Carousel Calendars Regional Range Set to Become Largest in UK

Carousel Calendars’ range of regional calendars is set to become the largest available in the UK market 2019, with the addition of all new products and the acquisition of an exciting licence.

Already offering a collection that covers the major English counties, notable UK cities and key regions around the country, Carousel Calendars has added over 30 new titles for 2019 to produce the most comprehensive choice for customers. New areas include the Yorkshire Moors, Shakespeare’s Country, the Wirral and Shropshire Hills, among many more. Also new for 2019 are a handful of Wales-focused products that feature dual-language captions and dates for Welsh speakers.

Biggest Regional Offering

As a further addition to the range, Carousel Calendars has recently signed a three-year deal with the National Railway Museum, to use their archive of beautifully nostalgic poster artwork to create new titles celebrating the heyday of rail travel. These will also cover major UK regions such as the South West, Yorkshire, Wales, North West England and more. Regional calendars are a popular purchase, appealing to customers by showcasing familiar sights and favourite locations from where they live. As all regional products come with an envelope included, they are also an ideal gift, bought by those looking to post a little slice of home to friends and family elsewhere. With a new look for 2019, more modern, clean and functional but still providing the well-loved beautiful photography and helpful location captions, Carousel’s regional calendars are sure to appeal to new and old customers alike.

Carousel Calendars Wins Best Charity Calendar at Calies 2017

Carousel Calendars are thrilled to have been declared the winner of the ‘Best Charity Calendar’ at the 2017 Calies awards, for their RNLI Thea Cutting title.

The inaugural event took place on 29^th November at the Stationers’ Hall in London and was attended by many of the leading companies within the calendar and diary publishing sector.

Award-Winning Calendars

Carousel Calendars’ winning product displays the wonderfully whimsical artwork by Thea Cutting, combined with a calendar designed to highlight and support the good work undertaken by the RNLI. Thea’s fun seaside scenes are the perfect match for a charity which seeks to keep people safe while they enjoy all that the varied coast offers.

Thea Cutting says: “I am fortunate enough to live on the Suffolk coast where the RNLI is part of everyday life and I have brave friends who work for them.  As my illustrations are influenced by my surroundings, particularly the sea, it’s wonderful to be able to work with a charity that is both relevant and extremely close to my heart.”

Martin Reese-Davies, Head of Licensing for Carousel Calendars, says: “On behalf of Carousel Calendars I was delighted to win the best Charity Calendar at the Calies – it means so much on a number of fronts. From the start I have felt that the joining together of the RNLI brand with Thea Cutting is a perfect match. Thea’s wonderful, fresh and invigorating artwork really lends itself to the RNLI and the two brands really complement each other. Carousel’s work with Charities has increased substantially year on year and so particularly nice to be recognised in this category.”

Kevin Smith, Licensed Product Manager for the RNLI, says: ‘We’re really pleased to have won this award for Best Charity Calendar. Our partnership with Carousel and Thea has helped us to raise awareness of our lifesaving work, with proceeds from the calendar helping us to continue saving lives at sea. We’re looking forward to working with Thea and Carousel more in the future.’

Three-Year National Rail Museum Vintage Railway Licence for Carousel Calendars

SCMG Enterprises and Carousel Calendars are delighted to announce the signing of a three-year agreement for the National Railway Museum’s Vintage Railway poster art licence, to be used to create an exciting 2019-dated range of calendars and diaries. The images, taken from the comprehensive NRM library, feature artwork from many well-known artists and display wonderfully nostalgic and retro designs from the heyday of rail travel.

Nostalgic New Products

Carousel Calendars will be offering a broad range of 12 titles, available in familiar formats such as wire-o, slim and diary. It will include the highly popular Vintage Railway Posters title that contains images from around the whole of the UK, as well as regional products that cover Wales, Scotland, South of England, North West England, Yorkshire and East Anglia and more. The full collection will be available from early 2018, perfectly timed for the tourist and holiday market.

The calendar publisher is thrilled to be taking on this incredibly popular licence and are looking forward to looking closely with SCMG and the NRM to create beautiful products that display the artwork at its finest.

 “Having worked closely with SCMG Enterprises on Flying Scotsman we are delighted to be extending that to the National Railway Museum’s vintage poster art. The imagery is stunning and has a very popular place in the market and all retail sectors”. 
Martin Rees-Davies 
Head of Licensing 

Carousel Calendars’ Top Ten for 2018

It’s a very busy time for calendar companies, with 2018-dated products now on display in most retailers ready for the Christmas rush, where they will be snapped up as presents for friends and family. For Carousel Calendars, looking at their sales to all high street retailers reveals that the publisher’s diverse range of products has produced a Top Ten Bestseller list that is weighted in favour of licensed product but still includes strong in-house and generic titles:    

1. Mum’s Fabric Planner
2. Eric the Penguin Slim
3. Amazing Planet Wall
4. Country Companions Slim
5. Garden Days Week-To-View Planner
6. The Times Sudoku Box
7. Guess How Much I Love You A3 Planner
8. RSPB Birds Slim
9. RSPB British Garden Birds Wall
10. Wacky World of His, Hers and Theirs Slim Planner

With their making up almost half of the top ten list, planners are a clear popular buy, no doubt due to providing everything that’s needed to keep track of a busy household, such as multiple columns to record each family member and offering larger than usual writing space in each date box. They are available in a wide range of formats, from slims to the large A3 planners, and week-to-view options alongside the standard month-to-view layouts.

