American Greetings Continues To Expand Outbound Licensing Efforts With Two New Hires

CLEVELAND, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Greetings Corporation , the largest publicly traded manufacturer of social expression products and the creator and owner of such intellectual properties as Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, and Twisted Whiskers, announced today that two seasoned licensing executives have joined American Greetings Properties group (AGP) as it continues to fortify its new property development and outbound licensing efforts.

Betts FitzGerald comes to American Greetings as vice president, Outbound Licensing, AGP, and Lindsay Martinez joins the company as brand manager, AGP.

FitzGerald has spent nearly 30 years developing, executing and delivering strategic licensing and marketing programs, including over 25 years with The Jim Henson Company in New York. In her new role, FitzGerald will be responsible for signing on new licensing partners for AGP properties including Twisted Whiskers, Madballs, and many other new properties in development, as well as classic properties being primed for relaunch. Licensed categories include non-American Greetings products such as toys, apparel, publishing, and home furnishings. While The Joester Loria Group and DIC Entertainment currently manage AGP's outbound licensing for such hit properties as Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake respectively, and Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products manages Holly Hobbie, most of the licensing for the new properties will be handled internally by FitzGerald and team.

Martinez brings six years of experience in licensing and brand management to AGP, during which she has organized and implemented strategic retail initiatives for licensed character brands worldwide. At AGP, Martinez will focus primarily on Holly Hobbie. The original Holly Hobbie brand was recently relaunched with a complete line of nostalgic products including the classic rag doll and figurines. A new brand, Holly Hobbie and Friends, featuring the great-granddaughter of the original Holly, is launching via web (http://www.hollyhobbieandfriends.com/) and DVD, with the first title in the series -- "Surprise Party" -- releasing on March 7. Martinez will also work on Madballs. The popular toy-based program from the '80s will be relaunched by licensee Art Asylum this summer, beginning with the favorite squishy-faced play balls.

"We are delighted to welcome Betts and Lindsay to the AGP team. Their experience and expertise in the licensing and management of some of the world's best-known brands testifies to their talent, creativity, and business acumen," said Tamra Seldin, senior vice president, Consumer Products, AGP. "Their extensive involvement with children's properties is especially relevant as we expand our kid-focused licensing efforts. While the AGP team has been based in Cleveland, Lindsay and Betts are joining me in our new NYC-based offices, building a new center for the licensing/sales side of our outbound licensing efforts."

American Greetings relaunched its popular Care Bears brand in 2002, 20 years after its introduction, and the brand has since generated more than $1.8 billion in retail sales. Strawberry Shortcake was reintroduced in 2003, and has since produced more than $1 billion in retail sales. The two brands have nearly 500 licensees worldwide.

About Betts FitzGerald

Since 2004, FitzGerald has served as senior vice president, brand management, at Lisa Marks & Associates, Inc. in Port Chester, New York. The licensing/marketing agency's clients included such household names as Campbell's, Pepperidge Farms, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. FitzGerald's responsibilities extended to development of licensing strategies and implementation plans, marketing plans and budgets, and trade and consumer advertising.

Before joining the agency, FitzGerald was senior vice president, licensing, at The Jim Henson Company in New York City. During her long tenure at the multimedia production company of the late artist and puppetry pioneer, FitzGerald created, developed and implemented marketing, licensing and brand strategies resulting in such world-renowned properties as the Muppets, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock, and Bear in the Big Blue House.

About Lindsay Martinez

Martinez served most recently as manager, brand management, at The Beanstalk Group, a brand licensing agency and consultancy in New York City. Among the client relationships she managed were the tools supplier The Stanley Works and Game Over.

Earlier, Martinez spent five years at the New York-based licensing agency United Media, where she started in 1999 as an executive assistant and advanced to brand manager. She managed worldwide marketing budgets and helped manage accounts exceeding $20 million, including Arthur, Raggedy Ann & Andy, and Precious Moments.

About American Greetings Corporation

American Greetings Corporation is the world's largest publicly traded manufacturer of social expression products. Along with greeting cards, its product lines include gift wrap, party goods, candles, stationery, calendars, educational products, ornaments, electronic greetings, ringtones, wallpapers, avatars and emoticons. American Greetings is also the creator and owner of Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, Bubblegum and Twisted Whiskers. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual net sales of approximately $2 billion. For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com/ .

Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts. They use such words as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, but are subject to a variety of uncertainties, unknown risks and other factors concerning the Company's operations and business environment, which are difficult to predict and may be beyond the control of the Company. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements, and that could adversely affect the Company's future financial performance, include, but are not limited to, the following: retail bankruptcies and consolidations; successful integration of acquisitions; successful transition of management; a weak retail environment; consumer acceptance of products as priced and marketed; the impact of technology on core product sales; competitive terms of sale offered to customers; successfully implementing supply chain improvements and achieving projected cost savings from those improvements; increases in the cost of material, energy and other production costs; the Company's ability to comply with its debt covenants; fluctuations in the value of currencies in major areas where the Company operates, including the U.S. Dollar, Euro, U.K. Pound Sterling, and Canadian Dollar; the timing and impact of new product introductions; escalation in the cost of providing employee health care; and the outcome of any legal claims known or unknown. Risks pertaining specifically to AG Interactive include the viability of online advertising, subscriptions as revenue generators and the public's acceptance of online greetings and other social expression products and the ability of the mobile division to compete effectively in the wireless content aggregation market.

In addition, this release contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best analysis as of the date of this release. American Greetings does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release. Further information concerning issues that could materially affect financial performance related to forward-looking statements can be found in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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