THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9501310118
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EARNING A LIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
IAN MURPHY HAS a thing about matches.
Since he was a teenager he's been picking up matches in restaurants and has a collection of about 10,000 books and boxes.
Each one represents something to Murphy, and there's not one he would consider striking.
``Matches aren't for smoking anymore,'' said Murphy, 35, the owner and president of Image Ad Graphics. ``They're a person you've met, a place you've been, a memory you have.''
Matches have not only been a hobby of Murphy's for the past 20 years, they've also become a big part of his graphic design business - Image Ad Graphics on Commerce Parkway in the Great Neck area.
Murphy has designed and now markets posters, as well as other products, featuring restaurant and nightclub matchbooks called, ``night lights.''
Posters, which are individualized to 22 cities, show 49 full color matchbook pictures from well-known establishments in each town.
The name of the city is in black letters at the top, with the name, address, and phone number of each establishment shown at the bottom.
The businesses pay to be on the poster and a portion of the proceeds goes to local foodbanks in each city.
According to Murphy, ``It's a very small piece of the proceeds, but it's wonderful because that could still mean a couple of hundred dollars a month.''
The posters cost $15 retail and are sold at participating restaurants and, in the spring, the Virginia Beach one will be sold in some resort-area gift shops.
Aside from the $15 posters, the same matchbook design can be bought on T-shirts and aprons for $15; sweatshirts for $36 and again, in the spring, on tank tops for $14.
If any participating restaurant or bar holds a foodbank fund-raiser where night light products are sold, the foodbank gets 100 percent of the profits. Otherwise, about 5 to 15 percent can be donated.
Murphy, along with his wife and business partner, Clare, estimate that they have donated between $10,000 and $20,000 to foodbanks throughout the United States since they began producing the posters in 1990.
Locally, sales of the Virginia Beach posters, T-shirts, and sweat shirts, which started in December and feature local businesses such as Il Giardino, Steinhilber's, The Raven, Five 01 City Grill and Le Chambord, have netted the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia about $450.
``It's (the poster) a real fun piece,'' said Lisa Sands, development director at the foodbank. ``Not only are we going to get a quarterly check but with that many posters it means that many more people see it and realize that there are hungry people.''
The local foodbank's name and address are also printed on each of the posters.
The area foodbank will be receiving a share of the proceeds from the sale of the Virginia Beach poster as well as a percent of the sales from a Norfolk poster that's due out sometime around March.
Murphy and a friend came up with the night lights idea while the two owned an advertising company in Minnesota almost five years ago. Their first poster featured Minneapolis entertainment spots. However, the idea to donate some of the proceeds from the sale of the night lights products didn't come about until Murphy moved to New York the following year.
``Minnesota was a learning experience,'' said Murphy, a Bristol, Va., native. ``We decided to try it again only market it a little differently. We knew it would help to sell more posters if people knew part of the money goes to charity.''
When they moved to Virginia Beach from New York City two years ago and opened their graphic design business, they again took up the notion to print the matchbook posters.
If a business is interested in buying a spot on the poster but doesn't have matches for a picture, Murphy can design and create a matchbook cover by using a company logo or anything else a business would want.
``As a result, you can imagine we've sold a lot of matches,'' laughed Murphy.
The posters aren't all of Murphy's graphic design business. He also designs company letterheads, envelopes and the like and deals with 10 sales agents in cities throughout the United States.
Cities that already have posters include New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Portland, New Orleans, Boston, Denver, Berlin, Memphis, Santa Fe, Dallas, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Hawaii, Toronto, Albuquerque, San Diego, Hoboken, Richmond and Seattle. MEMO: To order any of the posters already produced, call 1-800-365-5200.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by DAVID HOLLINGSWORTH
Ian Murphy, owner and president of Image Ad Graphics, with his wife
and business partner Clare, market ``night lights'' posters, a
graphic with a collection of matchbook covers. Businesses pay to be
on the poster and a portion of the proceeds goes to local foodbanks
in each city.
KEYWORDS: POSTERS MATCHBOOK COLLECTION COLLECTIBLES by CNB