Though Swanson Christian Products is one of the oldest gift suppliers in the industry, it is pursuing younger consumers after a major review of its lines.

"What we've seen in the past couple of years is taking our product line and every design has been replaced with new designs, updated images," said John McKinney, director of operations at the Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based company. "We're using creative designs on the logos, new colors, and where it used to be basic black, burgundy and navy, now we're going into reds, greens, purples, oranges."

The company has also recently expanded into holiday items, debuting in 2008 a line of Christmas giftware, including wall crosses, nativity sets and even candy maker's bookmarks.

New designs have helped the company reach a younger demographic, which includes an expanding children's market. "In previous days, I think our product was geared to middle age or older," McKinney said. "We have made a purposeful addition to include younger markets all the way down to children."

Founded in 1935 by Clifford Swanson, the company is run today by his grandson, Adam Swanson, but owned since 2004 by Victory Christian Center where the younger Swanson is pastor. Through the years, the company has channeled proceeds into missions efforts both at home and abroad, recently funding the delivery of 30,000 Bibles into China.

Read the full "Creative Company" profile in the next issue of Inspirational Gift Trends, with the March 9 issue of Christian Retailing.

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