Precious Moments
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Precious Moments is widely known as a series of collectible porcelain bisque figurines. The original artwork was created by the American illustrator Sam Butcher in the 1970s. The figurines depict young children with distinctive teardrop-shaped eyes, and are often accompanied by inspirational messages which are also found on the products.
Alongside Spain's Lladro and Germany's M.I. Hummel, Precious Moments is one of the few porcelain figurine brands still alive in the 21st century. It is also the brand name for a series of giftware and collectibles licensed by Precious Moments, Inc (a.k.a. PMI) based on the same artworks by Sam Butcher.
Some have observed similarities in design with Margaret Keane's paintings of waifs or with Japanese Anime with their large sorrowful eyes.
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[edit] General
Precious Moments is a lifestyle brand created by artist Sam Butcher. His simple illustrations of children with teardrop shaped eyes include messages of heartfelt endurance and inspiration. Products derived from these illustrations (by license) are called "Precious Moments". Christian themes appear throughout his work, as Butcher is a born-again Christian.
The flagship product of the brand is the "Precious MomentsTM Porcelain Bisque Figurines" that has been sold since 1977. At its peak, this world-famous product line has seen forty times the sales of the next-best selling Precious Moments product line (Enesco). In the 21st century, Precious Moments is known as one of the few brands that mainly deal in porcelain figurines besides Lladro and Hummel.
It (Precious Moments, Inc. a.k.a. PMI) is also the name of the company that maintains and licenses copyrighted material pertaining to the designs by Sam Butcher. The company was incorporated in 1989 to answer to the increased demands of the Precious Moments characters and themes - yet 80% of the royalties collected was from its licensee Enesco Corp. for their porcelain products.
Also, the same year, Sam Butcher used his profits from PMI to build his longtime dream - a chapel in Carthage, Missouri. Honored as the father of Precious Moments, he appears at some events in Carthage and occasionally at large scale collector club events, like those which took place in May of 2005 in Hawaii for the club's 25th anniversary. Sam Butcher currently resides in the Philippines and spends little time in the US.
[edit] Figurines
The story of how Precious Moments became porcelain figurines is familiar to many collectors, yet vague on detail and there exists many inaccuracies. What is known to be the status quo story is that Gene Freedman, founding chairman of Enesco, Corp., found Sam Butcher and then convinced Sam to have Yasuhei Fujioka, a Japanese sculptor, bring life to the children as three dimensional figurines.
[edit] The beginning
Precious Moments is well known for the porcelain figurines sold by Enesco Corp. since 1977. Sam Butcher originally started scribbling the now famous children with tear-drop shaped eyes on cards and letters to friends and families. Butcher and his friend Bill Biel started a small company under the name of Jonathan & David (J&D) to produce and sell his art on a line of cards and posters. J&D sold some greeting cards at flea markets but sales were meager and localized at first. The big break came at the Christian Booksellers Association Convention in Anaheim, California. Butcher remembers being so busy that they had to have neighboring vendors come over to help him and Biel fill orders. Soon after, his work was noticed by Enesco, Corp.
In 1975, Eugene Freedman, who worked for a gift company, befriended Butcher at a show. Freedman liked the characters, but he knew that his company had a late start on the greeting card business, thus needed something else--figurines.
Freedman searched for more than a year looking for a sculptor that could sculpt a figurine that satisfied Butcher's artistic tastes. In 1976, Freedman finally brought the artwork to Nagoya, Japan; where he had previous dealings with the owner and master sculptor, Yasuhei Fujioka.
[edit] Enesco
| Enesco Group, Inc. | |
| Type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1967 |
| Headquarters | Itasca, IL |
| Key people | Leonard A. Campanaro (Chairman), Basil Elliott (President/CEO), Marie Meisenbach Graul (Executive VP/CFO) |
| Industry | Giftware |
| Products | Gifts and collectibles |
| Subsidiaries | Enesco Limited (UK), N.C. Cameron & Sons, Ltd. (CAN) |
| Website | www.enesco.com |
In 1958, Enesco was the import division for the N. Shure Company. When N. Shure was sold to Butler Brothers, the import division was spun-off. Founding President Gene Freedman took the acronym off of the N. Shure cargo, "N S Co" and phonetically named his company "EnEsCo". Thereafter, the company was sold three times, and in 1983 became a part of Stanhome, Inc. After separating from Stanhome in 1998, Stanhome immediately collapsed--leaving Enesco with all of Stanhome's assets.
