FEATURE MATCHES Match Books -Vintage Match Books with Colorful Images Across Flattened Match Stems

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FEATURE MATCHES - Match Books with Colorful Images Printed Across Flattened Match Stems

ASSORTMENT OF "FEATURE" MATCH BOOKS WITH PRINTED MATCH STEMS
ASSORTMENT OF VINTAGE "FEATURE" -MATCH BOOKS WITH CUSTOM PRINTED FLATTENED MATCH STEMS.

Branded Match Books serve as mementos from places that you've visited or vacationed at, make great keepsakes from cherished family events and obviously, are a convenient and reliable source of fire for lighting candles, fireplaces, barbecues, incense, igniting gas pilot lights, as well as an essential item for use when camping. To this day advertising matches remain as one of the most inexpensive and highest impact forms of advertising -serving as "Functional Business Cards" that are widely accepted by your customers for the uses mentioned above while at the same time serving to promote your business, product or service.

Over 60 years ago, match company salesman would pitch potential customers with the catchy phrase: "your match books act as 20 little salesmen" meaning that when each of the 20 individual matches (in a standard match book) was removed and struck by it's user, it served as an opportunity to reinforce your company's brand 20 times!

"You can't beat match books for good, inexpensive advertising," says John Williams, publicity manager of The American Matchcover Collecting Club. When traveling through the smallest towns, you should still be able to pick up matches from restaurants, hotels and businesses who still believe in the power of these economical "pocket billboards" to advertise their businesses.

Match cover collecting satisfies every collector's urge to organize, classify, categorize and display .

In this post I'll be featuring the highly collectible and unique FEATURE -match books with colorful images across flattened sticks. Lion Match Corporation was the first match manufacturer to design and produce the feature match book.

The first FEATURE match books were Giant Sized -about 4" tall!

1936 Giant Feature Match Book advertising a Buick sponsored NBC Radio Show
1936 Giant Feature Match Book advertising a Buick sponsored NBC Radio Show
1936 Giant Feature Match Book a Buick Sponsored NBC Boxing Radio Show
1936 Giant Feature Match Book a Buick Sponsored NBC Boxing Radio Show
Early GE Giant Feature Match Book
Early GE Giant Feature Match Book
Early GE Giant Feature Match Book with Selling Tips
Early General Electric Giant Feature Match Book with Selling Tips

There were also other special options that were later introduced such as special die cut match cover shapes offered to enhance the image of the advertising product by making it stand out with a 2 Dimensional look  outside in addition to the feature -printed match stems inside:

'57 Pontiac Die Cut Special Feature Match Book
'57 Pontiac Special Die Cut Feature Match Book
'57 Pontiac Feature printed match stems with image of their new V8 motor
'57 Pontiac Match Book with Feature printed match stems depicting an illustration of their new V8 Engine

And an example of a Political Feature Match Book:

Wendell Wilkie Printed Stem Feature Match Book
Wendell Wilkie Printed Stem Feature Match Book "What the People Want"

For the first time in 40 years, The Match Group is proud to announce that we have an exclusive arrangement to produce several styles of  highly collectible and sought out vintage #featurematches  -customized with your logo and ad copy to promote your business!

You can rely upon TheMatchGroup to keep the flame of match advertising lit! Call one of our match mavens at 800.605.7331 today to design your business' own branded advertising match books, match boxes or feature matchbooks!


TheMatchGroup is Proud to Announce the Launch of It's New Pinterest Page -Featuring It's Collection of Vintage Matches and Pics of Their Client's Matches!

TheMatchGroup is Proud to Launch It's New Pinterest Get Matches Page! So Check it out!
TheMatchGroup's Boards on Pinterest

Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book
Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book

Every week we'll be featuring the best in Vintage Match Book covers, as well as our "Board of Fame" featuring a range of whimsical and uniquely designed TheMatchGroup clients' matches!

