zazzle.com/store/denisgastonart
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Denis Gaston
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