Ensocoat SBS board, which is manufactured by Stora Enso Packaging Boards, has been selected as the principal card material for the Hallmark Cards in the Dutch market. The choice was based on the board's brightness, good stiffness and overall service together with the company's aim to cut costs. Stora Enso Packaging Boards and Hallmark Cards Nederland B.V. signed a long-term partnership agreement in December 1999. The wholesalers are Bührmann-Ubbens.

"Cardboard must have good stiffness, brightness, gloss and a surface that is suitable for multi-colour printing. In tests carried out by us, the stiffness properties of Ensocoat were found to be excellent in comparison to other SBS boards," says Guido van den Berg, Operations Director at Hallmark.
The company uses a basis weight of 275 g for its cards, which guarantees the required degree of stiffness found in testing. The properties of Ensocoat board have also been tested in the market - cards should not yellow or curl on an open shop shelf. In addition to material properties, consistency, reliability of delivery, optimum timing of board deliveries, R & D support, and an appropriate sheeting size were decisive factors in the choice of supplier when the long-term partnership agreement was drawn up.
Hallmark Cards, Nederland B.V. is a subsidiary of the American company, Hallmark Cards Inc, the world's biggest card manufacturer. The Netherlands, where consumer quality requirements and trends are highly representative of European tastes, is a growing market area for the company. In addition to the traditional Christmas card season and Mothers' Day, Valentine's Day has become another major season for sending cards. Hallmark predicts that the new spring cards launched by the company will gain popularity in Europe instead of Easter cards.
"The Internet has not decreased people's desire to send cards. On the contrary, a personal, hand-written message is valued, and the Internet has encouraged people to participate in a new communications culture in which there is room for both hand-written cards as well as e-mail," says Guido van den Berg.
Hallmark and Stora Enso Packaging Boards carry out joint product development work for which, thanks to the new partnership agreement, there will be even better opportunities. New possibilities in product development will be offered, for example, by digital printing.

Caption:
In tests carried out by Hallmark, the stiffness properties of Ensocoat board (275 g/m2) were found to be excellent.
SBS = Solid Bleached Sulphate

For further information, please contact:
Stora Enso Oyj
Special Food Packaging Boards
Mr Jussi Ojamaa, Sales Director
FIN-55800 IMATRA
FINLAND
Tel: +358 2046 22159, Fax: +358 2046 24767
E-mail: jussi.ojamaa@storaenso.com

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