A History Lesson

As I was doing research and development, I came across an article I hadn't seen for some time. It was about the history of promotional products and advertising specialties. It seems that the first promotional products were commemorative buttons when George Washington was inaugurated.

Skip ahead a few years and travel to Ohio. Jasper Freemont Meek owned a small newspaper in Coshocton Ohio and was looking for ways to supplement his income. He saw a girl drop her schoolbooks in the dirt. Mr. Meek approached one of his newspaper advertisers, a Mr. Cantwell, who owned a shoe store. Mr. Meeks sold him on the idea of buying imprinted burlap bags with the message "Buy Cantwell Shoes" and to give one to each child that came into his store. He would build store traffic with his message being seen all over town. Both entrepreneurs reaped the rewards. Mr. Meek officially started his own promotional products business by then selling imprinted horse covers which were seen on almost every horse in town.

Other early pioneers in this industry were other newspapermen looking to supplement their income, including Mssrs. Murphy and Osborne of Red Oak, Iowa. They printed a watercolor on cardboard and attached a calendar pad to come up with the first art calendars. Current statistics show that calendars are still one of the most successful and effective promotional products even now.