Boots – Advertising or not?

In 1994, a marketing representative from Boots Pharmaceutical in the United Kingdom discussed a plan to increase greeting card sales with Royal Mail marketers. To achieve this objective, an entirely new range of greeting cards was designed in advance. The cards became more personal and tailored to customer wishes. The sales process also needed to become simpler. Currently, one had to buy one or more cards first and the corresponding stamps elsewhere. So why not two-in-one? Royal Mail agreed to the idea by promising that a 1st class stamp (rate for 1st class order – local) could be enclosed with every greeting card. This allowed the checkout process to consist of a single transaction for both the buyer and the cashier. The designers at Boots wanted to insert the 1st class stamp into the packaging in such a way that it would immediately stand out. Several internal trials were conducted at Boots regarding methods to make the stamp stand out in the packaging, such as inserting it into a transparent cellophane folder inside the package. However, Royal Mail rejected all the trials because they were far too cumbersome, and therefore too expensive. Ultimately, it was decided to produce a special print run featuring the 1st class stamp in a small block that could be folded around the bottom right corner of the card and then closed with a transparent cellophane wrapper. The first Boots Label (as they were called) was thus introduced on August 16, 1994, in the new packaging. The label was printed on cream-colored paper by the printing company Questa. The rectangular label featured perforations, making it easy to fold the label around the corner of the card so that it appeared in the shape of a triangle. Incidentally, the map shown is not from Boots, but serves only as an example to demonstrate the method. On September 11, 1995, the printing company Questa produced a reprint of the Boots Label without text and the Boots logo. Instead, the logo and text were printed on the cellophane packaging. The label was printed on white paper. Royal Mail even issued a special first-day envelope for this label. Because various printers took over orders later, differences may be visible in types of paper, phosphor, and perforation. Such as blue phosphor and yellow phosphor. Joh. Enschedé in Haarlem also had a share in the production of the labels from 1999. In 1996 and 1997, many labels, whether from Boots or not, were printed with advertising for various international stamp exhibitions, such as Singapore '96, Bangkok '96, Indonesia '96, Hong Kong '96, Taipei '96, Hong Kong '97, Pacific '97, and so on. The last labels were issued in 2008, as far as I know. The labels were sold by Boots at various locations and on various occasions where a Boots stand was present. If no Boots stand was present, the labels were sold at a Royal Mail stand. These labels with advertising print are hard to find!