AmericanGreetings.com Gets a Makeover With Fresh New User Interface, Navigation Tools and Next Generation Ecards

CLEVELAND, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings, announced today that the company has relaunched AmericanGreetings.com, the online destination for inventive ecards and printable cards. Based on feedback from their millions of users, the site brings consumers what they are looking for in today's crowded field of online shopping options - creative, unique content, easy navigation, and efficient shopping tools. The revamped site also reflects the new American Greetings brand experience.

With thousands of personable, touching and funny online greetings to choose from, AmericanGreetings.com is one of the world's most popular ecard destinations. By building this next-generation site, the company is fulfilling its goal to broadly enhance visitors' interactive experience. The primary objective for the site relaunch was to create an online shopping experience that allows customers to find the exact ecard they are looking for - whether through smart search tools or through cool new shopping features.

Shop 'Til You Drop and New Quickshop Options

AG Interactive took a close look at how consumers browse offline and also listened to feedback from the 3.4 million paying members in their network of sites to create a brand new user experience that offers a number of options to find the perfect ecard. The company developed new navigation features based on this research, including the ability to refine searches by style, collection, or top ecard lists all within a few clicks - right from the home page.

For those who want to locate what they need as quickly as possible, AmericanGreetings.com, the ecard giant, now offers a Find it Quick option - a group of drop down menus that lets members choose the occasion, the relationship to the recipient (sister, mom, friend, co-worker, etc.) and a card "style". Within seconds, AmericanGreetings.com does the work to locate the perfect ecard, enabling subscribers to find the right ecard in just a few clicks, reducing their shopping time by 20-30 percent.

Users can also save time with the new rollover Quick View option. When a visitor's mouse hovers over an ecard, a pop-up appears with a snapshot of the ecard and text of the greeting, so users don't need to open and watch the entire ecard before discovering the message written inside. Early member feedback indicates that the Find it Quick and Quick View options are among the hottest new features of the site.

And, for the first time, AmericanGreetings.com has created a forum for subscribers to voice their opinion on the ecards, rate them, and interact with the other consumers on the site, further enhancing the consumer's experience.

AmericanGreetings.com continues to push the envelope with cutting edge ecards including new personalization options, photo and video innovations, talking ecards and original music recorded by professional musicians. The company is continuously working on the next generation of ecards while never losing focus of the main reason why people send cards; to connect and express what they feel inside in a way that is meaningful and reflective of their emotion and reason for sending. Every year, AmericanGreetings.com brings hundreds of new ecards to the site, and now the company is committed to really turning up the volume and focusing on more unique, trendy, contemporary and "of the moment" ecards that can't be found anywhere else.

"At AmericanGreetings.com, we are known for our sophisticated, heart- warming, and witty ecards, and we wanted to match that level of creativity with a shopping experience that offers our busy members the broadest set of shopping choices available today," said Sally Babcock, Senior Vice President of AG Interactive. "Our millions of members have described to us what their ideal shopping experience would look like, and today, we are very pleased to deliver it to them."

AmericanGreetings.com is offering a three-day only "freeview", a free preview of the site for nonmembers permitting them to send an unlimited amount of ecards and use of printables for free during this limited time offering. The freeview is available from May 15th - 17th.

Hewlett-Packard Partners with AmericanGreetings.com

Hewlett-Packard is joining with AmericanGreetings.com to promote one of the most popular holidays - Mother's Day. In honor of the special day that recognizes mothers around the world, AmericanGreetings.com has launched the first ever "Many Faces of Moms", presented by HP. The new feature invites consumers to upload digital photos into special ecards made just for their moms and post them online in the growing, interactive tribute to moms everywhere. Visitors can browse, search by name or location, and add their own message to the tributes in this engaging mosaic of moms.

For the "Many Faces of Moms" subscribers can upload three photos, choose personal tribute phrases, and add music to create the perfect personalized greeting for Mom. The beautiful ecards will be displayed on the AmericanGreetings.com site. To add your mother, grandmother, or a special loved one in your life to the growing tribute, please visit: http://americangreetings.com/mothersday2007/ .

About AG Interactive

AG Interactive (AGI) is a global leader in licensing and creating original self and social expression products for online, instant messaging and mobile platforms. To create its premier content, the company leverages one of the world's largest creative studios and digital library of award-winning expressive content as well as an extensive international distribution capability.

AGI attracts more than 30 million unique visitors per month in 18 countries to its popular websites AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com, and Egreetings.com as well as through Instant Messaging or online partnerships with AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!. The company has one of the largest online subscription services with over 3.4 million paying subscribers.

AG Interactive is a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation , one of the world's largest manufacturers of social expression products. Along with greeting cards, its product lines include gift wrap, party goods, stationery, calendars, ornaments and electronic greetings. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual net sales of approximately $1.7 billion. For more information, please visit http://www.aginteractive.com/.