article s lead section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents . please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . july 2016 this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message hallmark cards inc. type private industry greeting card founded kansas city missouri united states january 10 1910 ; 106 years ago 1910 01 10 founder joyce hall headquarters 2501 mcgee street kansas city missouri united states area served worldwide key people donald j. hall jr. ceo david e. hall president products greeting cards gift wrap party goods giftware stationery electronic greetings keepsake ornaments media entertainment brands rainbow brite shirt tales revenue us 3.8 billion 2014 1 owner hall family number of employees 16 000 subsidiaries crayola dayspring greeting cards hallmark business expressions hallmark channel crown media holdings feeln hallmark ecards hallmark ink and main press hallmark gold crown stores hallmark business connections halls sunrise greetings website hallmark.com hallmark cards is a privately owned american company based in kansas city missouri . founded in 1910 by joyce hall hallmark is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the united states . 2 in 1985 the company was awarded the national medal of arts . 3 contents 1 history 2 employees 2.1 management 2.2 creative resources 3 products and services 3.1 greeting cards 3.2 gift products 3.3 licensors 3.4 hallmark visitors center 3.5 hallmark school store 4 subsidiaries and assets 4.1 philanthropy 4.2 hallmark music 4.3 former subsidiaries 5 hallmark photographic collection 6 legal problems 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit hallmark corporate headquarters entrance . hallmark corporate offices . a hallmark gold crown store in evansville indiana . a hallmark store in markville shopping centre . joyce clyde hall became captivated by a salesman who stopped by his family s store in 1906 in norfolk nebraska . driven by the postcard craze of 1903 hall decided to venture from retail of various products to wholesale of postcards . he moved his business to the larger market of kansas city . as time went on hall became more convinced that greeting cards would become more prominent than postcards . greeting cards according to j.c. hall represented class promised discretion and they were more than a form of communication they were a social custom . citation needed by 1915 the company was known as hall brothers and sold valentine s day and christmas cards . in 1917 hall and his brother rollie invented modern wrapping paper when they ran out of traditional colored tissue paper . in 1922 the company expanded throughout the country . 4 the staff grew from 4 to 120 people and the line increased from holiday cards to include everyday greeting cards . in 1928 the company adopted the name hallmark after the hallmark symbol used by goldsmiths in london in the 14th century and began printing the name on the back of every card . in the same year the company became the first in the greeting card industry to advertise their product nationally . their first advertisement appeared in ladies home journal and was written by j.c. hall himself . 4 in 1931 the canadian william e. coutts company ltd. a major card maker became an affiliate of hall brothers which was hall brothers first international business venture . in 1944 it adopted its current slogan when you care enough to send the very best . it was created by c. e. goodman a hallmark marketing and sales executive and written on a 3x5 card . 5 the card is on display at the company headquarters . in 1951 hall sponsored a television program for nbc that gave rise to the hallmark hall of fame which has won 80 emmy awards . 6 hallmark now has its own cable television channel the hallmark channel which was established in 2001 . for a period of about 15 years hallmark owned a stake in the spanish language network univision . in 1954 the company name was changed from hall brothers to hallmark . in 1958 william e. coutts company ltd. was acquired by hallmark ; until the 1990s hallmark s canadian branch was known as coutts hallmark . in 1998 hallmark made a number of acquisitions including britain based creative publishing a recent spinoff of fine art developments and u.s. based interart . 7 8 employees edit worldwide hallmark has 11 000 full time employees . about 3 100 hallmarkers work at the kansas city headquarters . 1 management edit the current president & ceo chairman is donald j. hall . 1 creative resources edit hallmark s creative staff consists of around 800 artists designers stylists writers editors and photographers . together they generate more than 19 000 new and redesigned greeting cards and related products per year . the company offers more than 48 000 products in its model line at any one time . products and services edit hallmark offers or has offered the following products and services greeting cards edit hallmark birthday cards hallmark cards feature several brands and licenses . shoebox the company s line of humorous cards evolved from studio cards . maxine by john wagner was introduced in 1986 when she appeared on several shoebox cards the year the alternative card line was launched . hoops & yoyo were characters created by bob holt and mike adair . revilo is another popular line by artist oliver christianson revilo is oliver spelled backwards . forever friends was purchased in 1994 from english entrepreneur andrew brownsword who for four years subsequently was chief executive of hallmark europe . image craft was acquired by the william e. coutts company subsidiary of hallmark canada in the mid 2000s . hallmark has provided software for creating and printing cards . this software has been known as hallmark card studio with partner nova development and microsoft greetings workshop in partner with microsoft . 