"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!
Student Hippies facing off against the National Guard
Just like any printed matter, match book advertising qualifies as a form of free speech in America. Therefore, making the circumstances under which the wording of a matchbook advertisement might be deemed to be an element of a crime very narrow under the First Amendment.
Nevertheless, there have been cases where matchbook advertising/propaganda has been known to test the limits of the law. For example, during the politically charged antiwar era of the late 1960's/early '70's matchbooks printed with the message "EOW" were distributed at Bloomfield State College in West Virginia. These letters stood as the acronym for "End of Week". The secret message behind these letters was passed along by the students encouraging them to burn the campus if the demands of certain student groups were not met by the end of the week.[1]
During this tumultuous period in our country's history; when our country was experiencing rampant (and deadly) college student protests against the Vietnam War and a series of riots fueled by rage in response to the news of the assassination of M.L.K. that resulted in the destruction of many major cities, match advertising was also used by "The Man" as a means to "counter" the "counterculture". "The Man" in this case was a Dallas Police Officer who decided to design and distribute his own matchbooks as propaganda to advertise his support for his fellow patrolmen with apparent success. So as the story goes, during the late '60's and early '70's members of the angry Hippie counterculture referred to Law Enforcement Officers as "Pigs." This Dallas Policeman, decided to take the sting out of the counterculture's disrespectful use of the word "Pig" by acknowledging it and to repurpose it in his own personal public relations campaign by distributing matchbooks along his beat that he had printed with the message "Leonard Edge: Pig and Proud!".[2]
The use of match book advertising by Law Enforcement didn't end after the '70's. Since then, local Police Departments and the FBI have used printed advertising matches as a method to aid in the capture of wanted fugitives, to advertise local D.A.R.E. anti-drug programs, as well as local "Cop Shot" Tips Hotline reward programs. Furthermore, back in 1995 -6 years PRIOR to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon which lead to our engagement in two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the CIA and the local authorities in Pakistan had successfully distributed wanted posters along and MATCHBOOKS as a medium for advertising a $2 Million reward for the capture of wanted international terrorists such as Mir Amal Kansi who was wanted in the brutal attack outside CIA headquarters in 1993 in which two people were killed and three other people were permanently injured.[3]
To order your business' own groovy advertising matches check out TheMatchGroup
Man or call a member of our very hip and cool sales staff at 800.605.7331. who would love to turn your business' clients on to the experience of your custom branded match advertising!
[1] James v. West Virginia Bd. Of Regents, 322 F.Supp. 217 (S.D. W.Va., 1971), aff'd 448 F.2d 785 (4th Cir. 1971).
[2] Minor v. State, 469 S.W.2d 579 (Tex. Crim. App. 1971); Minor v. State, 476 S.W.2d 694 (Tex. Crim. App. 1972).
Joseph Martinez Oil Painting using the inside covers of match books as his canvas!
A fascinating re-purposing of Paper match books that are used by the artist Joseph Martinez to create original life like oil paintings as mini works of pocket fine art!
Check out the video montage of Joseph's fascinating work on Vimeo:
