Promoting Business
The Complete Wanamaker Store in Philadelphia … Philadelphia, PA: Wanamaker Store, [ca. 1910].
This is probably the strangest item in this collection. A postcard, advertising Wanamaker’s new store in Philadelphia, instructs the recipient to “blow here” into a hole over the address. Blow and a crepe paper illustrated replica of the new building will expand.
John Wanamaker instituted many firsts for a department store, including electric lights, the price tag, and a restaurant. The world’s largest operational organ is still in the Grand Court.
Cendrillon [Cinderella] and L’Equitation [The Horseback Rider]. Paris: Au Bon Marché Department Store, [ca. 1900].
It is unlikely there was any mercantile establishment that produced more chromolithographed trade cards (or “chromos”) than the Parisian department store, Au Bon Marché. It is reported that from 1895 to 1914, the department store distributed 50 million chromos. The movable ones are of the highest quality and complexity. Cards were given out free to customers. There would easily be cause for excitement in acquiring these, such as the fairytale theater series Cendrillon, in a set of six, where the roof holds the diorama open to view the tableau and the cellophane moon when lit from the rear, or a dissolving disc card like L’Equitation, in a set of four. Pull one string and the “blades” circle over each other to expose another chromolithographed image. Both are quite fragile, and I’m grateful they’ve survived and function.
Talking Postcards. Red Oak, IA: The Thomas D. Murphy Co., [ca. 1924].
To make a sale, you must show your client what they are buying. This printing salesperson’s folder contains several sample postcards. Each card opens to create a character with a v-fold mouth and generic “stories” relating to the character, all customizable by the client. The inside text presumably can include the client’s pitch, logo, or company information.
松坂屋 上野店 [Matsuzakaya Department Store]. Ueno, Japan: Matsuzakaya Department Store, [ca. 1930].
The Matsuzakaya Department Store was founded in 1611 and is the oldest chain store in the world. When the store in Ueno was updated, a corresponding guide was printed in paper layers. Each of the eight layers show, in line drawings, what can be found on that floor. The brochure boasts that the building is earthquake and fire resistant. A food court is in the basement. Another practical ad that would have been kept and referred to by customers.
Sears, Roebuck and Co. at the Century of Progress, International Exposition. Chicago, IL: Sears, Roebuck and Co., 1933.
Printed for the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, this brochure has a patented pop-up of the Sears’s building. The unusual pop-up, which also folds down, stresses Sears’s merchandising and marketing strategies. The emphasis on service was demonstrated by the amenities in the building, such as phone booths, a café, and a telegraph office.
Out of Sight-Out of Mind … Save your roof and you save all! Ft. Worth, TX: Panther Oil & Gas Manufacturing Co., 1946.
One of the more unusual sales promotion pieces, especially with the use of a plastic tab that allows for a double-page presentation per spread. The pop-up book makes a strong visual case for Panther’s patented “Battleship” roofing coating. An image of Uncle Sam proudly displaying the patent appears on the rear cover.
Jan Piénkowski. Haunted House: Intervisual Books 1992 Annual Report. Los Angeles, CA: Intervisual Books, 1979.
The Haunted House was one of the most successful pop-up books ever, selling one million copies. It won the 1980 Greenaway Medal and a second Greenaway Medal for Piénkowski. It was creative advertising genius to use the award-winning book as part of Intervisual’s annual report, making it a collectible and promoting their success while demonstrating a sample of the company’s product.
Would the most innovative insurance company in America please stand up. San Francisco, CA: Transamerica Insurance, 1986.
Just one year after Honeywell Corp. created the first magazine pop-up insert ad in Business Week, Transamerica followed suit with an ad of their iconic Pyramid Headquarters building in San Francisco. The ad stands over 8” tall. Over 5 million copies were printed and inserted into the September 8, 1986, issue of Time magazine. Costing $3 million, 35% of Transamerica’s advertising budget, and using 420,000 assembly worker-hours in Latin America, this record-breaking insert was noticed and written about; a Transamerica survey revealed a 90% recall of the ad.
Eskimo Pie 1993 Annual Report: The Cold Facts. Richmond, VA: Eskimo Pie Corp., 1993.
Annual reports can be quite static, but the version produced by Eskimo Pie grabs its readers’ attention by simulating its product. The design mimics a chocolate-covered ice cream pop that holds a booklet within. Remove the “chocolate” sleeve and the report is revealed, mounted on the popsicle stick.
The Architects of Paper. Essex, CT: Structural Graphics, 1997.
Structural Graphics (including its Up with Paper greeting card division) is a titan in the field of dimensional marketing. Using standard paper engineering mechanisms while creating new ones, this folder demonstrates how they command the consumer’s attention with movable paper structures. Here they use three pop-ups and photographs of their innovations.
Sonic Wacky Pack. Molly’s Favorite Places. Oklahoma City, OK: Sonic Corp., 2000.
Started in 1996, Sonic is another fast-food restaurant drive-in chain that also catered to kids with promotional toy giveaways. Get a free toy with each child’s meal. Molly’s Favorite Place is one of a set of four in carousel book format. Open the ribbon tie and pull back the covers together to form a structure in the round with additional pop-ups inside. Several of Sonic’s toys, like this one, also emphasized the benefits of reading.
Narnia: Aslan and the Return of Spring. Oak Brook, IL: McDonald’s Corp., 2005.
Continuing their very successful Happy Meals promotion that brought children into the restaurant to complete the promotional sets of giveaways, McDonald’s created a series of eight pop-up booklets with images and plastic figurines from the Disney movie, The Chronicles of Narnia. Tie-in merchandise with popular media characters serves to benefit both franchises and appeals to a wider audience, especially collectors.
Happy Holidays Season’s Greetings. New York: Bloomingdale’s Department Store, [ca. 2010].
Every Christmas and Chanukah, Bloomingdale’s cash registers display holiday greeting cards. Inside are gift cards awaiting monetary assignments at purchase. For several years, these cards used inventive paper-engineered images, making the greeting card a keeper. In this example, a theater set-up, the user pulls the side panels, and a stage appears. Of course, this stage is filled with shoppers, each toting a Bloomingdale’s signature “My Brown Bag” in a replica of the flagship store’s first floor.
Acuity’s Storybook Year: Annual Report 2010. Sheboygan, WI: Acuity Insurance Co., 2010.
By far the most complicated annual report ever produced is the one for Acuity Insurance Company. The complex pop-ups, paper engineered by Andrew Baron, explode from these pages while reporting the company’s accomplishments with nursery rhymes. The actual financial information is given in small booklets mounted on every page. Over 19,000 copies were produced and distributed to the firm’s insurance agents. The design garnered many awards, and this annual report was added to the collections of the Smithsonian Libraries.
M Restaurant: The 2015 Diary. China: M Restaurant Group, 2018.
This is an extraordinary linen-covered one-year diary packed with movables and pop-ups, an apron, maps, and postcards. It represents a chain of Chinese restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Yangon. In English and Chinese.