Could This Kickstarter-backed Company Shake Up the Greeting Card Industry?

Expressalo is a company looking for backers on Kickstarter, a crowd-sourcing platform that helps fledgling businesses find micro-investors. With 555 backers and $39,600 in investments, the group is already beyond their $20,000 starting goal. So what’s the point of this company? Expressalo goes above and beyond traditional greeting cards, which might not work for everyone. Instead, their greetings are toys that help to express how people are feeling about a “thank you” or a “feel well soon!”

The toys come in pre-packaged boxes that display an image of both the toy, as well as the intended message. The “sorry” toy is a cute blue monster with big eyes, who looks apologetic yet hopeful for forgiveness. “Unlike old-fashioned Greeting Cards, an Expressaló will never end in the bottom of the drawer,” Expressalo’s Kickstarter page reads; there are many grandmothers proudly displaying greeting cards on their fridge that Expressalo has somehow not encountered.

The greeting toys are also smartphone-scannable. When the recipient scans the toy using the company’s free app, they can see a personalized message left by the sender.

How can people get their Expressalo toys? Right now, it’s only available through their Kickstarter — for $12, anyone interested can get a “Love” Expressalo. The campaign ends soon, though, at which point people will have to buy from Expressalo’s new online site.

Will Expressalo revolutionize the greeting card business? It seems unlikely. Though they will certainly be popular with many people, there are advantages to cards that aren’t realized through a toy or other novelty — and Expressalo is not the first to conceptualize pairing mailed gifts with messages.