"With the rise of the Internet, people have come to expect instant service, yet the match industry is still a smokestack industry," said Joe Danon...."The production mechanisms all date back to World War II or before -- there are no new match factories coming on line -- and so the production side has not risen to the level that the current marketplace expects."
The situation can be remedied. Danon rushes through first orders for new clients, and then gets clients on automatic reorder schedules so that no one ever runs out. He also spends a lot of time making nice to clients who can't understand why it takes less than a day to get business cards printed, and more than two months to get matchbooks.
NO SMOKING
As for the presumed bigger problem, the stop-smoking craze, Danon said it hardly comes up any more.
"As an advertising vehicle, restaurant owners have learned that toothpicks don't cut it. Business cards don't cut it. They just don't have the same perceived value," he said. "You can pay a dollar for a business card and still get better value from a 5-cent matchbook because it is in essence a functional business card. It is something people can use."
Pic Credit: Salma Hayek Times Magazine
To order your business' own branded #matchbooks or #matchboxes GoTo: TheMatchGroup or CALL 800.605.7331 to speak with one of our Match Mavens TODAY!
FANFAIR ARTICLE "A CERTAIN FLARE" FEATURING the Resurgence of "Signature Matchbooks" [branded matches]
This article celebrates the resurgence along with the relevance and effectiveness of branded restaurant matches right after several major cities had implemented their smoking bans, circa July 2000.
The article's writer Steve Garbarino, made the argument for restaurants to continue purchasing and distributing their decorative advertising matches for them to serve the important purpose of being used as an alternative [functional] business card.
The majority of the matches pictured in the article happened to be produced by Joe Danon such as PASTIS, MATCH, MOOMBA, JOE'S PUB, CAMPAGNA, BAR CODE, FLORENT, CAFE LOUP, ODEON, LEMON, BOND ST,RESTAURANT DANIEL and ASIA de CUBA.
Branded match boxes and match books act as viral advertising that are used as an effective method for recommending a restaurant by being passed by a person who had a pleasant dining experience at the restaurant to their friends and family.
Historically, advertising matches have always been treasured as collectibles and as mementos of good times and travels that continue to make their intended repetitive impression on the restaurants' clientele until the last match has been struck -and sometimes even years later!
To order your business' own branded matches call 800.605.7331 or goto TheMatchGroup Today!
Fantastic Article about the remarkable story and journey of match advertising with references to some remarkable "moments in match history" Under The Influence
Vintage Wrigley Spearmint Gum Advertising Match Book They were the first company to utilize matches in a National Advertising Campaign.
To order your Buisiness' own branded match books get in touch with one of our "matchmakers" at TheMatchGroup or call 1-800.605.7331 TODAY!
Fuzzco's Instagram pic of their little works of matchbox art for their new @shopcandlefish!
Another Happy Client! Fuzzco's #Candlefish Candle company is thrilled with their recent delivery of their creative "miniature works of art" custom match boxes posted to their Instagram account.
They include these matches in the packaging of their unique and creative candles to promote their new @shopcandlefish!
How Do You Display Your Advertising Match Collection?
In a Basket, as Oversized Brandy Snifter, a special Matchbook Display Rack Hung on the Wall, or a Matchbook Cover Scrap Book?
Despite all of the hand wringing and predictions of death of the restaurant Match Book in the narrow context of a world that discourages smoking, restaurants, hotels, clubs, candle makers, etc.are still willing and enthusiastic to continue the 120+ year old practice of creating and distributing their own "miniature works of art" to serve as "Functional Business Cards" in the form of their branded match books and match boxes.
In this period of intangible social networks and "feeds" consisting of Tweets, Facebook Updates, Instagram Pics, Foursquare Check ins, Google Searches, Yelp Reviews, etc., humans still crave something tangible and "offline" -an alternative to the flood of interruptions and distractions that technology and social media cause. In this day and age, the great majority of heavy social media users experience bouts of anxiety that sometimes leads to depression while attempting to keep up with the constant barrage of social media assaults (updates) on a minute by minute basis!
Match books and Match Boxes in their own "offline" tangible time tested way, act as link for the recipient to the experience of a time (pre-internet age) of genuine human contact that included face to face "social networking".
The FIRST Advertising Match Book. Promoting the Mendelson Opera Company's Performance with the Comedian Thomas Lowden.
Over the past 120 years since the first match book was hand printed and pasted back in 1889, by the manager of the Mendelson Opera Company who had the idea to buy 200 blank matchbooks for using to hand-print advertising messages and pictures of the opera’s leading players affixed to them, we continue to seek mementos such as advertising match books and match boxes as a means to maintain a consistent, reliable and tangible connection with our past experiences and events vs. the fleeting nature of social media with our latest Tweet, Face Book post or Instagram pic. that we post with the intention to memorialize a fleeting experience only to be pushed deeper and deeper to the "bottom" of the "feed" towards the inevitable march into further oblivion thus erasing any of the experience's "specialness" thus preventing us from revisiting that special experience as it continues further downstream as the flow of newer tweets, posts, pics and updates continue to be posted on top of it.
To order your business' own branded matches that is proven to stand the test of time, contact TheMatchGroup or call one of our match mavens at 800.605.7331 and we'll hook you up!
