We got some local press this week from a Boston Newspaper and received great placement on the front page.  Many thanks to reporter Dan Murphy for helping us spread the word about our new company!

Here is the article as it appeared in the paper:

High Voltage recharges greeting card industry

by Dan Murphy (November 24, 2009 - Beacon Hill Times)

Following the launch of High Voltage Cards in September, husband-and-wife team Walter and Bridget High are now offering more than just the generic greeting cards commonly found in stores, opting instead for designs that best capture even the most unusual moments.

Walter and Bridget High, founders of High Voltage Cards

“When Bridget and I went into the store desperately trying to find a card to fit the occasion, we could never find anything decent and ending up sending the same few cards to all of our friends,” Walter said.

This dissatisfaction eventually prompted Walter to begin spray-mounting over the captions of store-bought cards and adding his own personalized notes. Then about 10 years ago, he started designing his own cards for friends, using photos that he had shot as the central images.

High Voltage Cards, which promises to “recharge relationships” and plays on the surname of its founders, is a mail-order business that sells high-quality cards that actually improve on those that Walter has made for friends for the past decade. The cards are printed on high quality stock in small quantities and sold exclusively via the company’s Web site, with new offerings being added each day. The inventory now includes nearly 300 different designs, including blank cards and cards that range from ones for birthdays and traditional holidays to others that address more irreverent subject matter, such as facelifts, breast augmentation, vasectomies, divorce and psycho boyfriends.

“People tend to send cards on commercially endorsed holidays… but it’s the card that arrives on the random Tuesday that makes a lasting impression on someone,” Walter said. “We’re trying to put the greeting back in greeting cards.”

The images for the cards span more than three decades and date back to soon after Walter received a camera as a high-school graduation present, sparking off a fascination with photography that has endured throughout his adulthood.

“He has a unique way of looking at the world that takes everyday things and shows them in a new way,” Bridget said of her husband.

More than 50 of the approximately 250 card images feature Boston locales, including several striking wintertime shots of Beacon Hill.

“I’d been living in LA for 15 years before I moved to Beacon Hill in 1995, so I hadn’t seen winter in a long time,” Walter said. “It was really exciting for me, and I spent a lot of time photographing the neighborhood.”  To promote this local angle, Walter and Bridget, who are both members of the Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA), have donated gift boxes featuring 10 different cards with images from in and around the neighborhood to the non-profit group for fundraising purposes.

Meanwhile, the company has already received some high-profile exposure, thanks to a write-up on that the company featured on Daily Candy, an online guide to Boston and around a dozen other cities. The High Voltage Cards Web site, which was previously visited by no more than four parties at any given time, soon received upwards of 17,000 page views over the course of about a week.

Despite the positive response, the Highs realize that the success of High Voltage Cards ultimately hinges on word-of-mouth praise, as well as overcoming consumers’ reluctance to buy greeting cards online.

“Every card comes with a 100-percent guarantee, and we’re not prohibitive of last-minute shopping, since cards usually arrive a day or two after orders are placed online,” Walter said.

For more information on High Voltage Cards, visit www.highvoltagecards.com.