9 notable changes to their line up has been in august 2008 when hallmark added same sex marriage cards . hallmark also was the first company to recognize valentine s day . hallmarks cards is also one of the biggest data mining company in united states . gift products edit this list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it . gifts greeting cards hallmark flowers keepsake ornaments road rovers diecast cartoon vehicles 10 books stationery sentimental frames recordable plush itty bittys bookmarks licensors edit this list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it . hallmark manufactures greeting cards ornaments and related gift products from the following licensors 20th century fox beatrix potter cartoon network dc comics dr. seuss dreamworks animation family guy filstar distributors corporation ford motor company general motors hanna barbera harley davidson ice age film series looney tunes lucasfilm marvel comics mattel mgm national basketball association national football league national hockey league paws inc. peanuts peyo precious moments inc. rankin bass sanrio sony pictures star wars tervis tumbler the hershey company the simpsons the walt disney company thomas kinkade tim burton ty inc universal studios hallmark visitors center edit the hallmark visitors center is located at the company s headquarters in kansas city missouri . the center features exhibits about the company s history including historic greeting cards and postcards christmas ornaments exhibits from the company s art collection and displays about the hallmark hall of fame programs and awards . 11 there is also a movie about the company s history . hallmark school store edit alvirne high school in hudson new hampshire operates the only hallmark school store in the united states . besides normal food and beverage items the bronco barn store also sells hallmark cards . the store is run by students in marketing i and marketing ii classes and is open to students all day and after school . 12 subsidiaries and assets edit hallmark owns crayola llc formerly binney & smith makers of crayola brand crayons dayspring greeting cards is the world s largest christian greeting card company . it was purchased in 1999 from cook publishing and is based in siloam springs arkansas . hallmark business expressions formed in 1996 hallmark business expressions is a business to business subsidiary of hallmark cards inc. and is headquartered in kansas city mo. 13 hallmark channel cable television network hallmark cards owns the majority of stock in this publicly traded company crown media holdings ; hallmark gold crown a chain of independently owned card and gift stores in the united states and canada . certain locations are corporate operated . hallmark business connections incentives reward programs recognition programs and online gift certificates ; halls an upscale department store at kansas city s crown center feeln a premium subscription video on demand svod service that is the exclusive streaming provider of the hallmark hall of fame library of films along with a curated collection of hollywood features tv series and original productions . rainbow brite a franchise of children s dolls shirt tales a franchise of cards featuring animals with shirts that read different messages sunrise greetings located in bloomington in zoobilee zoo a 1986 tv show centered a zoo populated by animals with artistic tastes in addition hallmark cards is the property manager of the crown center commercial complex adjacent to its headquarters and the owner of lithographer litho krome co. philanthropy edit in 2006 hallmark donated its extensive collection of photographs by prominent photographers including todd webb to the nelson atkins museum of art in kansas city . 14 hallmark music edit in the philippines singer richard tan sang a song about hallmark cards entitled no one throws away memories . the song was featured in a commercial of the product in the 1970s . citation needed in the mid 1980s the company started its music division issuing compilation albums by a number of popular artists . citation needed in 2004 hallmark entered into a licensing agreement with somerset entertainment to produce hallmark music cds . citation needed former subsidiaries edit hallmark entertainment a producer of television shows and mini series . halmi jr. and halmi sr. acquired the company in 2006 and was absorbed into rhi entertainment ; univision hallmark owned spanish language broadcaster univision from 1986 to 1992 15 hallmark photographic collection edit the hallmark photographic collection was donated to the nelson atkins museum of art in kansas city missouri . legal problems edit neil armstrong sued hallmark cards in 1994 after they used his name and a recording of his quote that s one small step for a man one giant leap for mankind in a christmas ornament without permission . the lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money which armstrong donated to purdue university . the case caused armstrong and nasa to be more careful about the use of astronaut names photographs and recordings and to whom he had granted permission . for non profit and government public service announcements he would usually give permission . 16 on september 6 2007 paris hilton filed an injunction lawsuit against hallmark cards inc. in u.s. district court over the unlawful use of her picture and catchphrase that s hot on a greeting card . the card is titled paris s first day as a waitress with a photograph of hilton s face on a cartoon of a waitress serving a plate of food with a hilton s dialogue bubble don t touch that it s hot . which had a registered trademark on february 13 2007 . hilton s attorney brent blakely said that the infringement damages would be based on profits from the 2.49 greeting cards . julie o dell said that hallmark used the card as parody protected