Shutterfly Announces Top Trends in Birth Announcements and the Names Most Likely to Appear on Them

Feb 11, 2010

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb 25, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, today introduced more than 100 new birth announcements designed to greet the decade’s newest arrivals with style and sophistication. Shutterfly also revealed the most popular baby names among Shutterfly’s stationery shoppers. To compliment the new styles, Shutterfly expanded its popular collection of personalized invitations and greeting cards with a variety of new designs to support growing demand for personalized cards and stationery occasions throughout the year. To view the new collection, visit www.shutterfly.com/stationery.

“The expansion of our popular baby stationery collection melds the most popular elements of past designs with the trends that are shaping the stationery world this year,” said Stephanie Roeder, Shutterfly’s Card Stylist. “Customers shopping for baby girls versus baby boys have very different preferences, and our new styles are a celebration of those differences, offering an unparalleled breadth of choices for the discerning parent.”

Shutterfly’s research and user data show that customers with baby girls are most interested in a light and soft look for their announcement and are also more likely to take a risk and choose a design with fresh trend color pairings – while customers with baby boys are more interested in a classic and traditional color and patterned approach. The names gracing baby announcements this year are likely to follow similar trends with Addison and Emma topping the list of girl names, while the more traditional William and Dylan were the most popular boy names among Shutterfly customers.

According to Ms. Roeder, birth announcements in 2010 will encompass the following trends:

1. Photo is king – Right now, “full-bleed” photos, those that span the entire size of the card, are a hit for birth announcements. Everyone is anxious to see the long-awaited bundle of joy, and parents take advantage of the birth announcement to include as many or as large a photo as possible. For a modern pop, look for cards that layer typography on top of the photo.

2. Black is the new brown – Although chocolate brown paired with color has been the “color of choice” in sophisticated stationery designs for two years running, this year it’s all about black. Black intensifies the focus on the photo and makes colors pop, all while keeping its sophisticated edge.

3. M is for monogram – Personalization is central to any announcement, and this year, parents are adding that touch with a simple monogram. Text styles vary from bold to playful, but in every case the design flows gracefully from a single initial.

4. Color pairings send a message – For a baby girl birth announcement, pink with lime green is the current hot trend thanks to the rebirth of preppy chic and the optimistic tone it sets. For a baby boy announcement, it’s all about blue with grey hues creating a classic look while exuding sophistication at the same time.

5. Tradition, straight up with a twist – When it comes to the core design elements within announcements, the look starts traditional but gets a modern touch from color and scale. For example, one popular look pairs a damask pattern with on-trend colors while another enlarges the classic polka dot to create a more modern feel.

Shutterfly also launched cards for new occasions this year, including Easter Cards invitations and greetings, as well as First Communion invitations. In addition to baby announcements, Shutterfly has expanded their offerings in the categories of adult birthday invitations, kids birthday invitations, baby’s first birthday invitations and baptism invitations, to be the one-stop resource for all personalized stationery needs.

Shutterfly’s stationery assortment is available in six sizes and offers direct mail service for Shutterfly’s 5×7 folded greeting and flat stationery cards. For more information on Shutterfly’s complete line of cards and stationery, please visit: www.shutterfly.com/cards.

About Shutterfly

Founded in 1999, Shutterfly, Inc. is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly provides high quality products and world class services that make it easy, convenient and fun for consumers to preserve their digital photos in a creative and thoughtful manner. Shutterfly’s flagship product is its award-winning Photo Book line, which helps consumers celebrate memories and tell their stories in professionally bound coffee table books. More information about Shutterfly (NASDAQ:SFLY) is available at www.shutterfly.com. Shutterfly and Shutterfly.com are trademarks of Shutterfly, Inc.

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SOURCE: Shutterfly, Inc.

Shutterfly, Inc.
Media Relations:
Gretchen Sloan, 650-610-5276
gsloan@shutterfly.com

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