At first, the porcelain figurines were sold under the Jonathan & David name, but during the mid 1980's (J&D under stamps can be found up until 1986), due to differences in business policies, Biel and Butcher dissolved Jonathan & David. Enesco took over the distributorship world wide from then on. Also around the same time, Butcher set up the "Sam Butcher Foundation" and "Precious Moments, Inc.".
Up until 1997, Enesco's sales for Precious Moments porcelain figurines continued to increase. The collectors' club started from 1980 also saw great increases in membership until then. Enesco was awarded many awards by NALED (National Association of Limited Edition Dealers) during its peak sales years. Freedman and Butcher were also awarded the "Industry Achievement Award" and the "Artist of the Year" respectively numerous times. In its highest sales year, 80% of Enesco's net sales consisted of Precious Moments porcelain figurines.
But by 2004, Enesco, Corp. posted an operating loss of $15.7 million US dollars. The sales of Precious Moments items plunged from a high of $206 million in 1996 to $55.7 million in 2004, a drop of $27.5 million from 2003. (Carthage Press 2005)
"Precious Moments revenues represented 22% of consolidated net revenues in 2004 compared to 33% in 2003," according to Enesco's 2004-2005 annual report.
In 2005 Precious Moments ended its business partnership and license arrangement with Enesco. Precious Moments currently oversees the distribution of its figurines and products, shipping products from its warehouses in Carthage, Mo.
Gene Freedman left Enesco in March of 2005, but has been named "Precious Moments Ambassador" by Precious Moments, Inc. There was an extravagant retirement dinner scheduled for him, but it quickly became an employment celebration after PMI's announcement.
In 2006, only a year after the departure of Precious Moments, Enesco's fourth president, Cynthia Passmore-McLaughlin (formerly of Revlon) resigned. With this, Jim Shore, the second best selling products after Precious Moments, dissolved its crontract with Enesco. Enesco's stocks fell below US $1.00 and was unlisted from the NYSE. After a few weeks of over the counter trading, Enesco withdrew its public offering altogether.
Historical Enesco President/CEOs
- Eugene Freedman (retired)
- Jeff Hutsell (resigned)
- Dan Dalmolle (deceased)
- Cynthia Passmore-McLaughlin (resigned)
- Basil Elliot (current)
[edit] Japan
1976 - Gene Freedman was in Japan. As a buyer for N. Shure Co.'s import division, he had dealings with many vendors who produced high quality ceramics. One of those vendors was Pearl Original, Inc. run by Yasuhei Fujioka (company name from '76 not avaialble). He had travelled around the world, but had not found a sculpt that satisfied Sam Butcher's esoteric tastes.
"Fujioka-san could immediately sculpt the back-side, not shown in Sam's artworks.", and, "Sam fell in love at first sight", says Mr. Freedman.
In 1977, the porcelain figurines were introduced to US retailers, and officially started its retail career in 1978. All figurines were designed in Fujioka's Pearl Original studio.
Years passed and during the mid 1980's to 1990's, Precious Moments had become one of the top porcelain collectible brand in the United States. Enesco decided to expand its business to Europe and Asia, but the difference in laws and cultures made it difficult. The "American-Christian" theme of Precious Moments was a hard sell.
In Japan, many distributors and department stores tried carrying the Precious Moments products, but they all gave up after low sales. Many even employed sales tactics that may have marred the brand image. Freedman decided to meet with Fujioka again.
By that time, Yasuhei Fujioka had already relinquished his company to his son Shuhei. Shuhei had been part of the company since the birth of Precious Moments porcelain figurines, and was an integral part of managing the business between Pearl Original, Inc. and Enesco, Corp.
