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Icon Gets Stamp of Approval

The Royal Mail is encouraging new stamp collectors by promoting stamps which celebrate 20th Century icons.

The Design Classics as they are known have at their centre such iconic images as the Anglepoise lamp, the London Underground map and Mary Quant’s mini-skirt.

And the Design Classics are the focus of a campaign by media agency Proximity London to try and get some more enthusiasm behind the hobby of stamp collecting.

Information on the Design Classics is being sent via a direct mail and email campaign, targeting existing stamp collectors and those that have an interest in design. It is hoped that such strong designs will encourage more collectors.

The range of iconic stamps also have their own micro website where visitors can read more about them, buy stamps and learn more about the stamp collecting.

As well as the direct and email campaigns, there will be online and print advertisements in the national and specialist press.

Talking up the idea, Royal Mail Senior Marcomms Manager Caroline Forbes said: “Stamps are about more than just the product; stamp collecting is an interest and as such can be difficult to define in terms of demographics. Proximity London’s activity allows us to overcome this and communicate with our customers in a creative and highly targeted way.”

And although stamp collecting doesn’t have the following it once did, it is still one of the world’s biggest hobbies. In the U.S. alone there is said to be over 20 million stamp collectors and although many pundits have predicted its demise, especially since the advent of the email, those committed to the hobby say it has as bright a future as ever. They point out that the introduction of telegraph machines and the telephone in the 19th Century represented major threats to the postage system, yet post remained strong. Also, even if the impossible happened and letters were done away with altogether, it is not just a matter of collecting new stamps, but that the collection and identification of old stamps is one of the pastimes main attractions.

Indeed, some collectors feel that there are too many new stamps being introduced each year and that more work should be done with say high quality limited editions, such as Design Classics, rather than too many run-of-the-mill stamps.

So, if you want to mark some of the 20th Century icons, buy a few stamps and don’t let your partner use them to post the cheque to the gas company.