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How corporate advertising gets Canada PostŐs stamp of approval
BY Annette Bourdeau
Opening my mail recently, I noticed something strange about the stamp in the corner. It was large, red and featured Home Hardware’s logo on the right side and one of its smiling, red-shirted employees on the left. It looked more like an advertisement than a stamp, and struck me as clever on Home Hardware’s part—not only did the company score some prime ad space, Home Hardware got Canadians to pay for it and even use it on their correspondence.
Jim Phillips, director of stamp products for Canada Post, says the corporation receives between 700 and 1,000 stamp suggestions each year, including many from businesses. To succeed as stamps, he says, the suggested ideas must evoke Canadian history or illustrate the social, political or business life of Canada. They’re not ads, he emphasizes—the only money that changes hands goes to pay for an accompanying brochure. “Nobody pays for a stamp, let’s be clear about that,” says Phillips. “It’s all about the cost of the booklet.”
The template for the commercial stamp program was established in 1991, when Canada Post produced a booklet and commemorative stamp to honour itself. Since then, the likes of Petro Canada, Canadian Tire, McCain’s and even Harlequin have been immortalized on mail. Phillips says Canada Post doesn’t receive any more complaints about the commercial stamps than it does for any other stamp. “Not everyone likes everything all the time,” he says.
Bret Evans, editor of Canadian Stamp News, says reaction to the Home Hardware stamp in the philatelic community is mixed. “Some consider it overly commercial,” he says. “I personally don’t think it’s necessarily a good direction for Canadian stamps to be taking.” Evans doesn’t dispute Home Hardware’s importance to Canadian history, but takes issue with the design of the stamp. “It looks like a poster for Home Hardware.”
There’s a good reason for that: Ron Mugford, Home Hardware’s own creative director, designed the stamp. Canada Post doesn’t employ in-house designers, so stamp designs are always contracted out. In the case of Home Hardware, Phillips says since the company had its own graphic designer, it made sense to use him. “We guide them through the process and work hand-in-hand all the way,” he says. Evans suspects that the stamp may not have been as commercial looking had it not been designed by Home Hardware. “The addition of the logo really does make it look more commercial,” he says.
Canada isn’t the only country promoting businesses on stamps. France has printed Chanel and Mickey Mouse stamps, and the advent of customized stamps in many countries has made advertising on stamps simple. Finland Post has won awards for its customized stamp program, which allows customers to upload personal photos to appear on stamps. Markku Penttinen, director of Finland Post, estimates that 1,200 companies have ordered customized stamps, including car company Subaru. The United States Postal Service recently introduced a similar customized stamp program.
Both countries have “good taste” restrictions. Of 5,000 orders, Penttinen says, about 12 have been refused for inappropriate content such as naked ladies and overly political slogans. US website The Smoking Gun recently tested the US Postal Service’s “good taste” restrictions and successfully mailed customized stamps featuring photos of Slobodan Milosevic, Monica Lewinsky’s stained dress and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
Evans predicts that as more and more post offices around the world are privatized, corporate stamps will become more common. “[Private post offices] have no real watchdog, no national imperative,” he says. “It’s a very competitive business, so this kind of commercialism is inevitable. Whether it’s desirable or not is another question.”
