Through the Years

Promotional products have an interesting history. You'll be surprised at how long ago some products were developed, how and why they were first used and how many are still bringing results today. Any idea who used the first promotional product as a tradeshow traffic-builder? Here's a hint: It got him out of a pickle, so to speak. Check out 1893, but don't miss the other years.

Click on any of the dates if you wish to look at just a particular year to find out what products were developed or popular that year.

1881 / 1888 / 1889 / 1893 / 1930s / 1940s / 1945 / 1960s / 1970s / 1980s / 1990s

This promotion idea was so successful that the publisher of the other newspaper in town, Henry Beach, sold his interest in the paper and started his own advertising specialty company. Printing on anything he could run through a press, Beach turned out rulers, fly swatters and paint mixers. A spirited rivalry developed between Meek and Beach, leading to the development of more and more advertising specialties.

1888 . . . The art calendar, now accounting for 8.7 percent of the promotional products business, was originally a four-in-the-morning inspiration of another newspaper publisher, Edmund Burke Osborne of Red Oak, Iowa. In a time when fine art wasn't available to the masses, Osborne took an impressive rendering of the town's new county courthouse and placed it in the center of a sheet, sold advertising around it and attached a calendar pad. It was an instant success. By 1894, the company was putting out between 1 million and 3 million calendars a year, which were being sold to advertisers from Boston to San Francisco by traveling salesmen.

1893 . . . The H.J. Heinz Company was one of the American exhibitors at the World Columbian Exposition and though they had a beautiful display, few people made their way to it.

Disappointed with the response, Henry Heinz headed to a nearby print shop where he had several thousand tags made to look like baggage checks bearing the promise of a free souvenir when presented at the Heinz exhibit. Police had to control the crowds and the gallery where the exhibit was located had to be reinforced to handle the crush of people flocking to the Heinz booth. There they received a green "pickle," imprinted with the Heinz logo, and equipped with a hook to serve as a charm on a watch chain. That pickle charm was such a traffic-builder, that Heinz drew more than a million people to its booth.

1930s . . . Playing cards became advertising vehicles thanks to Charles Ward, president of one of the earliest consultant companies. Ward also was the first to purchase exclusive rights to the works of famous artists such as Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish for use on art calendars. He also created the concept of "exclusive licensing" when he purchased the rights to the Dionne Quintuplets for $35,000. For 21 years (until one of the quints died), he published a Dionne calendar.

1940s . . . Around as a promotional product since 1908, the woodcased pencil became quite famous during World War II when the Columbia Pencil Company manufactured 2 million pencils to be dropped over occupied territory. These included those dropped over the Philippines bearing that now famous quote of General Douglas McArthur, "I shall return." Still immensely popular, pencils are categorized with all writing instruments, which make up 12.3 percent of the promotional products industry today.

1945 . . . The war's end meant an end to material rationing and a return to more balanced manufacturing, but 1945 also marked a writing revolution of sorts. An estimated 5,000 people gathered in front of Gimbel's in Manhattan to lay out $12.50 for a Reynolds, the first commercially available ballpoint pen in the country. Despite their waxy, slow-drying ink, 10,000 pens were sold in six hours. Within five years, ballpoints became commonplace, shortly eclipsing fountain pens as the preferred writing instrument. A natural for imprinting, they remain one of the largest-selling promotional products.

In addition to the "smiley face," the decade saw the rise of perhaps the best-selling promotional product of all time -- the T-shirt. While logoed T-shirts had actually been around as far back as 1949, they hit their stride in the opinionated late '60s as the near-perfect medium for young people to silently but clearly espouse their views on anything from Vietnam to free love. A resurgence in buttons also occurred for those who preferred a smaller area of expression. But while buttons receded from the forefront, T-shirts simply never left; advertisers quickly realized their value and visibility, and began offering them as premiums with purchase or as straight-ahead gifts. Today, "Ts" span virtually all generations, products and convictions.

1970s . . . Dovetailing with the end of the 1960s, denim began showing up as the dominant fashion trend, in everything from jackets to three-piece suits. Jackets emerged as the longest-lasting, and imprinted versions have lasted into the present.

Inexpensive mass-production of L.E.D. and quartz movements for watches and clocks was developed, opening up the market for digital and analog timepieces that were moderately priced enough to be used as ad mediums. The country's bicentennial in 1976 proved beyond a doubt that promotional products could be successfully combined with a popular trend, as the year saw a huge influx of red, white and blue-colored products, many of which bore imprints as well.

1980s . . . Thanks to growing mass-production and rapidly improving technology, smaller electronics such as phones, tape recorders and calculators became available to the general population at very affordable prices, making them prime targets for advertisers, too. By the end of the decade, such products had evolved into a far wider selection that included pagers, electronic databanks, travel calculators, phone dialers and so on. A variant of this was the introduction of advertising vehicles featuring sound chips (that could mimic anything from a freight train to a cow's moo) and/or tiny flashing lights, which showed up in buttons, business and greeting cards, visors, magnetic clips and even a few print ads. The late '80s also marked the appearance of "neon" colors in nearly everything that could bear an imprint -- pens, wearables, notepads, keytags, etc. The trend lasted nearly a year and overran promotional products and retail. Bumper stickers, which began emerging as a method of on-the-road message-announcing in 1979 or so, hit their promotional stride, appearing on an estimated one in four vehicles by 1989. They were briefly joined by small plastic signs that affixed to car windows via suction cups. The first versions of these were noncommercial, bearing messages such as, "baby on board." But smart advertisers knew a good thing when they saw it. Finally, two items traveled from sports to become part of everyday life -- water bottles, often used by professional teams, and fanny packs, used by rock climbers.

1995 . . . Officer Thomas Kent, of the Leominster, Massachusetts police force, was spared a bullet to the heart in September when a Cross pen in his left pocket deflected a bullet away from him.

From Jasper Meek's burlap schoolbag to today's high-tech products, the promotional products business has grown to become one of the most exciting, effective and imaginative segments of the sales promotion industry. You'd be amazed at how many ways promotional products can help your business.