Iconic Ads: Archies – Show You Care

Anil Moolchandani entered the greeting cards business. He saw that in India, cards were usually sold from boxes marked `Birthday’ and `Anniversary’ in stationery shops. The name Archies was named after Anil’s neighbour’s dog. 

Archies had theme cards—Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Friendship Day etc., which Indians did not know about. However, the youth took fancy to this

It also localized itself. Archies was the first with cards for Indian festivals such as Holi, Diwali, and Rakshabandhan and many others

In the 80s, even though Indians had so many festivals & functions, they did not express their emotions through greeting cards. Due to global influences, there was a change primarily among the urban audience. (It was Archies that influenced Indians to be more expressive in their emotions and making it a habit)

Feelings and emotions were core to the Archies brand. Aptly summed up by ‘The most special way to say you care. The Archies created multiple ways (cards) to express these emotions. Archies became a way to show how much people cared.

R Kanga handled the advertising for a very long time. Archie’s commercials were created by the team at R Kanga. The first commercial was released in 1990 and there was a series. Archies was the first greeting card company to advertise on television

Enter the world of Archies