This "Throwback Thursday" piece from Mike Schenker, MAS, is the latest in a series of weekly installments of his most popular contributions to Identity Marketing from the past 20 years.
Further evidence of my age: for the title of this column, I've reached wa-a-a-y back to the late Sixties for a song by "Donovan." For those of you too young to know who this is, he was (still is) a singer who just went by one name, long before Madonna and Usher; maybe around the same time as Cher (who despite repeated surgeries still looks older than I). He's possibly best known to younger readers as the father of the actress Ione Skye, possibly best known for her role in the movie "Say Anything" (1989). If she's before your time, too, well…
Donavan (remember him? That's where this all began) had this song way back when, in which he sings the praises of his "comfortably lovely" shirt. I am reminded of this today as I start packing away the summer clothes.
Despite the fact that it still feels like August, the cover of this magazine tells us that it’s presently October. As such, it’s time here in Casa Schenker to switch the clothes around. We do this twice a year and, twice a year, I come across a couple of promotional garments that remain in the box.
Through the first three paragraphs of this column, I have failed to maintain one thought process. Why start now? Instead, I'll go off on yet another tangent (but not too far, I promise):
Every so often, I'll meet someone for the first time. Due to my advanced years (see, I sorta do stick to a subject), once we've concluded our meeting, I'll invariably comment that I have T-shirts older than that person (ah… now it's starting to come around). I'm reminded of that as I go through the piles of clothing because, truth be known, I actually do have at least one T-shirt older than many people I now meet.
Buried away in the box is one I purchased (retail? What was I thinking?) at the 1975 Schaeffer Music Festival in Central Park. It's navy blue, with a multi-color screen printed logo that's held up quite well in the ensuing (gasp!) 29 years. Sure, there's a small hole here and there but, for the most part, this shirt is still in good condition. More importantly, at least to me, it's got a priceless value to it. Summers in the Seventies were spent at these concerts, where I'd pay $2 for the floor seats, as opposed to $1 for the cheap seats in the back. Even then I was a big spender.
Did I know back then that the souvenir T-shirt I purchased would hold so many fond memories for me? Please. As if I was thinking that clearly during those concerts! I was more concerned with my date and, perhaps secondarily, the music. Something made me buy that shirt; something else has made me keep it all these years.
Unfortunately, it no longer fits. Back then, I wore mediums. I was a tall, skinny kid. If I had to guess, a medium hung on me. Today, I'm an XL. I believe that has more to do with the fact most apparel, promotional and otherwise, has been re-sized over the years. What was once a large is now an XL, and so forth. That's what I'd like to believe. I would also like to point out that I'm in much better condition than I was then. I may be old, but I'm in good shape.
Digging further into the box, there's a garment purchased (what, again?) on October 27, 1986. The Mets had just won the World Series in seven games, and my trophy wife and I were leaving Shea Stadium along with 50,000 of our closest friends. In the parking lot, I purchased a Mets Word Series championship sweatshirt.
I did wear this shirt for a few years until it started to show signs of aging. Any normal person might have tossed it at that point, but no one's ever accused me of being normal (as if it's not tough enough being a Mets fan). Instead, it ended up in the box. I don't have the heart to get rid of it; this truly is a collector's item. Who knows the next time there'll be a Mets World Series championship sweatshirt imprinted?
Coming out of the closet (no New Jersey jokes, please), I will admit to possessing a Mets 1969 World Series beer stein (not that I was old enough to drink in 1969, but this was, as I recall, a gas station promotion which came with a fill-up). In my garage, I know I've got an ashtray from the long-gone New York Playboy club (ironic, as I don’t smoke).
Why do we hold on to these things? I am sure that everyone reading this right now is nodding their heads in acknowledgement of that imprinted something onto which they’ve held all these years. What is it that makes a promotional item a collectible?
"Collectible" might be a bit of a stretch, admittedly. What's the expression? One man's trash is another man’s treasure.
About a year ago, I got an anonymous package in the mail; no return address. "Lumpy Mail," as she would call it. Considering that we now live in times when unmarked lumpy packages should be consider suspect, I looked at this mail with concern. As such, I donned the closest thing I have to a radiation suit (a Bastion Golf rain suit, along with some Playtex kitchen gloves) and opened the package.
Inside were half a dozen pens, featuring the logo of the Concord Hotel. This was, of course, the home for many years of the old SAAGNY show (in the days before Promotions East in Atlantic City). I should note that the Concord was razed several years ago, so receiving these pens was a bit of a surprise. It was at this point that I noticed the postmark on the package. Gee… might I know a slightly twisted pen manufacturer in Shelbyville, TN? If I never did so before, here’s a proper thank you to Dan Townes of Shepenco. I love those pens because they hold significance for me.
I will bet you that, if I was to actually take the time to do so, I could find some logoed pens that I'd had made up many years ago for the first Clinton inauguration. I was working for a cheap writing instrument company at the time (it’s up to the reader to determine whether I meant that the writing instruments or the company was cheap, or both). Why the Clinton Administration chose to use these pens to commemorate the inauguration is up to the political wags to figure out; all I know is I kept a couple. What good they do me sitting is a drawer is anyone's guess.
I have no closing for this column (which should come as no surprise as I really had no beginning or middle, either). As such, I'm opening this up to you readers. Please let me know what promotional items you hold near and dear. What can’t you part with? There are no right or wrong answers, just the truth. I'll publish the results, along with my unique commentary, in a future column.
Okay... start digging.
Mike Schenker, MAS, is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.