In 1997, Shuhei Fujioka created Precious Memory, Inc. as a porcelain specialty wholesale and retail company. With stores in Tokyo's Omote-Sando, Yokohama's Motomachi, and Kobe's Motomachi - the company promoted and sold Precious Moments porcelain figurines. The company also sold through catalog and mail orders and setup an online retail site which was something new in the late 90's. Precious Memory's approach of selling the brand image rather than the products itself, was different from those of the previous distributors.
To encourage and promote this new endeavour, Enesco permitted Fujioka and Precious Memory to develop and market a series of "Japan Exclusive" Precious Moments. These products would depict inspirational cultural themes of Japan. According to Enesco's marketing guidelines, under this agreement, these Japan Exclusive products would be exclusive to Japan for the first six months after its introduction and would be available world-wide after that. But in many cases, Enesco sales reps and retailers either did not know how to sell these products or did not even know that they existed. With no demand, the orders dwindled below manufacturing efficiency. The series was in defacto suspended in 2005 when PMI took over the distributorship of the porcelain figurines.
During the Enesco years, Precious Memory also supported the collectors and club effort by running the Precious Moments Collectors Club Japan (PMCCJ). As Enesco's support for the club was almost non-existent, it was Precious Memory who usually took customer complaints ranging from mis-spelled member cards to refunds on products not delivered by Enesco.
Other than taking the orders for members-only products, the PMCCJ published its quarterly newsletter, the Good News Letter: Japan. The newsletter started as a full-color 16 page glossy heavy-stock stapler bound booklet, but was soon replaced by a satin finish medium-stock version. As the years passed by, the newsletter would change its name to Good Newsletter: Japan[sic] and finally to Precious Memory News as Enesco closed the official club.
[edit] Collectors and clubs
The Precious MomentsTM Collectors' Club was founded in 1980*, followed by the Precious MomentsTMFan Club in the 90s.
In a 2004 report, the cumulative membership was 100,000 individuals. In January of 2005, PMI reported the running total to be 200,000. This number includes members from the Precious Moments Collectors' Club (PMCC), the Precious Moments Fan Club (PMFC), and unofficial members that are simply registered as direct mail recipients in PMI's database.
Club members have established local chapters to each of these clubs. One does not have to join a local chapter to be a member. Local chapter members benefit from local sponsorship that is otherwise unavailable from club headquarters. There are even chapters in Canada.
Each chapter is usually sponsored by a local gift shop selling Precious Moments figurines. The most notable chapters are the You Have Touched So Many Hearts (YHTSMH) sponsored by European Imports (Niles, Illinois) and the Alohalani Precious Moments Club sponsored by the Cathedral Gift Shop (Honolulu, HI). The two stores would also join large scale events, such as the Gifts & Collectibles Show at Rosemont, Illinois and the Precious Moments Hawaiian Adventure respectively.
Each local chapter may also distribute their own newsletters to its chapter members. The YHTSMH publishes its Heart Felt News and the Alohalani distributes its NuPePa quarterly. Some chapters create their own club logos and pins to match.
During the Enesco years, the Precious Moments Community was approved as the only official online chapter for the Collectors' Club.
Around the world, the PMCC and its members were supported by their local distributors; Precious Memory in Japan, Best Gate in Hong Kong, Precious Thots in Thailand and so on. But the English version of the Good News Letter, the official newsletter of PMCC, was not well accepted - and in many cases, the local distributors would publish their own native language leaflets. With almost no support from US headquarters, customers also had to rely on the local distributor to answer their complaints against Enesco. Many of the distributors would eventually set up their own membership programs to take care of their customers.
As Enesco lost its license with PMI in 2005, all local chapters and international clubs have been disavowed - although still active. Since then, PMI has decided to re-evaluate its club strategies. In February of 2006 PMI began accepting registration of local club chapters in an open letter in their quarterly newletter, Moments.
*There was a big 25th anniversary celebration in Hawaii in 2005. So 1980 would be the charter year.
[edit] Design originality
Originally, the porcelain figurines were sculpted based on the artwork by Sam Butcher. As seen in the products known as the "Original 21", many of the products were inspired by already existing artwork. Some of the designs, with Middle Eastern garb and sheep, were inspired by traditional Christian artistry from the Middle Ages and the Rennaisance. As is the case with Lladro and Hummel, traditional motifs appear over and over in the product designs.
