American Greetings Appoints Two to Lead Outbound Licensing of Properties

Tamra Seldin joins company as senior vice president, Consumer Products
Jeffrey Conrad promoted to senior vice president, Creative

CONTACT: Amy McGahan of Dix & Eaton, +1-216-241-3027

CLEVELAND, Nov. 29 -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM), the largest publicly traded manufacturer of social expression products and the creator and owner of Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Holly Hobbie, announced today two key appointments as part of its effort to create additional outbound licensing opportunities for its popular children's properties.

Tamra Seldin joins American Greetings as senior vice president, Consumer Products of AG Properties and Jeffrey Conrad has been promoted to senior vice president, Creative of AG Properties. Seldin, who held key licensing and marketing positions with The Walt Disney Company and Sesame Workshop over the past decade, will oversee brand management, marketing, retail business development and licensing efforts. Conrad, an award-winning artist and writer who has helped successfully introduce many popular characters to a new generation of admirers, will oversee the development of new properties, acquisitions, style guides and character brand identities.

"Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobbie and other properties represent tremendous potential for American Greetings beyond what we have done already," said Josef Mandelbaum, President, AG Intellectual Property Group. "The collective talents, insights and creativity of Tamra and Jeff will help us take full advantage of this potential -- to the delight of consumers of all ages and for the financial benefit of the company and its shareholders."

Since its relaunch in 2002, the Care Bears brand has generated over $1.5 billion in retail sales, while Strawberry Shortcake has produced over $1 billion in retail sales since its reintroduction in 2003. Combined, both brands have more than 325 licensees worldwide. This year, the company is relaunching another classic favorite, Holly Hobbie, with a complete line of nostalgic products including rag dolls, books, kitchen accessories, collectibles, and more. Next spring, a new brand extension called "Holly Hobbie and Friends," featuring the original Holly Hobbie's great-granddaughter -- a young, hip Holly for a new generation of fans
-- will debut with an all- new movie on DVD, a hit song and an interactive Web site, followed by toys, apparel and much more.

About Tamra Seldin

Seldin, who was named a "Marketer of the Next Generation" by Brandweek earlier this year, brings an impressive track record and diverse range of skills to her new role.

For the past four years, Seldin was vice president of marketing for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street. She was responsible for all aspects of consumer product marketing for Sesame Street, Dragon Tales and other Sesame Workshop properties, as well as oversight of the worldwide audio/video business.
During her tenure she also helped build the international licensing business, launched a year-long promotion celebrating Sesame Street's 35th anniversary and led the development of a new infant brand, Sesame Beginnings.

Earlier at The Walt Disney Company as director of marketing for Disney Consumer Products, Seldin developed marketing programs for various film, video and television properties representing more than $4 billion in annual retail sales. Her experience ranges from films such as The Lion King, Pocahontas, 102 Dalmatians, Toy Story, and Monsters, Inc., to television shows including Rolie Polie Olie and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, to branded children's merchandise programs for Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh.

Seldin later joined the start-up team that founded Mommy and Me Enterprises, as head of marketing. After launching media and licensed products under the Mommy & Me(R) brand, the company was acquired by DIC Entertainment. Seldin holds a master of business administration degree from Columbia University and a bachelor of arts degree from Tufts University.

About Jeffrey Conrad

Conrad, an accomplished writer and illustrator, has served at American Greetings in many roles since graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and joining the company in 1990. He has written, illustrated and designed over 1,500 social expressions products during his tenure. Conrad built and continues to manage the Inbound Studio, which features over 130 brands such as Nickelodeon, Disney and Sesame Street on American Greetings' products.

Conrad played a key role in the development of the company's Creative Licensing Studio, which relaunched Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobbie, and introduced Holly Hobbie and Friends, Care Bear Cubs, Baby Strawberry Shortcake and Grumpy Bear programs. Under his leadership, the studio has managed all facets of those brands, including character development, style guides, promotional materials, interactive Web sites, toys, publishing and entertainment. Conrad has also written and directed movies for children and is currently developing two shows based on his ideas and characters.

About American Greetings Corporation

American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) is the world's largest publicly traded manufacturer of social expression products. Along with greeting cards, its product lines include gift wrap, party goods, candles, stationery, calendars, educational products, ornaments, electronic greetings, ringtones, wallpapers, avatars and emoticons. American Greetings is also the creator and owner of Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, Bubblegum and Twisted Whiskers. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual net sales of approximately $2 billion. For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.

Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historic or current facts. They use such words as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, but are subject to a variety of uncertainties, unknown risks and other factors concerning the Company's operations and business environment, which are difficult to predict and may be beyond the control of the Company. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements, and that could adversely affect the Company's future financial performance, include, but are not limited to, the following: retail bankruptcies and consolidations; successful integration of acquisitions; successful transition of management; a weak retail environment; consumer acceptance of products as priced and marketed; the impact of technology on core product sales; competitive terms of sale offered to customers; successfully implementing supply chain improvements and achieving projected cost savings from those improvements; increases in the cost of material, energy and other production costs; the Company's ability to comply with its debt covenants; fluctuations in the value of currencies in major areas where the Company operates, including the U.S. Dollar, Euro, U.K. Pound Sterling, and Canadian Dollar; the timing and impact of new product introductions; escalation in the cost of providing employee health care; and the outcome of any legal claims known or unknown. Risks pertaining specifically to AG Interactive include the viability of online advertising, subscriptions as revenue generators and the public's acceptance of online greetings and other social expression products and the ability of the mobile division to compete effectively in the wireless content aggregation market.

In addition, this release contains time-sensitive information that reflects management's best analysis as of the date of this release.
American Greetings does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release. Further information concerning issues that could materially affect financial performance related to forward-looking statements can be found in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE American Greetings Corporation