Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has announced that Kelly Courtenay has been promoted to the post of Creative Director. Kelly has managed Card Connection’s Creative Department for the past four years.

Michael Johnson, Managing Director of Card Connection, said: “Kelly’s promotion is in recognition of the excellent job she has done directing and managing the Creative Department. Our greetings cards and ranges of accessories are now arguably the best they’ve ever been. Kelly and her team have been instrumental in developing the product range and alongside this, managing the integration into UK Greetings, and working with increased production from the Far East.”“We aim to create a fantastic variety of cards that are as accessible as possible with something to appeal to everyone,” confirmed Courtenay. “From birthday to seasonal, to humour, licensed character, contemporary hand-made, to more traditional sentiment style cards, all across various price points and formats. Our quality range is unparalleled in our convenience market sector we specialise in and yet, it is often our focus on the little details which is appreciated by our retailers and consumers the most. We have some really exciting new ranges in the pipeline and I am very much looking forward to bringing these to life in the capacity of my new role.”

Prior to joining Card Connection, originally as Senior Creative Manager, Courtenay worked at Hotchpotch Publishing, a design-led publisher that manufactures greeting cards for independent retailers and major high street stores, where she was design and marketing manager. Courtenay has also previously worked for International Greetings plc.

Last year, Card Connection celebrated its 21st year in operation as a franchisor is one of the UK’s largest card publishers and is the market leader in the franchised distribution of greeting cards. The business’ unique model of consignment sales has resulted in a strong brand and established reputation which has been proven over many years. Through its franchisees Card Connection supplies about 12,000 retailers throughout the UK.