During the late 70s, other manufacturers were marketing figurines with Victorian design. This was due in part to the Victorian themes being popular amonst Illustrators of the 70s. In the confusion of the new mass market porcelain figurine market, retail stores were lined with similar products from all over the world. In fact, Yasuhei Fujioka's studio desined similar figurines before Freedman brought Precious Moments to him. From early on, the figurine design was more of Fujioka's design than Sam Butcher's.
As figurines sales rose, Sam was forced to create new designs faster. Sam forfeited working on full paintings and started submitting sketches. When figurine sales increased still, Sam began scribbling stick figures on paper napkins. Afterall, he was known for drawing on rocks in the river.
By this time, Shuhei Fujioka had established a company in the United States, that brought the sculpting process closer to Enesco. With the communication time cut in half, Shuhei and his team of sculptors were able to bring a figurine to life from stick figures, slap on Sam's inspirational message, and submit it to Enesco to be marketed as Sam's own design.
When Sam fell ill and could not even scribble any more, PMI brought in ghost writers, rather ghost artists to draw and come up with inspirational titles. At one point, PMI devised a computer montage program that stored "pieces" of drawings like the face, body, arms, and legs, and paste them together to create a new drawing. Most of the times, hedious images of two left handed, twisted body, one eyed children were spat out from the program. Given these "sketches", Shuhei and his team would ignore them and create sculpts to match the inspirational message and fall within Enesco's marketing needs. With sculptors working off of memory, Precious Moments porcelain figurines would inherit more and more aspects of the other products made by Fujioka's company.
[edit] In popular culture
- Precious Moments figurines are parodied in an episode of The Simpsons. Ned, an avid collector of Humble figurines, which depict large-eyed boys and girls in iconic Americana settings, gets fed up with the morally bankrupt populace of Springfield and moves to the fictional Humbleton, Pennsylvania, where the figurines are produced. However, the residents of Humbleton are so uptight that even Ned doesn't meet their moral standards and he moves back to Springfield.
[edit] Precious Moments, Inc.
| Precious Moments, Inc. | |
 |
|
| Type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Carthage, MO |
| Key people | Jon Butcher (Chairman), Byron Norfleet (President/CEO), Dan Huwel (COO/CFO), Scott Bryson (VP Sales), Bret Moore (VP Marketing), Jeff Biggos (VP Finance), Frank Muci (VP Product Development) |
| Industry | Giftware |
| Products | Porcelain figurines, other gift and collectibles |
| Website | www.preciousmoments.com |
Precious Moments, Inc. (A.k.a. PMI) was founded in 1991 by Samuel J. Butcher and his family. The company is currently owned by two of Butcher's sons - Don, who lives in Carthage, MO, and Jon, who lives in St. Charles, IL].
PMI's main duties until July of 2005 was to collect money from its licensees. From 2000 to 2005, PMI collected over US $80 million from its primary licensee, Enesco, Corp. for the licensing of Precious Moments name and artwork for use on giftware and porcelain figurines. Under its contract, Enesco was to pay PMI a minimum licensing fee of US $15 million annually and 14% of sales beyond that. With the economic slow down of the new millennium and poor sales, Enesco ended up losing more money than they were making.
In 1998, PMI delegated its copyright licensing function to United Media (A.k.a. UM), a wholly owned subsidiary of E. W. Scripps. Because of this, between 1998 and 2005, PMI did not hold any rights to license its own intellectual property. With UM as its licensing agent, PMI licensed its property out to more than 150 manufacturers and vendors.
In July 2005, PMI became the distributor for the Precious Moments porcelain products in place of Enesco. But at the same time, it lost a US $15 million annual account receivable. The company's current functions are product design, marketing, and distribution, in addition to its original copyright delegation duties.
