I gave my Mom one of Hallmark’s recordable greeting cards for Mother’s Day – a week early today on May 4th. She loved it.

To fight e-cards, Hallmark launched a whole big line of these recordable greeting cards which have a 10-second message on a computer chip embedded in the card, followed by a 15-second cut of music.

They introduced some of the cards at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony earlier this year and got several celebrities and Rock Stars to make recordings, such as Tom Hanks, Billy
Joel, John Mellencamp and more.

The cards, sell for $5.99, are easy to use with a voice prompt to instruct you when to press and hold a button inside the card and record a message, which is then followed by the music.

I gave my Mom Phil Collins’ You’ll Be in My Heart and I can tell you first hand these cards Rock and could do well for you in B2B too – I’ve already sent some. They’re worth it, because they make such a strong impact.

Hallmark’s Sound Cards line, which now includes several hundred designs and songs, has been a winner for Hallmark in the two years since they were launched and have helped drive an 8% increase in 2007 companywide revenue to $4.4 billion.

American Greetings sells similar cards too.  Check them out – what a great innovation!

You could say Greeting Cards is a mature industry, but look what a little innovation does.

Coffee drinking was considered mature till Starbucks came along too.

Are you in a “mature” industry?  GOYA and create something remarkable!

Don’t forget Father’s Day is June 15 – check out Hallmark’s cards here, and be sure to  listen to Cris Rock’s!