Condom Business Cards – and Creative Law Marketing
In honor of February’s National Condom Month, we resurrect one of the legal profession’s most entertaining and controversial marketing campaigns.
Law firm marketing has had many envelope-pushing examples over the years that have helped shape the professional and ethical boundaries. An early parameter-pusher was Jay Lawrence Friedheim, a stand-up comedian turned lawyer and later Republican candidate for Hawaiian Senate (1998, 2004, and 2006).
Friedheim brought his comic approach to his early-90s marketing efforts. He creatively executed his maritime-law slogan, “Saving Seamen the old-fashioned way” with a matchbook business card containing a condom. Offering “Matchless Protection,” it was both an eye-catcher and national buzz-builder. Mildly controversial, it clearly showcased his unique style and personality which fit his target audience — and generated sizable revenue.
He was kind enough to send me one back when he launched the effort.
Also notice his abbreviating his middle name, Lawrence, to simply “Law.” He was “Jay Law” before there was a J-Lo
Another example was another of Friedheim’s thoroughly non-traditional 1980s business cards – showing his photo on the front, with “Important Phone Numbers” on the back. Those include President Clinton, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, and . . . Jay Friedheim.
You know, it’d be fun to watch him in the US Senate. I wonder what he’d use as a direct mailer if he’d run as a Tea Party candidate…
The above images are all (c) Jay Lawrence Friedheim.
