A deal toy (also deal gift, lucite tombstone or financial tombstone) is a customized memento or gift that is intended to mark and commemorate the closing of a business deal in

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

. These plaques or other types of trophies are typically presented at the closing ceremony or dinner to the issuer and senior third-party advisers of the major financial transactions as a souvenir.

History

The deal toy is the marriage of a design with the tombstone advertisement, a term that dates to the late 19th century, when printers used it to refer to "column-width newspaper ads run without any illustration or typographical ornamentation." Restrictions imposed by the

Securities Act of 1933 The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression and after ...

meant that the tombstone ad became the format that companies and banks used to publicize financial transactions such as initial public offerings. From at least the late 1960s, law firms and banks produced

Lucite Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

slabs that encased the tombstone ads announcing new partner classes. By the early 1970s, deal closings were being similarly immortalized. As a result of the banking crisis of 2008, investment banks closed fewer deals, and deal toy budgets were reined in accordingly.

Purpose

Deal toys are designed to commemorate a financial transaction. This memento is described as an ad hoc creation to a financial offering or other major investment banking transaction and is most often presented at the closing ceremony of the deal. This souvenir typically includes the names or logos of the firms for which the transaction is completed (the recipients), description of the transaction (type, size and, date of the deal) as well as the names and or

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

s of the key financial advisors and financiers involved in that transaction. Because the recipients of the award are the clients of the advisors and

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

s, the award also acts as a marketing tool for the presenter long after the transaction has passed. As deal toys became used within the investment banking industry, they also became a point of pride—and competition—with firms frequently seeking to outdo each other with creative and elaborate designs. The banking crisis of 2008 caused many financial firms to rein in spending generally, and on deal toys specifically. Though many financial firms have recently eased restrictions on tombstone budgets, they largely have not been restored to pre-crisis levels. Average order size, which had ranged between 50-60 pieces prior to 2008, had by 2013 stabilized at around 20-30. Order quantities can still reach approximately 50 or 60 for larger transactions.

3D printing

Deal toys can be manufactured by

3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...

, which allows the creation of beautiful and complex tombstones compared with more conventional materials. The materials used for 3D printing a deal toy are

polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made through ...

and

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

. These are often used in combination with other materials like, wood, stone, steel or

acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...

Status

Deal toys are generally considered to be prized by the recipient, indicating achievement. Deal toys possessed by an individual can also serve as a reflection of his or her

status Status (Latin plural: ''statūs''), is a state, condition, or situation, and may refer to: * Status (law) ** City status ** Legal status, in law ** Political status, in international law ** Small entity status, in patent law ** Status conference ...

, as they indicate the number of transactions with which they have been involved. They are displayed to help

persuade Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persuasio ...

potential clients to work with a firm on their transaction.

References

External links