Taylor Swift and American Greetings Agree ... 'You Belong With Me'

CLEVELAND , Nov. 17 /CNW/ -- American Greetings today announced it's bringing one of entertainment's most gifted writers and storytellers to the greeting card aisle! Taylor Swift has partnered with American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AM) and secured yet another outlet for her creativity -- writing greeting cards. The country/pop superstar will create a line of greeting cards, gift packaging, stationery, online photo personalization products and online greetings. Product will begin arriving on store shelves and be available online in spring 2010.

The exclusive partnership provides a new opportunity for Taylor Swift fans and greeting card enthusiasts to connect with the people closest to them through Taylor's words.

"We are absolutely thrilled and honored to introduce Taylor Swift as the newest writer and creative contributor to the American Greetings family," stated Zev Weiss, Chief Executive Officer at American Greetings. "Her abilities as a storyteller and songwriter make her a natural at writing cards for consumers of all ages. She has the unique ability to connect with her fans through life experiences and greeting cards do the same--cards help people express, connect and celebrate these events with the important people in their lives. We believe it's a natural fit!"

Taylor will be working with American Greetings' editorial and creative teams to design, develop and create a line of cards and products that reflect and demonstrate not only her personality, but bring her stories and words to life. "My idea of a great song is a song that says how I feel better than I could. I feel the same way about greeting cards," Taylor says. "I've always been fascinated by feelings and how we express them to each other. Getting to write and design these cards is a wonderful experience."

The new Taylor Swift greeting card collection will be sold through American Greetings' retailer partners throughout the United States , Canada , Mexico , Australia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom and US military bases worldwide, and online at Americangreetings.com and Photoworks.com.

For more information about American Greetings, visit the official corporate site at www.corporate.americangreetings.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amgreetings.

    

    About American Greetings Corporation

    

For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a manufacturer and retailer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships. The Company's major greeting card brands are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods, American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards. American Greetings also has the largest collection of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc. (the Company's online division). AG Interactive also offers digital photo sharing and personal publishing at PhotoWorks.com and Webshots.com and a one-stop source for online graphics and animations at Kiwee.com. In addition to its product lines, American Greetings also creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group. Headquartered in Cleveland , Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion , and its products can be found in retail outlets domestically and worldwide. For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.

    

    ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT
    

Taylor Swift has had singles top both the Country and Pop radio charts, and sold more albums in 2008 than any other recording artist, in any genre of music. In 2009, she became the youngest artist in history, and the seventh female act ever, to be awarded country music's highest honor when she took home the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year.

Taylor's sophomore release, Fearless, was voted 2009's Album of the Year by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and reached double-platinum in just four weeks. Fearless was the year's biggest debut for any female artist, and the fourth highest debut of 2008, over all. Now quadruple-platinum, Fearless has spent more weeks in the #1 position atop Billboard's Top 200 all-genre CD sales chart than any other album this decade. Taylor, whose career record sales now top 10 million, currently holds the Billboard all-genre records for the longest charting album of this century and for most Top 20 debuts in a calendar year, as well as the Billboard record for the largest overall airplay audience for a country-based act. Taylor headlined her first area tour this year, the TAYLOR SWIFT FEARLESS 2009 TOUR. Every show on the tour sold out within minutes, including Madison Square Garden in one minute, and Los Angeles ' STAPLES center in just two minutes. The FEARLESS Tour will return for 42 shows in 2010.

At 17, Taylor became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single entirely on her own, and Taylor is the first female solo artist in country music history to write or co-write every song on a platinum-selling debut CD. At 14, she signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music, and in 2006 released her self-titled debut CD on Big Machine Records. Taylor Swift has surpassed quadruple-platinum status and spent more than 20 weeks in the #1 position atop Billboard's Country CD Sales Chart. Taylor is consistently ranked Country's #1 artist on MySpace, and was named Country Music's Hottest Female Artist by AOL Music and Best New Artist by the editors of iTunes. Taylor has more than 1 million followers of her Twitter account and has had more than 250 music plays on her MySpace page.

In 2009 Taylor won CMA Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year, Video of the Year, and International Artist Achievement. The same year, Taylor was awarded the Academy of Country Music's Crystal Milestone Award, given for Outstanding Achievement in Country Music. Taylor was the 2nd artist in history to receive this prestigious award -- Garth Brooks received the award in 2007. She also won CMT Music Awards for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year, awards she was also honored with in 2008. In addition, she won 2009 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Female Artist and Choice Music Album - Female Artist. Taylor was named 2008's Favorite Female Country Artist at the American Music Awards, and Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. She was named Choice Breakout Artist at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, and was honored as the 2008 Superstar of Tomorrow at the 10th Annual Young Hollywood Awards, making her the first musician to ever receive this prestigious award. In 2007 she won the CMA Horizon Award, as well as the Nashville Songwriters Association International's Songwriter / Artist of the Year, and she received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

For further information: Patrice Sadd, American Greetings Corp., [email protected], [phone] x2584 Web Site: http://www.corporate.americangreetings.com