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The Evolution of Malemark
While the formal organization of our corporation happened more than a year ago, the history of the Malemark idea and its people go back more than a decade. According to its founder, Herman DeBoard, the idea began as a joke in 1999 during a Communication Studies presentation he was giving as part of his Masters Degree in Gender Communication at Marshall University. The presentation was about greeting cards as a communication tool in relationships. The basis was that a man could blindly select almost any greeting card on the shelf under romantic categories without even reading it and the woman would love it. The ritual, however, could not be reversed (woman to man). While there are literally dozens of reasons for this phenomenon, "it is mainly because men and woman are innately wired differently" wrote DeBoard. Men and women simply, or complexly, have different needs and different wants within a given relationship.
Since that time, and throughout his career, DeBoard started developing more of his verbal "Man Cards" for his own friends and family. They would mainly come out at dinners and holiday gatherings and always seemed to be a hit. It wasn't until mid-2008 that one of his friends suggested he turn his jokes into an e-card site for guys. But what would he call it? After weeks of research and testing, he decided between two names: "Man Sentiments - Apologies Our Way" or "Male Mark - The Mark of a Real Man." He surveyed about 300 of his social network contacts with the overwhelming response that "Male Mark - The Mark of a Real Man" was the best option for a name.
So he purchased the domain name malemark.com and began construction on the site and the cards. The website was an overnight success. Within six months, the site had a number-one search ranking for the term "greeting cards for men," was being featured on popular male oriented sites around the world such as AskMen.com, and was, according to Google Analytics, being viewed in more than 105 countries. The popularity outside of his circle of influence was the driving force behind the formal organization of the company and the decision to begin printing paper versions of the greeting cards.
Today, Malemark is a private corporation with more than 1,100 printed greeting cards. We are nationally distributed in the United States through our retail partners and are globally distributed through our online sales and affiliate program.
Our People
Board of Directors
Corporate Officers
Division Directors
Legal Counsel
Public Relations Team
Our Divisions
Greeting Card Division
Entertainment Division
Non Profit Division
Advertising Division
Product Development Division
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