Top-Selling Titles

As a long-standing, traditional format, slim calendars continue to be a top-seller year after year, with the appeal being their convenient size, allowing them to hang neatly on kitchen walls or noticeboards.

In terms of content, familiar and homely titles like Mum’s Fabric, Country Companions and Garden Days are firm favourites. Sudoku puzzles also prove that their attraction hasn’t waned, particularly as the box calendar is content-rich, offering 365 puzzles of varying difficulty to last through the whole year.

Carousel Calendars’ New 2018 Range

Carousel Calendars’ range for 2018 promises to deliver a comprehensive, one-stop-shop solution for all calendar needs, from beautiful regional products that cover most counties and major cities, to famous charities and brands, and a variety of niche interests.

New Titles for 2018

The regional collection offers many different formats, including square wall, slim, A4 and A5 options, as well as a handful of square minis and handy desk easels. All feature stunning photographs of well-known sights, landmarks and buildings, and with most including an additional envelope, these prove especially popular with those who wish to send a little slice of home to their friends and family.

Carousel Calendars continues to work with some of the top charities and licences to create exciting products for fans and new audiences alike. These include firm favourites such as Madeleine Floyd, Kew Gardens, Matt Sewell, Where’s Wally and Forever Friends, as well as some new and quirky additions like Marmite – where the calendar is die-cut to the shape of the famous jar – Emoji and Sooty.

An Extensive New Range

The extensive range of generic calendars once again offers something for almost every niche interest. For transport aficionados, there is Omnibus, Tractors, JCB, Romance of Steam, Scooters and British Cars, to name but a few. Travel fans can enjoy spectacular photographs of New York, Paris, Australia and other popular destinations. And for animal lovers the choice is wide, with domestic pets, wild animals and farm animals all available in various calendar and diary formats. Through their continual development of new ideas and the addition of new partnerships with licences and brands, Carousel Calendars now offers over 650 different titles, creating a diverse range with something for all.

Carousel Calendars: The Lighter Side of Licences

Carousel Calendars, the Exeter-based calendar publisher and distributor, works closely with 60 iconic brands to produce attractive, bespoke products for each, averaging at three titles per brand. These include big names such as National Trust, RHS, RSPB and other famous charity organisations, but alongside them there are also many quirkier and more niche titles that appeal to and have built up faithful audiences.

Famous Brand Partnerships

Artists and well-known illustrated characters have their following of fans who enjoy buying their favourites each year, such as Matt Sewell’s adorable hand painted British birds, the enduringly popular Betty Boop, or the ceaseless search for the wandering Where’s Wally? Carousel Calendars also work hard year on year to constantly update and reinvigorate such titles to attract new buyers, while preserving the core image that enthusiasts love.

As well as these steadfast titles, Carousel Calendars also seeks new and emerging brands to work with to create on-trend products. A recent example includes the new Emoji calendar, introduced for 2017 and proving instantly popular as it sold out in its first year; hopes are high for it for 2018 as these brightly coloured icons continue to delight. Pain in the Sass is another one from the ‘modern’ collection, aimed at sarcastic and sassy women fed up with the usual stereotypes.  

Niche Audience Appeal

Looking to provide for niche interests, Carousel Calendars has recently started working with the Eddie Stobart brand to create products that feature photographs of the famous red, green and white trucks.

However, having hit over ten years of production, and with over 20,000 products distributed across three titles for 2018, Irish singer Daniel O’Donnell is the true testament to both enduring popularity and niche appeal!

Gardening Calendars: A Little Bit of the Outdoors for Indoors

One of the more popular ranges from Exeter-based publishers Carousel Calendars is their gardening collection. In particular, they work closely with eminent gardening charities such as Kew, the Royal Horticultural Society and Perennial to create beautiful licensed products, which appeal to both the supporters of the organisations and the wider audience of garden and nature lovers.

Popular Gardening Titles

The popularity of this range no doubt stems from how much variety is available from the Carousel Calendars products. There are items that feature stunning photographs of flowers, plants and wider nature scenes; products that focus on intricate, historical illustrations of flora and fauna; and a handful of the items provide comprehensive advice and tips to help people of all levels of gardening experience.

Distribution numbers for 2018 show that the top five from the collection have an even spread across these different types. At the top of the list is the Beautiful Gardens slim calendar, which has a strong combination of striking nature photographs, endorsement from a famous gardening figure, and includes the most extensive gardening advice of any of Carousel’s products.

