The perfect birthday card. Ah, the elusive unicorn of celebrations and parties. I cringe to count how many hours I’ve spent in Target deliberating between this cutesy shoe motif, this edgy humorous layout or that blasé cake/candles/my-how-good-you-look card. While I’m sure its no easy feat churning out hundreds of soiree-themed slogans, birthday cards seem to strike the perfect (or imperfect!) balance of cheesy and cliche.

…until a recent afternoon in Rite Aid, of all the places. I stumbled on a card brand that snagged my attention but not just because of the clever copy.

It was the placeholder behind each card that piqued my interest.

When a particular card runs out, Shoebox — a Hallmark brand –– leverages this empty space as an opportunity to engage with customers and showcase its voice. Shoebox touts itself as “the perfect way to make someone laugh out loud. These sometimes edgy, irreverent takes on real life are surprising, hilarious, often inappropriate and always timely.”

The empty card slots were slathered with copy like this:

In a word: unexpected. In two: delightfully unexpected.

The witty whims were a surprise almost as much as the creative placement. So a big thumbs up to Shoebox for spying this opportunity to make an impression and increase a form of dialogue with its customer base. I’ll certainly be checking out the Shoebox cards section before my next birthday bash.

And that’s not all. Want to see our favorite (and not-so-favorite) copy? Check out other copy cat blogs!