An advertising postcard is a

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

used for

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

purposes (as opposed to a

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

or greeting postcard). Postcards are used in advertising as an alternative to or to complement other print advertising such as catalogs,

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

, and flyers. Advertising postcards may be mailed or distributed in other ways.

Definition

An advertising postcard is a privately, commercially produced, rectangular piece of stiff paper (typically 3.5 X 5.5 inches, or 148mm x 105mm in Europe) printed in a form that is easy to send through the post and is designed to carry promotional messages of products or services.

Brief history

From the 18th century,

trade cards A trade card is a square or rectangular card that is small, but bigger than the modern visiting card, and is exchanged in social circles, that a business distributes to clients and potential customers, as a kind of business card. Trade cards fi ...

were used by businesses to promote a wide variety of goods and services. Commercial 18th century publishing houses not only printed cards, but also assisted local business with their distribution. These trade cards were the precursor to the modern advertising postcard. By the late 19th century many well-known companies used trade cards as a form of promotion including: Colgate & Palmolive, Van Houten's cocoa, Clark's spool cotton, Tarrant's seltzer as well as many cigarette companies, sporting clubs and celebrities. These advertising postcards were also used for propaganda. These popularity of trade cards continued until well after the first world war, but began to wane with the introduction of commercial radio broadcasting in the 1920s due to advertisers' preferences for the immediacy of radio as a means of reaching mass audiences in a cost efficient manner. However, in the 1990s, advertising postcards regained some of their former popularity. Advertisers began to resurrect them as part of an overall integrated media strategy designed to reach highly mobile and 'hard-to-reach' youth markets. Trade cards and advertising postcards through the ages Image:Christopher Gibson's upholstery shop (trade card).jpg, A trade card for a furniture retailer and upholsterer, 1730-1742, V & A Museum File:Trade card of Thomas Jeffreys 1750.jpg, Trade card of Thomas Jeffreys, 1750 File:Trade Card, Trade Card- Advertisement, ca. 1750 (CH 18438743).jpg, Trade Cards operated as advertising in the 18th century, Retail trade card, c. 1750 File:Georgia Cayvan - cigarette card c 1882.jpg, Cigarette card featuring the popular actress,

Georgia Cayvan Georgie Eva Cayvan (August 22, 1857 – November 19, 1906) was a popular stage actress in the United States in the later part of the nineteenth century. Early life Georgia Cayvan was born at Bath, Maine. She attended and graduated from the ...

, c 1882 File:1884 - Jeremiah M Grimley Carpets - Trade Card 1.jpg, Retail trade card for Jeremiah M Grimley, c. 1884 File:1891 - Miller & Hutchinson - Trade Card.jpg, Trade card for Miller & Hutchinson, piano, organ and musical instrument dealers, 1891 File:Erie Railroad trade card.JPG, Erie Railroad trade card, before 1900 File:Ogden's Cigarette Card of jockey Elijah Wheatley.png, Ogden's cigarette card featuring jockey,

Elijah Wheatley Elijah "Whippet" Wheatley (c. 1885–1951), nicknamed because of his small stature, was a Great Britain, British flat racing jockey who won the 1905 British flat racing Champion Jockey, Jockeys' Championship. Career Apprentice Wheatley wa ...

, c.1905 File:Fordham baseball card c. 1910.jpg, Fordham baseball card c. 1910 File:PostcardAdvertisingHappyDayWashingMachineCirca1910.jpg, ''The Happy Day'' washing machine, 1910 File:London. Royalty Theatre. Advertising postcard. 1912.jpg,

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

, London, 1912 File:PostcardToledoWillysOverlandFactoryAerial1915.jpg, Willy's Overland Factory, Toledo, Ohio, 1915 File:BradmanCigCard.jpg, Players' Cigarette Card featuring Australian batsman,

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has bee ...

, 1930s

Types

While there are many different types of postcards, there are two broad types - those that are mailed to customers, possibly names drawn from a mailing list, and those that are distributed directly.

Direct-mail

Though postcards have traditionally always been rectangular in shape, some postal authorities, such as

Canada Post Corporation Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

, may allow non-rectangular shaped cards to be mailed. This has given rise to new marketing concepts such as round postcards or cards specifically die cut to match the theme of a particular campaign.

Direct distribution

Advertising postcards are usually distributed by display on stands with patrons being encouraged to take them for free. These stands are typically situated in high traffic areas such as shopping malls, university campuses, public transport hubs and entertainment venues.

Popular culture

Advertising postcards have been very popular with collectors since their inception in the 18th and 19th centuries. They straddle the boundary between "low art" and "high art" One scholar has described the 19th century penchant for collecting postcards as a "mania." Scholars have recently become interested in studying trade cards and advertising postcards as a means of understanding the emergent commercialisation of consumption in the 18th century.Hubbard, P.,"Trade Cards in 18th-Century Consumer Culture:Circulation, and Exchange in Commercial and Collecting Spaces," ''Material Culture Review,''Volume 74/75, Spring, 2012,

References

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External links

Victorian tradecards
Advertising techniques Advertising tools Marketing techniques Promotion and marketing communications Postcards