1. Beautiful Gardens, with Foreword Alan Titchmarsh, Slim
2. RHS Wall
3. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Slim
4. Garden Days Week-To-View Planner
5. National Trust, Seasons Wall

The Appeal of Gardening Titles

Why do gardening titles do so well? As well as the aforementioned scope of variety, they also appeal to many different groups, creating a large audience. First and foremost, of course, are gardeners, and also friends and family of those who have green fingers who are looking for the perfect gift for them. But the strong, colourful imagery that all of these products contain have a much wider appeal, bringing little slices of the outdoors into our homes and offices and brightening up any indoor space. Nature never goes out of style, ensuring a range that consistently performs well, year on year.

Carousel Calendars On Trend for 2018

The new 2018 dated range from Carousel Calendars promises to once again combine their extensive array of popular generics with licenses from the top brands in the UK, as well as introducing some exciting trends and formats for a fresh, new year.

Animal calendars are a favourite pick for customers, and Carousel Calendars have expanded their range to include some new, “on trend” additions, these being a mini calendar featuring adorable sloths and a wall dedicated to the humorous antics of llamas.

New Products from Carousel Calendars

Another new product designed for 2018 that is especially ál la mode is the Emoji wall calendar, a colourful and very fun item that is packed with everyone’s favourite emoticons.

Carousel Calendars are constantly looking to introduce designs and formats every year to their collection, to keep it fresh, interesting and up-to-date. 2018 will see the addition of two new formats: the mini box, which is smaller, more convenient and has a lower price point than the larger box calendars; and the 2-year pocket planners, designed to slip into pockets like a slim diary, but sporting a small month-to-view grid inside that covers two years.

On Trend Titles

In terms of bestsellers, the Mum’s Fabric collection continues to perform so well that new formats have been continually added and all have a fresh design for 2018. The diary range from Carousel Calendars, which includes deluxe, A5, slim, midi and square formats, have new and attractive covers for 2018 that feature fashionable designs, such floral, unicorns, owls and, once again, the ever-popular sloth.

Tim Milstead, Calendar Publishing Manager for Carousel Calendars, says: “We have a wide range of product and it’s important to target key areas for update each year, whether it be adding hot new titles such as Emoji or updating the designs on an already successful license such as RBG Kew. We monitor the constantly evolving buying habits of our diverse customer base as well as design trends to keep our range relevant and fresh.”

A New Range for 2018 from Carousel Calendars

For 2017-dated products, Carousel Calendars saw a number of increases in key areas, and distribution reached a record high for the company. Over 1,300 calendar, diary and gift-wrap titles were distributed by the Exeter-based publishers, the highest total to date, and over one hundred of these were to the North American market. This growth into the US market also meant that the number of titles published has increased compared to 2016. Other successes for the company include further growth in the volume to key distributors, as well as to the independent market and to garden centres.

A Look at What’s to Come

Looking ahead to the 2018 range, there are a number of strong titles included as they continue to perform well, along with some new products, licenses and even formats.

The Mum’s Fabric range has been so consistently popular that the collection has grown to now include a Family Organiser, A4 calendar, Easel and an A5 diary. The Fashion Diary collection has always sported beautiful and colourful covers and 2018’s array is especially on trend, with a sloth design and a vintage floral design available, among others.

A new format that has been introduced for 2018 is the 2-Year Pocket Planner. Shaped like a slim pocket diary, but with insides designed like a small month-to-view calendar grid that covers 24 months, this new product is both practical and good value for money.  

Exciting New Products for 201

Carousel Calendars is pleased to be once again working with some of the top licenses and brands, and there are some delightful new additions for 2018. This includes two calendars, a Slim and a Wall, that feature beautiful vintage art of popular British locations by Tabitha Mary.  Also new to Carousel’s range is the well known and instantly recognisable Eddie Stobart brand, with a new Wall calendar available that uses this iconic look and will appeal to all Stobart fans.

Carousel Calendars combine self-designed and published products with a choice pick distribution of those they consider the best from UK and US markets to create a one-stop shop for all customer needs.  

A Sausage for Every Day!

Carousel Calendars has joined together with the Sausage Dog Hotel to produce an exclusive 2017-dated calendar that is as unique and as appealing as this unusual dog care business.

The Sausage Dog Hotel describes itself as a ‘home away from home’ for dachshunds, providing long- and short-term stays and day care for the little dogs while their owners are on holiday or are at work. The regular walks, big dachshund group meet-ups and other day-to-day exploits of the sausages are all well documented on social media and on the Sausage Dog Hotel website, which has helped the business gain a considerable following.

A Dog Calendar With a Difference

The calendar that has been designed and produced by Carousel Calendars is a 365 wall format, with each day of the year bearing an adorable image of sausage dogs enjoying their stay at the Hotel. The product is available with two variant covers, including dachshunds among the flowers and dachshunds racing over the beach, and can be purchased from Amazon, priced £12.99.

Sausage Dog Hotel has a huge audience on social media, no doubt due to the sharing of wonderful images of sausage dogs loving life at the day care. The new calendar brings together hundreds of these highly attractive photos and so is sure to be a hit with the fans of the Hotel, as well as dachshund lovers.