Hallmark's Asian Valentine
The tradition of card giving on Valentine's Day seemingly an American phenomenon is taking root in Asia, too. Yet, when Asian customers buy Valentine's Day cards, they often choose the original English versions even when they don't speak the language.
Hallmark's greeting cards are known throughout the world. The Kansas city-based company has developed into a $3.5 billion corporation, from its beginnings in 1910 when Joyce C. Hall started producing cards from samples he stored under his bed. Now, over 90 years later, Hallmark has developed into a global company with expansion into Asia a major part of its strategy.
In Asia alone, the Kansas city-based firm acquired a company in Japan in 1994 and founded creative organizations in Hong Kong and Singapore in 1998 and in Shanghai in 1999. Hallmark representatives like to point out that Asia has developed into an "area of emphasis." Hong Kong and Singapore are being turned from distribution centers into investment centers.
In the United States alone, 67% of Valentine's Day activities consist of giving Valentine's Day cards as gifts to people. And in 2000, according to Hallmark, Americans spent more than $3.6 billion on Valentine's Day. But while the market in the United States is huge, the potential for Hallmark's 1,330 different Valentine's Day cards in Asia is even bigger.
Based on the sales of Hallmark cards, it appears that the number of consumer romantics in China, Japan and Korea is rising. This is not surprising, given that Hallmark greeting cards have proven to be a great way to overcome some of the emotional restrictions that still reign in a number of Asian societies.
Becoming Don Juan without losing face
The problem in Eastern societies is that cultural norms and romance often run into a dilemma: how do you tell a girl that you fancy her without putting yourself in a position in which you could "lose face"? In China, for example, because of cultural norms, men will perhaps never be mistaken for Shakespeare's Romeo. Romance, of the Western variety, is simply not a Chinese man's cup of tea. So, how do you overcome this dilemma? To sidestep possible pitfalls of cultural impropriety, the Chinese Don Juan goes and buys his sweetie a Hallmark card for Valentine's Day. Thus, he can express his emotions through a pre-made message on paper, rather than through uncomfortable sweet talk in person.
In Japan and Korea, the rules are somewhat different. Here men generally tend to be much less inhibited about their emotions and romantic interests. To assess just how emotional Japanese men can be in all walks of life, just recall the occasional news feature of a top Japanese or Korean CEO apologizing in tears for the weak performance or bankruptcy of his company in front of his nation's TV cameras.
In Japan and Korea, it is the women that are more emotionally inhibited than the men. So, in order for them to display some affection in a suitable manner, women will send out the Hallmark Valentine cards to the object of their affection. But, if you think Hallmark cards need to be translated into the different Asian languages to enable lovers to exchange tender words, think again.
Love talk is global, and no language skills are required.
Since most of the Hallmark cards bought in Asia are produced within country, it seemed only natural that Hallmark cards would be translated into the local vernacular. To accommodate customers throughout the world, Hallmark prints greeting cards in 30 different languages.
Thus, cards are now actually being printed in Mandarin and Japanese with plans to extend the translations to various Indian languages, such as Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil. Customer surveys, however, revealed that this effort was not really necessary.
English is the hip thing
You see, if you really want to impress your Chinese girlfriend or your Japanese boyfriend, don't send them a Japanese or Mandarin language card. This is a turn-off. Contrary to Hallmark's expectations, it turns out that Asian lovers prefer to give their sweeties English-language cards even when they speak little or no English. It is just the hip thing to do.
And upon learning of this cultural preference, Hallmark reacted quickly. Even though Chinese and Japanese descendants of Romeo and Juliet are now able to buy greeting cards in their native language, Hallmark has made sure the supply of greeting cards in English is plentiful. Thus, their customers can achieve both a display of their hip cosmopolitan flair, while also sending their sweetie that all-important message of love at the same time.
