American Greetings brought Holly Hobbie out of retirement to catch the retro wave

Holly Hobbie was American Greetings' first licensed character — a bonnet-wearing girl designed by a Massachusetts artist in the 1960s. Between 1967 and 1977 she adorned everything from greetings cards to wallpaper and generated a billion dollars in retail sales. But the character had been retired for decades.

By 2005 American Greetings, the nation's No. 2 greeting-card company, needed a lift. Card sales were printing thin profits and fourth-quarter earnings had dropped 56% on slow sales and a plant closing. It had already successfully resurrected Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake — both retired in the 1980s — in classic and modern versions, selling over 195 licenses for those characters and bringing in nearly $2 billion in worldwide sales since 2002.

So the company officially brought Holly Hobbie 'out of retirement.' Laura Musarra, licensing brand manager, called her 'the crown jewel of the property.' Unlike the children's characters, Holly Hobbie appealed to adults too, meaning she could appear on a wider range of products. The company teamed with Nickelodeon to promote her, keeping the classic look but adding contemporary colours.

Re-released a character that had once generated $1B in sales, backing a cards business worth $2B a year

Card sales were sagging and profits had fallen 56%, so the company needed a fresh revenue lever

The retro-is-in trend among young customers made nostalgic characters commercially timely

Holly Hobbie had already proven she could generate $1 billion in sales in an earlier era

Because she appealed to adults as well as children, she could go on more product categories

Reusing the proven Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake playbook lowered the risk

When a core product goes stale, reviving a beloved archive character can reinvigorate it for a new generation

The relaunch leaned on a partnership with Nickelodeon for promotion and a companion website with e-cards, downloads and interactive activities. The character kept her classic pencil-sketched look but gained contemporary colours and patterns. Pop-culture experts at the time argued nostalgia had become one of the biggest markets around, and that a retro character could sell to everyone from teenagers to toddlers, precisely the broad reach American Greetings needed.