CCA Christmas Cards
I had to include a category of CCA Christmas Cards because they are probably the largest printer of personalised christmas cards in the UK. CCA Occasions are based in Leyland, Preston and are are owned by US publishing giant Taylor Corporation which owns a further 80 or so other subsidiaries in the publishing sector throughout the world.
CCA celebrated their centenary year back in 2006 and whilst they specialise in other greeting cards such as wedding stationery, and social stationery it is Christmas cards that they earn their reputation on. The CCA name once stood for the Christmas Card Association but had been known simply as CCA for many decades. The company was renamed CCA Occasions following the Taylor buy out. In recent years a number of other Christmas card brands have been acquired by the CCA brand. Waterlow and Noel make their debut in 2009 and Fine Impressions, an earlier acquisition by the Taylor Corp, is finding itself more and more a single entity after its operations were merged on the same Preston site in 2007.
CCA have affiliations with a large number of charities, however in recent years the focus has been in supporting a smaller core set of 12 charities. For 2009 these charities are Barnados, Macmillan Cancer Support, British Heart Foundation, Willow Foundation, Save the Children, Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, PDSA, Children’s Hospices UK, NSPCC, PDSA, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and the HELP group of charities. The charity’s logo is printed inside the cards on the facing page to the Christmas greeting so the receiver knows where the charity donation is going. CCA run white label sites for many of these charities so the charity does not need to be involved in the day to day running of a Christmas card business; they simply receive the royalties direct from CCA Occasions.
CCA also operate white label sites for a large number of familiar high street brands, mail order companies, and office supply depots including WH Smith, Rymans, Viking Direct, Kall Kwik and many more. The reach of their Christmas card range does not stop there and there are many more independent retailers who act as agents for the CCA Occasions brand. It is among these smaller companies that many of the best deals can be found as they are able to set their own prices, special offer and promotions.
In recent years, CCA have invested heavily in plant to produce digital Christmas cards on demand. This means that they are able to offer better flexibility in design and front personalisation and it also means that they are not holding stock of dated designs which is a more efficient and environmentally friendly method of print manufacture. The company takes their environmental responsibilities seriously and all their paper and board products from responsibly farmed and sustainable forestry resources. Most of their digital print on demand cards are produced on 50% recycled stock and 50% FSC pulp.