American Greetings Properties Adds Interactive Expert to Team
Paul Conley to oversee digital media for AGP's intellectual properties

CONTACT: Amy McGahan of Dix & Eaton, +1-216-241-3027, or amcgahan@dix-eaton.com

CLEVELAND, March 21 -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM), the largest publicly held manufacturer of social expression products and the creator and owner of such intellectual properties as Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Holly Hobbie and Twisted Whiskers, announced today that Paul J. Conley has joined American Greetings Properties (AGP) as vice president, Digital Media.

Conley's appointment reflects the division's commitment to using new media to launch properties and promote existing brands. Among his responsibilities, Conley will oversee AGP's Web sites -- including sites for Care Bears (www.care-bears.com), Strawberry Shortcake (www.strawberry-shortcake.com), Holly Hobbie (www.hollyhobbie.com) and the new Holly Hobbie and Friends (www.hollyhobbieandfriends.com) -- as well as develop sites for new properties and relaunches such as Twisted Whiskers, Madballs, Maryoku Yummy, Sushi Pack and more.

Conley will also manage outbound licensing for interactive categories such as mobile, video games and other digital platforms, and develop a business-to- business Web site as a sales and marketing tool to support AGP's growing outbound licensing efforts.

"American Greetings has a tremendous asset in our expertise and presence online via AmericanGreetings.com and other American Greetings-owned Web sites," said Tamra Seldin, senior vice president, Consumer Products, AGP. "As we build American Greetings Properties, digital media is the ideal platform to promote and license our new and existing properties. We are extremely fortunate to have Paul, a top-talent from the AG Interactive team, join our new AG Properties group."

Most recently, Conley served as vice president, Online Advertising for AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings. In that capacity, he managed a 20-member sales organization for its network of industry-leading social expression sites.

Conley joined AG Interactive as a business development manager in 1999 and immediately took on additional roles including project management, account management, operations and sales strategy. Before joining American Greetings, he held various marketing and business development positions with a major health care system, a regional health care consulting firm, a university and a professional sports team.

Conley holds a master of business administration degree from the University of Buffalo and a bachelor of science in business administration from John Carroll University.

About American Greetings Corporation

American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) is one of the world's largest manufacturers 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 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, consolidations and acquisitions, including the possibility of resulting adverse changes to contract terms; 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 investment in new retail or product strategies as well as new product introductions and achieving the desired benefits from those investments; escalation in the cost of providing employee health care; the ability of the Company to execute share repurchase programs or the ability to achieve the desired accretive effect from such repurchases; the timing and impact of any changes the Company may make to its capital structure 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
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