Archies will be offering 16 products in five to eight designs bearing photographs of cricket stars Ajay Jadeja, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Azhar, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly. The portfolio includes a personal diary with a lock, an autograph book, a telephone index, a scribble note book, a composite gift set, posters of 16 international and national cricket stars, and a range of World Cup special cards.

The cards come with envelopes pre-addressed to the BCCI to ensure that the the Good Luck messages reach one's hero. ForAjay Jadeja, for example, the Good Luck card says ``Hey Hitter, it's time to make a kill'' while for Kumble: ``It's time to set a few more records.''

The print campaign and TVC, created by Delhi-based R Kangra, will convey how with Archies World Cup Special cards, cricket fans can send `Fan Mail' with personalised messages to the team or their favourite heroes and cheer on the home team to a victory.

The move is in line with Archies' strategy to boost the brand's presence through event-based promotions. ``In 1995 we sold only 10 cards on Valentine's Day with 10 designs. Whereas this year we printed almost 500 designs for the event accounting for about five per cent of our total sales,'' says Vineet Kapila, Brand Manager, Archies, who expects the turnover for 1998-99 to touch Rs 60 crore, up from Rs 46 crore in 1997-98.

Following the World Cup blitz, Archies will be promoting Mother's Day (May 8) two weeks prior to the event through a two-week TVC across channels. With five per cent of turnover earmarkedto advertising and promotion, Archies has presence in MTV, V Channel, Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network and in Disney Hour programmes. ``We intend to be present in CNBC to target corporates as well,'' says Kapila. The commercial will be emotion-led and focus on the mother's pivotal position in the family. Recently it also introduced cards in Marathi for Makar Sakranti, in Gurmukhi for the Khalsa Tri-Centenary celebrations, which received `encouraging response' in the UK, US and Canada apart from India.

In April, Archies got permission from the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee to display the greeting cards at four gurudwaras and offer 17 per cent of the total sales proceeds to the Committee. The company is also marking the event through special commercials on the Punjabi World channel.

Archies is also tapping the Millennium mania, though according to Jagdish Moolchandani the Millenium Movement will start late in India- only towards the third quarter of 1999. Archies' Millenium campaign hasalready started in January with Millenium Movement logo, a TVC and a print campaign.

Archies is also focussing on franchisee expansion: from 22 in 1990-91 to 386 currently. ``We'll add 50 outlets a year for the next five years,'' says Jagdish Moolchandani.

Currently both the retail segment and exclusive franchisee contribute equally to the turnover, but with this new focus Archies expects exclusive franchisees to account for 70 per cent of business in four years. Archies is also planning to add 15 outlets in the Middle East, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The greeting cards industry is estimated to post a turnover of around Rs 300 crore, and is growing at a rate of 15 per cent a year. Archies claims to have around half of the Rs 120-crore branded cards market.