During the company's life, Jon Butcher purchased his father's share of the company - which made him the majority share holder. Some time after 1999, Jon and his brother Don purchased the remaining shares from their sisters; making them 100% owners of PMI. But in 2002, Jon and Don was offered a buyout of PMI by Trivest LP. Instead of a total buyout, Jon decided to let Trivest invest in PMI in return for a performance based payout and purchase plan. (Internal) The investment firm, Trivest Partners LP, would direct a new management team, engaged by Jon.
In January 2006, Jon Butcher stepped down as president and CEO and PMI welcomed Byron Norfleet (previously president of the Naturalizer division of Brown Shoe) as its new CEO and president.
Norfleet was brought in to re-organize company procedures and to give new life to PMI as a giftware distribution company. Although PMI was part of the family of companies that owned the rights to the Precious Moments brand, Norfleet understood that PMI was not a giftware company. Afterall, Sam and Bill had sold their products out of their old company, Jonathan & David, and that the old PMI, as an intellectual property firm, had actually never been a giftware company.
Prior to Norfleet joining PMI, the company had decided to allow Jonathan Lin to compete with Fujioka's factories, breaking off any personal ties that existed between Sam, Yasuhei, and Gene. Lin was a long time supplier to Pearl and Enesco, Corp. and there was no question about his factories' manufacturing abilities. Norfleet, Dan Huwel, COO and CFO of PMI, and Frank Muci, head of PMI product development, all agreed that the best course of action was to diversify their supply chain.
After the first year of the brand change-over, PMI made progress in the decling giftware channel with a relatively smooth transition to a new sales force. The sales programs and new summer release were debuted at a May 2006 broker meeting at the PM chapel park in Carthage, MO. The company pointed out that the biggest challenges were in the operations area.
Corporate charters and annual reports recovered Mar 20, 2006 from Missouri Secretary of State.
[edit] The Precious Moments Chapel
The Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri, is a theme park run by PMI. The land it stands on is owned by the Sam Butcher Foundation - therefore is personally owned by Sam Butcher and his heirs.
The main attraction of the park is the "Fountain of Angels", designed by Sam Butcher himself. The indoor attraction can propel water up to 80 feet high in sync to music, lights, and visual effects. Two separate performances are held everyday from March through December.
[edit] Artistic value
As most Precious Moments licensed products are mass-produced, their value as "art" is relatively low compared to traditional paintings and sculptures. Many critics (see article history) point out that the whole imagery of Precious Moments is kitsch and is intended for a market which disregards traditional artistic values. As with many other consumer goods, the big-eyed aesthetic has been a target of derision among students of traditional art.
The monetary value of Precious Moments products in the aftermarket is varied. Many of the products are resold at a lower price than the original MSRP, but in some cases, items with a higher perceived value are traded at inflated prices. The Internet auction house eBay maintains a distinct category for these collectibles.
According to many of the letters from collectors published in the club newsletters, the sentimental value behind the act of giving and receiving these figurines is more important than the perceived monetary value. Arguably, that could be said of any traditional piece of art, and there lies the paradox between supporters and critics.
[edit] See also
Official standpoints of PMI
[edit] Sources
- Best Wishes of Boca. About Sam Butcher. http://www.bestwishes.net/bestwishes/absambutarof.html
- Building a Company, and its IT, in 90 days . http://www.cioinsight.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=161677,00.asp
- Enesco, Corp. et.al. Precious Moments Catalog.
- Enesco, Corp. Official Website. http://www.enesco.com/
- "First shipment marks a new era for Precious Moments". Carthage Press. Jul. 6, 2005.
- Freedman, Gene, et.al. "Interviews with Enesco employees". 1995~2005.
- Martin, Laura C.; Jones, Carolyn (Photographer). Precious Moments Last Forever. Abbeville Press. Jan. 1, 1977 [ISBN 0-89660-083-1]
- PMI employees, et. al. "Internal memorandum". 1999~2005.
- Precious Moments Community. http://www.preciousmomentscommunity.com/
- Precious Moments Official Site. http://www.preciousmoments.com/
- Precious Moments, Inc. "Precious Moments History/Timeline". Retreived Dec. 12, 2006. http://www.preciousmoments.com/content.cfm/precious_moments_history_timeline
