Today I decided to do something new for Scrapbook Update and bring to everyone a guest post from Rob Bostick of Judikins. Rob contacted me with some excellent thoughts on the downfall of Creative Memories that I felt would be educational to share with everyone. Thanks very much to Rob for agreeing to share his experience and knowledge with Scrapbook Update’s readers!
I read your article [on CLN Online] about Creative Memories and I agree with a lot of what you said. Creative Memories has never been good with adapting to changing realities but then the same can be said about today’s craft industry.
My first contact with Creative Memories was back in 1991 when several of their consultants started buying scissors from us. The most notable of these was Barbara Tolopilo who went on to found the company Family Treasures.
The marketing concept behind Creative Memories was that your photos are not safe in a shoe box and need to go into acid free albums. They would show faded color photos taken in the 50′s and 60′s to make the case that you must put your photos into their special “acid free” photo albums in order to keep them safe. (After all these are your memories and you wouldn’t want to lose them!) They never mentioned the fact that photo processing chemistry in the 80′s had improved greatly and photos kept away from sunlight would last for many more years than those of the preceding decades.
Their consultants were the real creative force. In order to sell more at their parties they were constantly coming up with new tools and new things to add to the albums. Of course the company needed to be sure that everything was acid free (and wanted their cut of the action), so practically from the beginning they forbade the consultants to sell anything that wasn’t a Creative Memories product. (There was also that nasty sales tax problem.) The harder the company tried to control this, the more consultants left to become independents. Family Treasures was just one of the companies that formed to supply these consultants as they left to become independents. Creative Memories kept trying to come up with more products but couldn’t supply the wide range of new products that this army of smaller companies was now creating. It was these companies that were the start of what we think of as scrapbooking today.
Many consultants had been using stickers in their albums. In order to satisfy them, Creative Memories started selling to their consultants a special line of approved Mrs. Grossman’s stickers. A big turning point came when the consultants found out that all of Mrs. Grossman’s stickers were acid free and CM’s special line wasn’t that special. Never again would Creative Memories enjoy the 90+ market share of the scrapbooking industry. But, up until recently, their smaller slice was compensated for by a greatly increased pie.
The real demise of Creative Memories (and down turn in scrapbooking) is due to digital photography. The preserving memories argument is gone. Today a digital copy of your cell phone video going viral on the net will be around forever. Who needs paper photographs?
Scrapbooking today is not about “preserving memories” it has become “crafting with photos”. Today’s images are culled and cropped before they are ever printed out (often before being taken out of the camera.) This printing process requires user effort as well as an extra expense. The preservation of paper photographs will never again be as widespread as it was when everyone dropped off their film at the drugstore and got back their packet of “memories”.
Related Posts:
- Creative Memories Parent Company Antioch Files Bankruptcy
- Key Points from The Antioch Company/Creative Memories Bankruptcy
- Antioch/Creative Memories Bankruptcy Update
- Creative Memories Bankruptcy Extended Into 2009
- Google Trends Update on Scrapbooking (& Creative Memories)
- Background on the Antioch/Creative Memories Bankruptcy Hearing Tomorrow
- Creative Memories Covered on Minnesota Public Radio
- Breaking News: Antioch Bankruptcy Plan Confirmed By Court
Great post!! You are 100% correct!
Interesting marketing focus…that memories are limited to the photos; why the photo medium (paper vs. digital) has had so much to do with the decline. Maybe if we’d focused as much effort on other less changing artifacts of our lives (as representatives of our memories) things would be a lot different today. Makes me wonder…
You are correct that printing photos will never be as wide spread as it once was – but this generation is also growing up with out having pictures of themselves. No albums to look thru. Technology changes and there are no guarantees that you will be able to get those cyber images in the future. Digital photo books are the compromise and the future of the industry. I believe Creative Memories has adapted. Some of the above examples of CM policy are from over a decade ago. Let’s keep the facts current.
Scrapbooking can be costly and take up a lot of time and space. As a single mother working full-time, that can translate into a costly and time consuming hobby.
