By: Deborah Johnson Wood
This holiday season, business owners who are concerned about the environment can accomplish three goals at one time: send an inexpensive holiday wish to clients and associates, send that wish with earth-friendly cards, and plant three trees in a United States forest with every order.
Pleasantrees, a holiday greeting card company created by Grand Rapids-based Baudville, recently launched the only line of business-to-business holiday greeting cards printed on Forest Stewardship Council-certified recycled paper. And with every order they receive, Pleasantrees pays American Forests to plant three trees in a forest on U.S. soil as part of its Global ReLeaf program.
“In August 2007 we revamped all our greeting cards and put them all on recycled paper,” says Falon Peters, spokesperson. “We created holiday cards in 2007 under the Baudville brand and they did so well we created the Pleasantrees brand to promote the green aspects.”
Pleasantrees’ goal is to plant 55,000 trees by 2010; last year under the Baudville brand the company planted 15,000 trees.
This year, Pleasantrees added one full-time designer who helped create 125 exclusive designs. The company opened for business online and via catalog on October 1. To date, 240 orders (25,000 cards and 720 trees) have been processed—and Peters said the season hasn’t even ramped up yet.
“This is really a great way to send your customers and clients a holiday wish and to get them to think about the environment,” Peters says. “On the back of every card it says, ‘Cheers to whoever sent you this card. Three trees have been planted with American Forests.’”
Source: Falon Peters, Pleasantrees
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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