Vimto then to Old Trafford (1927) and finally (1971) to a state of the art plant in Wythenshawe, Manchester. In the 1990s, Vimto print advertisements used the cartoon character Purple Ronnie, along with slightly rude poems by Giles Andreae, the creator of Purple Ronnie. In 2003, Purple Ronnie was dropped, and a new creative direction was adopted, revolving around the benefits of 'Shlurpling the Purple'. This, in turn, led to the launch in 2006 of Billy and his Dad's Pants – a modern-day morality story in which, despite turning up at the swimming pool with his Dad's pants in the middle
Rust Craft Greeting Card Company by Ziff Davis the year before for $89 million, who also owned Norcross Greeting Card Company. Effectively however, the printing assets were secondary to Ziff Davis, which mainly wanted Rust Craft for its six small-market television stations. Rust Craft’s manufacturing was moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania where Norcross already have a facility. Windsor Communications soon purchased Rust Craft and Norcross when Ziff Davis spun them off, while retaining Rust Craft Broadcasting. Windsor spent $10 million in 1981 to close the Dedham plant, incentivize employees to stay on, and to move operations. They struggled with heavy competition, however, and with only