Since we at TheMatchGroup are long time match collectors, it was natural for us to curate our Pinterest "Boards" by advertising themes such as:

Automotive Themed Advertising MatchesPontiacMatchBook

European and Communist Vintage Match Box Labels

DANISH MODERN FURNITURE Vintage Match Box Label
DANISH MODERN FURNITURE Vintage Match Box Label

FEATURE MATCH BOOKS (Special Custom Printed Match Stems Feature Match Book with Printed Match Stems

Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, etc. Casino Matches Vegas Sahara Match Book

Matches In History and Match Manufacturing Matchgirls Protesting

Matches Referenced in Music Lyrics, Band's Posters & Album CoversModest Mouse Match Poster

Matches Used In ArtThe Shining's Jack Nicholson

VINTAGE ADVERTISING MATCH BOOKS & MATCH BOXESConey Island Destination Match

Vintage Match Stock Cut Art
Home Cooking Stock Cut Art

VINTAGE PIN UP MATCHES

"Exotic Girls"
"Exotic Girls"

World War II Propaganda Matches

O-K America Let's Go WW II Propaganda Matchbook
O-K America Let's Go WW II Propaganda Matchbook

and of course a very special Board featuring OUR CLIENT'S Matches Produced by yours truly, TheMatchGroup!TheMatchGroup's Match Clients' PortfolioMaloney & Porcelli 30 stem Book Match

Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book
Lucky Strike Restaurant's match book

So be sure to get in on the ”Hot Match on Striker Action” and call our team at TheMatchGroup 800.605.7331 to design your business's functional business cards, otherwise known as advertising matches!


RESTAURANT MATCH BOOKS – BRANDING AND CULTURE COLLIDE

09-matches-demian-repucci-1 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!


Large-Scale Sculptures of Every Day Items: MATCHES by Claes Oldenburg in Barcelona Spain.

matches-claes-oldenburg-barcelona_1384

Pop artist Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen are famous for their large-scale sculptures of every day items. Here's a feature on their very cool art sculpture exhibition featuring matches located in Barcelona Spain!

To see them go and check out this link:
spain. barcelona. public art. matches by claes oldenburg..

To order your own works of advertising match art to promote your business be sure to get in touch with TheMatchGroup or call one of our experienced "match makers" at 800.605.7331.


DENVER POST -Food 11/2/11 Smoking Ban Aside, Colorado Restaurants Find Custom Matches are Still a Great Way to Strike Up a Relationship

forsale

A terrific (and relatively current) article about restaurateurs' reasons for continuing to rely on printing and distributing economical advertising matches to promote their business despite statewide bans on smoking.

To place your order for your business' branded advertising matches goto:TheMatchGroup or call our "matchmaking" specialists at 800.605.7331

DENVER POST: FOOD

Smoking ban aside, Colorado restaurants find custom matches are still a great way to strike up a relationship Got a light?

POSTED:   11/02/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT UPDATED:   11/02/2011 09:50:57 AM MDT

William Porter The Denver Post

Free matchbooks, a decades-old staple in restaurants and bars, would seem a likely candidate for extinction in this age of public- smoking bans.

But an odd thing has happened. Rather than going the way of the rotary-dial phone, the matchbooks, typically sporting a business' logo, have showed staying power.

Why? Chalk it up to a mix of nostalgia and a touch of club-kid irony — think porkpie hats and meatloaf as a menu star.

Toss in our crow-like eye for things bright, snazzy and free, and it translates into a gimme-bowl of sulfur-tipped pleasure at the host stand.

"Matchbooks are one of the few pieces of merchandise that customers are likely to carry around in their pockets and also one of the few collectibles," said John Bachman, director of operations for the Boulder-based Big Red F Restaurant Group. "It's a way of getting our brand out there in front of people as often as we can, and it's an inexpensive way of doing it."

Big Red F's holdings include Lola, the Jax Fish House restaurants, The West End Tavern, Zolo Grill, Centro and The Bitter Bar. Not all the venues offer custom matches — "There's no rhyme or reason as to which ones do," Bachman said — but the plan is that eventually all be aboard.