My goal is to preserve the memories of my child’s life, my childhood, and my life. I want to complete my child’s album in real time (not years later). CM provides some practical solutions for traditional & digital scrapbooking that helps you get the albums completed (and then have time to create more elaborate pages for your favourite photos if you desire).
The CM mission is more than “preserving” photos so they don’t turn yellow – their products and approach help you get it done!
For those wondering, no I’m not a CM consultant, just a Mom looking for solutions. CM is impressive and deserves a second look not just past impressions. Hopefully they will come through the bankruptcy. Hopefully we will all come through the financial downturn of the economy.
I posted this on another forum about CM so here’s my “two-cents”…
They need a plan to save this company and from everything I have heard (and i have a very good source), that plan is digital. That claim is supported by their move in their most recent catalog/magazine. The thing is, the digital train has left the station and they just aren’t on that train. They may jump on at a station down the tracks, but again, in CM tradition, it’s too little, too late. The are jumping on that train with A LOT of baggage, for sure! You dance with the one that brought you. With scrapbook stores closing right and left they have this one window of opportunity to regain their focus and reclaim their spot as leaders in the traditional scrapbooking market.
But will they? And as far as mincing words about WHO is filing for bankruptcy – that is nothing but spin. Using the fact that your parent company is the one that has filed for bankruptcy would only comfort those who are uneducated about business – that isn’t a good thing and I feel sorry for those who have placed their trust in people who have nothing but self-interest in mind and have proven that time and time again with their business practices. All of their bad decisions are just catching up to them – and those who can, have taken their money and run! BIG RED FLAG!
Golly
A lot of companies would kill to have a recession driven business like Creative Memories! See some of notes on other parts of this Blog
Here is the bottom line 26.9% increase in traffic during a recession is FANTASTIC here are the stats for Creative Memories:
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/www.creativememories.com/?metric=uv
They are being used in my model for counter cyclical proof for MLM and Network Marketing companies.
Rod Cook
MLM Watchdog
Http://wwww.mlmwatchdog.com
Tara B., you are correct. I have been a CMC for 6 years and am sick to death of all the “spin”. CM says it does what it does for it’s consultants, but they are lining their pockets with our money – we really are their biggest customers.
CM is not keeping up with the times and they don’t have a solid business plan. As an insider to some aspects of the company, I know that CM planned to release ribbon, brads, and a couple of other items. Cm has “re-considered” (i.e. cancelled, wimped-out) because some long time (old-fashioned?) CMCs complained that those items are not the “CM WAY”. I can’t think of any successful craft company that became successful by purposefully trying to limit the creativity of its customers.
The problem is that management won’t stick to the plan. The founder is too busy being a people pleaser to make smart business decisions. Meanwhile, the new design books set to be released March 1 will be delayed until the summmer – while CM re-works all the designs taking out the ribbons and brads, etc.
Too bad for CM, but I’m afraid their business will continue to decline without some strict attention to the traditional scrapbooker and what they want in their albums (or one their cards and tags!).
I have no idea how much about Creative Memories is true. Or even if it has anything to do with my story.
However, I do know that my CM consultant has left the business. She says she’ll be back. But right now she is unable to … etc…etc…
So I got in touch with another consultant and ordered some refills for my tape runner (which I love) and some pages. Not a large order I know, but it’s business is it not? That was 2 months ago. And I have not heard from the new consultant, or the old one. I will not contact them again. Nor will I buy from CM again.
I love their albums, and would rather have them than any other. But if this is the way they do business now, they can do without mine!
My problem now is, in order to save all the work I’ve done; I will have to find an album that fits the pages I have completed. So, hopefully, somewhere out there is one waiting for me to snap it up. After that, my Creative Memories relationship is over.
I am saddened to hear some of these stories. I am a traditional scrapbooker and a CMC and am going to have to let my status go the end of next month. Too many of my clients have gone to digital scrapbooking. I’m not totally against digital scrapbooking, its just that I prefer working with the real stuff vs sitting in front of my computer for hours. Its more rewarding knowing that I created a book with my hands vs with a click of the mouse.