The History Of It! Continued...

Product Firsts - A Promotional Product Chronology >>>
(Click {most} images to view or enquire.)

1888: The Art Calendar.

In a time when fine art was not generally available to the masses, newspaper publishers Thomas D. Murphy and Edmund Burke Osborne of Red Oak, Iowa, took a watercolour painting of the town's new county courthouse and placed it in the centre of a sheet of cardboard, sold advertising space around it and attached a calendar pad.
They also improved the printing process so they could repeoduce three-colour copies of original paintings by a variety of artists.

Edmund's 4 a.m. inspiration was an instant success and the company had 14 representatives travelling and selling them all over the U.S., managing to turn out somewhere between one and three million calendars by 1894!
Osborne later expanded his highly successful calendar business worldwide, setting up plants in Toronto, London and Sydney, Australia.

1889: Matchbooks.

First used for advertising by the Mendelson Opera Company. Also collectable!

1892: Celluloid Button Badges & Trading Cards.

Whitehead & Hoag began manufacturing advertising buttons and trade cards made from Celluloid. Taking out no less than six patents on these types of products. Whitehead & Hoag effectively cornered this popular market until the year 1906.
It was at this point that Jasper Meek saw the potential of this as an advertising medium, and after making "certain improvements" to the existing product, took out patents on the "improved" product and named it Tuscelluloid.

1896: Metal Signs.

Beach was the first to take an interest in printing metal signs, and soon after Meek followed suit. Both knew that a printing process for metal would open up an entire new product line.
They both had successes in this area, although Beach managed it first!

A totally new process for printing on tin was developed at The Standard Advertising Co.

A rubber sheet attached to a cylinder was passed over the litho stone picking up the image and then passed over a piece of tin, depositing the image.

These advances would propel the Standard and Tuscarora Advertising into the forefront of the metal sign trade.

Again, they both went on to produce metal advertising trays including ones for Coca-Cola® and a number of beer companies - which have become collectors' items today.

1930's: Playing Cards.

Amongst other things, Charles Ward found an ideal advertising method by printing the details of his consultacy company on the reverse of playing cards.
Two of those 'other things' he thought of included the concept of buying up the rights of famous works of art (including Norman Rockwell) for calendars and issuing exclusive licensing.

1940's: Pencils.

Not so much a product first - as the promotional pencil had been around since 1908 - but a first nonetheless;
During World War II, the Columbia Pencil Company produced 2 million pencils that were to be dropped over occupied territory. Included in that batch were those released over the Philippines with the quote "I shall return!" famously made by General McArthur.

1945: Ballpoint Pens.

Gimbel's in the State of New York sold 10,000 Reynolds ballpoint pens in less than 6 hours at $12.50 apiece, despite the slow-drying ink they contained.
Ballpoint pens continued to impress and shortly became the preference to fountain pens as a preferred writing instrument, and thus an obvious tool for advertising.

1960's: T-Shirts.

Possibly the best-selling promotional product of all time the, T-shirt first made an appearance in 1949 as a promotional medium. However the 1960's saw their meteoric rise as the youth of the day began to speak their thoughts in any way they could.

A resurgence in button-badges also occurred during this time, but it was the T-Shirt that has maintained constant popularity up to the present day as advertisers quickly realized their massive imprint area and high visibility that the populous are only to happy to wear.
Today, T-Shirts span virtually all generations, products and convictions.

1970's & 1980's: Technology.

As the thoughts, ideas and inventions in all markets advanced, promotional products could not help but follow and thus reap the rewards.
Methods of mass production meant that newer and smaller technologies became cheaper to buy and so more accessible as an option to advertise.
Watches, calculators, telephones and stopwatches are just a few examples that made themselves very attractive to smaller firms with limited budgets.

This began to level the promotional product playing field for businesses large and small and in turn so it increased the awareness and potential of specialty advertising. The knock-on effect simply increased demand and supply leading to a wider electronic selection including electronic databanks, travel companions, phone dialers and so forth in to the late 1980's.

Other items that came to the fore - especially in the 1980's - were those already in use in other industries. For example, water bottles, fanny packs and clothing from sports became part of everyday life.

1990's + : Computer Power.

The dawn of the computer age really took off during this decade.
Businesses and individuals alike began to integrate computers into their lives opening the door to an abundance of accessories that could be used for promotional sales: mouse mats, computer mice, screen sweeps - even software like screensavers and promotional CDs/videoCDs became the new tools of the marketing trade. It also opened the door to many new desktop items too like CD & Floppy disc cases.

2000 - Present: Anything!

Today, you can pretty much print, engrave, emboss, hot foil, screen print or embroider anything you wish - and if you cannot, there's always a close alternative on which you can!

So from a "Meek" idea (sorry Jasper!) over a hundred years ago to the high-tech wizardry of the modern day, Promotional Products have evolved into one of the most powerful, imaginative and cost-effective instruments to the business community.

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With Thanks to http://www.beertruck.com and PPAI for the use of their information and images.