Bachman said the matchbooks are ordered in batches of 25,000 and must be ordered every few months. Design is critical.

"A matchbook's content has to be captivating," he said. "The color, the logo, maybe something snarky or clever on the inside cover. Anything to make someone say, 'This stands out.' I think we're realizing their effectiveness."

That's music to the ears of Jack Wagner, who's company has been selling matches in Evergreen for 30 years.

Wagner's company sells all manner of custom hospitality products, including coasters, toothpicks, dinner mints and sugar packets. But matchbooks and matchboxes are the mainstay. Wagner said he sells millions of them nationally each year.

"A matchbook is a business card with a purpose," Wagner said. "It's functional."

Despite this, estimated national matchbook sales have dropped to about $30 million from $200 million in the 1970s. But since they're sold for pennies, the economic crunch has made them an effective ad medium for restaurants, allowing them to enjoy a mini-revival.

Wagner takes pains to create matchbooks that are aesthetically pleasing. They show an eye toward art, sometimes literally. He is especially proud of the matches his company created for Sweet Basil in Vail.

"There's a gorgeous painting behind the hostess stand," Wagner said. "We took that image and wrapped it around the matchbox, along with the restaurant's info.

"So what we have is a very appealing piece of advertising far cheaper than anything else out there and it's going directly to the customer. It's point-of-sale advertising."

At Steuben's restaurant and bar on East 17th Avenue, the vintage vibe extends beyond comfort food and midcentury decor. The matches, too, are a throwback, down to their '40s-era design. This at a restaurant that's 5 years old.

"They're great for us," said bar manager Randy Layman, who adds that Steuben's has ordered 50,000 matchbooks since January.

"Whenever someone is leaving and they see the match bowl, their reaction is really neat," Layman said. "Their eyes light up and they go, 'Hey, we never see this.'

"It's an absolutely effective way of getting the word out."

On a recent evening, Heather Lyons snapped up a Steuben's matchbook as she head out the door. "I don't smoke, but they come in handy," she said. "I like to keep a pack in my purse and glove compartment. It's also a keepsake. I look at it and have memories of a night out."

Linger, which opened in Lower Highland about 3 1/2 years after Colorado's smoking ban took effect, offers matchbooks that change every few weeks. They are popular among customers, said owner-chef Justin Cucci. The matchbooks are modeled after vintage '60s patterns found in the restaurant's decor. "We wanted to give guests something that was used and popular from the era," he said. "Matchbooks were a natural fit."

And Boulder's Pizzeria Locale offers matches in a tube container with a nifty pop top.

The hospitality biz isn't the only outlet for such matchbooks. When "Pulp Fiction" was released on video in the United Kingdom, stores gave away packs of "Pulp Fiction" matches stamped with a quote from the film: "You play with matches, you get burned."

The Avenue Grill has been a staple in Denver's Uptown neighborhood for two decades. The restaurant was long known for its matchbooks, which had a gleaming white cover with the restaurant's logo: a stylized martini glass, rendered in a few deft ink strokes, and a green olive.

"People really like them," said Joel Bryant, the Avenue's director of operations. "You go to someone's house and they have sets of them they've collected over the years."

But the restaurant hasn't reordered the matches for several weeks, and the bar no longer features tumblers filled with the matchbooks. That's being rethought.

"When the smoking ban started, the need plummeted," Bryant said. "But the matches were something we were known for and we probably should bring them back."

As Wagner, the match company honcho, points out, lighting a match is not necessarily the purview of nicotine fiends. Candles, fireplaces, charcoal grills — they all require a foray into the "close cover before striking" zone.

"It's not the smoker who needs the match," Wagner said. "They have Bic lighters. It's the rest of us."

William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com

Photo illustration (above) by Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post. Model: Marnie Ward of Reveille 3, an Andrews Sisters tribute act (myspace.com/reveille3). Gloves provided by Mariel (1428 Larimer St., 303-623-1151).