The plans for National Stationery Week 2024 are off to a fabulous start with seven leading brands having pledged their support as sponsors for the week long event which will spread the love at both retail and consumer levels about all things stationery.
National Stationery Week runs over Monday to Sunday, 13-19 May, and encompasses the London Stationery Show on the Tuesday and Wednesday (14-15 May) at the Business Design Centre in London’s Islington.
Maped Helix, Pentel, Staedtler and Zebra Pen had no hesitation in coming on board as headline sponsors for NSW, each sponsoring a day, while Sinclairs has signed up as sponsor of the #Shelfie competition to kickstart the build-up, and also joins Exaclair and The Art File as a countdown week sponsor.
For the second year running, the indomitable stationery indie Sarah Laker, owner of Stationery Supplies in Marple and Wilmslow, is heading up the campaign for National Stationery Week, working closely with the Max Publishing team (which acquired London Stationery Show and National Stationery Week at the end of 2023), as well as event manager Chantelle White and founder Chris Leonard-Morgan, who is fully on board as a special advisor.
“I am delighted that we have four great headline sponsors already signed up, all of whom have repledged their support after being sponsors last year which shows how well last year’s campaign went, something we will be building on this year,” commented Sarah. “NSW is my favourite week of the year. I’ve taken part in it since the beginning in 2011, so I was beyond excited to be asked to spearhead the National Stationery Week campaign again this year.”
Adding her joy, Max Publishing md Jakki Brown said: “We’re thrilled that Sarah and so many sponsors are on board for NSW. With the fabulous line-up of exhibitors we have for London Stationery Show already, it is going to be a veritable stationery-fest, championing the delights of stationery both at the show as well as in the general market!”
Sarah is well underway with the full plans for National Stationery Week, with marketing activities for each individual day, each of which will have a dedicated sponsor. Staedtler has booked the Wednesday for its headline sponsorship slot. Showing the company’s enthusiasm, Staedtler’s senior marketing executive. Rebekah Bell, said: “We’re thrilled to be sponsoring National Stationery Week again in 2024, following the success of the 2023 event. It’s a key event for Staedtler, and this year is set to be full of colour and creativity!”
And Pentel is Tuesday’s sponsor, as marketing manager Wendy Vickery explained: “We had no doubts we wanted to be involved once again – last year’s #LovePentelPens activity provided us with a great opportunity to support independent retailers with new product sampling and the chance to win high impact merchandising units.
“It also enabled us to encourage consumers to visit their local retail stationery stockist in store, in person, to pick up a sample pack of new Pentel pens and show their love for stationery by voting for their favourite independent stationery retailer. This year we’ll be unveiling more exciting plans to support our customers and share positive stationery vibes.”
Sarah has a series of meetings in February with the sponsors to discuss their plans and choices for the return of the daily hashtags to engage the end consumer as the week celebrates letter writing, journaling, and arts and crafts.
Maped Helix’s Monday sponsorship and Zebra Pen on Friday leaves just Thursday, Saturday and Sunday currently available.
Sarah is also looking for two more countdown sponsors for each of the six weeks preceding before NSW – The Art File is signed up for week one, Exaclair has booked weeks two and three and Sinclairs has secured week six, on top of its #Shelfie Competition sponsorship.
The Art File has joined the NSW sponsorship line-up for the first time, which coincides with the greeting card publisher’s major stationery launch. As James Mace, its sales and marketing manager, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be sponsoring the National Stationery Week campaign this year. We feel it’s incredibly important to help in spreading the importance of the written word of course on greeting cards, but equally as importantly on stationery as well, so it’s great to be involved.”
There are three NSW social media hashtags – #NatStatWeek #WritingMatters #LoveStationery – which will be employed on Facebook and Instagram.
Sarah would love to hear from retailers or companies who would like to join in the event. Please email her at sarah@marplestationerysupplies.co.uk.
London Stationery Show is a dedicated trade fair for all stationery lovers, buyers, wholesalers, overseas distributors and licensors and registration to attend is now open. To find out about the advantages of exhibiting at LSS, contact event manager Chantelle White on chantellew@max-publishing.co.uk.
