Matches: The single most precious item in my backpack!
Yes. Matches provide two very import basic human needs: lighting a fire warmth and for cooking.
My company TheMatchGroup produces branded matches for restaurants, hotels, candle companies and tobacconists for them to use the element of fire as a basis for what we refer to branded matches as "Functional Business Cards".
Promote Your Restaurant with Low Cost/High Impact Advertising Matches
Promote Your Restaurant Through Branded Matches: They're the Little Things That Count
Still a Timely Article Written a Few Years Ago on the Website RestaurantOwner.com
"...consider every little branded item as a mini billboard"
Here's an excerpt from the article:
...It seems that we use every square inch of space these days -- even on our clothing -- to advertise our services. However, people notice them and are usually pleased when they learn about a good service or product.
"Ad specialties" are items such as [matches, coasters, napkins, paper to go bags], pens, hats, or T-shirts with your restaurant's name, logo and sometimes address, phone number or Web site printed on them. No matter how small your restaurant, promo specialties are within your budget.
Every restaurant can use ad specialties, but before you order 500 baseball caps with your restaurant's name and logo on them, consider the pros and cons. Make sure you spend your money in the best possible way.
Applications
Ad specialties can range from matches to active wear, breath mints with your restaurant's logo printed on the wrapper to custom etched shot and wine glasses. Regardless of the item, the goals of ad specialty items are always the same:
First, you provide a useful gift to your customer to appreciate, enjoy, and, most importantly, identify with your business. While you can find ways to use these items to win over prospective customers, these items are most effective as tools to build repeat business from existing customers.
Second, promotional items help develop and cement a relationship, in the same way people give gifts to friends to strengthen their bonds. [Distribution of these] items also increase your share of "heart and mind" in the community, as your pens, mints, toothpicks, coasters and matches find their way into your customers' kitchens, offices, and classrooms, as [functional] reminders of (hopefully) their [enjoyable experience] at their favorite restaurants.
Third, your branded items will help reinforce your logo and [should] reflect your concept. While it seems like common sense, every ad specialty should prominently bear the business's name and logo....Consider every item a little billboard.
Place your order for your restaurant's functional business cards and table top promotional paper products such as coasters, napkins, toothpicks, branded sugar stick packets, breath mints, napkin bands, pens, as well as printed paper handle bags and at the same time get in on the ”Hot Match on Striker Action” by calling one of our "match makers" at 800.605.7331!
RESTAURANT MATCH BOOKS – BRANDING AND CULTURE COLLIDE
Match Books (L) TIBOR KALMAN'S DESIGN for "Restaurant Florent" and (R) DAMIAN HIRST's DESIGN FOR "PHARMACY" in LONDON
Great excerpt from a blog post from DEMIAN REPUCCI dated Oct 2009
"restaurant matchbooks .....are an extension of the restaurants’ brand and a telling exercise in the use of its’ graphic identity"
....I was thinking about the whole ‘matches -in-restaurants’ thing. Of course they were originally there for the convenience of the smokers at the bar, waiting for a table or enjoying an after dinner drink. Which then served a dual purpose of being a convenient way for those diners to go home with a little branded reminder of the restaurant in their pocket. Now that smoking has been all but wiped from the face of the Earth, it seems that restaurant match books should have disappeared too. But they remain. Why would a restaurant continue to pay more for a vehicle for its logo and information when a business card can do the same thing for less? There are usually a stack of business cards available at a restaurants’ front desk. Do those fly out the door? Probably not or we would be reading an article about restaurant business cards.
I think restauranteurs understand the psychological [and visual impact] ...... People will take matches to have some connection with ...cool. Even if they just end up putting them in a jar...
Of course many people will say that they use them to light candles, birthday cakes, grills, etc. Whatever the excuse, restaurants are happy to fund a diner’s home candle lighting if that means that the restaurant’s brand will continue to be brought back into the diner’s consciousness. Not to mention that a matchbook promises 20 future reminders. Which, come to think of it, may not be a bad deal after all. How many times do you look at a business card on your desk before you throw it away? Once? Twice?
All of this then led me to think about matches as the great little graphic design projects that they can be. Some are very well thought out and beautifully designed. Others are just fun or clever. But either way there are some gems out there. I, myself, have only held onto a few matchbooks which I thought were of superior design quality or somehow captured the concept of the restaurant in a way that I wanted to remember. My two favorites are pictured above. The matchbook on the left is from the famed, and now closed, Restaurant Florent [which was originally located in what is the now upscale Meatpacking District in NYC] -ed. What a great place that was. The restaurant's graphics, including the matches, were designed by the legendary Tibor Kalman and M&Co. Kalman’s graphic design for Florent was brilliant in it’s ability to not only capture the ethos of the restaurant but to also reinforce it. A superb example of restaurant branding.
The matches on the right are from super-star artist Damien Hirst's brief foray into the restaurant world which was Pharmacy in London. Graphically the blue dots are nice but a bit simple compared to his famous multi-colored dot paintings. What is genius about these matches is that Hirst treats them from the beginning as collector’s items. The other side of this matchbook says “(09) in a series of 60″ on it. The medium that Hirst is most adept at using as an artist is his brand. And he is true to that right down to the little match books in his restaurant. This, of course, makes me look like an idiot as the matchbook is beat up and half the wood matches on the inside have been used. What was I thinking?
Anyway, I love restaurant matchbooks because they are an extension of the restaurants’ brand and a telling exercise in the use of its’ graphic identity. There is something special about a restaurant that invests the time and care to design a beautiful matchbook.
To get in on the ”Hot Match on Striker Action” go to TheMatchGroup and call one of our expert 'match makers at 800.605.7331 or email us at: strike@getmatches.com to get your business' branded matches!
HOW IT'S MADE, MATCHES. A very informative video featuring how matches are made. Filmed at D.D. Bean and Sons in NH.
HOW IT'S MADE, MATCHES.
A very informative video featuring how matches are made. Filmed at D.D. Bean and Sons in NH.
Check it out!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/T2-aioCAjOE]
MATCHBOX FOOD RESTAURANT GROUP -Partner Endorses the Effectiveness of Match Advertising!
MATCHBOX FOOD RESTAURANT GROUP Strongly Believes in the Effectiveness Match Advertising
Excerpts from article written in the Washington CITY PAPER March 27, 2012
However antiquated the once common eatery freebies now seem, the things are an essential part of Smith & Co.'s branding. Every table at your local Matchbox Restaurant Group location, for example, is embedded with the [match] boxes as part of the decor. You'll find all sort of themes including Elvis, Hello Kitty, and Star Wars, among others.
Perry Smith, a principal partner of Matchbox Food Group says the company spends thousands of dollars on the logo-emblazoned complimentary flame starters..."And customers usually just don’t nab one, they literally grab handfuls of them. ... we go through thousands of them a year”... Smith says. "That’s what people expect. It’s probably our best form of advertising for what we do.”
To get in on the ”Hot Match on Striker Action” and promote your business with branded matches go to:TheMatchGroup or call one of our match mavens at 800.605.7331 to guide you through the process of placing your order!