Bandages

Origin of Promotional Bandages

Promotional bandages originated with the invention of adhesive bandages by Earle Dickson in 1920. At that time, people dressed minor wounds with separate materials: gauze and adhesive tape. An employee of Johnson & Johnson (who would eventually become its Vice President), Dickson invented the bandage for his wife, who often cut or burned herself while cooking. He cut squares of gauze and placed them at intervals along a strip of adhesive tape, so that his wife could simply cut off a piece when she needed it. He then covered the gauze with crinoline to protect them from dirt. The Band-Aid, as Earle's invention would later be named, stayed in place and protected the wound, and was manageable enough for his wife to use to dress her own wounds. At first the product, hand-made and all of eighteen inches long, was not popular. It made only $3,000 revenue in its first year. In 1924, Johnson & Johnson made Band-Aids more user-friendly by adding the easy-open red string. Then in 1938, sterilized bandages were introduced, so that by 1941 millions of Allied soldiers were receiving Band-Aids overseas in World War II. With so many Band-Aids making their way around the world, promotional bandages couldn't be far behind.

From Decorative to Promotional Bandages

Perhaps the key to the success of promotional bandages is artful marketing by the king of adhesive bandages: Band-Aid Brand. Band-Aid's packaging has changed very little since the 1930s, and their logo, red capital letters in a sans serif font, remains remarkably modern after generations. The one look with which Band-Aid has experimented is that of the bandages themselves. The 1950s brought sheer vinyl bandages to housewives and decorative bandages to kids. The first decorative bandages in 1956 were patriotically called "Stars 'n Strips" -- plastic strips in green, yellow, red and blue with white stars. Promotional bandages would soon become a popular template for characters from Superman to SpongeBob in a tag-team effort by Johnson & Johnson and the entertainment industry not only to market Band-Aids to kids but to turn children's television shows like Dora the Explorer into international icons. Promotional bandages are one cog in the machine that creates a powerful brand.

The Benefit of Marketing with Promotional Bandages

You would be hard-pressed to find any home without adhesive bandages, and it is this enormous presence that makes promotional bandages an attractive product with which to market a brand. Band-Aid is one of the most recognizable brands there is; in fact, we even use Band-Aid as a generic name for adhesive bandages. Brooke Shields, Terri Garr, Chris Evert and John Travolta have all appeared in Band-Aid commercials. Adhesive bandages have traveled to space and Eastern Europe. Band-Aid has offered limited edition tins for their 75th and 85th anniversaries. Now promotional bandages enable companies to attach their logos to a similar tin; stylish and simple, the tin is Band-Aid red with two adhesive bandages in the shape of a first aid cross, and the company logo goes on the lid of the promotional bandages tin. From a paralegal's paper cut to a fourth-grader's playground boo-boo, promotional bandages market brands as much as they heal wounds.