Wednesday, December 1, 2010

American Greetings and Taylor Swift Help Celebrate the Holidays

Christmas greetings and collector's ornament now available at retailers across the country

CLEVELAND, Nov. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Ask anyone who knows anything about Taylor Swift, or ask Taylor herself, and you'll learn that she loves Christmas. This holiday season, fans and greeting card enthusiasts can enjoy 10 new cards written and inspired by Taylor Swift for American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM). These warm holiday sentiments are available at select retailers, along with boxed cards and a collector's edition Heirloom Christmas tree ornament.

The new seasonal cards feature joyous winter scenes, delicious holiday cookies, and of course snow-covered Christmas trees. For the fans collecting the cards by the butterfly numbers on the back, these greetings represent #78-80, #114-116 and #164-167.

The boxed cards collection includes the iconic "heart hands" image that fans know and love with a seasonal twist: a festive pair of red gloves! Adding to the holiday fun is Taylor's very first Heirloom ornament, which features a depiction of a scene from her "Love Story" video, and plays the award-winning song.

"Christmas by Taylor Swift is such a natural fit because she really loves the holiday! This year we focused on pairing fun and iconic imagery with Taylor's holiday sentiments to ensure a collection that is sure to delight friends and family," states Lindsay Kalback from Taylor Swift's brand management team at American Greetings. "The holidays are the perfect time to celebrate the important relationships in our lives and we know that fans of Taylor's cards will find the perfect way to do just that."

The Taylor Swift greeting card collection can be found at select American Greetings' retail partners throughout he United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom Australia, New Zealand, and US military bases worldwide. Fans can find the collector's edition ornament at American Greetings and Carlton Cards Stores. Those who enjoy sending e-cards can send Taylor Swift cards online from americangreetings.com.

For more information, including store locations in your area, please visit us at www.corporate.americangreetings.com. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanGreetings and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amgreetings.

About American Greetings Corporation

For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships. The Company's major greeting card lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards. American Greetings also has the largest collection of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc. (the Company's online division). AG Interactive also offers digital photo sharing and personal publishing at PhotoWorks.com and Webshots.com and provides a one-stop source for online graphics and animations at Kiwee.com. In addition to its product lines, American Greetings also creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.6 billion, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide. For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.

ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT

Taylor Swift is a four-time GRAMMY winner, the top-selling digital artist in music history, has had singles top both the Country and Pop radio charts, and had the #1 best-selling album in any genre of music in 2009. With 1,046,718 copies sold in the US in the first week of release, last month her Speak Now album scored SoundScan's biggest single-week sales total since 2005 and is the biggest debuting country studio album in history. With the release of Speak Now, Taylor made history on the Billboard Hot 100, charting a record-breaking 11 songs from one album in a single week. Taylor, who writes all of her own songs, has career record sales now in excess of 17 million albums and 31 million song downloads.




This year, at the age of 20, she became the youngest artist in history to win the music industry's highest honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. Also at the 2010 GRAMMYs, she took home the awards for Country Album of the Year, Best Country Song, and Best Country Female Vocal Performance. Her 6x-Platinum FEARLESS album is the most awarded album in Country music history.

In 2009, she was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards, and also became the youngest artist in the 43-year history of the Country Music Association to be awarded country music's top prize when she took home the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. Taylor currently holds the Billboard all-genre records for most first-week downloads by a female artist, for the longest charting album of this century and for most Top 20 debuts in a calendar year, as well as the Billboard record for the largest overall airplay audience for a country-based act.

Taylor plans to tour in support of SPEAK NOW, and is currently slated to play 85 shows in 18 countries in 2011. Her 15-month, 107-date FEARLESS 2009/2010 Tour sold out arenas and stadiums in 88 cities in five countries spanning four continents.